What has cock hero become?

[Dampen13]

So I've been in this cock hero community for 10+ years now, pretty much PLAYED (I´ll get back to this later) them all and even started with some editing and funscripting lately.

I remember the good old days when cock hero was just a game (just like guitar hero), the goal of the game was to complete a set amount of tasks or follow a specific beat bar in order to get to the end and the reward. The nostalgia for me is seeing a video named "Cock Hero: ...........", because then I knew there was a new achievement waiting for me at the end of the video.

The thing I want to highlight with this post is that I see more and more videos called "Cock Hero: .........", that aren't really cock hero videos..? I get excited, open the post and starting to read about the video. Sometimes the author clearly say that this video don't have a beat bar or something similar, other times there are no information at all. Maybe I download the video, get comfortable and starting to watch it, just so I can get led down by the fact that this cock hero video clearly didn't have any specific task or beat bar to follow.

My point is; can't we make some specific guidelines, or make some rules that say in order to call it a cock hero video, this and this has to be within the video itself? For example: beat bar, colors indicating what to do, text prompting what to do, voiceovers telling what to do..... Something that makes it into a game, rather than just a normal PMV or porn movie. I could name many so called cock hero videos that aren't really a cock hero video, but I'm not gonna flame anyone. I just miss the good old nostalgia when seeing "Cock Hero". I know this is a forum for all kind of videos, I'm just referring to the title "Cock Hero".

I hope at least some of you also feel it this way; I want cock hero videos to be like a game that has to be completed with specific tasks, rather than just a normal video with "rounds" and "breaks" but clearly no tasks to follow.

[kong]

The internet is wild and uncontrollable!
The power we have is the community and can create our own standards, but it will be hard to apply them.
There will always be conflicts with definitions. Many can use the words and explanation as a CH.
What is the benefit of the ones that use the CH as an explanation? Is the popularity involved?

One suggestion is to make a thread in the "On Video" and have a community board that list the new CH that follow these rules and definitions.
There are websites such as

Spoiler: show

cockhero.info

that uses information such as beatmeters and "Instructions/Beat Change Indicator".

The challenge is to represent all CH, because there are a lot of CHs nowadays.

[javxxx]

I fully agree! I wish we had more of those classic Cock Hero videos. They've become really rare the past little while!

[The Carnal Scholar]

The thing I want to highlight with this post is that I see more and more videos called "Cock Hero: .........", that aren't really cock hero videos..?

Examples?

[Repsac]

Examples?

Cock Hero Vulcan for the most recent one is more of a PMV compilation with a theme than a cock hero. I agree that it's not a Cock Hero as in "Porn Guitar Hero" (though it doesn't diminish it's value); it's more like Supermassive's videos, a movie instead of a game, with some sort of alchemy between sound and image.

If you want to categorize: "Cock Heroes" are any porn rhythm games. I'd suggest videos like Cock Hero Vulcan to be tagged as [MOVIE]. I'd be kind of attracted myself to that tag, wanting to see a more artistic view on porn from members of the community. But if people insist on using "Cock Hero" for other videos than rhythm games, it's like all living languages, expressions are distorted and take on whole different meanings... and there's little we can do about it ^^"

[smutreader]

Here's my proposal for standardization. Feel free to offer rebuttals, additions, or subtractions:

COCK HERO:

1. Must be a live action pornographic video with soft and/or hardcore content set to music.

2. There must be a beat meter instruction the user when to stroke and when to stop.

3. Must be at least 30 minutes and no longer than 120 minutes.

4. Can include any level of Straight, Lesbian, Trans, Gay, or solo content. Warnings for what type of content are strongly encouraged.

5. Can include voiceovers, sound effects, and story.

6. Any extra instructions (breathe play, poppers, dildo, plug use, etc) should be considered optional and non-mandatory.

7. Should include musical and actor/actress credits at the end.

8. Should begin with basic cock hero instructions and tell the viewer how many rounds there are.

FAP HERO:

1. Must be an animated (cel or CGI) pornographic video with soft and/or hardcore content set to music.

2. There must be a beat meter instruction the user when to stroke and when to stop.

3. Must be at least 30 minutes and no longer than 120 minutes.

4. Can include any level of Straight, Lesbian, Trans, Gay, or solo content. Warnings for what type of content are strongly encouraged.

5. Can include voiceovers, sound effects, and story.

6. Any extra instructions (breathe play, poppers, dildo, plug use, etc) should be considered optional and non-mandatory.

7. Should include musical and artist credits at the end.

8. Should begin with basic cock hero instructions and tell the viewer how many rounds there are.

Epic Porn Music Video (EPMV):

1. Must be a pornographic video with soft and/or hardcore content set to music.

2. There is no beat meter although there may be instructions.

3. Must be at least 15 minutes with no maximum time limit.

4. Can include any level of Straight, Lesbian, Trans, Gay, or solo content. Warnings for what type of content are strongly encouraged.

