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

[Thaldor]

Didn't they already have this? Or was this some kind of surprise from Oculusbook that no one wanted to believe in because "Muh better window and less cables with tsiiper prise"?

 

Like no one really followed what Palmer did after being fired from Oculusbook in 2017. Like he didn't almost immediately throw money to a project breaking the Oculusbook exclusivity in games making buying Rift an extremely dumb move since SteamVR didn't have good integration with Rift (you could back then almost say Rift didn't work with Steam), the Vive could also play all of the Rift-only games from Oculusbook store and you weren't supporting Facebook. He quite literally used Facebook money to to make so no one should buy Oculusbook Rift.

Also just that this coming as "surprise" when you consider, apart from Rift S, Oculusbook has concentrated on stand-alone mobile headsets and technology around them and using them with PC has been more like additional extra feature. Now we just wait the third expectation to become reality: Using tracking data (you know that inside-out tracking is basicly scanning everything in your sight and maybe Oculusbook already has some level of telemetry to that data).

[LAwLz]

1 hour ago, Sakkura said:

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

"It will never happen!"

"Okay it did happen but it's optional!"

"Okay, it they have announced that it won't be optional for new customers and all existing customers will be forced over in 3 years, but they might change their minds!"

 

I'll keep this thread in mind and revisit it in 3 years just so that I can get the satisfaction of going "told you so".

 

Yes I am that petty.

[Bombastinator]

 

2 minutes ago, LAwLz said:

"It will never happen!"

"Okay it did happen but it's optional!"

"Okay, it they have announced that it won't be optional for new customers and all existing customers will be forced over in 3 years, but they might change their minds!"

 

I'll keep this thread in mind and revisit it in 3 years just so that I can get the satisfaction of going "told you so".

 

Yes I am that petty.

So the original lie was “it will never happen”.  Shows corporations, or at least that one, is untrustable.  The old conventional wisdom was that none of them were ever.  It’s their nature. 

[LAwLz]

1 minute ago, Bombastinator said:

So the original lie was “it will never happen”.  Shows corporations, or at least that one, is untrustable.  The old conventional wisdom was that none of them were ever.  It’s their nature. 

Well in this case it was the Oculus fans that said it would never happen. They got idea from Luckey Palmer (at the time the CEO of Oculus) saying that he would quit if Facebook forced Facebook integration into the platform. Well as it turns out, Palmer was fired from Facebook in 2017, so he didn't even have to quit.

 

So like I said at the time Facebook bought Oculus, it didn't matter at all what Palmer said. Him saying "I will quit if they do it" meant nothing. It was empty words that nobody should have paid attention to. Once he had signed the contract to hand Oculus over to Facebook, it was Mark that had full control over all decisions Oculus made, not Palmer.

 

 

But yeah, totally agree that you can not trust corporations. Also, if they say things like "we aren't going to do X at this time" then that means they are probably considering doing X in the future. It shouldn't be hard for people to grasp that concept but it seems like it is.

[Trik'Stari]

Should start a kickstarter or gofundme with the stated goal of buying controlling interest in Facebook, and just killing it from within in any way possible. 

[Bombastinator]

1 minute ago, Trik'Stari said:

Should start a kickstarter or gofundme with the stated goal of buying controlling interest in Facebook, and just killing it from within in any way possible. 

Can’t be done.  Facebook has a vast majority owner.  Just like google.  It would be possible in a truly publicly traded corporation, but it isn’t. 

[Trik'Stari]

1 minute ago, Bombastinator said:

Can’t be done.  Facebook has a vast majority owner.  Just like google.  It would be possible in a truly publicly traded corporation, but it isn’t. 

Shame. I can't think of two more deserving companies.

[Bombastinator]

32 minutes ago, Trik'Stari said:

Shame. I can't think of two more deserving companies.

I vaguely remember the google owner once complaining they the worst thing he ever did was selling a tiny bit of the company because it let in people that could put their finger on the tiller.   A significant minority share could have an effect. I don’t know how big though.  One issue is it’s possible that the finger on the tiller can only be used to steer towards evil.

[Thaldor]

BTW another concerning situation is that they move from Oculus code of conduct to Facebook Community Standards which have had some controversy over them (which do require you to use your real name for example).

