By Ela Darling, co-founder of Gamelodge

The process of building an indie video game, especially for Virtual Reality, can be an arduous years-long endeavor. Becoming a professional game developer takes years of specialized study, building connections, and mastering emerging technology, with the reward of working in an exciting creative field. Like any industry, it takes focus and dedication to become a pro. But this barrier of entry can be a limitation on new, diverse game concepts.

For an aspiring game developer without a background in tech, the path to creating a game can be long and daunting, especially for VR. Between navigating the esoteric nuances of a game engine and learning complex coding languages, it can take months to even approach the starting point of development. Identifying bugs and merging branches with a co-developer makes the process even longer. But a new application called Gamelodge seeks to accelerate that process.

It can take months to even approach the starting point of development
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For an aspiring game developer without a background in tech, the path to creating a game can be long and daunting, especially for VR
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Gamelodge, is a new platform that serves as both a depot for games made by other users and a stepping stone for aspiring game developers. It is a cooperative game engine that offers users an all in one opportunity to design, script, and share game ideas socially in VR and on desktop. It aims to resolve common pain points in game development, such as the tedious write, compile, distribute, test process, by eliminating the need to compile code and allowing users to build and test together in real-time. The application is available on Kickstarter through August 22, 2020.

Existing applications that have attempted to offer a sandbox game building environment have a variety of limitations that Gamelodge overcomes. Roblox has become popular with young gamers, but falls short on graphical fidelity and VR controls. Other options that thrive in VR suffer from limited scripting accessibility, poor control systems, and often don’t offer desktop support. These shortcomings are core competencies in Gamelodge.

Gamelodge, is a new platform that serves as both a depot for games made by other users and a stepping stone for aspiring game developers
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From start to finish, a user with no experience with complex game engines or knowledge of code can build a game in a weekend. Objects, particles, and textures can be easily uploaded to the shared database, or users can drag and drop objects from the existing library of models to start building a scene. Users can make games without writing a line of code with the in-app scripting library. New scripts can be swiftly written in Miniscript and immediately applied without compiling a new build or exiting the program. The whole process can be done collaboratively with other users in-game.

Only 20 percent of game released games make a profit
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From start to finish, a user with no experience with complex game engines or knowledge of code can build a game in a weekend
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Even experienced developers can find value from a tool that allows for such swift creation. One study showed that just 20% of released games make a profit, which means a lot of time, money, and energy is lost on games that don’t resonate with their audience. For a creator who is debating the direction to take their next project, the ability to build and test game concepts in an easy and accessible environment can be a form of early market research. An early draft of a game idea, built quickly and shared within the community, may help identify which aspects resonate with players and which parts miss the mark.

In the ever-growing yet slowly diversifying community of game developers, new tools that help democratize the industry are more important than ever. Broadening access to both creating and testing games could reduce developer resource waste and expand the voices and concepts showcased in the game world. Ultimately, a space that allows anyone to play and create games with friends collaboratively across platforms could break down some of the barriers in game development and empower a new community of creators.

In the ever-growing yet slowly diversifying community of game developers, new tools that help democratize the industry are more important than ever
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To become a chef, you must attend culinary school, but you don’t need a culinary degree to cook a good meal. With tools that increase accessibility to game development, you don’t need an engineering degree to build a good game.

About the author, Ela Darling, co-founder of Gamelodge

Ela has a diverse background in Virtual Reality spanning over six years. Cofounder of GonzoVR, a live VR broadcasting platform, and Gamelodge, a comprehensive sandbox game builder. She has spoken about various aspects of VR at conferences all over the world including a TEDx talk in 2016, and is considered a pioneer in certain verticals in the industry.

The post Expert View: Eroding the Barrier to Entry in Game Development appeared first on Tech Trends.

There’s a plethora of sex toys out there, but as far as I can tell Miss on the Go is in a hybrid category of its own: Sure, it functions as a straightforward vibrator, but it also connects to a mobile app which turns it into a teledildonics device.

Then it effortlessly doubles up as a wearable Kegel exerciser that helps women locate their pelvic muscles, while pleasuring them at the same time.

I put it to Véronique Verreault – Miss On the Go (MOTG) Founder and CEO – that this seems like a classic case of having your cake and eating it too, and she laughs her agreement. “Why not?” she asks.

