I know this isn't reddit, but at the risk of downvoting, I had to say that this is the funniest line I've read in a long time. I literally laughed out load for a good, long time.
I've tried this. I concur with not so much the author but "the friend" of the author -- you definitely will have a real sense of intimacy with the actor, especially if they make eye contact and smile warmly at the VR camera, as if they are really happy to be there with you.
And what's particularly interesting is that afterwards, you can really remember the whole thing. It's like it really happened and the memory is even an enjoyable one if the acting vibes were good.
What I think would be fun and wish I could try with my girlfriend would be for her to take the part of the actress and do what she does while I lied back and watched the HMD. I even volunteered for her to wear the HMD (there are videos with female POV), and >I< would do what the guy does. From what I've read you can develop an incredible sense of presence with such fun and games.
No luck, of course. She just laughed and thought I was cray cray.
I think many people will suffer from this invention. Our brain did not evolve to be in an environment with access to so much sexual stimulation, people are already becoming addicted to porn and rewiring their brains to only be turned on by pixels on a screen. This results in erectile dysfunction when they actually try to have sex and decreased energy and motivation in their lives. Just look at some of the stories on the pornfree and noFap subreddits to see what kind of problems porn can cause.
Personally I'd hope to try VR Porn once or twice in my life, further than I can't see the value in it. I believe that sexual energy is a finite resource that should be spent wisely on people you love, not in cold virtual realities.
I'm sure the people who would frequently use VR for their personal pleasure are doing so because they prefer VR instead of the practical reality that it has been really hard to find someone IRL.
Where's that guy with anxiety from yesterday? Strap this to his head and put him in extremely awkward situations of close personal contact. Have the app give instructions on strategies for dealing with anxiety so he can try those things out.
Someone should make that... I'm not into VR yet and have too many other projects or I would.
This is indeed an area of research, you're not unique in seeing this use (sorry! :D)
I am agoraphobic and am aware of, though have not participated in, virtual reality assisted exposure therapy programs for agoraphobics. It's early days, but there's people working on it.
It's particularly exciting for agoraphobia and certain other anxiety issues which respond very well to exposure, but exposure is expensive and difficult to do and takes a lot of work on behalf of the patient and practitioner, whereas VR obviously makes things easier if you can make it work as well.
If the experience is so real, will it be possible to fall in love with the VR characters ?
The shit future generations will have to deal with is amazingly complicated, at least that's one of the good parts of getting old(er) and old-school-ish.
The question is not "Can it happen?" The question is "How widespread will it be?" A small percentage of people have already demonstrated falling in love with dating sims, realdolls and anime characters to the point of taking their "waifus" out on physical dates and couples vacations.
My experience in mass-market products has taught me that when you reach a very large number of people, you are going to affect a small number of them much more strongly than you would have ever imagined. When VR goes mass market, it will be a positive force for a huge number of people and a negative one for hopefully a much smaller number. Like cars vs car crashes, we'll have to weigh the benefits based on statistics rather than possibilities.
Well, they might not be able to see your porn, but you'll still leak metadata while watching it.