Sex simulation games that make virtual sex feel as good as it does in the real world—or maybe even better

Before we journey into the hot and steamy world of the best games and most realistic sex simulators, we should first visit the rather unnerving uncanny valley.

Conceived by professor Masahiro Mori back in 1970, it wasn’t until 1978 that the term first appeared in print, in Jasia Reichardt’s book Robots: Fact, Fiction, and Prediction.

The uncanny valley is a theory that the closer computer-generated imagery (CGI) or robots resemble real human beings—the more realistic or lifelike they attempt—the more likely they will provoke feelings of unease or disgust.

Screenshot from multiplayer sex world 3DXChat [NSFW]

Sex Simulation Games & Adult PC Games

In the last few years, however, a better understanding of the phenomenon, as well as more advanced technologies, have allowed developers to create the most realistic sex games possible without provoking this disquieting response.

You can find perfect examples here in our list of the best sex games and most realistic sex game simulators. These titles work hard to get close to an illusion of erotic reality without steering players into the eerie uncanny valley.

Today’s best sex simulation games also synch with sex toys. Thanks to Bluetooth technology, you can both watch and feel the erotic action unfold with interactive sex toys from companies like Lovense and Vstroker.

While many of them are adult PC games, we’ve also included our selection of realistic sex games and sex simulators that support Mac, iOS, and Linux.

Best Sex Simulators

Adult World 3D

Image from Adult World 3D [NSFW]

Here’s a game that says it right on their site: “The Most Realistic 3D Sex!” Surprisingly, Adult World 3D [NSFW] lives up to this claim with high-definition graphics, a wide range of erotic activities, and multiple characters.

The sex simulator that scores points for being as lifelike as possible for a CGI title. It’s PC only, so if you’re an Apple user you may be tempted to switch.

According to the game site: “Some of the finest game designers and computer graphics artists in the world have put their skills to the fore in delivering a game of the most outstanding quality. Each and every fair vixen in the game is rendered with stunning clarity and detail, and it is almost as if you could reach out and touch them.”

Its creators are also behind other visually stunning adult PC games like Dream Sex World [NSFW]—pictured in the article top image—as well as fetish games like VirtualLust3D [NSFW].

3DXChat

We’ve talked many times about 3DXChat [NSFW]—including in our lists for Best Sex Games for Women, Best VR Sex Games, and Foot Fetish Games That Will Knock Your Socks Off (to name just three)—but always for really good reasons: it’s just that good. As you can tell, it’s definitely one of our favorite adult PC games.

RECOMMENDED READ: Review of the Best Massively Multiplayer Online Sex Games

It’s also a longtime favorite on our best sex games and most realistic sex simulators list. Why? Because its graphics are some of the best, if not the very best, for a massively multiplayer online sex game. The adult PC game also deftly avoids the icy wastes of the uncanny valley by skillfully balancing a borderline-cartoonish style with realistic avatar modeling and physics.

There’s also the fact that 3DXChat [NSFW] is an immense playground open to almost infinite possibilities. Players can appear as realistic, or fantastic, as they choose. Not only can they customize how their avatars look, but they can also build public or private locations and special hookup spots.

Mirror Life

Screenshot from interactive sex simulator, Mirror Life

What better way for Lovense—one of the world’s most innovative and highly respected smart sex tech companies—to explore the erotic possibilities of merging their Bluetooth-enabled products with video game technology than to make their own, fully immersive and wonderfully versatile sex simulator?

Which is precisely what Lovense has done with Mirror Life: a free-to-play test bed built from the ground up to work with their Max 2 app-controlled male masterbator.  Though Mirror Life remains a work-in-progress, if you have a Max 2 then you must, as in right-this-very-minute, try it for yourself and experience the future of interactive erotic gaming.

Sex Emulator 

Fire up this animated 3D simulator and be prepared to lose yourself in its nearly limitless erotic possibilities.  Fun through this sex simulator most assuredly is, the Sex Emulator has more enjoyable tricks up its (virtual) sleeve) to the tune of a whopping four hundred other hot interactive games, adult videos, and more to also check out.

Not only that, but if English isn’t your native tongue you’re in luck as Sex Emulator’s available in five other languages, including French, Spanish, and German; making it not only a rollicking good time but an international delight as well.

BDSM Stimulator

Prepare to get your kink on when you visit BDSM Stimulator [NSFW]

Another pleasantly surprising—and quite frankly much needed—sex simulator is BDSM Stimulator [NSFW]. Why surprising? Well, like Sex Simulator, it’s a free-to-play browser title, though it does require players to register to verify their identity. 