Verreault’s quest to create the ultimate sexual wellness wearable began while she was studying Management at University in 2014. She was looking for an outlet for her “entrepreneurial fire” as she puts it, and kept coming back to the idea of working with sex toys – which helped her get to know and feel happy with her body ever since she was a teenager. At first, however, the size of the industry and the taboo around it felt rather intimidating. In the end, though, her Eureka moment was inspired by the way she was able to do her favourite Kegel exercises discreetly, wherever she was.

“I had been regularly practicing those exercises, wearing my Ben Wa balls for many years, and absolutely loved it. I wore them when I went to work, while cleaning the house, you name it!” she recalls, saying she often tried to get her curious friends to try it out too.

Verreault’s quest to create the ultimate sexual wellness wearable began while she was studying Management at University in 2014
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“Don’t wait to have urinary incontinence, Darling! I was telling them about the benefits during sex, as you know… but not enough women do it. Then one day, I was sexting with my Kegel and I said that’s it. I thought ‘I need to create something.’”

That something turned out to be not only a sex toy and workout tool, but a connected app that made using the device a fun and social experience, turning your phone into a sort of sexual personal assistant. To do that, she had to not only secure investment and get her head around the complex logistics of running a tech start-up, but also overcome some considerable technical challenges.

 

“I wanted quality and we needed to start over and over to make sure it was meeting my expectations,” she recalls. “The Bluetooth antenna which hangs from the device needed a reliable connection, which is difficult when you throw things like water and metal into the mix. We needed to find a solution that was safe for the body and resistant enough for all the ladies out there to give it a proper workout.”

The main message she wants her product to convey is that confidence is incredibly sexy: “It’s not the short skirt or high heels that makes you sexy. It’s your attitude, your swag, you can have jogging pants and a pony tail and rock this grocery shopping! It’s the same with sex. Trust yourself, respect your body but don’t be shy about using sex toys to explore what feels good and have a healthy sex life,” she advises.

The main message the product conveys to women is that confidence is incredibly sexy
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It is appropriate, therefore, that the workout section in the MOTG app is called “Strong is the New Sexy”. This guides women through their Kegel workouts, with 10 cycles of 10 seconds each (5 seconds contraction with medium vibration, 5 seconds releasing contraction). Consistency is key, as the aim is to make women feel comfortable with the exercise, and contract without even noticing.

Once you invite a partner to play and they accept, you can exchange pictures and texts while they control the vibration on the device
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After downloading the app, users create a free account by choosing a username and password; connecting the device is a matter of turning it on and enabling Bluetooth on your phone to pair them, just as you would with a fitness band or pair of wireless headphones. The first time you use the app with the device you will also need to go into the settings to connect them, but overall it’s a very intuitive UI which makes the process straightforward.

In addition to the workouts, the app can also be used purely for fun, letting you either control it yourself by with the “My Own Pleasure” option, or handing over that control to other users, wherever they are in the world.

The fact that your profile remains anonymous not only encourages people–especially women–to experiment more
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The woman has full control over the experience at all times, as she sends out an invitation either to a specific person with the “I know who I want” option–this could be an existing partner who is traveling, for example —or to a complete stranger with the “mystery game.” The latter allows you to connect with other users based on Tinder-like criteria such as location, age, and preferences.

“The app lets you decide when you want to play. So honey, choose what you want. You want to play alone? Good! You want to play with someone? Good! As long as you’re good with your decision and confident about your choices, you’re good to go!” says Verreault

Sex with strangers? Yes, please!

The fact that your profile remains anonymous not only encourages people–especially women–to experiment more. But it’s also a big turn-on that their research uncovered, which places “stranger fantasy” as one of the top three the most popular amongst women (together with threesomes and lesbian sex).

Once you invite a partner to play and they accept, you can exchange pictures and texts while they control the vibration on the device. The whole experience is rated through a “pleasure bar” which indicates how satisfied the woman is by the interaction. So even though there is no physical stimulation in the bargain for, say, a distance boyfriend, that gamification can lead to some healthy competitive motivation.

Once you invite a partner to play and they accept, you can exchange pictures and texts while they control the vibration on the device. The whole experience is rated through a “pleasure bar” that indicates how satisfied the woman is by the interaction. So even though there is no physical stimulation in the bargain for, say, a long-distance boyfriend, that gamification can lead to some healthy competitive motivation.

