定制完美情人？当虚拟现实走进色情产业
2014年初，31岁的色情演员艾拉·达林(Ela Darling)录制了她的第一个虚拟现实性爱场景。当时，她在马里兰大学(University of Maryland)的一间学生宿舍里，穿着R2-D2泳装和长筒运动袜。她坐在单人床上，旁边有一张木桌，她对着镜头说话，把镜头当成一个真人。没有故事情节，也没有其他演员。
“It was a solo masturbation scene,” she said. “I was coy and flirty and then a little bit dirty. I felt sexy as hell.”
“那是一场单人表演的自慰戏，”她说。“我故作娇羞，十分撩人，然后也有点下流。我觉得自己性感爆了。”
Darling had been filming pornography since she was 22 and took her job seriously. It was her responsibility to convince audiences to connect with her physically and emotionally. She tried everything, including acting out bondage fetishes, performing erotic electrostimulation (“electrosex”) on another woman and dressing as a real estate agent. Yet no matter what she did to entice and engage, the results had always been voyeuristic, since there was always a screen separating her and her fans.
从22岁起开始拍摄色情片的达林，对这份工作是很用心的。确保观众在身体和情感上与她联系在一起是她的责任。她尝试了一切方法，包括表演捆绑性虐，对另一个女人进行性爱电刺激(“电性”)，以及装扮成地产经纪人。然而，不管她如何引诱，如何努力与观众建立联系，结果总是更像满足窥淫欲，因为总有一个屏幕将她和粉丝们隔开。
This time, though, was different. Virtual reality uses many camera lenses to record the same scene from hundreds of angles. When the takes are stitched together, the viewer gets a 180- or 240-degree view of the room and the feeling that he or she is there, participating. As soon as Darling viewed the scene she recorded, she knew virtual reality would be a sea change to her job and the adult-entertainment industry.
不过，这一次情况有所不同。虚拟现实使用很多镜头从数百个角度记录同一个场景。将这些画面结合到一起后，观众能以180度或240度观看一个房间，感觉自己就在那里，置身其中。达林一看到自己录制的场景，就知道虚拟现实将给她的工作和成人娱乐业带来天翻地覆的变化。
“You can pretend like you are in the bedroom with me, and it is someone you have a crush on,” she said. “You are in the experience.”
“你可以假装和我在同一个卧室里——和你迷恋的对象在一起，”她说，“你可以参与体验。”
While virtual reality pornography may feel like something out of a science fiction movie, it already has a formidable, if underground, presence. According to the website Pornhub, views of VR pornography are up 275 percent since it debuted in summer 2016. Now the site is averaging about 500,000 views. (On Christmas Day in 2016, this number shot up to 900,000.)
虚拟现实色情作品可能给人感觉像是科幻电影中的东西，然而，尽管还谈不上主流，它已经形成了强大的力量。据Pornhub网站称，自2016年夏季首次推出以来，虚拟现实色情片的浏览量已经上升了275%。现在，该网站的日均浏览量约为50万次(2016年的圣诞节猛增至90万次)。
By 2025, pornography will be the third-largest VR sector, according to estimates by Piper Jaffray, an investment and management firm. Only video games and NFL-related content will be larger, it predicted, and the market will be worth $1 billion.
据投资和管理公司派杰(Piper Jaffray)估计，到2025年，色情行业将成为第三大虚拟现实产业。据该公司预测，唯一能超过它的将是电子游戏以及与美国国家橄榄球联盟(NFL)相关的内容，它的市场规模将达到10亿美元。
“We’re getting more and more of it every day,” said Mark Kernes, a senior editor at AVN Media Network, which covers the industry. “We are leading the technology in this area. Sex sells, and where there is money to be made, there will be entrepreneurs who want to adopt it and make money from it,” some by offering it for free to increase clicks.
报道该行业的AVN Media Network的高级编辑马克·克恩斯(Mark Kernes)说，“我们每天都在收到更多信息。我们在引领这一领域的技术。性能赚钱——只要有钱赚，就有创业者想干这一行，从中赚钱。”有些内容会免费提供，以增加点击量。
Pornography is what rushed along the first printing press, and spurred developments in the internet, online payment systems and other technology. Now it’s time for virtual reality, Kernes said, “I’m pretty sure there is more porn VR out there than regular VR.”
色情推动了早期印刷技术的发展，刺激了互联网和在线支付等技术的进步。克恩斯表示，现在轮到虚拟现实了，“我很确定，市面上的色情虚拟现实比一般的虚拟现实内容多。”
Darling first experienced regular old VR at E3, a conference for the video game industry. Excited by the pornography possibilities, she found a college student on Reddit who knew the technology but lacked a star. Before long, Darling started streaming weekly VR segments live from her bedroom in Los Angeles.