5. Can include voiceovers, sound effects, and story.

6. Any extra instructions (breathe play, poppers, dildo, plug use, etc) should be considered optional and non-mandatory.

7. Should include musical and actor/actress credits at the end.

[Rinascere]

As a general rule, Cock Hero videos invite you to stroke using the rhythm of the music.

I agree with your point, but is it really that important? This genre is not that big to make those distinctions and most creators explain it enough to have an idea before playing anyways. If we only let the classic CH videos to have that name we will be excluding those other experiments based on Cock Heroes but don't fit exactly in that category.

Personally, I still enjoy more the Cock Hero genre as a fun game rather than as an artistic expression. But a naming convention shouldn't be a barrier for those who want to make something different. Let the genre evolve!

[HighFreeman]

Yeah. I'm really fine with all kinds of variation. Beat meter or no meter i don't even really care that much. Easier to say what i don't like. I don't like just one video copied from somewhere with a beat bar. There should be many sources otherwise it is just boring imo (and for copyright reasons also). Conversely while I might quite like a compilation of various scenes, without any kind of overall direction at least or some kind of theme it is not a cock hero imo.

[Pseudonym]

Well, luckily we have a wiki now that defines concept of Cock Hero video thanks to @The Carnal Scholar!
So we don't have to argue about it.
https://pmv.wiki/wiki/Cock_Hero

"The name is a reference to the Guitar Hero video game."



Without a beat meter, it doesn't really make sense to call such video a Cock Hero.
Btw, when I say "beat meter" I mean music rythm stroking "gameplay" in CH videos - the implementation can differ but visual beat bar + audio beats become the standard soon after the genre was created.

There might be some other expectations and preferences about the length, the challenging aspect and more, or some other genres can be mixed in (parts with red light - green light, edging, freestyle...) but the defining aspect of the Cock Hero genre is the beat meter.

In other words, if you remove shooting from a first person shooter, it’s no longer a first person shooter.
If you remove the music rythm game play from a Guitar hero, it's no longer a music rythm genre game.


I have mentioned this before, but I think that sometimes we forget that CH videos are very fringe piece of media that resonates with only very small portion of population in a way that it was intended. My wild guess is that in order to enjoy what the beat meter adds to the video, you probably need to have some kind of combination of T&D and "loss of control" or "challenge/achievement" fetish, or something very particular in relation with personality/sexuality.
I believe that after watching your first one or two CHs, it either clicks and you get it and understand it 100% because it was always there inside of you, or you don't and probably never will. (Which is completely fine btw)

I've tried to explain why I love CH videos and why there is a beat meter to people who didn't get it and I quickly realized that it's probably something like a "qualia". An experience that cannot be conveyed through words.
For instance - I don't have a foot fetish. If someone, who has that fetish would try to explain it to me, I would understand it intellectually, but the experience of enjoying feet as if I would have that type of fetish is still completely inaccessible to me.

So I stopped trying to explain to people why beat meter is absolutely essential in order to create that CH experience.

That said, I would strongly advise not to call videos without it a Cock Hero in order to avoid confusion. You can use other - more fitting definition or label if it's needed.
Cock Hero label has been understood as a definition of a genre for more than a decade now. Imagine if gaming industry started releasing RTS games under FPS label. FPS fans would understandably find this confusing while searching for new FPS games to play on Steam.



This is not a first time this has been happening. New videos without beat meter labeled as Cock Hero have been popping up here from time to time for many years.
My explanation (and this is just a speculation) is that some people watch CH videos, they enjoy them as PMV films or for some other qualities, but the beat meter does nothing for them.
They then decide to create a CH of their own, but don’t include the beat meter, because for them it’s not an essential part of what makes a CH in their minds. Wich is all fine - the issue is the incorrect genre label.

So, my question for any authors who released videos called Cock Hero and not included beat meter is – what was your reasoning? Am I completely off with my speculation? Would you be OK with labeling your work as a [MOVIE] or [FILM] something like that?
It would be helpful to know, so we can understand why this is happening and how we can make the situation less confusing for all of us.



And lastly, after writing all of this, I’m starting to worry that I might be missing out on not having a foot fetish.

[cristovaop]

Where can I find CH nowadays? With the purge that happened at PH, I miss the old beat to the beat. I love especially the ones with at least the basic of a story, even more if the objective is not to cum because you will lose a competition, game, soul, life...

[kerkersklave]

I don't think there are less "real" cockheros. So I am not that troubled by the issue. The frequency of new cockheros was never extremely high. I have a collection of the cockheros I like and that is large enough to keep me entertained until a new, good one, shows up. The challenging ones do not get boring to me, I have replayed them dozens of times.