But after that, you can whip, cane, or bound your choice of its many characters, and—where things get really interesting—engage with other, real people in multiplayer mode. 

Why is this particular sex simulation game needed? The answer is while a majority of games on our list can be pretty hardcore at times, BDSM Stimulator takes kinky sex to a whole new level. It even proclaims itself as “The World’s Most Extreme Sex Game,” which, compared to our rather extensive BDSM-related experiences, it most definitely is.

Adult Online Play

The loading screen for Adult Online Play [NSFW]

Adult Online Play [NSFW] has one hundred different sex simulation games, ranging from simple and exciting all the way to outrageously wild—made all the better because each is as realistic as it is erotically engaging.

The fun gets funner because a good selection of its titles are not just free to play but are playable on a good number of portable devices, like tables and smartphones.

Plus, if you like what you can see, you can become a member, unlocking Adult Online Play’s entire catalog of high-quality sex simulation games.

Captain Hardcore

Welcome to Captain Hardcore [NSFW]

Blast off to unknown, erotic worlds with Captain Hardcore [NSFW], a very tongue-in-cheek game where players may encounter an assortment of alien tongues, not to mention perky cheeks. 

As playful as it is erotically adventurous, Captain Hardcore may still be in development, but what it offers makes it more than makes it worth supporting, like its multi-VR system support, and it’s planned to support all of Lovense’s smart sex toys or the Fleshlight of your choosing.

Captain Hardcore also advertises a wide assortment of game possibilities. Do you like a sexually satisfying guided story, or prefer fooling around in a sky’s-the-limit sandbox mode? Then you are in luck, as those barely scratch the high-tech, chrome-plated surface of what Captain Hardcore has planned for its—and your—future.

Best VR Sex Simulators

Cyber Sexuals

A high-tech, cyberdelic treat like no other: Cyber Sexuals [NSFW]

Combining AAA video game mechanics with state-of-the-art erotic imagery, Cyber Sexuals [NSFW] is an episodic, immersive VR experience like no other. While our review noted it may need a few small improvements, Cyber Sexuals nevertheless remains an example of what happens when speculative fiction originality meets engaging gameplay—not to mention a hefty dose of premium-quality sexual virtual reality interactions.

Best of all, Cyber Sexuals is an ongoing project with at least one more brand-new, engaging installment in the works, so stay tuned and prepared for even more cyberpunk delights in the not-too-distant future.

Viro Playspace

Less a single game and more of a vast, showplace for all sorts of exciting virtual reality and smart sex toy-supportive experiences, Viro Playspace has about everything for everybody; ranging from hardcore BDSM to LGBTQ+ inclusive games—not to mention a zoo full of furry ones too.

Viro Playspace is all about supporting as much immersive tech as possible; like a host VR rigs such as the HTC Vive,  Value Index, Oculus Rift, and more than forty Bluetooth-equipped sex toys from the likes of Kiiroo Lovense, and WeVibe.

xStoryPlayer

Similar to 3D SexVilla 2, XStoryPlayer [NSFW] (from X Moon Productions) is an offline experience. And like 3DXChat, it supports virtual reality headgear for an immersive and lifelike experience. The sex simulator cements a place on our best sex games list by focusing on high-resolution graphics and eye-popping physics.

That’s because its immersive capabilities make it one of the most realistic sex games, so thank you very much for virtual reality!

As for gameplay, it doesn’t just jump into sex but rather asks users to create a relationship with one of the characters—but once that’s done you can do pretty much whatever you want.

The adult PC game—sorry Mac users—supports HTC Vive and Oculus Rift virtual reality headsets.

VR Love

Slip on your Oculus Quest/Rift, HTC Vive, or Value Index VR headset, charge your Lovense Max or Nora and hang on tight as VRLove proves the only thing better than an ultra-lifelike sex simulation game is a fully immersive and sex tech integrated one from the adult entertainment experts over at VirtualRealPorn.

If you’re an Amarna Miller fan, you can even have her star in your own virtual fantasies—or customize your own character to suit your wildest erotic fantasies.  

City Of Sin 3D

Accurately billed as providing “mind-blowing 3D virtual intimacy,” City Of Sin 3D provides you the choice of sixteen pre-made characters or the option to make your own from an impressively-huge library of skin tones, body-shapes, hair-colors, and more positions than the Kama Sutra to put your creations into!

