Oculus Rift and the uses and abuses of VR

One of next-generation virtual reality's first public outings saw men queuing to fondle a virtual girl at the Tokyo Game Show

In muggy Tokyo, a man wearing a virtual reality headset crouches in front of a blank-faced mannequin and fondles her breasts. On screen, an animated cartoon version of the girl (despite her nurse-like professional attire, it is unquestionably a girl) smiles coquettishly while a skeletal depiction of the man's hands move rhythmically, as if testing a nectarine for ripeness. According to the organisers of last month's Tokyo Game Show, it is the year of virtual reality. For a number of exhibitors at the show, however, it seems more like the year of digital lechery. Such was the outrage on social media at the spectacle of this dummy-groping, the software's developer was told by event staff to remove the touch sensors from the mannequin's breasts. It was a diluted compromise. The lascivious, snaking queues remained. The only difference was that now the mannequin didn't know when she was being felt up.

For Luckey, VR is not merely a tool for immersive entertainment, but a mechanism to democratise privileged experience