I haven't used FB in a while, but are there any real barriers stopping people from making fake/alt FB accounts for this purpose? If not, that seems like a pretty easy way to just not care about any of this to me. (Or was there a theory that FB wasn't already logging everything you did on an Oculus before they started making logins mandatory?)
Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices
861–870 of 1001 posts
Re: Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices
#862Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why do you even need an account? It's a display after all, I don't need an account to use my external monitor, keyboard or anything else.
Oculus has an app store, and Quest is a standalone device (mobile phone hardware on your face). It's understandable to need an account for these things, but of course this being an FB account is creepy.
The situation where you need different headsets for different apps/games is perverse. Imagine having to have an app store per monitor brand.
Game developers should invest in an open standard and take away the leverage from air merchants.
Re: Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices
#863Earlier quoted context omitted.
The SteamVR ecosystem is just so much nicer. I trust them far more than any of the alternatives. OpenVR for example has lead to many fantastic tools.
I didn't know much about Steam before I bought the VIVE and yes, it's actually a very nice platform. One thing that isn't apparent - you can return any game for a full refund within a certain (fair) amount of time owned and/ or you don't exceed some (also fair) time-of-play amount. It makes me more likely to try a game on a whim knowing and if it's not for me I can refund it without hassle. Great way to handle it, I…
FWIW, Oculus has the same system - IIRC, you can return for a full refund if you haven't played more than 2 hours in 14 days since purchase. I've used it, and IME it was seamless.
Re: Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices
#864Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just make a fake FB account exclusively for this purpose. If you're forced to use a FB account at least don't link it to your actual profile. I have a separate fake FB account for every service that requires FB.
Until they make you download the FB app to use it, and then they get access to everything you do on your phone and follow you around the internet. So sacrifice your privacy, or sacrifice the Oculus. I know which one I'm going to choose.
Apps don't have access to everything you do on your phone.
Re: Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices
#865This was not required before? When I got my Oculus Quest a at the end of June I found no other way to log in but create a facebook account. This account is now only used for the Oculus Quest.
Re: Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices
#866Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a CEO of a company that is being sold you can not make any binding statements about the future of the company you will no longer own . This is really management 101 and Palmer Luckey does not strike me as an absolute beginner here, he knew how to get funded, how to execute and had a ton of people telling him this would happen. Of course he and FB had a pretty strong incentive to ensure that there wouldn't be an im…
While the story is Palmer founded Oculus (and he was the original founder, so there is truth there), really Brendan Iribe, Michael Antonov and Nate Mitchell (Scaleform Mafia, all serial founders) negotiated the Facebook acquisition. Palmer was pushed out first after acquisition. He's a nice marketing story (nerdy young white boy reinvents VR) but he wasn't the driving force behind the business success (Brendan and Na…
Could you enlighten us about some of the interesting positive use cases?
Re: Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices
#867This is something that still completely baffles me about the "IoT"/"smart devices"/"connected devices"/"whatever you want to call it" space. If someone advertised a device as capable of doing X without it in fact being able to do X, they'd be liable for false advertising. If someone sold you a device, then took it back or destroyed it, they'd be liable for theft or destruction of property. Nevertheless, if someone se…
> then completely alters the rules by which the device operates at an arbitrary point in time after the sell You usually agree to a EULA that allows them to do that. If you cannot agree to the EULA then you return the product. Now, I will give full credit that no one reads those, but Legality doesn't care if you fail to do due diligence.
I mean, then the easiest thing for companies to do would be to write "You agree that we can do anything we want with the device" into the EULA. As long as they behave reasonable in the near term and only go crazy after public attention has moved on, they'd probably get few customers to notice.
Re: Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices
#868Palmer Luckey, the original creator had this to say over on /r/oculus: I am already getting heat from users and media outlets who say this policy change proves I was lying when I consistently said this wouldn't happen, or at least that it was a guarantee I wasn't in a position to make. I want to make clear that those promises were approved by Facebook in that moment and on an ongoing basis, and I really believed it w…
Exhibit n + 1 on why when you're acquired you're not in a position to promise anything to anyone despite any assurances from the acquirer. Or, from the consumer's side, why those promises should carry no weight.
It's possible to get assurances but you must write them down in the form of legal agreements.
Getting "company assurance at the highest level" is just as good as is the word of the person at the highest level. There are people for whom their word is their bond, but it's not very common.
Re: Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices
#869Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you make a Facebook account and never touch the Facebook aspect of it, is there any material difference between that and an Oculus account?
Forcing users to violate their personal moral principles, upon which the decision of never using anything related to Facebook rests, is a big enough difference for many--myself included. EDIT: I didn't know that Facebook bought Oculus some time ago, back in 2014--for some reason I thought it happened far more recently. I would make the case above for someone who had bought an Oculus device before Facebook's acquisiti…
So what if they'd buy Vive next?
Re: Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices
#870Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nothing in the announcement limits this to the Quest. It says Oculus "devices" including peripherals. What is the justification for requiring an account to use a peripheral that you plug into your computer? Even if it were just the Quest: How is it reasonable to require an account to use a "stand alone computing device"? I have many stand alone computing devices in my home without the need for an account with their m…
I'm not sure I follow this line of thought. Without an account, what would all the game purchases you make be associated with? What about friends lists? Support requests? The Oculus, and the vision for the product, is more akin to consoles than it is your run-of-the-mill PC.
I disagree.
Take oculus Rift as an example. You own a game (on a different platform) which supports VR (including your device). You plug your Rift in, calibrate the sensors/room and start playing the game. You shouldn't even need internet connection.
For support requests, use the serial number, like everywhere else.
Consoles work offline just fine.