Available for Windows, City Of Sin 3D steps it up a notch (or two, or three) with its  smooth-as-silk Fleshlight Launch, Flixband, and Stroker for Fleshlight integration.

Dezyred VR

It’s no wonder Dezyred [NSFW] has been on our sex simulation radar since it and its entertainingly arousing titles appeared on the virtual reality adult entertainment scene: it’s a big—and getting bigger—section of immersive, totally explicit games that are a sight to behold and a hoot-and-a-half to play.

Games like Double Trouble [NSFW] and A Day With Bella Rolland [NSFW] are just two of their premium quality sex simulators that are freely available—though, like BDSM Simulation, you’ll need to sign up first.

Part of the VR Bangers network, paying for Dezyred sometimes gives you access to their six other sites, depending on how much you’re willing to pay and if Dezyred is promoting any special offers.

Best Lesbian Sex Simulators

Girlvania

If you love girl-on-girl action, you need to download Girlvania right away! This sex simulator caters exclusively to lesbian fantasies and even includes a legs and feet expansion package for stockings and foot lovers.

Best Gay Sex Simulators

Hurt Me Plenty

On the surface this game is simple: you spank a sexy, beefy fellow. But there is more—so much more—to Hurt Me Plenty [NSFW], and this more is why it definitely deserves a place on our most realistic sex games list.

You see, this is a sex simulator that doesn’t only strive to be an accurate depiction of the reality of BDSM. It also guides the player in proper and responsible play.

It all begins with negotiation, agreeing to a safeword, and the like—and then comes the spanking action. But if you continue after the other character calls out the safeword, the action will abruptly stop and you’ll be presented with the following message: “Your partner is still recovering from the previous player’s abuse and violation of boundaries.” The game will then lock you out of any further action—sometimes for a matter of days.

While it may not be lifelike in its graphics, Hurt Me Plenty’s lesson of the real importance of responsible and consensual BDSM play is one that we desperately need to be seeing more of.

This sex simulator is available to download for Mac, Windows, and Linux.

Trans Pornstar Harem

The importance—and sexual desirability—of inclusiveness is on full display with Trans Pornstar Harem [NSFW]. An exciting, free-to-play erotic title, Trans Pornstar Harem combines the immersiveness of a good RPG game with erotic, no-holds-barred explicitness. It’s guaranteed to turn your nether regions on as much as its carefully constructed mechanics excites your brain.

Trans Pornstar Harem puts you in the loafers of a would-be adult entertainment tycoon who has the enviable task of (ahem) “auditioning” some of the hottest and more willing trans porn stars in the business.

Since it won’t cost you anything but the time it takes to open it on your PC, Mac, smartphone, or tablet, we definitely recommend it to those of you into trans sexuality, RPG games, and especially titles that merge each into an inclusive, entertaining, and sexually exciting sex simulator.

Best Sex Games for Mac

Being a Mac user isn’t always easy when it comes to sex games. Many are PC only. Sure, browser-based sex games are an option, but downloadable sex games have a lot more to offer by their very nature.

RECOMMENDED READ: THE BEST SEX GAMES FOR MAC

That’s why we took the time to share a list of the Best Sex Games For Mac along with their top features. In brief, for Mac users searching for a multiplayer sex game, we recommend trying Yareel [NSFW]. For gay gamers, the best sex games for Mac are the browser-based RPG sex game  Gay Harem [NSFW] and the dating sim Dream Daddy.

Best Sex Games on Steam

One Night Stand

Here’s a question: what exactly qualifies a title for being the most realistic sex game? What is perceived as being realistic? Graphics can be part of it, trying to avoid that uncanny valley another, but what about the story?

That’s why we’re including the sex simulator One Night Stand [NSFW] by Lucy Blundell on our list of the best sex games and most realistic sex simulators. Instead of focusing on sex as pure fantasy, this title plays a mystery game that begins with you waking up next to a stranger after a titular one-night stand.

This sex simulator is an erotic visual novel that supports Windows, Mac iOS, and Linux.

Through a series of on-screen choices, you—as the male protagonist—work to figure out who the woman is and what happened the previous evening. This leads to one of 12 different endings: some good, some not-so-good.

While maybe not a steamy exercise, it’s still recommended for its elegant art style and unique approach to the realities of sex: the morning after.

Waifu Sex Simulator

One of the Internet’s favorite virtual reality hentai games is Waifu Sex Simulator. It was created by Lewd FRAGGY, who calls the VR sex game content “unofficial fan-made work.”

