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Virtual Reality is going to change the world

notch.net

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Re: Virtual Reality is going to change the world

#131

Post by MrScruff »

ekianjo wrote: post #115
rpdillon wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Simple: it provides a hyper-compelling experience that is completely unavailable through any other means, and does so for merely the price of a peripheral. Doubters will visit a friend's house and use it and be instantly sold. VR is a Big Deal.

I've given several reasons why it won't work this way, and you just come up with an assumption that the current VR tech is SOOOOO good that everyone will want one. Did you go to the GDC ?

Having used the DK1 it was obvious even with all the limitations that VR will be a dominant entertainment platform within a decade. It's simply too compelling to be anything other.

Re: Virtual Reality is going to change the world

#132

Post by contulluipeste »

clef wrote: post #121
mcphage wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Everybody wins in this deal -- except the people who donated to the Kickstarter. Those folks... well, they kind of end up looking like suckers. It's kinda a twist to the normal Kickstarter warnings—if you back a product, it might not ever succeed, jut disappear. This was a product that people backed, that was too successful, and looks like it's about to disappear.

Unfortunately there is a difference between "backer" and "investor", even if they both chuck money in the project. Would there be such a thing as a kickstarted kind of thing where backers can become shareholders? Or could this simply be a case of "if you invest 10 grand, you get x shares"? This way there could be a way for investors not to ride on the back of backers later on? Or am I being totally silly?

For public shares there is only the stock market, but that isn't a kick-starter. It would be interesting to have an option in the stock market of just bidding money for stock and the actual transaction to be executed only after the required amount was gathered. I'm not sure if it would be possible to build such thing without involving governmental regulation.

Re: Virtual Reality is going to change the world

#133

Post by [deleted] »

xpose2000 wrote: post #3

I can see the avalanche of negativity coming, and I understand why. However, I don't think we should automatically assume it's a negative thing like Notch did. Facebook can try to ensure that the games are geared towards social interactivity that benefits their platform, but in the end, the developers truly pick the direction. Anyone can buy a dev kit and see what they can build with it. Maybe Facebook wants Oculus R…

[deleted]

Re: Virtual Reality is going to change the world

#134

Post by MrScruff »

varkson wrote: post #57
TrainedMonkey wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Think about when Microsoft got into gaming and created Xbox. Now imagine if they didn't." All of Halo series would be on PC.

It'd probably still be an RTS and likely never become popular. There might never have been a second Halo.

When was Halo a RTS?

Re: Virtual Reality is going to change the world

#135

Post by eloisant »

clef wrote: post #121
mcphage wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Everybody wins in this deal -- except the people who donated to the Kickstarter. Those folks... well, they kind of end up looking like suckers. It's kinda a twist to the normal Kickstarter warnings—if you back a product, it might not ever succeed, jut disappear. This was a product that people backed, that was too successful, and looks like it's about to disappear.

Unfortunately there is a difference between "backer" and "investor", even if they both chuck money in the project. Would there be such a thing as a kickstarted kind of thing where backers can become shareholders? Or could this simply be a case of "if you invest 10 grand, you get x shares"? This way there could be a way for investors not to ride on the back of backers later on? Or am I being totally silly?

This is the problem I have with Kickstarter.

* You can't see it as investing, because you're not getting any share.

* You may see it as pre-ordering a product that doesn't exist (and I think that's how most backers see it), but you don't get any consumer protection if the project fails or doesn't live up to your expectation.

* All is left is seeing Kickstarter as a charity. You're giving charity to a for-profit organisation.

Re: Virtual Reality is going to change the world

#136

Post by dagw »

jiggy2011 wrote: post #19
TrainedMonkey wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Think about when Microsoft got into gaming and created Xbox. Now imagine if they didn't." All of Halo series would be on PC.

It was originally a Mac title!

Not exclusively. While Bungie was primarily a Mac developer, and Halo was announced at a Macworld, it was always going to be released for Mac and Windows.

Re: Virtual Reality is going to change the world

#137

Post by eloisant »

magic_haze wrote: post #96
mcphage wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is a seriously depressing tumblr.

Surprising how many companies Yahoo has been gobbling up... and shutting down. What exactly _are_ they doing with all the new hires?

Even when they don't shut them down, they can often turn gold into shit. See Delicious, Flickr (before Melissa Mayer) and so on...

Google actually does a better when they decide to keep the product (Android, Blogger, Google Docs...), but it's impossible to know whether they're buying the product or the team until they either integrate the product or shut it down.

Re: Virtual Reality is going to change the world

#138

Post by dagw »

varkson wrote: post #57
TrainedMonkey wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Think about when Microsoft got into gaming and created Xbox. Now imagine if they didn't." All of Halo series would be on PC.

It'd probably still be an RTS and likely never become popular. There might never have been a second Halo.

I thought Bungie gave up on the RTS concept and made it a shooter before Microsoft purchased them.

Re: Virtual Reality is going to change the world

#139

Post by yaeger »

smacktoward wrote: post #27
skore wrote: post #4

For a guy who is otherwise rather easy going, Notch can be incredibly pragmatic and strident. Here, he has cut to heart of the issue. > And I did not chip in ten grand to seed a first investment round to build value for a Facebook acquisition. > Don’t get me wrong, VR is not bad for social. He is right - "social", especially in the way Facebook is doing it at the moment, is terrible for VR. Terrible for any technolog…

> And I did not chip in ten grand to seed a first investment round to build value for a Facebook acquisition He really puts his finger on one of the reasons why this deal feels so weird here, I think. Nobody who contributed to the Oculus Kickstarter did so because they were hoping Oculus would get flipped to a mega-corp. They didn't do so because they wanted the Oculus team to have a big, splashy VC-style exit. They…

No he doesn't. He oversimplifies things.

You know what the money during the kickstarter campaign was for? The first DevKit! They raised money for the dev kit and guess what? The people you chipped in got their dev kits.

As far as I can see, people got exactly out of the kickstarter campaign what they wanted. They helped to start the business of Oculus and in return even got the DevKit to experience the first results on the road to VR.

I hardly think just cause you started your business with a kickstarter campaign and gave the backers what you set out to give them should exempt you from ever getting acquired by another company somewhere down the road. If that were true, why go on kickstarter at all? That would basically mean you will always stay a small time player. If you can survive at all because you will have to do it all by yourself. Next thing you know, kickstarter backers demand that you also don't accept other investors money because then, these investors would also have a say how to do things.

Re: Virtual Reality is going to change the world

#140

Post by tripzilch »

bliti wrote: post #60
skore wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They did so because they wanted the Oculus product . Let's not forget that a huge part of the pitch was to be part of a developer community that sets out into an as of yet unknown realm. I don't think people are worried about what Facebook might do to Oculus, the product. They have a hard time seeing Facebook the social engine and Oculus, the developer community coexisting peacefully. In a way, they're already maki…

That is a very strong point I had not considered. Facebook does not have a smooth relationship with developers. Oculus requires involvement from the developers in order to further develop their product. I reason the Facebook culture of move fast-break things (but don't document it too well) might hurt Oculus. Plus, I saw Oculus as a technology to build upon. I was already planning to use it with robotics. Now, its me…

Heh, just had a bit of a wry thought: At least they didn't get bought by Twitter.
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