Verreault clearly embodies the whole sex-positive mentality
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Keeping sex tech sex-positive

Verreault clearly embodies the whole sex-positive mentality, and is rightfully proud of what she’s achieved in the past three years. With no previous experience in tech, she managed not only to design and ship the MOTG device from scratch, but also develop the accompanying app and social platform, churning out some happy customers in the process.

She’s not resting on her laurels though. While the first version of the app is “fun,” she’s busy recruiting people to help her fulfill a list of improvements, “as long as Santa’s,” based on the extensive feedback from customers so far. And if her determination is anything to go by, it would seem–if you’ll excuse the pun–that the best is indeed yet to come.

This article originally appeared on Future of Sex 

Female #sextech entrepreneur shows ‘strong is the new sexy’ with @missvvsmystery Kegels sex toy and app system https://t.co/CUSCkEhM0V

— FutureofSex (@FutureofSex) May 4, 2017

For companies looking to gain a competitive edge through technology, Tech Trends offers strategic Virtual Reality and Digital Transformation Consultancy services tailored to your brand.

Alice Bonasio is a VR and Digital Transformation Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Meet SexTech’s Answer to FitBit appeared first on Tech Trends.

Information + Communication + Demonstration = better relationships + orgasms

That’s the ethos which permeates every complex layer of OMGYes’ slick and well-researched site. It defines itself as a “sexual pleasure research website” aimed not only at women, but at couples and men as well.

“Approximately half of our users are female and half are male,” says co-founder Lydia Daniller.

OMGYes does a fantastic job at demystifying women's pleasure and making exploring it fun for men and women
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“It’s for anyone curious about learning more ways to make a great thing even better. Couples who are constantly exploring ways to make sex more pleasurable are five times more likely to be happier in their relationship and 12 times more likely to be sexually satisfied. Women use the site to explore more ways to touch themselves and guide their partners, while men and partners are adding new, research-based tools to their toolbox.”

You can read the full article on The Future of Sex

OMGYes Wants to Break the Taboo Around Women’s Pleasure by @alicebonasio #women #sexuality https://t.co/VwlmdNqcQQ

— FutureofSex (@FutureofSex) February 14, 2017

The post OMGYes is the Gutsy Tech Start-up Getting Hands-On with Women’s Pleasure appeared first on Tech Trends.

VR has experienced huge growth in 2016, and VR Porn is no exception. Yet much of what the adult entertainment industry came up with so far constituted of adapting or upgrading the same old formats, and that has meant catering almost exclusively to the male gaze.

#VR porn is big business, but most of it is still done with a male audience in mind
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In this article for Future of Sex I look at how one company is looking to change that by deliberately aiming their content at the female market.

There’s little doubt that 2016 was, in many ways, “year 1” for virtual reality, with the medium experiencing huge growth across all areas, including VR porn. Yet much of what we’ve seen coming from the adult entertainment industry has been some form of adaptation or technical upgrading of the same old formats, which predictably meant catering to the dominant male gaze.

Yet even the most established industry players were quick to recognize the enormous possibilities that VR content offered to do something different. When I interviewed the CIO of Naughty America, Ian Paul, in San Francisco last April, he showed me a demo they were working on which featured a female point of view. We had a fascinating discussion about how strange—and enlightening—it was for men to experience sex from a woman’s perspective.

WankzVR promises to pursue a balance of content that is attractive to women, focusing on their desires and concentrating on the more intimate and mutually satisfying side of adult entertainment
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And having spoken to a large number of stakeholders in the adult industry over the past year, they all seem to agree that targeting the female market is something they want to do with VR porn. As usual, however, the commercial allure of targeting low-hanging fruit (i.e. the male audience) takes precedence. That was the case with Naughty America [NSFW], which didn’t release the demo I experienced commercially, opting to focus on a traditional male perspective instead.

Changing perspective

That’s something that Dutch company WankzVR [NSFW] is keen to change. They say they are determined to break free from the status quo by launching a “first of its kind” collection of VR porn content specifically targeted at a female audience. The Amsterdam-based company has been exploring the use of 3D multimedia technology—including stereoscopic high-resolution capture and binaural sound recording—to create “full 360” experiences for the adult entertainment market since 2015, and they see this as a key area for potential growth.