Players can have their pick from more than 1,000 hot models inspired by top anime characters, games, and TV shows. You can also make the scenes interactive by controlling the action with your bare hands or VR controllers. For these reasons, Waifu Sex Simulator is one of the most realistic and best sex simulators around. It also features more than 300 sex animations and high-quality graphics.

For more info on installing the realistic waifu sex simulator, there’s a very useful tutorial posted on Reddit.

The future of realistic sex games and sex simulators

While we are rapidly approaching a time when in the most realistic sex games graphics will become indistinguishable —it’s important to call out another form of the uncanny valley: that it’s time for games to try and approach the less-than-visual realities of sex.

Not that fantasy should be avoided. However, when too many people are engaging in physical pleasure without a clear idea of the emotional, social, and physical realities of what can come with it, developers of adult PC games need to take responsibility to become part of the solution and not the problem.

Hopefully, because of public demand as well as game designers understanding their responsibilities, we’ll be seeing realistic sex games that aren’t just pretty to look at but will provide a deeper, more nuanced, and even educational approach to the realities of sex.

What do you think of our list of the most realistic sex simulators and best sex games? Did we miss any great realistic sex game titles or adult PC games? Please feel free to share your top picks with us on Twitter or Bluesky.

Image sources: Image sources: 3DXChat [NSFW], Adult World 3D [NSFW], 3D SexVilla 2 [NSFW], XStoryPlayer [NSFW], Mirror Life [NSFW], Sex Simulator [NSFW], BDSM Simulator [NSFW], Adult Online Play [NSFW], Captain Hardcore [NSFW], Dezyred VR [NSFW], Hurt Me Plenty [NSFW], Trans Pornstar Harem [NSFW]

The post Review of the Best Sex Games and Most Realistic Sex Simulators [UPDATED] appeared first on Future of Sex.

Limitless creativity versus the same old, unimaginative slop

“The disturbing irony of our culture’s current mindset is that as society fights against women’s victimization, it also collectively promotes and celebrates the porn industry—an industry that inherently, directly, and unapologetically victimizes women for entertainment and profit,” claims Fight The New Drug, a non-religious, nonprofit anti-pornography advocacy group.

Other groups and organizations agree, such as Citizens for Decency, Enough Is Enough, and the UK-based Naked Truth, with CEO and founder Ian Henderson, declaring “Porn is hijacking people’s lives, robbing futures, families and freedom. We educate on the damages of porn and journey people towards a life without it—a life of authentic connection and healthy relationships.”

Though what if adult content could be produced that not only doesn’t involve human performers but also provides an emotionally healthy sexual outlet?

The answer is it’s already here, compliments of another currently controversial subject, image-generating artificial intelligence—with an explicit twist.

Tell me what you want

While major players in the AI industry remain committed to keeping their Large Language Models sexually chaste, the proliferation of similar technologies has led to the rise of more erotically liberated options. Candy AI, Deep Swap AI, Lovescape, the list goes on and on—and is getting longer nearly every day.

Naturally, anti-porn crusaders aren’t happy, though aside from Collective Shout’s demonetization campaign against erotic game developers, it seems most of their focus has been on supporting anti-deepfake laws.

In all fairness, the creation and distribution of anyone’s likeness without their permission is inexcusable —let alone whether exploitive or intentionally harmful—just as AI also shouldn’t ever be trained using creator-unapproved media.

RECOMMENDED READ: Lemons? Make Sexy Lemonade: Ersties Hires Chief Pleasure Officer As Pornhub Flounders

Not dismissing these and other legitimate concerns, the issue appears to be whether trying to put the sexually explicit digital genie back in its bottle is either futile or possibly even emotionally and/or sexually harmful.

As 404Media put it, “Much like anti-abortion laws don’t end abortion, and the so-called war on drugs didn’t ‘win’ over drugs, anti-porn laws don’t end the adult industry. They only serve to shift power from people—sex workers, adult content creators, consumers of Porn and anyone who wants to access sexual speech online without overly-burdensome barriers—to politicians like Senator Mike Lee, who is currently pushing to criminalize Porn at the federal level.”

Your wish is my command

Without ignoring the necessity for some legal regulation, it’s important to frame the discussionaround the crucial importance of consent and less about anti-porn hysteria. In that context, non-human-involved adult content has a lot going for it.

To begin with, people have enjoyed making and viewing sexy pictures for as long as we could carve our fantasies onto cave walls—or drag a stick along the ground Sure, our sticks are now ultra-sophisticated algorithms, and our canvas is the world-spanning internet, but the principle’s the same.

