The use of the Internet for meetings and dating seems almost inevitable for our digital age (and especially for our culture). See you when
When online dating sites like Match.com, or Meetic, grew in popularity in the early 2000s, many people still considered them strange, it was kind of taboo. We all underestimated the often clunky and unattractive interfaces of dating websites. Then, in 2013, Tinder came. Many hesitations had already disappeared, but after this app the biggest stigma around getting a first date over the internet has definitively collapsed. When will VR meetings bring similar things?
Today, virtual reality technologies are increasingly used to facilitate social gatherings. This raises an obvious question: one day will someone go on a first date simply by putting on a VR headset and “meeting” another person to get to know each other in a virtual environment?
The first appointment in virtual reality: word to three experts
There are two things that will make the first virtual reality date mainstream.
1 - Adoption of virtual reality.
Virtual reality is not a simple “thing to do”. It's a place to be with friends, or anyone in the world. Virtual reality will spread with social use from niche early adopters to replace communication methods such as Zoom, calling and even messaging. Spending time together in VR is just as good as in person: with VR you can hear someone's voice, read their body language and feel their presence as if they were in the same room as you, even if they're on the other side of the world. The adoption of VR headsets has doubled in recent years and I believe its mainstream adoption will take place within 5 years.
2 – A shift in the online dating experience. From a compulsive swipe to a meaningful connection.
Compared to larger dating apps, VR allows people to get past surface-level images, forced jokes, and awkward messages to jump right in and test chemistry. Virtual reality will offer new types of experiences to bond with. You can have a "first date" by visiting museums or monuments together. It will be possible to have immersive virtual experiences: adventurous, playful, in all kinds of settings. How will spending time with someone of any culture, identity and background open people's minds? Aside from the first date, love in all its forms will free itself from the limitations of what is nearby. When you are not “trapped” in a physical body you also lose the impulse to judge others. With VR meetings you will have a window into the true personality (or soul) of another.
For starters, people need spaces and platforms that can host VR encounters and provide entertainment and things to do that are relevant to adults. The current social horizon of virtual reality doesn't have the right option for this yet, it goes from Pixar-style metaverses for over 13s straight to porn.
While social virtual reality spaces are full of general users doing general things, there isn't much going on when it comes to social erotic explorations. This is why we are building Raspberry Dreamland to provide a space for curious adults to make the first date, and also the following ones, in an intimate connection at a distance. VR dating projects like these will make everything mainstream.
The first step more important is to make the VR headsets more user-friendly. I believe the future of VR encounters lies in standalone headsets like Oculus. Maybe much more advanced, of course.
The second step is to create multiple distribution channels for 18+ content for standalone VR headsets. The problem is that with increasing censorship it is more difficult to transfer these ideas to people because the Oculus store completely avoids adult content, which makes it impossible to distribute environments such as VIKI Right now. One day, who knows, we might be able to have VR meetings, perhaps after the company has implemented a robust parental control policy.
In short (Italian only)
It's not just a matter of first date: VR dating apps are becoming much more popular, and with the upcoming developments in headsets and technologies, virtual reality will take them to the next level.
