Would you date someone you meet in the metaverse? The VR platform Planet Theta wants to give a virtual avenue for finding love.

What if we took dating further – to the virtual world? In adult entertainment, fields like pornography and live adult webcamming have evolved to encompass the VR segment in profitable models and evolving sophistication and realism. Virtual reality has steadily proliferated many other segments of digital life, so why not how we find love? 

More than a VR headset

The next frontier in virtual reality is dating and cultivating a romantic relationship. Considering the current metaverse technology, the conditions for virtual, emotional, and physical intimacy already exist. Some platforms already allow users to integrate virtual reality headsets with teledildonic devices to synchronize and deliver a near-full sensory experience, including eye contact, responsive dialogue, and pleasure devices corresponding to the actual sex act that the model is performing in the pornographic VR film.

It is quite revolutionary, especially given that these types of experiences are enabled by mass-produced VR and teledildonic devices connected by low-latency Bluetooth and the internet. With this, users have one component of dating – the physical – essentially taken care of. But, there is a growing interest in virtual-reality dating as a way to get to know a new person from a safe distance without disclosing too much information or to fulfill the emotional gap felt by couples in long-distance relationships.

Dating in the metaverse

“We are building a platform that is limited to adults only, and [we] are using an age verification system requiring users to confirm their identity and age through their government ID,” Aurora Townsend, chief marketing officer of FireFlare Games, said in a new exclusive interview with Future of Sex.

FireFlare Games is the parent company of an adult virtual reality dating platform called Planet Theta. Set to officially launch to the general public on Valentine’s Day in 2023, Planet Theta is a platform marketed as a place to enable the “right to love.” Townsend, also the company’s founder, presented Planet Theta at the 2023 CES Convention.

Dating on the Planet Theta platform

“Our vision has always been to be the first VR platform built for dating,” Townsend added. Like other virtual reality dating platforms, users create their own avatars to represent their personalities and physical attributes. These avatars are fully customizable and are focal points to the interactions between other users in the application. 

Users, via their avatars, can socialize and flirt with each other in designated realms and worlds. 
All the while, users can engage in “micro-dates” (a virtual speed dating format) or socialize organically with others online. Journalist Amelia Hemphill experienced a micro-date in the closed beta environment of Planet Theta. The micro-dates range in format to emulate real-world scenarios, from hikes in the Enchanted Forest to coffee dates at virtual shops.

Mainstream adoption of virtual dating experiences

“We absolutely expect mass adoption, in a very similar way to which swiping apps on your phone have been mass adopted,” said Townsend to end the interview. “There are plenty of people who do not use swiping apps, just like [how] some folks will have no use for VR dating.”

This mainstream adoption of virtual reality dating might be something that Planet Theta’s team expects. Still, one scholar who studies anthropology and sexual culture sees VR dating as an augmentation to relationships but not a total replacement to the practice or to in-person dating.

RECOMMENDED READ: What Will Make Virtual Reality Dating Go Mainstream?

“VR dating is so new that I think we’ll have to wait to see what trends emerge,” opines Laura Johnsen, a Ph.D. Candidate in anthropology at Binghamton University, SUNY, in New York.

“But so far, it seems like all of the platforms are promoting different ways of self-expression that go beyond what we can do in real life,” Johnsen explains. “I think VR dating has the potential to become really popular for a few reasons. Firstly, I think people are frustrated with traditional online dating apps and want to try something new. We’re tired of swiping, receiving boring or inappropriate messages, and being ghosted. VR dating potentially offers a different experience.”

Image Sources: Unsplash, Planet Theta

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Potential ramifications are too high for teledildonics producers to ignore.

The sex tech space has significantly grown in customer base with user acquisition for such devices hitting a peak during the primacy of the Covid-19 pandemic and its waning months. 

However, with an increasing trend in consumer use and the continued development of smart sex toys and their integration with mainstream adult platforms, there is an increased concern for user safety, data protection, and the vital cybersecurity standards that ensure elements of trust.

A problematic legacy

“When you look at things from the perspective of ‘what would I expect from a sex toy,’ the level of security people expect is far higher than they currently allow in most devices,” says Brad “RenderMan” Haines, the white hat hacker who usually goes by his online handle.

“If we expected the same from our thermostats, fridges, baby monitors, etc as we would a connected sex toy, then we realize how bad the security, privacy and safety we tolerate actually is.”

Haines is one of the minds behind the Internet of Dongs Project, where he and his team dedicate their free time to hack smart sex toys to measure their security and privacy. 

“Common problems I found early on were lack of authentication where someone could take over another person’s account or gain access to private information like names, email addresses, and more,” he says. “I could determine who was allowed to connect to who for long distance control, thus revealing relationships.”

“Most frightening was several leaking GPS coordinates of the users when they were using the app, potentially enabling stalkers and others to locate users for harassment or other things.”

RELATED READ: What to Consider Before Buying a Bluetooth-Enabled Sex Toy

Ramifications of a sex tech data breach exceed other industries

“Fortunately, among the major vendors, they quickly realized the implications of what I’d found and for almost all of the vendors I reached out to, I had a laundry list of vulnerabilities and, in several cases, their entire user database was on a silver plate,” Haines says.

“Unfortunately, sex and sex tech remain a taboo topic for many folks, although they still engage privately,” notes sex tech evangelist Bobbi Bidochka in a different conversation.

“In fact, out of all the industries, the ramifications of data breaches and cyber attacks in sex tech far exceeds those of regular business.” 

There is much at risk when you consider the scope of data and personal information tied to a smart sex toy and the operating systems used to power these devices, as Bidochka alluded.

Building a future where privacy is prioritized

Some companies have developed devices that have evolved to the point of informing users of how to have better orgasms during use through interactive visualizations. 

James Wang, chief technical officer and a co-founder of Lioness.io, explained how his company protects this type of highly personal data.

Lioness is a brand of smart vibrators that utilizes its own software to improve orgasms through biofeedback protocols. By the nature of this data, security would mean top priority. 

“We can’t fully comment on everything that’s done, but at least we’re seeing more companies implementing the bare minimum standards required for security and privacy on modern devices,” Wang says, alluding to cases like the We-Vibe class action lawsuit over data collection.

How companies like Lioness reduce the risk

“We not only ‘do the basics’ in security policies, best practices, access control, and encryption; we also take explicit steps to anonymize data to reduce risk as much as we can,” Wang says. 

“Even if someone breaks into our internal networks, steals our encryption key, and makes off with our data… they’d end up with anonymized usernames that can’t be tied back without also breaking into our authentication provider—a large, dedicated security firm,” he explains.

“The information you get out of that is ‘someone masturbated,’ which is more or less valueless whether they were looking to try and monetize this data or simply expose it.”

Image sources: GuerrillaBuzz Blockchain PR Agency

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