So why, thousands of years later, should the same sort of sexualized media be the downfall of humanity?  If anything, erotic fantasies are often emotionally beneficial 

Enter Psychology Today, “Just as fantasizing about being a world-class jewel thief doesn’t mean you’re going to become a thief, having sexual fantasies doesn’t mean you’re going to act on them. Fantasizing is our brain’s way of projecting a future scenario or trying ideas on for size. It’s also a way of reliving a wonderful moment or deriving comfort or pleasure from an alternative reality.”

Just give it a little rub

The developing, non-exploitative, as it is not based on a real person’s likeness without permission, along with a few other important safeguards like preventing the generation of underage characters or depictions of non-consensual violence or emotional/sexual abuse, might curb, if not potentially eliminate, the female exploitation.

On top of all that, it would put creative control in the hands of the people who need it the most While once we had to accept what the industry put out, with AI technology we’ll be able to self express our erotic imaginations like never before—and, with the exception of those crucial guidelines —without limit.

It’s time to finally accept the warm, human reality that arousal can be as essential and life-affirming as a good belly laugh 

But just as we shouldn’t find humans at someone else’s expense, so too AI-generated adult materials mustn’t ever be based on someone without their permission—instead of focusing on healthy, life-affirming, pleasure-affirming fantasies.

Image Sources: Depositphotos

The post To AI or Not to AI: Wonderfully Great or Extremely Bad for the Adult Entertainment Industry—And Us? appeared first on Future of Sex.

Anti-adult entertainment legislation causing industry to rethink its content—and itself

With age verification laws sweeping the world and Aylo Group Ltd., owner of the huge explicit entertainment platform, Pornhub, getting slapped with a record 5 million dollar fine for failing to remove existing, as well as preventing the re-upload of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and non-consensual material (NCM) from its sites, it’s no wonder other adult content providers are reevaluating not only what they are creating and/or distributing but also how to make their content more erotically appealing to their customers.

The women-run-and-operated site, Ersties [NSFW], is a perfect example, recently having hired its very first “Chief Pleasure Officer,” who, aided by a carefully collected Pleasure Test Crew—aka “The W*nk Squad”—will be personally reviewing the platform’s content to ensure everything’s as immersive and authentically engaging as possible.

Reported by UniladTech, the CPO’s duties, according to the Ersties spokesperson, Cat, will involve “checking that the shot doesn’t cut and change right at the moment the user wants it to stay, to evaluating camera angles, and the natural rhythm of scenes to ensure the content remains sexy, authentic, visually appealing, and emotionally resonant.”

Lights, Camera—Consensuality?

Viewer satisfaction might be one crucial aspect, but the Chief Pleasure Officer also reflects the company’s mission. That is, as Cat further explained, “making ethical, authentic, women-led adult entertainment, with a pleasure experience that’s like no other. We want our users to feel good watching our content from the moment they click on the website to the moment they ‘finish’.”

RECOMMENDED READ: Age Verification Laws Driving Adult Content Creators Underground

Whether it’s trying to criminalize the production, distribution, or consumption of anything remotely sex-related—as with the proposed Michigan law aiming to erase LGBTQIA+ people from existence—or utilizing age verification laws to effectively drive companies such as Pornhub out of business, it seems like the adult entertainment industry has never been so relentlessly, ruthlessly targeted.

But also, like Pornhub, due to its inability or unwillingness to prevent the proliferation of CSAM and NCM videos, it’s easy to see why. It sometimes even feels as if the industry wants to be in the crosshairs, especially considering Ersties’ apparently simple approach could be what the industry needs to pull itself out of its self-imposed gutter.

Filth Doesn’t Have to Be Filthy

Admittedly, religious zealots like the authors of the already mentioned Michigan bill will likely never be swayed. However, promoters of the idea that adult materials foster unhealthy sexual attitudes, like the objectification of women, or are non-consensually created, might have their views swayed by Ersties-inspired companies.

“Sex shouldn’t be intimidating, it’s meant to be fun,” the company’s site eloquently states, “so even the most sensual, sexy moments should feel relatable and beautiful to watch. We want to show the kind of sex you could be having, just with better lighting! Real people, real bodies, real moans, real consent, real orgasms.”

Since they are such a well-deserved target, compare that with Pornhub and the myriad other sites the Aylo Group owns: nothing about taking responsibility, zero about authenticity, and especially nada about consent.

Listen and Act

It’s naive to think the adult entertainment industry’s driven by anything except making as much as and as fast as possible—no matter who gets hurt in the process.

