How do we make SLR cool?

(crazy post incoming )

SLR alredy is cool! There's so much awesome content and the technology for haptics, passthrough AR, BYOJ, all of the categories, etc. is miles beyond any other platform I've seen.

As someone that got into everything by mistake during the pandemic, I think there's still a educational barrier to becoming mainstream. I originally got a VR headset to play video games. I learned about teledildonics and then happened upon SLR for haptics.

I feel like most people still get VR headsets for video games, not porn. The first time I tried VR porn I was pretty skeptical but had my mind totally blown. It was so much better than I thought it would be.

A major challenge to mainstream adoption is the VR headset barrier. The top 2D porn sites get billions of visits per month. Most of those users would give a kidney for the VR experience if they tried it. To convert them there has to be a different onboarding flow then what's currently set up...

As a compulsive 2D porn user, the experience of a tube site is generally pretty standard. I would have some category of porn in mind and search for a new video (which is addictive because of the variable results). Check a few pages, find a video, jerk off, done.

You could post SLRO 2D and VR videos on the major tube sites as a hook into the conventional 2D porn user flow. They could see snippets of the content and be pulled into the main SLR site. The SLRO videos are top notch so I feel like the 2D videos would get millions of views.

I don't really know anything about sales funnel numbers but making up a scenario here... Let's say there's like 1 million views per month of SLRO content on major tube sites. The clickthrough rate to the SLR site is like 5%, so 50,000 users. Then 2% conversion after that to some level of subscription would be 1,000 users.

The 2D content is coming out so they could enjoy stuff in 2D which is fine. If they like that cool. They're missing the whole experience of VR but they have no idea that it exists yet, so whatever.

What really gets them is if they can try VR! They'll love it, it's more a matter of getting them to do VR.

Google Cardboard doesn't seem like a bad way to go (disclaimer: I've never actually tried it, is it usable VR?). It's supposed to be $4 to manufacture and maybe less at scale. If you could give that to new 2D users for free for all subscription levels, then it would help onboard them into the world of VR porn. The expense is worth it if you can convert them because they'll be much more likely to stick with SLR. It's already the best VR porn platform for all the tech and content reasons. Why change if they already have a subscription too?

Then it's off to the races with all the rest of the niche stuff like a SLR haptic device, etc.

Maybe try a limited run of just giving away Google Cardboard with this flow to anyone who signs up for email? Anything to make them a VR user! Once they experience the difference between 2D and VR they'll be good to go.

For some period of time while the focus is on growing, it's kind of about doing things that don't scale. You need to convert as many people as possible to make VR relevant.

After that, the subscription cost is a barrier for sure, but it's a lot smaller than the VR onboarding problem. SLR has lots of reasons why it's the best VR platform. It won't retain everyone that tries but it probably keeps the majority of users.

Going back to the made up sales funnel numbers, what if the Google Cardboard test bumped the conversion for a SLR subscription to 10%? That would be 5,000 users per month which is pretty awesome. IDK when it becomes relevant enough to grow VR porn users through organic growth but it has to start getting noticed by the mainstream at some point.

Making VR relevant to normal porn users seems like the first challenge to scaling.

Vrsumo2017

I agree; however, this type of content, which you'll find a lot of through VRAllure, removes the elements of striptease that are always fun. The key to a good story is that it takes the viewer forward through various stages of disclosure and reveal.

doublevr iPhones aren't cheap

In many countries, folks buy cellphones second-hand. A second-hand HMD would be difficult to find and much more costly.

For the next year users will still be using Android devices as an introduction to VR. Side-loading DeoVR for Android through APKPure is easy and a great option for those of us forced to travel. I use it still some of the time.

Vrsumo2017 wow she's sexy

It really surprises me how little guys bought a VR headset by now. I can tell you that every guy I've talked about VR with has always asked: so how is porn on it? The demand/curiosity is there that's for sure. I also think that buying a Quest and watching SLR is super easy even for a tech noob.

The barrier is probably more related to that most guys would need to buy the headset and buy it only for porn. They will then also need to pay for a sub to a porn site. Most guys I know just watch some free tube content and I'm pretty sure have never subbed to anything (not a money thing btw). I think it can also be kinda hard to "justify" buying a VR headset for some when you live together with you GF. I mean depending on the guy you are (if you game at all for instance) it is often very obvious you just bought it for porn and not for the crappy quest games. Also a lot of guys won't try out porn at a friends house so they have no way to try it out before making quite the investment. These are all major obstacles SLR has very little influence on.

Personally I think it's the issues above and not the content that is the issue with adoption. Just compare the experience to opening your phone and going to pornhub. It requires no investment, no effort, can be done anywhere, needs no special hardware, you won't have a specialized wank unit in your closet, it's quick, etc.

I don't think the type of content or the way you deliver this content is going to significantly influence the above. Sure it's always good to make things as easy and accessible as possible but at the end of the day the headset and the investment are the issue. I think that will change at some point as VR headsets with evolve and we will get mainstream adoption and in the meantime things will continue to steadily grow.

At this point I think making things more bitesize like a tubesite or ticktok will only serve to scare away the people that do consume VR content and are willing to pay for a good experience. Tubesites and ticktok are just very different types of media. The thing that is so cool about VR is that it can deliver sensations that where simply not possible on a small screen like a sense of presense, a feeling of intimacy, etc. I mean this site is called sex like real so that should say it all.

