Oculus now requires Facebook login, Aunt Cleo has invited you to play VRFarmville

[DragonTamer1]

In a totally shocking move that nobody saw coming, Facebook has strong armed Oculus into making Facebook logins mandatory starting in October. Anyone purchasing a new headset will be required to log in with a Facebook account. Anyone with existing accounts will have until the end of 2022 to sign in... how generous.

 

As stated by Road to VR:

Quote

While a Facebook account is already required for some core social functionality on Oculus headsets—like cross-game messaging and voice-chat—Facebook today announced upcoming changes which require new users to use a Facebook account with their headset.

Quote

Facebook says that starting in October “everyone using an Oculus device for the first time will need to log in with a Facebook account.” Existing users will be given the option to log in with their Facebook account and permanently merge their Oculus account with it.

Further, the company says that existing users who opt not to merge their Oculus account with their Facebook account can continue using their headset as normal until the end of 2022, after which the company no longer guarantees “full functionality” without the use of a Facebook account.

And as it's no surprise to anyone, Facebook plans to track what you do in game to enhance your gaming experience sell you ads.

Quote

“Facebook will use information related to your use of VR and other Facebook products to provide and improve your experience. This information is also used to show you personalized content, including ads. For example, we might show you recommendations for Oculus Events you might like, ads about Facebook apps and technologies, or ads from developers for their VR apps.”

And just to make sure they spat in the face of everyone who values privacy...

Quote

Users cannot opt out of sharing VR usage activity with Facebook.

 

Rant:

Oculus used to be the headset I recommended because it was cheaper than what Valve offered and had a compatible gaming experience. I thought that what Oculus was doing was great for the VR market as they were trying to make headsets more affordable to the everyday user which is something that Valve had no interest in doing. The problem is that the people who typically buy an Oculus, or even a VR headset in general, tend to be more tech savvy people who don't want Facebook tracking their every move. Some, myself included, not only deleted their Facebook but routinely go out of their way to block Facebook trackers wherever possible. The only thing Oculus has done is spit in the face of their core audience with this move.

 

If they are going to be tracking your data because they are data mining ***** ***** ******, then let's not try to sugar coat the situation by saying that it is to improve the social experience because I'm going to challenge you to show me 10 people who use their VR headsets to socialize using the built in Facebook API now. I'll wait... Most people don't buy a VR headset to socialize with people, and if they do they will just do it through VR chat instead which is arguably better... depending on how you approach the discussion...

 

I bet what happened is that when Facebook bough out Oculus the stipulation was that Oculus needed to get people to either sign in with Facebook accounts or make them and there was probably some sort of quota. I bet that quota was not being filled because of the privacy concerns around Facebook that most people I know have to some degree now days. This is why it's now required. I have no proof, but it doesn't take much to imagine this is what's being done here.

 

I'm disappointment that Windows Mixed reality is no longer really a thing, as that would be my new go to option. What FOculus has done is moved the market back in terms of progress now. VR was getting to the point where a computer capable of running it could be had for $400 to $500 USD and a decent headset was $350 to $400, but now nobody is going to recommend an Oculus because of this, and instead recommend a much more expensive headset with a much higher entry cost. Oculus might want to gear up to start selling headsets for $100 because I can't imagine anyone willingly paying $350 just to have ads thrown at them and have their data mined.

 

Anyone who thinks that I'm over reacting should take a look at r/Oculus and see the backlash happening.

[jagdtigger]

Oculus won a permanent place on my blacklist as soon as they sold their souls to fb....

Edited August 20, 2020 by jagdtigger

[zeusthemoose]

Does vr currently have ads in it and they are just adding personalized ones now or will they be adding ads as a whole with this? Either way, this is not going to go well for oculus.

[bmx6454]

if i wanted my fb linked with my oculus, i would have linked them to begin with... guess im going to be looking at an index upgrade in 2022 lol

[DragonTamer1]

4 minutes ago, zeusthemoose said:

Does vr currently have ads in it and they are just adding personalized ones now or will they be adding ads as a whole with this? Either way, this is not going to go well for oculus.

I've never seen any ads in my Oculus besides them recommending games from their store like Steam does.

 

9 minutes ago, jagdtigger said:

Oculus won a permanent place on my blacklist as soon as they sold their souls to fb....

I bought one because I couldn't afford a Vive. I was always optimistic it would not come to this, people wonder why I'm such a pessimist about everything. I'm not pessimistic, I'm just a realist. Never again.

[Guest]

[Moonzy]

Welp rip my VR plans

Can't afford a vive

[Kisai]

29 minutes ago, DragonTamer1 said:

In a totally shocking move that nobody saw coming, Facebook has strong armed Oculus into making Facebook logins mandatory starting in October. Anyone purchasing a new headset will be required to log in with a Facebook account. Anyone with existing accounts will have until the end of 2022 to sign in... how generous.