That was then, but now that reckless expediency is coming back to haunt them. If creators, distributors, and platforms want to keep raking it in—to the tune of 275 billion USD by 2032, as per Maximize Market Research—they should start by listening to what those anti-porn advocates are saying, then, armed with this essential knowledge, act intelligently.

Borrowing a page or two from Ersties’ sexually-progressive playbook might be one approach: not merely claiming you’re going to be more responsible but actually making systemic changes to ensure it—as WHPDD (“What Hasn’t Pornhub Done”).

Likewise, instead of relying on cheap algorithms to regulate what does and doesn’t end up on your platform, hire your own Squad. More expensive? Sure, but so is a 5-million-dollar FTC fine.

The truth is that a majority of adult entertainment companies are too big to fail or be outlawed. But that doesn’t mean theycan’t be knocked back, hobbled, or kept from evolving into a sexually and emotionally healthy, ethically responsible, beautifully imaginative industry, which might happen if those involved keep failing to pay attention—and don’t realize that sex, joy, and pleasure aren’t just profitable but important.

Image Sources: Depositphotos

The post Lemons? Make Sexy Lemonade: Ersties Hires Chief Pleasure Officer As Pornhub Flounders appeared first on Future of Sex.

How ultra-immersive adult entertainment might be altering our sexual awareness

A paper by researchers from Indonesia’s University of 17 Agustus 1945 Surabaya and Gadjah Mada University examines the possibility explicit virtual reality media may cause consumers to develop unexpectedly different views towards what is or isn’t intimate—perhaps even shifting their sexual identities and perspectives.

Conducted by Nara Garini Ayuningrum, Achmedza Aziz Ghofar, Isrida Yul Arifiana, and Nadia Aulia Ferlinda, and subsequently published in the Journal of Scientific Research, Education, and Technology (JSRET), the research is framed around sociology and philosophy’s concept of hyperreality; the point when a sufficiently immersive technology becomes more real than real, including to the point where genuine experiences could either feel less appealing or ironically a pale imitation of someone’s preferred, yet wholly synthetic, virtual version of it.

The Astroturf is greener

The study employs a qualitative approach along with netnography—a form of “Netnography is a qualitative research method adapted from traditional ethnography. 

Developed by Robert Kozinets (2019), systematic observation and analysis of online interactions uses discussions, shared content, and comments to try to understand the cultural practices, social dynamics, and collective meanings of digital spaces. 

Valuable for exploring how individuals engage with, contribute to, and shape online communities, Netnography helped the team analyze this phenomenon by reviewing Pornhub’s top three Virtual Reality-based adult videos.

As part of their evaluation, the team broke down the elements behind VR’s ever-increasing popularity, beginning with accessibility. Until relatively recently, virtual reality technology was too expensive for most to try, let alone spend a lot of time exploring.

RECOMMENDED READ: One (Virtual) Step At A Time: Using VR to Alleviate Sexual Stress

Next is anonymity, the allure of being able to watch or, with more advanced gear, interact with anything, anywhere, and at any time. Then there’s accommodation, meaning accompanying virtual reality’s undeniably explosive growth has been a matching rise in the number of sometimes wildly different types of content. In short, if you’re into it, then somewhere out there is a site—or more like a dozen sites right up your sexual alley.

Too good or not good enough?

From there, the researchers state, “the most cutting-edge step that VR Porn tries to accommodate is the projection of intimacy,” noting how feeling emotionally connected with someone else is essential for forming and nurturing healthy relationships, sexual or otherwise: 

“If the implementation of VR technology manages to get a combination of hardware, software, and sensory synchronicity, then it will achieve something known as a “sense of presence”, where the subject really feels like a real presence. In its development and efforts to make sense, VR Porn devices can create entirely new and immersive sexual experiences for their users that may never be realized to be done in the real world”

However, the team disparages VR’s total immersion, leading to where, “Instead of expressing sexual desires, the constant consumption of VR Porn and self-isolation from the real world can have a misleading effect on the abyss of pseudo-reality.”

Beyond compare

It’s difficult, if not flat-out impossible, to predict what, if any, negative impacts VR adult content might have on human sexuality in the coming decades.  If the  Indonesian team is even slightly correct, we could see a growing number of people for whom sex outside of VR might feel like a pale imitation of their preferred, super high-resolution, state-of-the-art, better-than-the-real-thing reality.