“We have a large female user base and we regularly obtain feedback from them about what they want to see from our content. The industry has generally neglected scenes shot from the female perspective, but we strive to be trendsetters so we’re shaking things up a bit,” said Managing Director Bradley Phillips.

But what does “female porn” actually look like? Many people seem to think that it’s all about breathless romance and curtains fluttering in the breeze, but from the look of the videos on the WankzVR website (which, according to them were produced with “just the ladies in mind”), it looks pretty much like “regular” VR porn, except that you see everything from the perspective of a female performer. The idea behind this FemalePOV is, as they put it, is for “women consumers to experience the wildly immersive wonders of virtual reality sex as seen through their eyes.”

The use of the first-person in the descriptions helps set the scene for the full immersion experience that you get in VR
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There are, however, a few more subtle differences. The scenes do tend to be longer (between 15 and 18 minutes) so as to leave room for “foreplay and sensual build-up.” And while I’m not quite sure that—as they claim—this “trumps the actual intercourse,” these elements are certainly something that many women tend to appreciate.

The scenes do tend to be longer (between 15 and 18 minutes) so as to leave room for foreplay and sensual build-up
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The presentation of the site also comes across as being quite female-friendly, with slick, SFW images and tongue-in-cheek descriptions featuring social media-like reviews next to each one. In The Pool Boy, for example, you’re told:

The use of the first-person in the descriptions also helps set the scene for the full immersion experience that you get in VR. There is also a heightened emphasis on “passion” and storytelling. One user testimonial on their website enthuses that:

“Every scene feels really fresh, I never know what’s going to happen next and it makes it much more exciting.”

The content can be viewed on a variety of VR headsets, including Oculus Rift, Samsung Gear VR, and Google Cardboard, and is available completely free—at least for now. We know that women do watch pornography. In fact, WankzVR said that they have been “inundated with requests” from women for them to include content featuring a female POV—but very few tend to pay for it.

This is most likely due to the “friction” caused by the purchasing process rather than the cost itself. So it makes sense to build the audience and let them experience and get to like the product first before attempting to monetize that sizeable, yet elusive market.

The content can be viewed on a variety of VR headsets, including Oculus Rift, Samsung Gear VR, and Google Cardboard, and is available completely free
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Moving forward, the company promises to “continue its pursuit to find a balance of content that is attractive to women, focusing on their desires and delivering content which concentrates on the more “intimate and mutually satisfying side of adult entertainment that is more in tune with the female perspective of sex.” Well, put your VR goggles on and watch this space…

WankzVR Targets the Ladies with #VRPorn from the Female Point of View by @alicebonasio https://t.co/VpJUO86Jps

— FutureofSex (@FutureofSex) January 9, 2017

Tech Trends’  Virtual Reality Consultancy services offers support for companies looking to enhance brand strategy with immersive technologies such as Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio and @techtrends_tech on Twitter.

The post VR Porn Through The Female Lens appeared first on Tech Trends.

Technology can help drive innovation, but the businesses model of the future needs to be built around diversity.

It’s all too easy to get discouraged when, year after year, reports come out showing that the gender pay gap lingers around like a bad smell (average of 18% difference as of 2016 according to the IFS)

Then you turn to our most innovative industries, such as tech: There you find that 96% of VCs are men, that they only invest 8% of their money on companies Co-founded by women, and discouragement starts turning to despair.

96% of VCs are men, and that they only invest 8% of their money on companies Co-founded by women
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But then someone like Cindy Gallop comes along, painting a picture of the future that’s as hopeful as it is kick-ass, and you walk away knowing that things will change – mainly because the status quo is just bad business, and it’s eating away not only at our happiness, but at our profits. And as she told a rapt audience at FutureFest last weekend – repurposing an infamous anti-gun control quote – “The only thing that can really stop someone with a bad business is someone with a better business.”

The only thing that can really stop someone with a bad business is someone with a better business.
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If you want to design the business of the future, it absolutely has to be gender equal, simply because that is what drives innovation, explains Cindy. Disruption and innovation come as a result of a creative collision between different mindsets, perspectives, backgrounds and insights.

 

“Women are crucial to the future of work and business because there is a huge amount of money to be made out of taking women seriously. They’re a key part of redesigning the business of the future because you cannot drive new-world-order business from an old-world-order place.”

