Getting rid of health and safety warning

"DoZo1971" wrote:
PS. Worst thing is the aesthetics of the whole thing. Imagine going to the theatre. Big HSW before the show. There might be cursing during the play. There might be nudity. Your chair might collapse. Before your brain is back in "suspension of disbelief" mode, you're 5 minutes into the show.

People in a movie theater aren't expected to do anything other than sit in chairs, and even then there are requirements for safety lighting and lit exit signs.

A better example would be something like a ride at an amusement park, where there inevitably are health and safety warnings. On the other hand this brings up a good point. Many of those are pretty innocuous because they're typically woven into the presentation. If you're riding the 'Star Tours' ride at a Disney Park the warnings are typically given by a recorded video that's similar in style to the rest of the ride.

Regarding liability, there's no justification for plastering this warning over content - similar products get by and satisfy liability requirements just fine by showing the warning when the device starts or as a sticker on the device the user has to remove before use.

There's zero precedent in regards liability concerns for plastering warnings over the content.

Further, if anything, the current warning causes liability issues because it's implemented in a fashion that makes users sick.

So while you would have a point regarding liability if this message were implemented in a fashion consistent with other similar devices (i.e., when the Rift itself is turned on, or as a sticker), there's no validity to saying that this specific implementation of the warning is due to or required by liability concerns.

"jherico" wrote:

Disable it in your dev builds.

I'm using the binary version of the Unreal Engine 4 together with their Blueprint system. I can't call pure C(++) functions from there to hack this nagging screen out. Thanks for your code but IMO that's something what Oculus has to provide in their Runtime.

spyro

"jherico" wrote:

"jherico" wrote:

"whitehexagon" wrote:
Can we also disable this via JOVR somehow? I dont see the method exposed...

It's not yet exposed. I may be able to get a new build out this week to address it.

OK, I've updated the JOVR library to 0.4.1.2 and there should be an enableHswDisplay method exposed in both the OvrLibrary and the Hmd helper class.

Do I need to change 'OculusSDK' project? possibly add the method signature to OVR_CAPI.h? I'm not sure where the other HSW header is...

"whitehexagon" wrote:

"jherico" wrote:
OK, I've updated the JOVR library to 0.4.1.2 and there should be an enableHswDisplay method exposed in both the OvrLibrary and the Hmd helper class.

Do I need to change 'OculusSDK' project? possibly add the method signature to OVR_CAPI.h? I'm not sure where the other HSW header is...

No, you just need to get the updated Jar of JOVR, typically from Maven (or Gradle, Ivy, etc) or by downloading it from here: http://repo1.maven.org/maven2/org/saintandreas/jovr/0.4.1.2/

I'm in talks with the team about seeing if we can allow an option to disable the warning while developing. You would still be required to show the warning on final released builds, but this may make the development process easier. I don't know when (of even if) that will happen, but it is being discussed.

"jherico" wrote:

Also it's not about laws (not in the sense of criminal law), but rather about civil liability. Suppose I do something stupid while wearing the Rift and injure myself. I'm litigious, so I decide to sue someone. I'm not likely to sue the indie game maker, since a win won't actually do anything but bankrupt the developer without even paying for my legal fees. I'm much more likely to sue Oculus because being backed by Facebook they have deep pockets. Oculus in turn can point to the health and safety warning requirement of the SDK, meaning that the burden of liability is either placed on the software developer (because they failed to display the warning) or me (because I failed to heed the warning).

This just makes me laugh every time I read it or something similar, I really feel sorry for you guys at the other end of the Pond... And gratz devs, As Cyber here says, you might get the debug deactivation. I do HW development myself, so I really feel the hate for useless time wasters at recompile.

However, at the Rift project I am still just a really excited consumer, so I have to say this, for all the existing and future consumers out there: Cyber, do your best to get rid of this shit before CV1 release. Put a sticker on the box as everyone else. If your comedic laws make it hard, move the company to a civilized country. This will gather so much hate from the future community of Rift users, It's hard to fathom, especially from european customers who are not used to this stuff. I tried, over the last few days, to imagine this nannyNotice every time i slipped in to iRacing with the DK1(DK2 just shipped :D). I got angry and annoyed just thinking about it. A less excited person might easily say "fuck this", and give up VR. Please, for the love of reason and logic, for the future of VR, don't force this. It will not end well.

While I do find this annoying, it think it would be useful if there was a flag or some such in the SDK to combine the notice with a 'head to origin and press a key' type notice. Currently I have the HSW notice disabled - but if one notice was displayed that also made it obvious that pressing any key to dismiss ALSO reset the origin, that would be usable to me at least.

I also agree about this warning messages been unnecessary annoying.
We are developing games and have to press play don't know how many times a day and then have to every single one worry about how to be able to watch what is going on in the screen because of this massive message that appears and sometimes takes ages to go away... have to press many buttons with the Oculus on and I end it up throwing tea on myself yesterday a... yes, was pathetic...and hot as hell. :oops:
Sorry, but this meessage warning are freaking me out. Does DK2 fixed that issue or still no way to get it turned off

At some point, forget property damage/injury, someone will die wearing an Oculus. Maybe they smash their face into a window. Maybe they tip a bookshelf onto themselves. Maybe they have a heart attack. Maybe it is just pure coincidence. But at some point it will happen.

When it does, there will be a lawsuit. Oculus, and the game developer will be required to defend themselves while the media has a field day with it. That is why the horrible annoying screen is there, to take every possible precaution. To make sure that the user is aware of the risk, and it can be proven.

I hate the warning as much as everyone else, but I do feel more protected due to the fact it exists. As a developer I wish I had more control over it though. I would like to use my own warning screen, with my font, that is part of my environment. I would like it to be more interactive, and more visually appealing.

The agreement could say "must prominently display the following message: 'Warning....' for at least 6 seconds" so that Oculus is covered and could help defend the developer, while leaving the implementation up to the developer. That is a realistic balance which would be far better than what we have.