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Japan's First VR Porn Festival Shut Down Due To Unprecedented Popularity (dailymail.co.uk) 74

Posted by BeauHD from the don't-get-too-excited dept.
turkeydance quotes a report from Daily Mail: A Japanese sex festival was over prematurely as herds of virtual porn fans caused overcrowding fears. Streams of locals were looking to get their hands on the latest inventions from the adult entertainment industry in the first festival of its kind -- the Adult VR Fest 01 in the Akihabara region of Tokyo. But fans of virtual reality porn, which re-enacts sex and other acts using a blend of simulation headsets, male-friendly sex toys and other gadgets, were left disappointed as the event was shut down due to unprecedented popularity. A Japanese reporter told VR Talk: "For those who did get to go inside, excitement ran wild. I'm not entirely sure if the same thing would happen in the U.S., but VR porn enthusiasts rushed to have a go at some of the latest virtual reality gadgets." About 20 fans were able to make it inside, but the event was reportedly called off due to the unsettling crowds gathered outside. VR Talk also reported that Google searches for the phrase 'VR Porn' have soared nearly 10,000%.
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Japan's First VR Porn Festival Shut Down Due To Unprecedented Popularity More

Japan's First VR Porn Festival Shut Down Due To Unprecedented Popularity

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  • But... but... but... (Score:5, Funny)

    by QuietLagoon ( 813062 ) on Monday July 04, 2016 @06:07PM (#52445041)
    If it's a VR festival, why did anyone have to attend in person?

  • fp (Score:2)

    by TeknoHog ( 164938 )
    Tits or it didn't happen.

    • Of course it didn't happen, it's virtual reality.

      Bog knows what turns people on these days.

      My eyes! The googles! They did something.!

    • I'm not entirely sure if the same thing would happen in the U.S

      Of course it could happen in the US. Hold a VR pr0n fest anywhere and you'll get attendees. Want to colonise Mars? Announce a VR Pr0n fest there, the punters will figure out a way to get there without any help from NASA, ESA, JAXA, or anyone else.

  • Nerds (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Not the first time VR porn fans have finished prematurely

  • Er... I mean "Good thing I missed it." Seriously, my wife might not have understood. I'm just interested in the technology, but I do live within easy bicycling range of Akihabara and used to work there.

    But even more seriously, folks, I think we need to rethink our entire philosophy of reproduction. There are evolutionary reasons that we are strongly driven to have as many children as possible. The genes are blind (and I strongly recommend The Blind Watchmaker ) and the combinations are random. Under normal

    • Akihabara was a lot cooler in the late 70's; gas-powered RC cars dangerously weaving between your legs, straw baskets full of electronic components... and the best okonomiyaki this side of Kansai. The best part? The "Japanese national obsession with all things twisted and perverted" was kept relegated to the "etchy manga" that businessmen would read on the train ride home - which was obviously not at all healthy but certainly far more pleasant for the rest of us...

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by shanen ( 462549 )

        These days they watch the porn on their smartphones, but at least many of them are "polite" enough to use those screen covers that make the display highly directional. In one case I encountered where the fellow did not use the screen cover he wasn't reading a manga, but watching a porn video on the train.

        Progress!

        (P.S. I'm sure there are other examples, but that one was extreme enough to be memorable.)

    • But even more seriously, folks, I think we need to rethink our entire philosophy of reproduction. There are evolutionary reasons that we are strongly driven to have as many children as possible.

      Yeah, but who wants to spend time raising kids when you could be doing interesting things in VR?

      Note that Japanese Fertility Rate [washingtonpost.com] is waaaay under the replacement rate.

      Also, last I checked, US fertility was right at the replacement rate, but since then it has dropped off a cliff [ktwop.com], largely due to the economy: people cannot afford to have children any more.

      • That's some scary stuff there.

        They better get working on anti-aging therapies so we can decrease the death rate.