That new world order requires diversity across race, ethnicity, sexuality, disability and age, but gender cuts across all those things according to Cindy. Women are very good at challenging the status quo because they are never it.

“At the top of every industry is a closed loop of white guys talking to white guys about other white guys. And white guys, you will enormously benefit when you break that loop. Because if you start any business today with an all-male-white founding team you will never own the future, if you run any business today with an all-white-male leadership team, you will never own the future. If you want to be the business of the future and you want to make a shit-ton of money doing it, that future is gender-equal and diverse.”

And there are many white guys out there who couldn’t agree more. Journalist and trend forecaster James Wallman recently worked with Yell Business on a report looking at the future of gender equality, and says that although women have been shockingly underrepresented in business in government and in the media, we’re definitely headed towards a more female future,and that’s a very good thing for everybody.

Smart companies like Apple, Etsy, Slack are bringing women into the design and creation process
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We’re headed towards a more female future,and that’s a very good thing for everybody
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“Smart companies like Apple, Etsy, Slack are bringing women into the design and creation process and that’s creating better products, better services, for men, women, for all of us.”

He acknowledges that there are still significant numbers of men who see feminism as an antagonistic movement, perceiving it as a win-lose game between men and women.

 

“That’s nonsense,” says Wallman. “If women do better, men will benefit, and I think we’re going to see a movement emerging – which I call Masculism – that shows those men how equality is good for all of us.”

There are some interesting ways in which technology can help us get to that diverse and equal future too, and one of the most exciting ones is around Virtual Reality. In virtual worlds we’re able to play with different identities and even bypass the issue of gender altogether. Wallman points to the fact that we’ll see a greater variety of gender categories emerging, with people feeling comfortable defining themselves as Pangender, Agender or Polygender, for example.

At the top of every industry is a closed loop of white guys talking to white guys about other white guys
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As we conduct more of our personal and professional interactions in virtual worlds mediated by Avatars which we’re free to shape as we please, the possibilities for bypassing unconscious gender bias are tantalizing, says Wired’s Rowland Manthorpe:

“As we live more in virtual worlds — whether in AR or VR — it will be possible to deflect and undermine strict gender divisions. You might be a woman in the flesh but a man through the AR lens. In the future, our workplaces will be far less affected by our inbuilt biases, the people we hire and work with will be more diverse, and the results will be better because of it.”

Jim Reichert, a Senior Creative Technologist at Microsoft working on HoloLens Augmented Reality projects, is another white guy who passionately champions diversity. He tells me that this sort of gender transcendence is already prevalent evident in Second Life, the original virtual world created by Linden Lab over 13 years ago, and that this is also reflected in the fact that over 60% of creators in that environment are women, significantly higher than in other areas of tech.

“I’ve met so many amazing people in the Metaverse– really brilliant people– and I have no idea what their sex, ethnicity, or country-of-origin is. It’s pretty cool,” he says.

Linden Lab is now is now developing a VR version of this social open-world called Sansar, and when I recently demoed their closed Beta I had some clue that enabling this sort of flexibility is a key part of their design. I met Linden’s CEO Ebbe Altberg in the virtual world, and after a short while it didn’t’ really seem strange at all that his deep male voice was emanating from the lips of a female avatar, dressed in a bright green Godzilla suit. “I don’t even notice it any more,” he told me.

A more diverse workplace will be a much happier one, and that makes good business sense
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There’s a lot at stake here. A more diverse workplace will be a much happier one, and that makes good business sense, since happier people are much more productive, and A LOT more creative.

“As we move from materialism to experientialism, we’re going to look for happiness and identity in experiences rather than just stuff, and what’s going to matter is quality of life,” predicts Wallman.

It’s up to us to make it happen though, and grab life and business by the balls, so to speak. Cindy recommends everybody to take time to identify what their values are. What do you most love doing? And under what conditions do you most love doing it?

“Everything in life and business starts with your values. Design an opportunity, a job, a venture around those values, and it will never feel like work. When you do that you can make your own business model. I did with my venture Make Love Not Porn because I believe the business model of the future is shared value+shared actions=shared profit, both financial and social.”

And that sounds like something that would well and truly “make the world a better place” – a rare occasion when we can deliver the Silicon Valley punch line with a straight face.

The post Designing a Workplace Beyond Gender appeared first on Tech Trends.