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Minecraft creator says he’s canceled talks for Oculus Rift version

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Re: Minecraft creator says he’s canceled talks for Oculus Rift version

#261

Post by onetwofiveten »

jfoster wrote: post #254
onetwofiveten wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oculus was funded by a kickstarter. I think Notch personally contributed. Having given money to help a company develop their core technology is a little different to "not even involved beyond having read about it".

But that isn't what a Kickstarter buys you. You get rewards and you get to help fund the initial vision. (up to the scope of the Kickstarter, fulfilment of rewards, etc.) In any case, if making awesome VR a reality was Oculus' vision, they can make a pretty good case for that vision being well served by the resources of Facebook. At the end of the day, what are people afraid of? That the newest action games won't be…

I was just saying that Kickstarter contributors are more personally invested than simple bystanders. If a company shifts focus away from the initial vision they used to attract funding, before that vision has been realised, then naturally the contributors feel betrayed. I think that's reasonable. If you sell someone a vision you don't believe in, then that's dishonest, even if it's not illegal.

That said, I personally don't know if Facebook is going to mess up Oculus. I imagine that what people are worried about is that Facebook will push for Oculus to be used for social VR and will largely ignore games. VR gaming requires high quality sensory experience in a dynamic environment with fast player movements. Social VR is probably going to be way, way more static, (but will have other demands like monitoring body position, face scanning, etc.)

Re: Minecraft creator says he’s canceled talks for Oculus Rift version

#262

Post by Houshalter »

derefr wrote: post #151
Houshalter wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except you're face is going to be covered with virtual reality junk, and all it does is display something a normal monitor or TV can. Reading your facial expressions requires nothing more than a webcam. And the whole thing I think is just a gimmick that doesn't add much value (both VR and facial expressions.) Additionally video game characters look really creepy when they try to do facial expressions.

1. The face-reading parts would be inside and part of the virtual-reality junk. (And, helpfully, would also enhance eye-tracking.) 2. Modern graphics technology has all it needs to generate realistic expressions on characters. Modern video-game characters instead look creepy because they're replaying a small pre-made library of expressions that don't usually fit the situation very well. If the character's face just m…

And none of that requires virtual reality to do. You could have a video game with the characters matching your facial expressions. It would be just as pointless, but it could be done.

Re: Minecraft creator says he’s canceled talks for Oculus Rift version

#263

Post by untothebreach »

jfoster wrote: post #254
onetwofiveten wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oculus was funded by a kickstarter. I think Notch personally contributed. Having given money to help a company develop their core technology is a little different to "not even involved beyond having read about it".

But that isn't what a Kickstarter buys you. You get rewards and you get to help fund the initial vision. (up to the scope of the Kickstarter, fulfilment of rewards, etc.) In any case, if making awesome VR a reality was Oculus' vision, they can make a pretty good case for that vision being well served by the resources of Facebook. At the end of the day, what are people afraid of? That the newest action games won't be…

Whether or not that is what Kickstarter buys you, I don't think it is unreasonable that people feel a sense of possession when it comes to projects they have backed. I'm not saying it is _right_ that they feel this way, but I can see how doing your own little part to bring something into this world could cause a person to hold on to it more than if they just bought something off a store shelf.

Re: Minecraft creator says he’s canceled talks for Oculus Rift version

#264

Post by thenomad »

jfoster wrote: post #254
onetwofiveten wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oculus was funded by a kickstarter. I think Notch personally contributed. Having given money to help a company develop their core technology is a little different to "not even involved beyond having read about it".

But that isn't what a Kickstarter buys you. You get rewards and you get to help fund the initial vision. (up to the scope of the Kickstarter, fulfilment of rewards, etc.) In any case, if making awesome VR a reality was Oculus' vision, they can make a pretty good case for that vision being well served by the resources of Facebook. At the end of the day, what are people afraid of? That the newest action games won't be…

An obvious concern is that independent developers will be barred from developing for the Rift, or forced into unpleasant licensing terms in order to do so.

Re: Minecraft creator says he’s canceled talks for Oculus Rift version

#265

Post by belorn »

jfoster wrote: post #254
onetwofiveten wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oculus was funded by a kickstarter. I think Notch personally contributed. Having given money to help a company develop their core technology is a little different to "not even involved beyond having read about it".

But that isn't what a Kickstarter buys you. You get rewards and you get to help fund the initial vision. (up to the scope of the Kickstarter, fulfilment of rewards, etc.) In any case, if making awesome VR a reality was Oculus' vision, they can make a pretty good case for that vision being well served by the resources of Facebook. At the end of the day, what are people afraid of? That the newest action games won't be…

> I just don't see how people figure Facebook might ruin this product.

To make the product valuable, it has to be a good platform which other companies can use.

Facebook has ruined many companies that relied on the facebook api to build their businesses. Sometimes facebook reimplemented someones else idea and then remove features from the api to kill the original company.

Making a product based on the Oculus rift platform is a high risk operation. Facebook has already ruined the trust.

Re: Minecraft creator says he’s canceled talks for Oculus Rift version

#267

Post by chris_wot »

s3r3nity wrote: post #266

>"Facebook creeps me out." So you lose out on an audience of 1.2Bn people for Minecraft and comment on the situation on Twitter -- a social network that does pretty much all the same things Facebook does.

Yup. And I bet he felt good doing it, too.

Re: Minecraft creator says he’s canceled talks for Oculus Rift version

#269

Post by chris_wot »

aaron695 wrote: post #69

Incredibly immature. Disappointed in Notch. I guess he's just a game designer at the end of the day, not an activist, so I guess meh. Oculus is hardware, hopefully Facebooks billions will bring forward adoption, reduce hardware dev times and create some crappy software that people can chose not to use. How this can been seen as a bad thing, boggles my mind. I want VR decades ago. At least Facebooks billions might mak…

"I want VR decades ago" is not what I would call a mature response. I'd hardly call Notch immature, he has ethical issues with Facebook and it doesn't fit his worldview. Rejecting any collaboration is the most mature way forward.

Re: Minecraft creator says he’s canceled talks for Oculus Rift version

#270

Post by mercer »

mantrax3 wrote: post #49

Facebook buys WhatsApp - hundreds of thousands creeped out, go to Telegram app. Facebook buys Oculus Rift, Minecraft creator cancels talks, creeped out. Feels like that Facebook brand has taken a hit or two with all the privacy violations, huh?

I'm amazed by the fact that most of my non-geeky friends are wary of Facebook. Most of them still use the platform (as do I), but a bunch of them already switched to Telegram, and a lot of them have become much more careful about how they use Facebook.

These are people who don't really follow developments in the tech sector and use computers as 'iPads with a mouse and keyboard'. The ones who generally shrug at revelations of surveillance and the dangers that come with too much of it.

It will be interesting to see what kind of impact this has on Facebook long-term, if any.

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