It has always been a sort of dirty secret that advances in computer and network technology are often driven by the porn industry. The gaming industry also plays a significant role, but online porn has blazed new trails and pushed the technological envelope with things like how to effectively monetize online content, video stream compression techniques, network bandwidth and more. Let’s face it, you don’t need a high-end PC or a blazing fast broadband connection to send emails or surf Facebook. So, it makes perfect sense that porn would be at the front of the line when it comes to innovations with virtual reality.
I recently had an opportunity to test out live interactive VR porn with CamSoda. The short version of my experience with VR porn is that it was underwhelming, but has potential. There are a couple primary reasons I didn’t find it all that compelling—only one of which really has to do with VR—so let’s talk about it.
First, I would call the experience more 360-degree video than virtual reality. There isn’t anything about the experience that transports you into a different world or makes you feel like you are immersed in an alternate reality. Really, it’s just the same porn as you find on the rest of CamSoda, but with 360-degree viewing through VR headsets like Google Cardboard, or Samsung Gear VR.
Basically, instead of just viewing models playing with themselves, each other, and various adult toys in a standard 2D screen, you get to view them like you’re standing right there in the room…sort of. You can look left, right, up, and down, so you definitely have some control over your viewpoint and perspective of the acts that are going on. With the current state of VR technology, though, I felt like the experience was a bit laggy and the view somewhat like looking through a fisheye lens—especially at the outer edges of my field of vision.
The other reason I don’t really find it compelling is that I don’t find the sort of interaction you get with CamSoda compelling in the first place. That is not an indictment of CamSoda per se, or the business model—it just doesn’t really do it for me.
With CamSoda there are dozens of models online at any given time in separate “rooms”. You can click on a room to watch and interact with the model. The models have different “menus” of acts they’re willing to perform on demand for the right price—measured in tokens. You can buy 100 tokens for $11, or 200 tokens for $21, up to 3100 tokens for $250. So, a token is somewhere between about 8 to 10 cents each depending on how many you buy at a time.
I spent some time in one room where the model had a vibrating dildo and would insert it in her vagina and masturbate with it for different lengths of time depending on the number of tokens paid. For 15 to 99 tokens you got 4 seconds on medium vibration. That’s $1.50 to $10 of actual money to watch a women insert a fake penis in her vagina for 4 seconds. I can go over to Pornhub and watch a woman do that same thing for 10 or 15 minutes for free, so I don’t understand why I would spend money on this.
I take that back. There is one reason I can see spending money on this—the interaction and control. Watching video clips on Pornhub is great, but with CamSoda I can actually chat with the model in real-time and engage in conversation. More importantly—at least for me—I have some control and can make the model do things for me. Granted, I am actually paying the model to do those things, so we can debate who is controlling who, but that is one redeeming aspect of this model for me.
That’s just my opinion, and there are obviously many who disagree with me because CamSoda—and other interactive sites like it—seem to have a pretty substantial customer base and be relatively lucrative.
Back to the potential of VR porn, though. I think there is a huge market for VR porn as the technology improves and the studios and individuals who create porn develop a better understanding of VR and how to effectively capture porn for the virtual reality experience. Just taking the same old porn and watching it through a VR perspective doesn’t really capitalize on what the technology has to offer.
I wouldn’t run out and get VR gear just for this, but if you already have Google Cardboard or some other VR tech, I recommend checking out the CamSoda House VR experience to decide for yourself. I wasn’t super impressed, personally, but I am looking forward to what this experience could be like a year from now.
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