However, even if proven to be true, it will be years, if not decades, before these sorts of not merely fully but totally indistinguishable—eventually surpassing what lies beyond our VR headsets—immersive fantasies can come anywhere close to reality.

But even if these technological advances came faster than expected, would they, if you take my previous suggestion, do what these and other researchers appear so worried about?  Yes, VR can be shockingly immersive, but take away its bells and/or whistles, and it’s basically what happens when watching adult videos, reading erotic literature, or looking at dirty pictures.  

Except rather than virtual reality doing all the work for us, our imaginations transport us to universes of idealized, sexually limitless experiences where anything goes: world after world, fantasy after fantasy, all freed from reality’s annoyances and limitations.

It’s not if virtual reality will alter society and how we view and interact with each other sexuality, but when and how. Positive, negative, or somewhere in between, we shouldn’t forget that while reality is not without its many pleasurable perks, we’ll always prefer our fantasies.  

It’s not wrong, dangerous, or heralding your choice of sexual, cultural doomsday, but what makes us so wonderfully human.

Image Sources: Depositphotos

The post When Real Isn’t Real Enough: VR and Hyperreality’s Erotic Allure appeared first on Future of Sex.

SB 523 targets adult content while carving out exemptions for married couples

A Baptist minister serving in the Oklahoma State Senate, Dusty Deevers wants everyone except married couples to be prosecuted, fined, and imprisoned for any transmission, ownership, or viewing adult content. Unless, of course, you’re a  presumably heterosexual married couple wanting to share spicy selfies. 

According to XBiz, Deever’s proposed Senate Bill 523 amends existing laws, many already existing to prohibit underage sexual imagery and under eighteen access to adult content sites such as Pornhub. 

Quoted in the article, Deevers claims “pornography is both degenerate material and a highly addictive drug” and his proposed law would “restore moral sanity.”

But it’s one thing to propose legislation against child pornography—something most people clearly support—and quite another thing to prohibit materials depicting every possible type of adult consensual sexual behavior.

In the eye of the legislator

Though SB 523 and the laws it intends to amend includes the oft-quoted definition of pornography as lacking “serious literary, artistic, educational, political, or scientific

purposes or value,” the law would also prohibit depictions of “sexual intercourse which is normal or perverted;” “oral and anal sodomy”; oral sex; masturbation; “lewd exhibition” of uncovered sexy body parts; bondage; and flogging. 

“Acts of excretion in a sexual context” would also be prohibited, suggesting it’s okay to possess, view, or transmit depictions of bodily excretions that somehow aren’t sexual.

As Corey Silverstein, an adult industry attorney, told Xbiz, “Oklahoma’s SB 593 is one of the most ridiculous proposed anti-pornography laws that I’ve ever seen.” 

Similarly quoted in Xbiz, Mike Stabile, Director of Public Policy at Free Speech Coalition, said, “Porn is the canary in the coal mine of free speech, and the trial balloon used by governments to pass laws that can censor speech more broadly.”

So, wait! More than just sexy spousal selfies?

A curious feature of Oklahoma’s SB 523 is the ending of Section Section 1024.2., “This section shall not be construed to prevent spouses from sending images of a sexual nature to each other.” 

So it’s not against the law if Dusty Deevers—or any of his colleagues in the state senate or in his congregation—want to send depictions of “acts of excretion in a sexual context” to their legal spouses? 

And does Section 1024.2.’s oddly worded, legislative afterthought mean images don’t have to necessarily feature either one of the married couple or that its hefty fines and lengthy sentences need not apply?

Criminalizing behavior–and creators of adult content

SB 523 goes a step further. Not content with prohibiting viewing, owning, or distributing the naughty images, no one  would be allowed help produce them:

No person shall knowingly photograph, act in, pose for, model for, print, sell, offer for sale, give away, exhibit, publish, offer to publish, or otherwise distribute, display, or exhibit any book, magazine, story, pamphlet, paper, writing, card, advertisement, circular, print, picture, photograph, motion picture film, electronic video game or recording, image, cast, slide, figure, instrument, statue, drawing, presentation, or other article which is obscene material.

Don’t you be my neighbor

That’s not all, SB 523 actually provides a financial incentive for citizens to inform on one another. Free Speech Coalition, which tracks legislation affecting the adult industries, summarized:

The measure authorizes any person to bring action against any person who produces or distributes such items and knowingly engages in conduct that aids or abets the production or distribution of unlawful pornography. The measure provides that a person prevailing in his or her claims shall be entitled to $10,000.00 for each image as well as court costs and attorney fees. 