That said, I've noticed two, that there are sometimes videos called cockheros that are just long PMVs, compilations or whatever.
I don't favor a restrictive definition of the genre, but a cockhero has to have that stroking game aspect, or it is something else. Does not have a beatmeter, early cockheros didn't have them. But there has to be a clearly indicated beat/rhythm to follow. Typically, that requires either instructions or a beatmeter and dedicated stroke sound.
Personally I almost exclusively play cockheros with beatmeters nowadays, because those with just instructions tend to be to easy.

[The Carnal Scholar]

Well, luckily we have a wiki now that defines concept of Cock Hero video thanks to @The Carnal Scholar!
So we don't have to argue about it.
https://pmv.wiki/wiki/Cock_Hero

I appreciate the shoutout!
But I do want to clarify that the wiki does not aim to settle such questions. It's the other way around. A definition in PMV Wiki hopes to accurately reflect the common sentiment, which is articulated exactly in discussions such as the current one.

That being said, I don't see any big disagreements in this thread, or anywhere else really. I asked earlier for examples of videos labeled "Cock Hero" that aren't Cock Hero and Repsac helpfully pointed out "Cock Hero Vulcan". Nobody has another recent example so far and I'm not aware of any others. Clearly there doesn't seem to be any other offenders or other disagreement about what is and isn't Cock Hero.

I'm therefore tempted to say that this entire thread is a complete waste of everybody's time with OP complaining about a non-issue. But a more charitable way to see it is that people just care deeply about what makes Cock Hero what it is and how it is different from any other kind of PMV! There are actually many examples of people being upset that someone made a video without CH mechanics even when the artist clearly states that the video doesn't have a beat meter. This strong sentiment is in itself noteworthy.

This sentiment is also in line with Pseudonym's identification of Cock Hero as a distinct fetish. Speaking of which...

And lastly, after writing all of this, I’m starting to worry that I might be missing out on not having a foot fetish.

Maybe this helps?



Yes, this whole post was just an excuse to post Kat Von D.

[The Carnal Scholar]

One more thing!

I wanted to point out that the very first Cock Hero videos did not have a visible beat meter, only a beat sound. I think it's safe to attribute this to the fact that a visual beat meter is more challenging to produce than a beat track. But it also begs the question of who invented the visual beat meter? Was it andyp in Cock Hero 5? If you know more about the answer, feel free to edit the wiki page, or explain it here!

[samfishercarl]

If OP is referencing the frequent occurrences of the words cock hero when browsing spankbang, I have noticed videos like this as well which are not cock heroes at all and are reference to some kinky pillow talk shit from some femdom porn content that a random camgirl posted somewhere on a onlyfans in which she called viewers cock heroes as in "her heroes who have cocks" and now it is being misappropriated to gents who edge to their mistresses and other kinky femdom stuff and is completely unrelated to the original genre we celebrate here. now it is an algorithm thing that gets people views and thus should be ignored for the next couple months on the streaming sites, come here to get what you need. 99% of the good ones will be here anyways

[3xTripleXXX]

I think trying to overcategorize CH is a pretty futile endeavor. There's always going to be variations and new ideas, and some will catch on and some won't. In the end, creators will make what they enjoy the most either way.

There are a lot of suggestions above that want to put down rules, and I can think of exceptions to most of those and still think of them as CH vids. Like someone said, the early ones, and many later ones don't have a visual beat meter. I've made CH Quickies that are only one song long, but I still feel those are as much CH as my longer creations. Jupiter's Acceleration Challenge and the How Long Can You Last series don't have music, but I think they're very much in the CH spirit. Where does Edge Hero fit it? It's at the least related, though I'd consider them part of the CH spectrum. Beat and edging instructions are mixed in a lot of CH vids.

Anyway, I think try to overdefine what CH is feels more like trying to stifle the genre rather than build it up. My vids will still have beatmeters, because I think those are fun. I think most releases really fall into that category (though I'd love to see some more hardcore, guys ;), but making CH vids are a lot of work and so I'm just going to appreciate what comes out, and if it's not my style, I just won't play it.

I think the best thing anyone can do for the CH genre is to get out there and try to make your own the way you like it. DaVinci Resolve is a professional grade video editing suite that's free to use for everything but the fanciest features. The more CH videos are produced, the more clearly the genre will be defined. :)

(am I suggesting this because I want more to play while I'm working on my own? maybe)

Where can I find CH nowadays? With the purge that happened at PH, I miss the old beat to the beat. I love especially the ones with at least the basic of a story, even more if the objective is not to cum because you will lose a competition, game, soul, life...

Spankbang.com is probably the streaming site with the most CH videos, and if you search for CH there, most of the results will be either regular CH or Fap Hero vids. Some not, obviously, but that's where I'll generally check, sorted on newest, to see what's happening (outside of here).