        Or maybe the elites and political leaders can work on giving us a society with lower cost of living and more free time.... nah, that won't happen.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Jeremi ( 14640 )

          They better get working on anti-aging therapies so we can decrease the death rate.

          At some point the human population needs to be less than the sustainable capacity of the planet; otherwise, when we run out our current stockpiles of built-up-over-the-millenia resources, nature will make that adjustment for us (and probably not in a very pleasant way).

          So a decreased birth rate might be a better way to reach that steady state, than the alternatives.

          • Our economies are not set up to handle contraction in a nice manner. Also, more people means more advancement: more smart people to do great work.

            The problem with resources and sustainability is that our current lifestyles are too wasteful and use too many resources; if more of us moved into well-designed cities, and we built SkyTran to replace most cars, we wouldn't need nearly as much energy. It's entirely possible for us to even have a significantly larger population, but we have to be smarter about ho

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by shanen ( 462549 )

              Maybe you should think of it as the only-child problem? If you do the math (and if intelligence is largely determined or even significantly affected by the genetic recipe), then half the time the child will be around the average of the parents, and the other half of the time the child will be above or below. If the stupid ones are just as likely to survive, then things are not improving and Ma Nature doesn't like that...

              However, this is getting quite far away from the original topic of why we humans (especi

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mi ( 197448 )

      half the time the resulting combinations are below average

      I think, you meant "median"...

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by shanen ( 462549 )

        Depends on the degree to which intelligence is a discrete trait, but there is generally a lot of confusion about how genetics works. It is NOT a little blueprint for a unique human being, but more like a book of recipes that might lead to one instance of a fairly wide range of possible human beings. I think "intelligence" is an especially muddled concept at both ends, in terms of assessment and in terms of the linkage to genetic factors.

        However, you can say that there are some genes that have some connectio

        • You missed the sarcasm entirely. In any group of people measured by any criteria, the same number will be "below median" as above. By definition [wikipedia.org] ...

          Quite often, "median" and "average" are used interchangeably [princeton.edu], though that is not always correct.

          • Your definition of sarcasm needs work. Is this some version of the Top Gear "It's just a joke" defense?

            I think we're dealing with real numbers here, not discrete rational values. Medians and modes are diversionary, even allowing for my sloppy use of some messy terms here. In particular I'm certain that any attempt to measure intelligence in a concrete way is doomed by Godel's ghost.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by HiThere ( 15173 )

      One thing you need to remember:
      Biological change is extremely slow compared to cultural change.
      One of the cultural changes has to do with attitudes towards genetic engineering of humans. Let the technology be perfected, and the cultures that *properly* embrace it will be the ones that survive. But defining what "properly" is ... well, it's a hard problem. Probably worse than NP-Hard, as the proper answer depends on multiple conditions that are unpredictable, as well as upon a social consensus on goals.

    • "There are evolutionary reasons that we are strongly driven to have as many children as possible."

      For some species. Humans seem to have evolved an indirect method: They are driven to have as much sex as possible. They mate a great deal more than almost any other species, as it serves a social as well as reproductive role. They also found lots of ways to get the sex without the reproduction, technological means to block reproduction when mating - they are so ridiculously over-sexed they even enjoy watching o

  • What a layup (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 04, 2016 @06:24PM (#52445133)

    Surely they mean it got shut down because too many people came...

  • Unprecedented... (Score:5, Funny)

    by iCEBaLM ( 34905 ) on Monday July 04, 2016 @06:29PM (#52445161)

    You don't say, the turnout of an event that has never happened before has no precedent?

    Amazing....

  • ...the current generation of VR is going to become mainstream. Demand drives the market, after all.

    The internet is for porn, and now VR is too.
  • until they are like 40. correlates perfectly with being a fan of porn

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      The other option is to have a girlfriend and live in an apartment that is still so expensive you must both to work 3-4 jobs (including as hostesses). You never get to see her except when you are asleep or she it, while the top wealthy are still the only ones with female contact (paid).