One is one too many

Dusty Deevers may have set his sights on erotic imagery but legislators elsewhere, like Texas State Representative Hillary Gail Hickland, have taken aim at pleasure products too. In December she introduced Texas HB 1549 to prevent sex toys from being sold in Target, Walmart, and CVS, referring to sex toys as “obscene devices.”

Likewise, Indiana enacted a bill banning sexually oriented businesses from operating within 1,000 feet of “any location where children may be present.” And if you are trying to locate a sex toy retailer in West Virginia, you’re out of luck, as a 2023 law restricts all sexually oriented businesses, including “retailers of videos, pleasure products, and print materials, theaters, strip clubs, and even art studios featuring nude models.” 

Worse, yet these and other state laws could be harbingers of federal legislation, evidenced by the current US administration’s embrace of the conservative Project 2025’s advocation that “Pornography should be outlawed. The people who produce and distribute it should be imprisoned.”

For a fact-checked discussion of the impact of prohibitions of adult content and how this has been centered in US policy discussions, check the Woodhull Freedom Foundation.

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons

The post Oklahoma’s Anti-porn Bill Empowers Citizens to Police Sexuality—and Profit From It appeared first on Future of Sex.

Getting what you want may not be as good as having what you need

Creators and consumers are growing increasingly concerned about the impact of artificial intelligence-made media on the adult entertainment industry. 

In this vein, let’s examine several ways AI-created adult content might change us, our desires, and the business side of things—positively and negatively.

Every erotic wish come true

For a long time, adult media might be likened to a scavenger hunt, a situation where people with specific sexual interests have had to settle with what they can find.

And even if they can locate books, stories, and movies that hit at least some of their unique sexual buttons, it could feel like settling for some, but not all, of what they’re craving.

For if you yearn for male-identified, lederhosen-wearing clowns getting frisky with inflatable farm animals, you might find something featuring one, but rarely, if ever, two of those desires.

That used to be the case, but now, with the advent of AI-generated media, we can make a nearly limitless number of images, films, explicit stories, or erotic chatbots, each filled to the brim with every sexual desire imaginable.

RECOMMENDED READ: Pen Still Mighty? AI-Written Erotica Reviewed by a (Human) Erotica Writer

Little room for surprises—or growth

While the ability to generate everything and anything you or anyone else desires sounds ideal, it might have several unforeseen side effects.

Valerie A. Lapointe, a PhD psychology candidate at Université du Québec à Montréal, and Simon Dubé, a Research Fellow at the Kinsey Institute, postulate that it might lead to people getting emotionally trapped within their own endlessly satisfying fantasies.

They write, “Users may find themselves gradually drawn deeper into a world where their desires are continuously met, furthering risks of dependency or social isolation.”

Another worrying aspect of getting our sexual needs endlessly fulfilled is this might also rob us of sexual discovery—and limit our personal, sexual evolution.

You see, the thing about needing to search for adult content you enjoy is it also exposes you to unexpected or just plain old different erotic experiences—something you’re likely to miss if you only play in your fully customizable erotic sandbox.

Valuing human-created erotic media

Just as fast-food joints have a different market niche from five-star restaurants, there’s an extremely good chance that fast, cheap AI-generated explicit content won’t replace human content in the adult industry.

If anything, AI content may strengthen demand for human-produced work, boosting its popularity: first, as there’s a high probability machine learning systems can’t—at least for a decade or two—replicate the various nuances found in hand-made books, movies, or illustrations and, two, people are apt to crave explicit media with more of a human touch.

It also might be the result of, as we mentioned before, getting everything you want yet lusting after the unpredictable, which AI—incapable of producing content that isn’t based on what others have already done—can’t do.

May the most creative survive

It is probable that some writers, actors, filmmakers, animators, and others may need help competing with AI-adult production systems.

But competition between artificial intelligence and human creators might prove beneficial to everyone—including the adult entertainment industry, which has an almost one hundred billion dollar impact on the global economy.

Until recently, the business was fueled by what humans were able to produce. High quality or low, it’s all we had. Now imagine what might happen as explicit content-creating AI systems begin forcing flesh-and-blood creators to up their game.  

Faced with cheaper, more adaptable AI competition able to generate their customers’ wildest fantasies, the business might be compelled to expand what erotica is and can be by working with and not in conflict with AI systems and so help—customers and industry alike—evolve sexually.

Image Sources: Depositphotos

The post Four Unexpected Reasons to Worry—or Not—About AI-Generated Adult Content appeared first on Future of Sex.