 

Not to even mention the part:

Quote

“We will take steps to allow you to keep using [Oculus] content you have purchased [after 2022], though we expect some games and apps may no longer work,” the company says. “This could be because they include features that require a Facebook account or because a developer has chosen to no longer support the app or game you purchased.”

What raises my flag is that game cannot be played if the developer doesn't support it. There's many ways this could happen, API gets updated and it breaks something that would require fixing or you just have incompatible hardware for the game. But even while updates may break things they rarely break things with games using the old base without that base being forcefully updated (like you update Unity and port old projects to it most of the time a lot of things break, even updating just the SteamVR plugin for Unity may break things, but game build with certain Unity and SteamVR plugin hasn't yet broken because Valve or even Oculusbook updated the drivers). Not to mention that Facebooks roadmap seems to be killing off the PC VR so, who knows how long you can keep playing Robo Recall with Rift if the Oculus Store transforms into "Oculus mobile-only Store" through some update.

 

Oh, yeah and I just remembered that for those cheering for Oculus, did you know that there isn't a company named Oculus anymore? Oculus was dissolved into Facebook in 2018 and is now officially known as Facebook AR/VR division that only uses Oculus brand for their products. At the same time apparently many keypeople left the house for reason or other.

[Doobeedoo]

Why would you use Oculus though.

[Sakkura]

3 hours ago, LAwLz said:

"It will never happen!"

"Okay it did happen but it's optional!"

"Okay, it they have announced that it won't be optional for new customers and all existing customers will be forced over in 3 years, but they might change their minds!"

 

I'll keep this thread in mind and revisit it in 3 years just so that I can get the satisfaction of going "told you so".

 

Yes I am that petty.

I didn't say what you're claiming I said.

[That Franc]

8 hours ago, Mihle said:

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

 

Have that changed now?

It's not on par with external tracking, but it has improved a lot. The Reverb G2 that I was talking about has side-facing tracking cameras in addition to forward-facing ones, and hands-on reviewers report that it basically doesn't lose the controllers if you reach behind your back, but it's still sketchy if the controller is right in front of your face, though that can be fixed through firmware updates.

[Murasaki]

14 hours ago, Arika S said:

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

Literally the first thought that came to my mind when seeing this thread.

[wanderingfool2]

15 hours ago, Kisai said:

I don't know why anyone wouldn't have expected this

I could understand how some people may have not expected it.  After all, there was the promise that it wouldn't require a login...which does make me wonder if people who adopted it could start a class action for false advertising.  (Similar to how Sony got in trouble for the Other OS...although in this case one could argue requiring a login invalidates the entire product itself).

 

With all that said, the promise was as follows

Quote

I guarantee that you won’t need to log into your Facebook account every time you wanna use the Oculus Rift

The wording might be vague enough that Facebook will hide behind it (in saying that you only have to log in once and a while and not log in every time...although effectively it would be the same thing).  I will be very interested to see if any lawsuits come from this.

 

14 hours ago, Kisai said:

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.

It's things like telemetry tracking that has made google as great of a search engine as it currently is (when compared to other search engines).

 

For myself, products purchased (but offered at a discounted amount) could have opt-out, but opt-in by default (with an initial prompt that allows a person to unclick it).  With that said, I think it is a fine line between what is and isn't acceptable.  In this case, it is unacceptable given that you purchased hardware at what would be full price and you need facebook to access it.  Compared to Tesla and the rear heated seats, which I do find acceptable.  Similar thing, you have payed for the hardware, but in this case I find it acceptable just because it is considered a premium feature (and in Tesla's cost model, it is cheaper to do one SKU and allow for the option of an upgrade via software.  vs. having an additional SKU, increasing price and having a costly means to upgrade it to heated seats later)

[sof006]

Fuck you Facebook, I had plans to buy a Oculus Rift in the future. Guess who won't be doing that now, I don't want a Facebook account and I never will have one.

[The Benjamins]

19 hours ago, bmx6454 said:

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

I dont have a FB account anymore and have no intention on making one.

but now I recommend the HP Reverb gen 2
its a WMR headset with 4 cam for tracking (reviews say its as good as the rift but a slightly smaller tracking area)
uses 2 LCD screens at 2160x2160 per eye with a 90hz refresh
HAS mechanical IPD settings

so basically if you want best tracking, controllers,higher hz go for the index ($1000); but if you want the best visuals go for the HP Reverb ($600)

Note WMR works with steam VR