    • Here in the UK it's now commonplace to live with parents into your thirties. I do. For the same reason: House prices and rent have reached the point where most single people can't afford to live on their own. The options are to see almost all your income disappear on rent and bills, or accept the indignity and stay with the parents.

      I'm amassing savings, but you can't even get the most basic hovel of a flat in the south-east for under £100,000 now.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        Many people's plan is to wait for their parents or some other relative to die, and use the inheritance to get on the property ladder. Around here a basic "studio" flat (one room with kitchen and bed and a bathroom) is about £150,000, and this is a cheap area.

        Now I'm thinking maybe I should leave the UK for good. With Brexit there are few prospects of things getting better.

        • "Many people's plan is to wait for their parents or some other relative to die"

          Unfortunately, an aunt stands between me and that money. Two branches of the family are seeking the favour of a certain grandparent and eyeing up his house. I think he'll have the last laugh though: His mind looks to be going long before his body. All that inheritance is going to be sucked up by his care costs.

          You could move up north. The property price crisis is mostly a London and South-East thing. Head up and prices get a lot

        • Please, for the sake of everyone else, stay where you are.
  • Had it been anywhere near a 50/50 ratio of dudes/chicks it would have been rated a roaring (or moaning) success.

  • I know sexual immorality isn't actually mentioned but I couldn't help but think of this chorus... https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

  • VR Adult Interaction is the Future (Score:5, Interesting)

    by rsmith-mac ( 639075 ) on Tuesday July 05, 2016 @01:46AM (#52446419)

    The usual jokes aside, this is going to be a part of our future. VR is going to change human sexual interaction just like ubiquitous communication devices (phones) changed social interaction. Combined with task-optimized haptics to provide the tactile feedback, and given the importance of sex (or rather, orgasm) in the human experience, and it can't not change things.

    Whether it changes things for the better or the worse remains to be seen though. Japan already has a birth rate problem and this isn't going to help. Which isn't to say that the tech shouldn't exist, only that one could very easily see it as exacerbating the problem. It may very well force Japanese society (and other societies as well) to finally address the issue and enact structural change to make rearing children more desirable.

    The bigger question is whether this can be meaningfully used as a tool to improve human interaction. In both Japanese and Western societies, so much emphasis is put on your first time. Maybe this improves that, reducing the massive social threshold that comes with sex and at the same time producing a generation of young adults who are more confident with sex, what they want from it, and what they expect from each other?

    No matter how it ends up, it'll be interesting to see how it evolves.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      enact structural change to make rearing children more desirable.

      Japan has been doing that for about a decade now. They have a minister in charge of raising the birth rate... Unfortunately the first guy they had was prone to phrasing things badly, like describing women as "baby producing machines", but it's got better since he left.

      It's hard to solve though because having children is expensive and makes it hard to also have a career. You can't really expect people to give up financial independence easily. Some men are deciding that they want to opt out of the whole datin

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by dargaud ( 518470 )

        It's hard to solve though because having children is expensive and makes it hard to also have a career.

        Those are easy to solve if there's a will: provide full compensation for time off work after (and before) having children for both parents, provide easy (like with hours that match working hours of parents) and cheap access to kindergarden and such, make it difficult to fire pregnant women or new moms, etc... Many european countries have rules like that. Remember that even if they are not your kids, they'll pay your retirement,

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          Oh sure, we know how to solve it. What I mean is, it's hard to find the political will in many countries. You have a bunch of short sighed people complaining that they don't want to subsidise other people's lifestyles.

  • When I first read Ready Player One, I didn't think it was going to be such a prophecy. Where's my UberBetty?

  • I am sure visuals are great, but wouldn't one experience some unwanted haptic/olfactory feedback when trying this technology in a crowded place?

  • ...this is what you get for dropping the atomic bomb twice.
  • Beavis and Butthead -- where are you when we need you guys

  • "Japan's First VR Porn Festival Shut Down Due To Unprecedented Popularity"

    Truly an example of both "modern problems" and "first world problems" together in one place.

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