Porn is now making major inroads into two areas that will tighten its grip even more—online gaming and virtual reality.
According to Ben Miller, Digital Strategies Coordinator for the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCSE), even as recently as 2013, the number of video games containing pornographic sexual violence was minimal. But those numbers are now skyrocketing.
One popular video game website hosted about 780 games with nudity in 2017, but in 2018 they now host over 1,600 such games.
Now, a company that owns a large number of top porn sites and studios has started a distribution platform for online pornographic games.
Miller said, "Porn games don't simply contain sex and nudity. Rather, they are much more graphic. Some of these games promote sexual harassment and assault. Despite being cartoons, the graphic content in these games is far from harmless. Animated porn fuels sexual addiction and shapes sexual palettes just as regular porn does."
Alarmingly, the distributor provides free-to-play games in addition to their purchased products. This free option will allow young kids easier access to the content, bypassing paywalls intended to block children's ability to play the games.
NCOSE noted that the provider's website traffic has exploded from 50 million to 115 million visits between April and August 2018, ranking it in the top 500 websites in the world.
Parents need to be aware of the impact the increase in pornographic online gaming may have on their children.
Marriage and Family Therapist Dr. Jill Manning told Internet Security 101, "Parents need to understand how intricately linked the gaming industry and pornography industry are. More and more games have pornography embedded in them. If kids play online, that is a pornographer's heyday for marketing, grooming and hooking young consumers."
Virtual Reality (VR) Is Also Booming
Another major adult gaming portal announced in May that it is expanding into virtual reality with two new VR products. Through the use of a headset such as the Oculus Rift (owned by Facebook), a viewer is able to enter a totally manufactured environment and tune out the reality of their actual situation.
Fortune magazine stated, "By 2025, adult virtual reality content is forecast to be a $1 billion business, the third biggest sector behind video games and NFL-related content, according to Piper Jaffray analyst Travis Jakel."
Todd Glider, CEO of VR adult entertainment company BaDoink, clearly stated that "VR will become the standard in the industry for today's younger male consumers."
He continued, "I see it through a generational lens. VR porn will not have a pronounced effect on the demographic born before 1980. However, for the generations born after, the ones that reach adulthood in a world where 24/7 access to adult content is just a mouse click away, that's the audience for VR porn, and it will be huge."
Josh McDowell's VR Experience
Christian apologist and evangelist Josh McDowell, is featured in the Conquer Series, a powerful cinematic DVD course that is helping families deal with pornography. In the Conquer Series McDowell describes his experience with virtual reality. He asked to have a villa created. When he put on the headset, he was amazed at the total immersion experience and felt he was actually in the villa.
"And then it hit me, " McDowell said. "What this would do with pornography, and nobody's talking about it. Like one pornographer said, 'It's been our dream as pornographers for 100 years'. It'll take pornography from here, right through the ceiling. It'll make everything I've said about pornography—or anyone else [has said] over the last eight years—child's play."
McDowell added, "Is the church ready for this? No! Because the church is not aware of it. I can hardly find anyone that understands virtual reality in the church. Pastors or anything. I mean, you say, "Well, do you know what Oculus Rift is?" It's like they're in wooly-wooly land. The church is not ready for it, and we don't have long. It's already mainlined in the world. When it becomes mainlined in the church it's a hundred times harder to equip people for it."
The Threat Is Real; Protect Your Children
The pornography industry has no intentions of backing off or slowing down in its quest to continually find more distribution pathways. Parents must be diligent in their efforts to protect their children from the onslaught of porn.
Viewing virtual reality requires wearing a headset, which most children probably couldn't afford. But the free-to-play online games are easy to access and can be done more secretly.
Here are some steps you can take to protect your children.
- Keep the gaming device or computer in a high-traffic area, not in the child's room, even if you already have an internet filter service.
- Remove the headphones and make them use the computer's speakers so you can hear any online chatting.
- Set up all of your children's game accounts and console controls. You decide who has access to their gaming profile and whom your child can talk to. Learn how to use the parental controls that are built into the console.
- Read reviews and understand the industry rating system. Make sure the game is age-appropriate.
- Talk to your children. Teach them basic internet safety roles and to notify you if they encounter anything unusual or unsettling while they are playing. Build a non-shaming relationship with your child so that if they do come across adult content, they can approach you and talk about it.
Prepare Your Family
The global porn epidemic touches all of our lives. Perhaps you struggle with pornography and want to break free of its hold on you. Or maybe you want to learn more about the problem so you can be better prepared to protect your family.
The 12-DVD Conquer Series was created to give men a proven resource to help them achieve a porn-free life. The powerful video segments, compelling testimonies and strong biblical teaching will equip you with valuable information about the porn battle.
Find out more at ConquerSeries.com
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