 

 

I don't know why anyone wouldn't have expected this. Your facebook notifications will now be filled with "YOUR (FRIEND/SPOUSE) IS PLAYING VRFARMVILLE, JOIN?" every time they power on their VR gear and want to waste time on something. Facebook is poison, and buying/using anything that Facebook has it's claws in, is just asking for your privacy to cease to exist. 

 

And yes, when hardware requires logging in, probably time to dump it. There should be no reason to login to nVidia or Razer or any number of hardware devices , and the only reason they make you do it is for telemetry tracking.

 

[TetraSky]

Was interested in Oculus since it's cheaper than the Index and the newest version works without external sensors.

But them being owned by Facebook was a cons for me but not enough to dissuade me and was still planning on getting it whenever I get a new GPU (later this year when the new generation comes out).

Now that they are doing this... Yeah I'm not buying one for certain now.
 

I'll be waiting for the Index to go on sale... or for the next generation of VR.

[TimeOmnivore]

When Oculus was bought by Facebook, they explicitly stated that Facebook integration would never be mandatory. This just goes to show that you should never trust any company to stick to their word and always assume they will backtrack on any previously made promises the moment they think the benefits will outweigh the negative PR.

[Jet_ski]

4 minutes ago, TimeOmnivore said:

When Oculus was bought by Facebook, they explicitly stated that Facebook integration would never be mandatory. This just goes to show that you should never trust any company to stick to their word and always assume they will backtrack on any previously made promises the moment they think the benefits will outweigh the negative PR.

Facebook said the same thing about Instagram, WhatsApp as well. Now WhatsApp and Facebook messenger are the same behind the scenes.

[Bombastinator]

25 minutes ago, Kisai said:

I don't know why anyone wouldn't have expected this. Your facebook notifications will now be filled with "YOUR (FRIEND/SPOUSE) IS PLAYING VRFARMVILLE, JOIN?" every time they power on their VR gear and want to waste time on something. Facebook is poison, and buying/using anything that Facebook has it's claws in, is just asking for your privacy to cease to exist. 

 

And yes, when hardware requires logging in, probably time to dump it. There should be no reason to login to nVidia or Razer or any number of hardware devices , and the only reason they make you do it is for telemetry tracking.

 

I think that was the point.  Sarcasm translates poorly in print.  I’m wondering if there were any promises made that they would not do this thing.  If they did oculus would have died the second Facebook bought them for exactly this reason. 

[Kisai]

3 minutes ago, Jet_ski said:

Facebook said the same thing about Instagram, WhatsApp as well. Now WhatsApp and Facebook messenger are the same behind the scenes.

There's a difference between SSO and Telemetry tracking though.

 

SSO (Single Sign On) is a way to just not have multiple independant accounts to login to when you use all the services. It's of no help if every service you use has it's own login and password schemes. Which is why sometimes oAuth is good, but really, I'd sooner login with Twitter than FB, because I don't trust FB won't turn the FB timeline into a stalker report. Same reason I won't use "Login with Google" either. Twitter is much more transparent about what is connected.

 

Telemetry tracking (eg "this program would like to track your usage in order to improve our product") should be a opt-out by default, and only opted-in by people who are actively having problems with the software and wish to file a report. Any other time, the company should be paying you to beta-test their product.

[CTR640]

Mark Suckabug can fuck himself hardcore with a giant iron spiked dildo.

You pay for the product and YOU ARE STILL THE PRODUCT!

[Bombastinator]

6 minutes ago, CTR640 said:

Mark Suckabug can fuck himself hardcore with a giant iron spiked dildo.

You pay for the product and YOU ARE STILL THE PRODUCT!

Ironically he’s one of the less bad ones too.  Not that you’re wrong.  There are folks that deserve it even more though.

[Arika]

i forsee a lot of empty facebook accounts in the near future.

[Orangeator]

This is why I refuse to purchase an Oculus headset. Personally, I will be purchasing a Vive or Steam VR setup this Christmas.

[starry]

Will never make a facebook.

Now I will never buy an oculus

[Bombastinator]

31 minutes ago, seapriestess said:

Will never make a facebook.

Now I will never buy an oculus

Yep.  They lost me when they tricked me into making one with a game that wouldn’t update.  Lucky me it was a game name it automatically used and I got kicked out as soon as someone didn’t like what I had to say.  It was when philander Castile got shot a couple blocks from where I lived.  There was a lot of blue lives matter and other sorts of sideways racism going on and I told em so.  Someone didn’t like it so they dropped a dime on my username.  Sweet people.  I have no desire to go back.

[That Franc]

There are enough good headsets besides HTC and Valve to allow to completely forget about Oculus. I was surprised to discover that some Windows Mixed Reality headsets offer better features than even the Index, namely the Reverb G2 which is coming out soon and has a clearer and sharper image than any other headset. There's also a Samsung Odyssey+ and Asus Ojo 500 to choose from.

