Video sharing site PornHub has published figures on the habits of its visitors. It appears Australians are pretty avid porn viewers, with our country ranked number eight worldwide.

LET’S face it, we are a red-blooded, sex-obsessed species. Behind every new technology, pornography has been hot on its heels, and the brave new world of virtual reality is right now climbing its way to a hyper-real climax.

Virtual reality devices, which thrust you into a life-size, boundless, three-dimensional environment, took centre stage at the E3 conference last month. The long-awaited Oculus Rift from Facebook, is set to hit the shelves early next year after a long period of beta testing. It will compete with now-available but less functional headsets like the Google Cardboard and Samsung Gear. And there are a heap more high-end gadgets to come from the likes of Sony and HTC — as well as Microsoft’s augmented reality HoloLens which overlays graphics onto the real world — all slated be released next year.

The devices are usually discussed in the context of video games and sports, but bubbling away beneath the surface are pornographers busy trying to make our wildest fantasies come true.

And they hope this will coax the world’s web pirates, who grew up watching porn for free, to embark on virtual ‘sex-capades’ with real actors and pour their dollars back into the adult industry.

Because in the escapist virtual world, anything is possible. And we mean, anything.

The movers and shakers

Pioneers in this arena are the husband-wife duo behind the aptly named VirtualRealPorn. Leonor Laplaza and Mike Kovalsky founded the Spain-based company in January last year.

VirtualRealPorn’s Linda Wells told News Corp Australia their interest in virtual reality was first sparked in the 90s with movies like The Lawnmower Man. Once the devices started trickling onto the market, they realised there was no virtual reality pornography featuring non-animated actors — so they sought to fill that gap.

“You can enjoy a totally new perception of adult content, more immersive and deep ... and it gets closer to a real experience,” Ms Wells said.

To date, the company has produced 55 point-of-view videos which are downloaded by their thousands of subscribers for a fee of AU$23 a month using an app. Viewers share their fantasies, and content is created accordingly.

They are also integrating their 180-degree films with Lovense teledildonics — so, computer-controlled sex toys — by synchronising the action being played out with the physical sensations produced by the toys. Essentially, the brain is tricked into believing the entire thing is real.

Just saw a commercial for virtual reality porn goggles, what a time to be alive. — Cody North (@codynorth1) July 12, 2015

Of their users, Ms Wells said about 10 per cent were Australian, half were North American and the remainder were in Europe. Australians are mostly in their 40s, while the Americans are more likely in their 20s and Europeans in their 30s.

Newbies are encouraged to start by watching films that are marked as having no camera shaking to avoid motion sickness.

“It has been a progressive and slow process, this kind of technology and content is not well known for the general public,” Ms Wells said. “We are still learning.”

With next year tipped to be a turning point for virtual reality, she said she expected it would be mainstream by 2017.

Ms Wells said she held great hopes that this racy revolution would convince the generation of people that view porn for free to begin paying.

Ms Wells admitted “research and development costs are high” and time-consuming.

She said equipment on the market wasn’t up to scratch to shoot virtual reality films, so they have had to rig their cameras as well as their post-production software.

So, what’s it like to watch? Ms Wells said it was like nothing you had ever experienced, “just putting on a headset and forgetting everything that was around you.”

“You find yourself in a different place and situation in company of beautiful models looking at you and interacting with you,” she explained.

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In the future, they hope to add more sensory devices to add to the immersion as technologies continue to evolve.

Across the Atlantic, another player has just made its move into the virtual reality realm.

San Diego-based Naughty America made its debut earlier this month with a free 180-degree threesome scene unveiled at Comic-Con International, releasing one version for men and another for women.

The adult entertainment giant is now creating more films, which subscribers will be able to view along with the rest of their 2D content.

Company founder and CEO Andreas Hronopoulos said it was a really exciting time for porn fans because they were on the cusp of feeling that full erotic immersion.

“You get to decide where you want to look. It’s really wild,” Hronopoulos said.

“You become the individual partaking in the experience.

“If you have a fantasy and you want it to be a reality, this is as real as it’s going to get.”

Mr Hronopoulos would not divulge the precise costs involved, but said it was “exponentially more expensive” to make than regular porn.

Now I'm definitely getting an Occulus Rift so I can watch some virtual reality porn — NamesRTooMainstream (@HeaDak3) July 9, 2015

He said he believed millenials today, now comfortably out of the global recession, were eager to invest in experiences — whether music gigs or holidays — and virtual reality porn would eventually fall into that ‘treat-yourself’ category. He likened the romp to a “vacation” and stressed that the better the device used, the more intense the experience.

Hronopoulos posted their announcement on Reddit’s Oculus NSFW page (yes, there is a section devoted entirely to virtual reality porn) and commenters were stoked. “I am going to go broke,” one quipped.

