06-16-2021 12:56 PM
06-20-2021 10:19 AM
That is anoying - seems the forum software crashed and started changing my texting.
Anyway I will try again, but shorter as I am out of time.
No, please @DaftnDirect, please ask questions - it just sometimes if feels that other jump in and dog pile my responses. But this is all cool - and thanks for asking. I agree we all need to question.
Just to be accurate, FB makes its money on selling targeted advertainment on their social media platforms, that are connected to other clients. This includes mobile, online and now VR - the hope being in the end VR will be the ultimate social network.
This is more about creation of a social media ecosystem that is immersive and connected, and less about VR hardware or gaming. The company does not do this out the kindness of their heart, so their is no praise needed. Like Netflix, Apple, Steam and the rest this is to create a empire that can generate revenue. period!
Anyway, if we want to talk about a targeted advertising ecosystem, then there is no greater than Formula 1 - anyway I will leave you two it. I have written this reply three times now and that is enough!
06-20-2021 10:51 AM - edited 06-21-2021 01:17 PM
I would never state that Facebook does anything out of kindness and I wouldn't single out Facebook in that regard. If you can name a tech company that operates on kindness I'll be the first to start trumpetting the call for Facebook to do the same. I think that's a bit of a red herring.
Whether Facebook are looking for a VR social network or they're looking for something that includes a social network is difficult to say for sure. If something akin to Ready Player One is the aim, and right now that's as good an assumption as anything else imo, then social is part, as is entertainment, as is office working. I don't think FB would narrow the horizon of something that has such broad possibilities.
But whatever the aim, advertising, whether targeted or not is advertising. It's getting paid for promoting a product that people may choose to buy and thereby return the money to the source. If the cycle equalizes out, the system becomes self sustaining.
Whether people feel aggrieved at that is for each individual to decide for themselves but is it really indefensible? or does it harm the VR community? I think that's what we have to spend a bit more time thinking about.
Edit: Congrats to Verstappen, it was a bit of a tactical race rather than on-track race but still a good watch. And wow, all those adverts... freeze frame at any point and there must be 50 different adds on the screen at any point. Horrible, horrible. 😉
06-20-2021 11:25 AM
@kevinw729 wrote:There you can see that the expediential growth of consumer gaming over the last 20 years has warranted serious investment. The majority of that is achieved without targeted adverts,
Hmm, no that's not really true. The vast majority of games making the most money, per quarter, have advertisements.
"On the advertising front, App Annie says user sentiment toward in-game mobile ads improved in Q3 2020 compared with Q3 2019, but rewarded video ads and playable ads were preferred in the U.S."
@kevinw729 wrote:I am not a fan of **bleep**ting dev funding to adverts, nor am I in favor of VR exclusives, or in favor of mandatory login - but if a developer feels they need to do this to grow their business, I would like to see the numbers to show its growing, and not hoarding.
To these points:
06-20-2021 11:29 AM
06-20-2021 11:49 AM - edited 06-20-2021 11:50 AM
@kevinw729 wrote:It will be fun to see a FB OS in operation - how algorithm bloated would it be?
I wonder if some Countries would prohibit use of it in their territories?
When it appears we would be at the 'Standard Oil' "tipping point" for FB - a number of senators have voiced the concern for possible breaking up of the hegemony that is the corporation.
The legal action in Germany and now the EU Parliament could also see sanctions. Would a Quest3 with a FB OS be blocked in EU Countries?
This seems to be a pretty big topic shift.
The only thing worth noting to all those questions is the simple fact that Facebook is a large company that is growing so much in its influence that it seems to be dealing with the same hurdles as any Government. This denotes power, and while there will always be those who default to spinning things in a negative way in order to celebrate any bad news about Facebook, history will likely continue to repeat itself in that Facebook will continue to grow and prosper.
The idea of Facebook being blocked in the EU has been asked and answered before. The answer remains the same: It is the consumers and small businesses in the EU that would suffer the most. But this is something that is best explored if and when we cross that bridge, as opposed to any ongoing wishful thinking that the EU blocks all things Facebook.
I would also recommend we remain on topic about advertisements, instead of trying to celebrate all potentially negative Facebook news.
06-20-2021 12:44 PM
Agree Formula 1 is an example of what can happen with unregulated advertisement - its amazing to see a driver standing by their vehicle, with over 50 different placements in one shot!!
Lets hope VR does not go that route.
06-20-2021 02:07 PM - edited 06-20-2021 02:28 PM
the problem with ads is it makes the person advertised to tracked like a person is as they walk through the store.
some people are not followed like white women while others are followed like black or brown men.
so the ads being a mirror of a real life store follow and track black or brown men and not the white women which reflects in the music style and ads style and such so we get music like eminem and rap. instead of neil young.
so if facebook folllows people follow the white people and not the black or brown men and make ads based on them. we need more of sophistication and beauty no more rap and gold teeth like hanna montana.
it should be that stores track white women not black or brown men too. so the ads and intent shows beauty like sarah mclachlan not ugliness and rap like cardi b song "up".
06-20-2021 02:38 PM - edited 06-21-2021 05:21 AM
Well I was joking about F1 really. Makes not a jot of difference to me what's on the cars or the track-side hoardings. It's been that way since the beginning and has facilitated the sport to be the pinnacle of motor racing (open to argument from our American cousins there 🙂 ), the money has made it a technical marvel at any rate, even though some previous seasons have been lacking in competition, this season looks to be close. I don't enjoy the racing any less than I did when I first sat down to it on the beeb as a teen.
We've benefited from the tobacco advertising ban I'd say although the red chevron still sneaks its way in there.
06-21-2021 04:03 AM - edited 06-21-2021 04:13 AM
I'm not signed up to the FB privacy policy with my refusnik Oculus account, with all the ads stuff in it. So I should be OK with the apps / games I use....until 2023 anyway.
Personally I think FB will rapidly hit the point where people are ripping their headsets off in frustration....and this will slap, right in the face of end users, the extent of the tracking. I'm not sure that will dissuade them from proceeding further, unless there's viable competition. In the long term I think they will get bitten on the ass going down this path.....OpenXR maybe!? The problem with boiling the frog is that, at some point, the frog dies 🙂
I am amazed that comparisons are still made between Facebook and Steam, HP, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon etc. One is purely funded by tracking and ads, the others are not. Apple is very privacy focused as per the recent permissions spat with FB.
And the EU / Germany should not be dismissed. FB is a large 3rd Country company, the EU loves regulating and fining them...
06-21-2021 08:35 AM
It would be good to have "VR ad-room". So you could load it before other games, watch all ads there and then will not get any ads inside games for a day or week.
Something like an "VR exhibition show".
So you could choose to see them all at once or to see them inside games/work apps.
Or ads need to be changed to game style of the game you are playing so you will not break immersion. Like cyberfuture style or prehistoric 😄