 

Oculus ceasing to be an option is really no big deal for both new shoppers and current owners. The former can buy literally anything else, the former have time until 2023 to upgrade.

 

P.S.: Personally hyped about the new Reverb in light of Microsoft Flight Simulator release, especially if what they claim about the screens is true.

[Master Disaster]

And suddenly eBay has 1,000s of used Rifts for sale.

[Mihle]

42 minutes ago, That Franc said:

There are enough good headsets besides HTC and Valve to allow to completely forget about Oculus. I was surprised to discover that some Windows Mixed Reality headsets offer better features than even the Index, namely the Reverb G2 which is coming out soon and has a clearer and sharper image than any other headset. There's also a Samsung Odyssey+ and Asus Ojo 500 to choose from.

 

Oculus ceasing to be an option is really no big deal for both new shoppers and current owners. The former can buy literally anything else, the former have time until 2023 to upgrade.

 

P.S.: Personally hyped about the new Reverb in light of Microsoft Flight Simulator release, especially if what they claim about the screens is true.

All reviews I have heard about Windows Mixed Reality is that the tracking sucks compared to HTC/Oculus/Valve.

 

Have that changed now?

[LAwLz]

While I think it's sad that Oculus went down the shitty, I also find it funny scrolling through old threads regarding the situation because I get to tell people "told you so".

 

Here are some highlights from when Facebook first bought Oculus:

On 3/26/2014 at 4:20 PM, WiiManic said:

I really doubt there will be any forced integration like that, they've said you won't need to sign into facebook to use the device.

 

I really only see that sort of integration in cases where its already like that, ie BF4 can send FB notifications on server joins, think Steam has some form of FB integration , and the like.

Its all optional and has to be turned on.

On 3/26/2014 at 9:43 PM, LAwLz said:

They didn't say they wouldn't require a Facebook login. Palmer said he would quit if they integrated it. That's not the same as saying they won't integrate it. Remember, Palmer is no longer in charge.

  

Here is from when Facebook started collecting data on Oculus users:

On 4/10/2016 at 9:07 PM, niofalpha said:

... Not even gonna bother including Oculus's response? 

 

If this was the Vive no one would care. But since it's big, evil facebook everyone's going crazy...

On 4/10/2016 at 11:16 PM, LAwLz said:

That response is absolute garbage.

I like the "at this time" part, which implies that they will in the future. Same with "don't have advertising yet", but they may consider it in the future.

It is also worth noting that the email does not specify at all what data they are collecting. It gives an example of what they collect, but that might be one out of 100 things they collect.

 

The only thing that email says is:

1) They are considering sharing data with Facebook.

2) They are collecting data, and won't tell us exactly what or why.

3) They may implement ads in the future.

 

If that email was meant to calm me down then it failed miserably. In fact, it had the opposite effect because all I see is a really carefully worded email which is deliberately crafted in a way that makes it possible for them to do all the things people fear they might do. The email does not even rule out the possibility that Oculus are gathering information they will use for ads. It only says they aren't showing ads right now, which everyone already knew.

  

 

Here is from a thread from when Lucky said he didn't want to sell to Apple or Microsoft and chose to sell to Facebook instead:

On 3/28/2014 at 2:11 AM, LAwLz said:

He didn't want a deal with Microsoft or Apple... Because they weren't willing to pay 2 billion dollars for the company.

Two things wrong with his post.

1) He is not in charge. He can't promise that there won't be any tie-ins with Facebook. My guess is that Facebook will slowly infect Oculus Rift, one feature at a time. They always do this when they want to poison a product. You don't just dump it all in at once. You slowly increase the amount over a long period of time.

2) This is what he said less than 2 years ago: "Oculus is going forward in a big way, but a way that still lets me focus on the community first, and not sell out to a large company". He also said "I won’t make a penny of profit off this project, the goal is to pay for the costs of parts, manufacturing, shipping, and credit card/Kickstarter fees with about $10 left over for a celebratory pizza and beer!". I do not trust people who say one thing and then do the exact opposite...

 

  

 

Here is from the thread where it was announced that Oculus social features would rely on Facebook:

On 12/14/2019 at 10:57 AM, Sakkura said:

People don't seem to have noticed this is optional. Just... don't log in if you don't want to?

 Guess it's not optional anymore.

[Sauron]

Is VR still a thing people care about? For it to be successful it needed some pretty compelling experiences and so far there haven't been any that couldn't be adequately provided by a phone with a piece of cardboard strapped to it.

[Sakkura]

30 minutes ago, LAwLz said:

 

Here is from the thread where it was announced that Oculus social features would rely on Facebook:

 Guess it's not optional anymore.

It's going to remain optional for 3 years, and perhaps indefinitely in current games.