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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

#271

Post by rafe33 »

sillysaurus3 wrote: post #133
DigitalSea wrote: post #131

What company isn't creepy these days? Google, Facebook and Amazon are a few companies of many that come to mind when I think of all the user data they hold, what they know and what they could use it for. Thems the breaks unfortunately. I admire Notch standing up for what he believes in, but I just can't see how Facebook is creepier than anything else or affects the acquisition of Oculus. It's not like the gaming devi…

Notch didn't say Facebook acquiring Oculus was creepy. Notch said Facebook is creepy. Besides tighter integration with Facebook, what has changed in Instagram since it was acquired by Facebook? Nothing. You just pointed out exactly what changed with Instagram, and what everyone is afraid of changing with the Oculus. "Log in to your Facebook account to continue playing."

No no guys Instagram also released direct messaging.

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

#272

Post by pfraze »

Shivetya wrote: post #245
sillysaurus3 wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Heh, from Carmack's twitter 1m ago: https://twitter.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/448629403740692481 For the record, I am coding right now, just like I was last week. I expect the FB deal will avoid several embarrassing scaling crisis for VR. Glad to see Carmack is still being Carmack. EDIT: By the way, if anyone is wondering why people are having a negative reaction to this Facebook deal, I think one way to understand it…

nah, all the angst is because far too many nerds like to think they "own" up and coming cool technology even if they are not even involved beyond having read about it. When it goes to company that the clique no longer favors, usually after incredible success or the unwashed masses show up, then they act as if the world collapses. It happens so often many of us just laugh if not smirk the whole time we watch the famil…

This is upsetting because it means Facebook is building the software platform for the Oculus, not enthusiast developers or hundreds of independent startups. This has economic impact, and it's personally disappointing for anybody who gets excited about building VRUI.

Or, yeah, angst.

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

#273

Post by rayiner »

TaylorAlexander wrote: post #110
lingben wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. But this goes further and lays bare the sheer stupidity inherent in kickstarter or any other crowd-sourcing platform. Just like facebook's Frankensteinian monstrous mish-mash of consumer/content/advertiser/publisher crowd-funding in its current state is a mish-mash that ends up meaning nothing in the end. You are not an equity partner, you really have no say in how decisions are made, you are not a lender, y…

"this ... lays bare the sheer stupidity inherent in kickstarter..." I'm sorry, but where is the stupidity? Kickstarter is a specific tool available to founders/innovators/creatives that allows us to reach a community of supporters quickly and efficiently. Like all tools, it has a specific way that it operates, and to keep such a new thing from spinning out of control, it is relatively simple and has few rules. Fortun…

You're not wrong, but what you're missing is that the post you're replying to is a part of the process of contributors feeling out what exactly is Kickstarter. If founders are going to treat it as a source of seed money for which they have to give up no equity, then contributors will re-adjust their expectations and treat it as such. And giving seed money for no equity is a bad bargain, and it won't take long for contributors to realize that.

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

#274

Post by GBond »

debaserab2 wrote: post #212
wtallis wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok. But how much realtime stuff has Facebook done? (IM doesn't count.) Do they have any credible experience with anything more specifically relevant than just running large data centers?

What kind of credentials do you need other than "large data centers" the scale of Facebook? IM doesn't count - so what does?

And PHP... infinite cred for scaling PHP.

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

#275

Post by dclowd9901 »

netcan wrote: post #246
XorNot wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It feels like Notch is being given too much credibility here. At the end of the day he's a billionaire because he had a viral hit and was ready with a monetization strategy (and had amazingly cheap running costs). None of this really speaks to his business or technical acumen, and he hasn't exactly done very much lately.

Nonsense. He has credibility because he's proven to be effectual, innovative and principled. This is not the case of a guy getting lucky in the viral lottery and then running his mouth.

If he does one other thing to completion, I'll buy that.

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

#276

Post by GBond »

InclinedPlane wrote: post #101
Camillo wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I said that it was silly to simply donate money to a commercial venture without gaining any stake in it, they called me a naysayer. Who's saying nay now?

True. But back then there was no other option for crowd funding. That's only changing just now as the SEC is finally implementing the crowd funding provisions of the JOBS act.

Even so, KS was never about an exchange of equity for money (other platforms will fill this need like Angelist Invest).

KS exchanges ownership in a project's human-level vision (and sometimes a early release of the product) for a donation.

People are like Notch are peeved because Oculus was not upfront when entering this social contract.

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

#277

Post by cwyers »

mercutio2 wrote: post #226
cwyers wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt the sincerity of your apology. But if you really desire more convincing, all of those companies have large existing business units devoted to selling consumer devices or licensing things to people selling consumer devices. Those business units have executives, budgets, reporting structures, etc. It is very unlikely any of those companies would buy Oculus to run it as an autonomous unit, like Facebook is sayin…

Apple does not have business units. Apple would also never spend that much money on an acquisition, so your general point stands, but your specific statement is false.

How don't they? They have people who are in charge of people and people who are responsible to others, yes? I just checked to make sure I wasn't going crazy here:

"A logical element or segment of a company (such as accounting, production, marketing) representing a specific business function, and a definite place on the organizational chart, under the domain of a manager. Also called department, division, or a functional area."

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/business-unit.h...

It's a term that seems so totally generic that I feel like you have to work really, really hard to find an organization at scales far, far below where Apple operates to find a company that wouldn't fit that description (Valve?)

But that misses the point -- the point is that Apple has SOME existing organizational structure around "selling consumer electronics," and that an Apple-purchased Occulus would likely fall into that structure. I don't think there's any evidence of a company that Apple bought and let run on its own for an extended period of time, is there?

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

#278

Post by tomelders »

rjd wrote: post #118
tomelders wrote: post #82

Does anyone have any insight into Occulus' incentive or motive to do this deal? Edit: beyond the obvious monetary incentive, which I'm not sure was that much of an incentive since hordes of people seemed ready and willing to throw money at the oculus rift. 2 billion sounds like a bargain right now.

Sony was about to steam roll them? and Microsoft in the next year as well? The Sony morpheus system is already better than oculus feature wise, with better position tracking, and accessory tracking as well. And don't under estimate that, I've read some pretty strong "never again" comments from people using VR headsets and loosing grip of the controls and floundering and/or having to take the headset off to get the co…

It's hard to knock that logic. Initially I was disappointed that the Occulus team made this move, but against the backdrop you paint, it's hard to see it as anything other than a smart move. My only criticism would be... surely there's someone better than Facebook to do this deal with. But most likely there isn't.

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

#279

Post by jsheard »

dclowd9901 wrote: post #275
netcan wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nonsense. He has credibility because he's proven to be effectual, innovative and principled. This is not the case of a guy getting lucky in the viral lottery and then running his mouth.

If he does one other thing to completion, I'll buy that.

Even calling Minecraft finished is dubious, the official mod/plugin API has been in the works since 2010 and still isn't available.

A game that's so dependent on mods for long term appeal and server management shouldn't have to rely on decompiling the .jar and patching classes by hand.

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

#280

Post by DennisP »

ejain wrote: post #222
dropit_sphere wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's funny is that everyone would breathe a giant sigh of relief if, when asked about the deal, Zuckerberg just grinned boyishly and said, "It's a VR company run by Carmack, and I'm a multibillionaire. Of course I wanted to own it."

Maybe; but Zuckerberg didn't buy the company, Facebook did.

Zuckerberg has complete control, with 57% of Facebook voting rights.

http://venturebeat.com/2012/02/01/zuck-power-play/

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