达林在电子游戏产业大会E3上初次体验了常规的老式虚拟现实。她为虚拟现实也许能应用到色情作品上感到兴奋，于是在Reddit上找了一名懂这项技术、但缺乏明星的大学生。不久后，达林就开始每周在洛杉矶自己的卧室里直播虚拟现实视频片段。
She was one of the first VR webcam women, according to Kernes. She then started a company named VRTube.xxx, which now employs more than 40 performers.
据克恩斯称，她是最早尝试虚拟现实网络摄像头的女性之一。后来，她创办了一家名为VRTube.xxx的公司，现在该公司有40多名表演者。
Though the pornography industry as a whole is challenging to regulate, considering the potential for abuse, disease and exploitation, the virtual kind comes with extra moral and maybe legal issues. For example, can you use someone’s likeness to have sex with them in virtual reality?
色情产业整体来讲一直是监管难题;考虑到虐待、疾病和剥削的可能性，虚拟色情带来了更多的道德甚至法律问题。例如，你能用某人的肖像在虚拟现实中与他们/她们做爱吗?
“Virtual reality is like the wild, wild West,” said Bryony Cole, the host of “Future of Sex,” a podcast that explores technology and sexuality.
“虚拟现实就像狂野的西部，”探索科技与性的播客“性的未来”(Future of Sex)的主持人布莱尼·科尔(Bryony Cole)说。
At this year’s AVN Adult Entertainment Expo, a convention and trade show held each January in Las Vegas, the latest advancements in virtual reality pornography were on display.
在今年的AVN成人娱乐展会(AVN Adult Entertainment Expo)上——它是每年1月在拉斯维加斯举行的会议和交易展——虚拟现实色情的最新进展得到了展示。
CamSoda, a website that specializes in live sex videos, had an exhibit featuring pornography stars dressed in plunging bathing suits and waving visitors into the booth. They were showing off OhRama, a small canister that attaches to virtual reality headsets and releases scent during the action. “Believe it or not, the scents were created by the girls,” said Kernes, who was there. “It’s sweet and musty. They know what they like.”
CamSoda是一个专门现场直播色情视频的网站，它播出了色情明星穿着深V领泳衣，边向参观者挥手边进入展位的情景。她们向参观者展示了“OhRama”，这是一个小罐子，可以接在在虚拟现实头具上，在使用过程中释放气味。“信不信由你，这些气味就是这些姑娘们身上的味道，”身在现场的克恩斯说。“那是一股甜美而潮湿的味道。她们知道人们喜欢什么。”
There are also companies that are adding taste and touch to the experience.
还有一些公司正在把味觉和触觉增加到体验中去。
Another big player is CamasutraVR, a startup using 142 cameras that all look at one person, or one body part. “They are creating images from that, which they are hoping will be indistinguishable from an actual person,” Kernes said. “I’m sure those people wished they had been using that VR system at home.”
CamasutraVR是另一个业界大牌，这家初创公司使用142台摄像机拍摄同一个人或同一个身体部位。“他们根据拍摄结果创造图像，希望最终结果能与真实的人真假难辨，”克恩斯说。“我敢肯定，这些人也会愿意在自己家里使用这个VR系统。”
Still other virtual reality companies were showing off their partnerships with sex toy companies to create vibrators or penis pumps that link to VR material. “As the action ramps up so does the vibrations of the vibrator,” he said.
还有其他虚拟现实公司宣传了他们与情趣用品公司的合作伙伴关系，生产能够连接到VR素材的震动棒或阴茎泵。“随着素材中的活动热烈起来，震动棒也开始激烈震动。”
One of the most buzzed-about inventions has been the sex robot. The first one, Harmony, was introduced in May by a company named Realbotix. In seductive videos posted on YouTube, Harmony shows off her long legs, her firm breasts, her full lips, her lifelike hand gestures, even her intellect.
最受热议的发明还要数性爱机器人。第一个性爱机器人名叫“和谐”(Harmony)，由Realbotix公司于今年五月推出。在YouTube上发布的诱人视频中，“和谐”展示了她修长的美腿、坚挺的乳房、丰满的嘴唇、栩栩如生的手势，甚至还有她的智慧。
“How do you feel about sex?” an unknown presenter asks her in one video.
“你对性怎么看?”一位不知名的主持人在一段视频里问她。
“Sex is one of the most fascinating things in the world,” she responds in a raspy voice. “I don’t see anything wrong with it.”