Australia’s adult industry workers are pumped

By 2025, virtual reality porn is forecast to be a AU$1.4 billion business in the US alone according to estimates by Piper Jaffray, MarketWatch reports. This is good news for an industry which has seen sluggish revenue growth as a direct result of web piracy and free porn sites, which nine in 10 viewers use. Globally, porn revenues have dropped by half since 2007.

Australia’s porn industry is notably smaller and less cutting-edge than its international counterparts, and industry insiders say we’re unlikely to see a lot of locally-made virtual reality content in the near future.

However one producer, Romeo Dymondz, told News Corp Australia he couldn’t wait to sink his teeth into it and he was now in the process of making his own films that he intends to package with a mainstream amateur feel. He hopes to release the first scenes late next month.

Dymondz has a background in making 3D porn, but said that medium never took off like most pornographers had expected. Virtual reality, however, is another story.

“That whole immersive experience, it will go through the roof,” he said.

“I always knew there would be a time that we would reach this point in technology.”

Robbie Swan, acting CEO of Australia’s sex industry Eros Association, said of the 20,000 workers across porn and adult retail nationally, he was encouraging the latter to consider establishing state-of-the-art “pleasure bars”.

Swan, like many in the global adult sector, is looking forward to the day when the technology is advanced to the point that all five senses are at play. All that’s left to wrangle is smell and taste.

“You will be able to simulate a real sexual experience,” he said.

“(But local porn filmmakers) don’t have the money to compete.

“I’ve been advising adult shops to get involved and open pleasure bars, like hi-tech brothels with no people in them, which you can rent at an hourly rate.

“There are all sorts of possibilities ... and it’s going to happen without a doubt,” he said, explaining that customers would be taken through a range of sexual options in a room fitted out specifically for the ultimate virtual shagging adventure.

And he reckons all generations would pay for this: “you can’t rip this kind of stuff off.”

“This is potentially a bonanza for people who want to make porn.”

He believed it would particularly popular for people to explore their sexuality and push their individual boundaries, as well as satisfying the sexual appetites of the elderly.

Porn star Lucie Bee said virtual reality was great news for the sector’s professionals.

“People will be more likely to pay for this kind of content,” Bee said.

With chatter around future ‘pornograms’ brought on by the upcoming augmented reality device, the HoloLens, Bee said she felt it could open up opportunities for putting live webcam action into your own home.

However virtual reality would continue to be most interactive, she said, adding that she felt this was safer as it didn’t blur the lines between real life and fantasy.

Fellow porn darling Angela White said the porn industry had always been a driving force behind tech innovation.

White said she relished in the idea of being able to connect with her fans more.

“You can’t torrent or steal the real time experience of interacting with your favourite star and that’s what I feel adult entertainment should be: an experience,” she said.

What your partner will think

While pornographers do not believe virtual reality porn will impact on relationships, experts are already warning of the impending troubles.

Sex therapist Dr Nikki Goldstein said like with regular pornography, viewers risked slipping into addiction and isolation — only these risks are highly amplified.

Dr Goldstein said porn addiction was “very common” and fuelled harmful desires that often could not be fulfilled. So when virtual reality sex enters the picture, she said it could pose a bigger problem for couples.

“Virtual porn really ups the ante on intimacy. When you feel like you are there and can feel like you’re touching a person, it can really cross the boundary of our notion of fidelity,” Dr Goldstein said.

“There’s a fine line between having fun and taking away from the intimacy with your partner.”

She feared users could get used to the virtual reality intimacy and let it replace flesh-and-blood sex. And if a lovers’ tiff brews, it “makes it easier to go get what you need sexually out of virtual reality instead of addressing” the issue.

“Because if you feel like you’re having sex with those women, do you really need to be doing it with your partner?” she asked.



Dr Goldstein believes people should be educated on how to interact with real human beings instead of resorting to emerging technologies to have sex with dolls, get handjobs from robots and engage in virtual reality romps.

But she conceded it can’t be stopped and said virtual reality porn could be used well in the right context.

She said the technology allowed people to realise fantasies that might be difficult or daunting in real-life, which was fine as long as they weren’t sneaking behind their partner’s back.

“Say you have a desire to be with a redhead with big boobs and you’re married to a flat-chested blonde, this can satisfy desires without actually doing it,” Dr Goldstein said.

“If it’s done as a couple, spoken about and discussed, then it can be helpful.

“But if your partner is unaware, that’s when you’ve got a problem ... (and) can be damaging.”

Naughty America’s Andreas Hronopoulos said he felt virtual reality porn was “a great way for people to experience a fantasy, without truly experiencing it.”

And yet, you’re not just “watching content where you’re left wondering what it feels like” like with regular porn, he said.

He denied there would be issues.

“I think relationships are evolving and every relationship is different. Some couples are into that,” he said.

“I don’t believe in telling couples how to live their lives.”

Whatever you think, the future of porn is well and truly here, and your sexual possibilities are about to get a whole lot wider.

Twitter: @sopphie

sophie.aubrey@news.com.au