Facebook & Oculus VR

[Husky_Khan]

Facebook VP of VR Recommends Users “Make Sure Their Facebook Accounts are in Good Standing” Before Buying an Oculus Quest Headset

Facebook’s Vice President of Augmented and Virtual Reality has recommended users “make sure their Facebook accounts are in good standing” before buying an Oculus Quest VR device.

nichegamer.com

"I think people should continue to make sure their Facebook accounts are in good standing- before they buy the headset, they can work through those problems before they do it.

And second of all, is we are working really quickly through those and resolving all those issues that come up. They’re Facebook account issues that can be solved and we’re working through them.

But I want to point out this is very common. Google, Apple, Xbox- pick a favorite. They make you sign in with an account and there’s a reason for that. We get to provide better services that way, and stronger guarantees around things like data security, and compliance with regulations. So I’m a big fan of this move, even still.”

- Facebook Vice President of Virtual/Augmented Reality Andrew Bosworth.

I mean, I guess he is right on the Google, Apple and XBox thing when it comes to accounts.

Still, truly a new frontier for gaming!

 

[Ryune]

I'm somewhat split on this. On the one hand, he's not wrong. Having an account to attach your purchases to is a significant advantage for things like customer service work and tracking tracking of trends. I personally have little issue with it in principal.

What I find troubling about it is what I've always felt about these various game distribution services compounded by Facebook's whole brand. I worry about things like my gaming history being published on my timeline, my friends finding out what I watch on it, that some asshat will frivilously report me for something and get my account locked, those sort of things. Having all of my games controlled through the online store wasn't much of an issue when I could depend on my entire account being there no matter what I do but there is a real possibility that they could implement code that could just stop me from using the console and games I bought. They are also probably going to lock down the freeware capability some time next year if not earlier.

If I do get an Oculus Quest 2 I'm going to be praying for a jailbreak and custom firmware.

 

[Husky_Khan]

Oculus Purchases Will Be Deleted if You Delete Your Facebook Account

Facebook is back at it again with another controversy surrounding the recently released Oculus Quest 2.

www.dualshockers.com

Sounds disturbing.

But then again, I never deleted my Steam Account, or even thought of doing it or even pondered how I would go about it and if so, if I'd lose all my games.

Then again, my Steam Account isn't really a social media or personal account (IMHO) like a Facebook or Google Account would be. I always think of things like Steam or UPlay or Battlenet accounts as just gaming accounts. Not my actual online/personal identity online.

 

[prinCZess]

Finally I will be able to engage in the immersive, VR Farmville experience I've always wanted! Gaming!!!

I can see the reasoning for it, but...I'm not a fan of facebook to begin with and hold only limited, vague interest in Oculus and that whole VR realm of things, so not excited in the slightest. I mean...a large part of the reason I have Steam at all rather than tooling-along in the obsolete disc generation is because they do the odd free game and whatnot and I DON'T have to give them a bunch of personal info (I am, indeed, a hundred-twenty year-old vampire born on January 1st of 1900, Steam) and it can be a bunch of single-player games dissociated from any 'community' silliness, so there's none of the hassle that all the 'connectivity' and 'community' features of some/many modern games result in--and having a platform type of thing for games paired with an explicit social media site seems like it'd just turn that to eleventy.

 

[Ryune]

Yeah, pretty much my own feelings on the matter. And I have to wonder just what will happen when Facebook eventually looses interest in VR as a gaming platform. Will they just take their money and leave us all with bricked hardware? Because Facebook isn't primarily a gaming company it can just decide to close down Oculus and it won't be the end of the world for them.

That said, Oculus is the only game in down when it comes to mobile VR. I shutter to think about what warped shit they are going to push on the platform to make it "family friendly."

 

[Ryune]

And oh hey, remember how I was talking about only getting an Oculus if it got cracked? Well it got cracked...

Hackers reportedly jailbreak the Oculus Quest 2, bypassing its forced Facebook login

An Oculus Quest 2 jailbreak that bypasses its Facebook login has reportedly been discovered.Non-profit research company…

www.eurogamer.net

So yeah, I do believe the Quest 2 just got back on my eventual buy list. I suppose I really shouldn't be too surprised. The Quest runs on Android and is basically just a cellphone without call capability. If they wanted the Q2 to be compatable with all of the same games... And the Quest was made by actual enthusiasts for tech development in control so it was always open enough that these kinds of exploits could have been found. This is probably going to be the PSP all over again...

 

[Husky_Khan]

Facebook-Banned Trump Livid He Can't Log Into Oculus (thehardtimes.net)

The warning signs were ignored and now sadly it's too late to do anything about Big Tech now Mr. President...

 

[Husky_Khan]

Nearly 20% of Facebook employees are working on AR, VR: Report

Nearly 10,000 Facebook employees are working on AR and VR devices.

tech.hindustantimes.com

Back in 2017, about a thousand employees of Facebook's almost 19,000 employees were working on VR and AR technology, about five perfect of its workforce. Now it's reported upwards of a fifth of their employees, about ten thousand, now are working on Facebook's VR and AR technology. The other forty thousand I assume I working on Facebook content moderation.

“I think it really makes sense for us to invest deeply to help shape what I think is going to be the next major computing platform, this combination of augmented and virtual reality, to make sure that it develops in this way that is fundamentally about people being present with each other and coming together."

 

[ParadiseLost]

Nearly 20% of Facebook employees are working on AR, VR: Report

Nearly 10,000 Facebook employees are working on AR and VR devices.

tech.hindustantimes.com

Back in 2017, about a thousand employees of Facebook's almost 19,000 employees were working on VR and AR technology, about five perfect of its workforce. Now it's reported upwards of a fifth of their employees, about ten thousand, now are working on Facebook's VR and AR technology. The other forty thousand I assume I working on Facebook content moderation.

Facebook doesn't do its own content moderation, its all outsourced.

They have people working on automatic AI-based content moderation, but individuals that are actually going through content and moderating it are almost always contractors.