“性是世界上最让人神魂颠倒的事情之一，”她用沙哑的声音回答。“我不觉得它有什么不妥。”
Harmony can connect with virtual reality so the user can interact with her in that space; she can perform all the acts the viewer is watching.
“和谐”可以通过虚拟现实装置进行连接，用户可以在那个空间里同她交流;她可以执行观众观看的所有动作。
“It’s a little bit of a video game combined with sci-fi,” said Matt McMullen, the chief executive and creative director of Realbotix. The company has been making dolls for 20 years that were linked to artificial intelligence but not virtual reality. “Based on our experiences with thousands of clients,” McMullen said, “people do use them for sex, but there is something more that exists. We focus on companionship.”
Realbotix的首席执行官兼创意总监马特·麦克莫伦(Matt McMullen)表示：“这是一种结合了科幻的电子游戏。”20年来，该公司一直在制作结合人工智能的娃娃，但是没有同虚拟现实装置关联起来。“根据我们公司数以千计的客户的体验，”麦克莫伦说，“人们确实会将它们用于性行为，但这其中还有更多东西存在。我们的关注重点是陪伴。”
Virtual reality has been nicknamed the empathy machine because it allows people to feel like they are truly connected to the action. “It’s neurological,” said Holly Richmond, a somatic psychologist based in Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon. “You aren’t just watching and thinking about it. You are feeling it, and it’s not just your genitals. There is literally a mind-body connection.”
虚拟现实装置被昵称为共情机，因为它令人们感觉自己同那些动作发生了真正的关联。“这是神经性的，”现居洛杉矶与俄勒冈州波特兰的躯体心理学家霍利·里奇蒙(Holly Richmond)说。“你不仅是在观看和思考它。你是在感受它，这不仅仅同你的生殖器有关。这是一种真正的身心联系。”
Cole, the podcast host, is most excited about how virtual reality can be used in sex education.
播客主持人科尔对于在性教育中使用虚拟现实装置的前景感到非常兴奋。
“What if we had young people watch videos where they practice consent or practice identifying at-risk behaviors?” she said. “Or they can be in a room with someone who said, ‘I contacted herpes and this is my experience.’ That is way more informative than a gonorrhea slide.”
“让年轻人通过观看虚拟现实视频练习同意行为，或者识别风险行为，这个主意怎么样?”她说。“或者可以让他们置身一个房间，有人对他们说，‘我感染了疱疹，我的经历是这样的。’这比淋病幻灯片的信息量大得多。”
Indeed.
确实如此。
But for virtual reality to work, the scenes have to be so lifelike that users get lost in them and take them for reality. They have to feel as if they are participants, not just observers. “We can create 3-D bodies in virtual reality and do whatever we want with them,” Cole said. As the technology becomes good enough to make that happen, issues are bound to arise.
但是要想让虚拟现实装置发挥作用，场景必须栩栩如生，让用户迷失其中，感到真假难辨才好。他们必须感觉到自己是参与者，而不是旁观者。“我们可以在虚拟现实中创造3D的人类肉体，使用它们做任何事情，”科尔说。随着技术发展足以达到这个目标，问题也必然随之产生。
McCullen said an issue his company has is clients commissioning dolls that look exactly like people they know in real life, maybe an ex-girlfriend they never got over or someone about whom they fantasize. His company requires written consent from the model for his or her likeness to be used.
麦克莫伦说，他的公司遇到这样一个问题，客户订制娃娃的时候，它们的样子完全就是他们在现实生活里认识的人，可能是始终无法忘怀的前女友，也可能是他们的梦中情人。他的公司需要模特的书面同意，才能使用他或她的形象。
Cole said VR companies are going to have to address this same problem as they get better at customizing avatars to look exactly like what their customers desire. “What are the lines between reality and fantasy and what can we do in this space?” she said. “What does consent mean in virtual reality? Can you do something to your girlfriend in virtual reality that you wouldn’t do in real life? If you are using someone’s likeness in virtual reality, do you require their permission? And what about revenge porn? That will be even harsher in virtual reality.”
科尔表示，随着VR公司可以更好地定制虚拟现实中的化身，使其看上去完全符合客户的要求，这些公司必须设法解决类似问题。“现实与幻想之间的关系是什么，我们在这个空间里都能做些什么?”她说。“在虚拟现实中，同意意味着什么?你在现实生活中不会对女友做的事情，会在虚拟现实当中对她这样做吗?如果你在虚拟现实中使用某人的形象，是否需要他们的许可?复仇性质的色情是否可行?这些问题在虚拟现实中都会变得更加严峻。”
