Microsoft Mesh and Holoporting Porn

At its annual Ignite conference, Microsoft this year unveiled one of its most ambitious Extended Reality projects yet: Microsoft Mesh. A collaborative online workspace hosted by Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform, Mesh aims to bring collaborative work into the age of VR and AR. Promising users the ability to meet and discuss, annotate and analyze projects regardless of geographic distance, Mesh doesn’t immediately appear all that forward-thinking upon first examination.

Upon realizing Mesh is platform-independent, however, opinions may change. Encouraging developers to expand their horizons via Mesh to find new audiences via Steam, Oculus, to HoloLens users via the Microsoft Store, and on other distribution platforms.

One Factory, Endless Markets

“This has been the dream for mixed reality, the idea from the very beginning. You can actually feel like you’re in the same place with someone sharing content or you can teleport from different mixed reality devices and be present with people even when you’re not physically together.”

– Alex Kipman, Microsoft Technical Fellow.

One curious element of the Mesh promo material hints at Microsoft’s (and many other tech giants’) vision of the future of work. Dimly lit scenes at home, in labs, and warehouse spaces appear to take place just after dawn or deep into the darkness of nighttime. As collaborative opportunities expand to every continent and country, it appears so too will average working hours expand. This makes relaxation and “me-time” all the more important. When a single mother is up late working with a colleague via XR, she’ll likely also be taking advantage of VR for more… personal reasons.

Connections in the Cloud

Although Mesh currently allows virtual meetings with cartoonish avatars, photorealistic renderings of users are planned for future implementation. It may be the release of this “holoporting” feature that really sets Mesh on its way. Connecting erotically with others via dating apps and video conferencing is commonplace today. Mesh could easily help bring about a state where, instead of a 2D visual and low-res audio, people could find someone enticing and invite them over for a VR hookup. How they find such a person, well, porn can help with that.

Adaptive analysis of porn viewing habits could enable users to instantly find a range of potential AR partners, whether they’re avatars/holoports of actual people, purely digital creations, or your favorite pornstar. The legal framework around virtual sex work is still indistinct. Crossing national borders and jurisdictions, some may view the act of booking a pornstar for an AR “visit” as potentially criminal. On the other hand, is it really any different than purchasing a custom video from your favorite adult performer? Or even meeting them at a convention?

Behind the Screens

For AR porn, VR porn, and even regular ol’ 2D porn creators, a platform like Mesh seeing widespread adoption – closer to the trajectory of Microsoft Teams than the HoloLens – could revolutionize casting and shooting processes. Performers may no longer have to travel to set and can avoid crossing international borders and requiring visas. This could very well lead to less nationally isolated adult industries and a greater mix of nationalities represented in porn overall.

You’ll no longer need to live in LA or Miami, nor will you have to emigrate from the Czech Republic just to make it as a mainstream pornstar. And for fans, they’ll no longer need to battle budget, scheduling, or social anxiety to meet their favorite performer face-to-virtual-face.