Anyways, I share similar ideas as most people in this tread about a story, good length, intimacy, creativity, that sort of thing. That's where the VR gold is. To deliver a different kind of sensation that 2D porn just can't. Personally I can't wait for VR to become more mainstream and to have all the crazy niches and variety of a tube site though. Then all these generes can get the VR magic as well as this kind of thing doesn't just apply to intimate GF porn but is similarly valid to something hardcore. It's just all about giving it that something extra that 2D porn that just can't.

Anyway, I strongly believe that good long, creative scenes are what will be the logical thing to focus on for the time being (at least for SLR Originals) and of course trying new things and innovate like SLR has always done, just not at the expense of the "VR gold".

scrptr9 that is a pretty good idea, i remember the thing that got me to want to try Vr porn was this scene by wankz with adria and Jaye summers and i couldnt enjoy it because it was all fisheyed but that was wnough for me to want to see how it looked in VR and then learning about Fleshlight Launch and then the Osr2 got me more hooked. Showing those working together with a side by side would definitely make something really want to feel what a feels like to have something wack you off with no input from yourself

TikTok and Hub have entirely different business models imo. They are leveraging user generated content and then serving up ads. It's only in recent history that Hub started selling premium subs on their site, and even with that they are still taking the "freemium" approach a la Spotify where the few pay for the many.

The benefit of users creating content on your site is that creates a flywheel effect. They upload new content, share it with friends and family, they download a new app and watch the content and the cycle repeats over and over again. TikTok didn't do anything unique, they are just enabling the users to do more.

How do you enable more independent creators to start building on the SLR platform while still remaining in compliance?

I do agree with some of the comments above that experiential content would cool. Hell there is an American woman in France making $350/hr by offering the "girlfriend experience"
Humans crave connection and intimacy even if we can't admit it.

I don't know how to format this from a video perspective but creating videos that show how the experience is so much better in VR than in flat. I can say as someone who has consumed mostly 2D content when I saw a VR video on hub "I never got it" and was like what is even the point of this. Because of the nature of the content you have to specifically seek out the information it isn't just widely available to you.

Crosspromoting with haptic tools also seems like an easy win. The both are marketing to the same audience.

Rentention for SLR will come from the content which many have above suggested how it can get even better.

Personally I think "cool" is so subjective and vague it's hard to know how to answer.
For example WHY are tube sites cool to you? Convenience? Variety? Accessibility? That could help guide the thought experiment.

Though for me, the thing SLR could do to improve desirability(again, I don't know about cool) is variety and production design.
What tube sites have is access to lots and lots of videos where the amateur content often looks as good as the pro stuff(these days at least). VR just doesn't have that right now. Yes, more smaller studios are getting into it but a lot of them struggle with image quality and camera positions. They don't seem to look at what works at the bigger studios. Reality is we want get a fun inventory of niches like the tube sites have until more smaller studios exist and can produce decent quality. SLR could probably reach out to these producers and offer their knowledge or sponsor in some way creative amateur producers until they're on their feet.

Secondly, when I say production design, what I really mean is being more specific in the choices of a scene.
My go-to example of almost being something is the recent Chanel Camryn/Leanna Lovings SLR scene. Chanel makes an accent choice during the speaking parts that was great but then she immediately dropped it during the sex. It was disappointing.
Things like character choices and costuming and location and positions all working together to benefit a specific script. A common issue in vr scenes across studios is that as soon as the action starts, the premise is pretty much out the window. There's no character or storyline anymore. No dialogue that continues the viewers immersion. And what might be there is the bare minimum.
Admittedly it's risky. When a performer is cast in porn, people just want to see them do what they always do, look how they always look, sound how they always sound and anything that breaks away from that is "bad."
But all I can say is personally, I'll accept there's a risk that a director/producer might make bold choices I don't like if there's a chance one time i REALLY like them. You won't make everyone happy but playing it safe where you might have 10 hypothetical Blake Blossom scenes that are all pretty well shot but also all pretty much the same doesn't help things evolve. Because I'll ultimate just keep going back to one or two of those every time and ignoring the rest.
Instead if I have better choices like "oh, in this one she's a reserved cowgirl ready to lose her inhibitions." Or "in this one she's a hard-nosed detective." then I have cool choices.

Plbrock1s I think you are highlighting the key deviation from SLR and tube sites. Never in my life have I ever considered the script/scene in porn. I am generally just fixing an itch for a specific type of content and anything getting in the way of that is just noise/fodder. Short of like Xev who is probably the best at convincing that you are the one she is talking to. Here people want the full experience good acting, storyline, producing, directing, and more. It's the total package vs the quick fix.

nachocito

Trust me, that's completely fair and how most people watch porn.
For the most part me as well. I've never sat and watched an entire scene end to end. I doubt anyone has. These things are way too long to be sitting in a headset with imo. I typically start it, get sort of an idea of what the scenario is, then skip to what i want to see.

It also highlights why it's a risk to put much effort into production if you know ultimately it doesn't matter much that people are just going to skip around.
Maybe it's sort of a pipe dream or it's just that one day VR will be so profitable that studios can do what they want.

I will say though, I credit SLRs ease of streaming so that i can just sort scenes by 'new' and check into each one briefly and see if it's worth keeping on because I will check out pretty much any B/G that's posted.