This is a guest post from Neil at Virtual Reality Smash
Can Your Long-Distance Relationship Benefit from Virtual Reality?
Mainstream adoption of Virtual Reality is on the rise and with it comes some life changing effects. Once considered a toy useful only for video games and porn, VR is having a large impact on the way lovers who spend a lot of time apart are able to communicate.
There has long been a negative stigma around long distance relationships because many lovers find it difficult to connect meaningfully when they are separated. This can put a real strain on a relationship, especially when long periods of time are involved. Communicating through phone, text, Snapchat, Skype, email or other electronic methods currently help lovers stay in touch, and these innovations have all but eliminated hand written letters (save for a few old school romantics). Even the telephone is almost obsolete, as Skype offers affordable long-distance communication that can also include video. However, Skype and its electronic bretheren are a far cry from being next to a beloved partner and can add to the frustration of a long-distance relationship.
Being separated from a loved one is hardly ever easy, but the option of a virtual reality is helping to break down the distance barrier and allowing lovers to interact with each other like never before. Keep reading as we take a look at ways virtual reality can help keep long-distance relationships going, if not actually make them stronger.
VR Keeps the Fun Going in a Long-Distance Relationship
Virtual Reality technology has recently evolved in leaps and bounds, now allowing lovers to interact with each other in a virtual space. AltSpace VR, a popular game designed to help bridge this gap, is free to play and has been voted as the best social interaction game out at the moment. Users can interact in multiple private or public online rooms where there’s all sorts of cool, fun stuff to keep you occupied together. Users select or create an avatar to represent themselves in the virtual space, which can be anything from a cartoon human to a floating robot head. Lovers can spend quality time as they play board games, challenge themselves in a labyrinth maze, sword fight, or just watch YouTube videos together.
There are also a handful of more realistic apps or games that offer character models and scenic environments that are more realistically centered on real life. vTime allows users to “date” in lifelike settings such as roof top patios that overlook the Eiffel Tower or restaurants modelled on world famous establishments.
AltSpace VR and vTime probably aren’t going to supplant real human contact any time soon, but they do offer an alternative to talking about your day on Skype while looking at your loved ones in a box on your screen. It’s all about being interactive and having fun doing something different. There is also an uncanny sense of the physical body ceasing to matter when the gestures and voice of whatever avatar they choose matches your lovers’.
These VR apps are all good for interacting and having fun, but they really fall flat when it comes to truly connecting, especially in the romantic aspect of relationships. Yes, we’re talking about sex, which if we’re being honest is probably the most difficult aspect of making a long-distance relationship last and be worthwhile.
Virtual Reality and Sex
How can lovers overcome the issue of sex in long-distance relationships? We’re human, after all, and sex is a vital part of many healthy relationships. Unfortunately, aside from getting on a plane and heading over to visit your partners – physical contact is impossible – or is it?
Enter Kiiroo SVir, the first social VR platform that provides an intimate touch. The aim of Kiiroo is to improve peoples’ sex lives, not only for those in long distance relationships, but also for those looking to try something different. Ok, so it’s still not actual physical contact, but Kiiroo works very well for recreating the feeling of being intimate through the use of teledildonics. Offering two devices (sex toys) – one for her and one for him, Kiiroo is able to keep that spark alive in long-distance relationships. One of the devices is insertable and resembles a vibrator or dildo, while another version looks like a high-tech flashlight. The devices contain moving parts that simulate the sensations of sexual intercourse and are electronically linked, responding to input from the users touch. These can be used as stand-alone devices or combined with a VR headset such as the Oculus Rift and a VR porn website such as vrsmash.com, to further increase user enjoyment. As VR webcam technology continues to improve, lovers will be able to have sexual intercourse that’s not only interactive and pleasurable, but as close to face-to-face as it gets. The Kiiroo is the first of it’s kind, and is just the beginning. Looking further down the road, this technology could revolutionize sex and might even add another facet to the way people do it.
There are a plethora of sex games and apps available for virtual reality such as 3DXChat, a virtual space which is unofficially known as the porn version of Second Life and allows users to have sexual encounters via their custom avatars.
What Does the Future Hold for Virtual Sex?
Having relationships and sex in a virtual environment is currently restricted to using avatars, but with steady advancements in web cam and Augmented Reality technology, it is not far off that people will be connecting in virtual reality, as ourselves, in our own environments. While direct human touch still won’t be possible, people will not longer have to use avatars and virtual reality will more closely mimic real life.
For any lovers faced with long-distance relationships, virtual reality can help fill the void and be a saviour for your relationship. We’re keeping our eyes and ears open and will keep you updated on any new developments. If you don’t want distance to push you apart from your beloved who is far away, consider giving virtual reality a try and see if it can’t cut the distance between you.