Oculus to create a "curated" system for the Rift - Meta Community Forums

Twitchmonkey · ‎05-06-2015

I know we're all caught up in the Rift launch window announcement hype, but I'd like to step back and take a look at Nate Mitchell's recent Disrupt interview. At 14:40 the interviewer asks him about whether the Rift ecosystem will be open or more of a closed off system:

It seems like Nate is suggesting the Rift is looking towards a system like with Gear VR where to use your software with the Rift it will have to be vetted by Oculkus and determined to be appropriate. This worries me as someone that sees the potential VR has to be a transformative medium that can push boundaries. If my horror experience is too scary will it not be possible to be used on the Rift without some third party hack? What if my politics are seen as too controversial? I know this topic has been brought up before, but the comments made here don't give me a lot of confidence that the content I use with my Rift will be exclusively my decision.

Wmacky · ‎05-06-2015

No more "naughty" demos?...........................

Calanar · ‎05-06-2015

I am fine with an app store. I am not fine with it locking out other content. I think, and I hope, what he was saying here was that in their own store they would make sure the apps were decent and wouldn't make the rift into a bad experience. However I also think he was saying that people could do what they want outside this. Note his talk about the surfboard input device. I want to go on record and say if they pull an apple and make a locked headset in which the only software that runs on it is from the app store they lose me. That's my bridge too far. It is why I use android instead of iPhone and its why I am PC instead of Mac. I like apple interfaces I do not like their toll gates and restrictive control. Hopefully Oculus will not strangle the VR golden goose here by trying to do that.

Palmer has responded in the past that they do not intend to lock the headset and I am not sure Nate is saying in the above that you won't be able to run non-approved software. I will give them the benefit of the doubt on this, but watching cautiously.

Michael Tenery, Software, RPG and Game Developer. Imagine Role Playing: http://www.role-playing.com

Twitchmonkey · ‎05-06-2015

It's the silence that worries me, the interviewer pretty clearly asks about whether the consumer will have to go through Oculus to get VR content and he just goes back to talking about this curated Gear VR like experience. Perhaps reading between the lines here is paranoia, but I would have felt a lot better if he explicitly said that you will still be able to go through other channels to download software/demos. That seems like such an obvious point to make if they were comfortable making it that it seems like a purposeful omission. Yes, if they do try to lock things down, someone will likely find a workaround, but then Oculus will find a way to block that, and then you've just got an arms race that is an annoyance to the user.

gabrielinc · ‎05-07-2015

"Twitchmonkey" wrote:
It's the silence that worries me, the interviewer pretty clearly asks about whether the consumer will have to go through Oculus to get VR content and he just goes back to talking about this curated Gear VR like experience. Perhaps reading between the lines here is paranoia, but I would have felt a lot better if he explicitly said that you will still be able to go through other channels to download software/demos.

Facebook said that they don't want to make (big) profit with selling the hardware itself. FB paid 2 billion dollar to Oculus. The only way at the moment how they can get some of the money is with selling apps / advertisement. Maybe they are doing it like Google store. Officially, you can only download from there but with some tricks you can also install other apps.

RonsonPL · ‎05-07-2015

I think it sould go the only way that is reasonable:

a) for casuals and people not knowing the VR stuff well - app store, curated place to buy/download apps/games.

b) for people knowing what they're doing, freedom, with just a one-time MEGA WARNING screen, with mini-game like checks to prove the person actually has read them.

Simple solutions = best solutions.

Not an Oculus hater, but not a fan anymore. Still lots of respect for the team-Carmack, Abrash. Oculus is driven by big corporation principles now. That brings painful effects already, more to come in the future. This is not the Oculus I once cheered for.

lmaceleighton · ‎05-07-2015

Don't worry, you will still have your VR the way you want it. Oculus will probably create a rating system, or use one that is in place to describe what each "VR Experience" is like, similar to what they do now, but I am sure it will be more streamlined. Oculus is not going to just block off a market completely, even porn I am sure, although I am positive you wont find that at Oculus Share or anything, but you will be able to without a hack. There is just too much money to be made in the long game for Oculus and Facebook, they are not going to turn any of that away to be sure.

~B

VizionVR · ‎05-07-2015

Some Rift content will be walled garden, ecosystem, curated, whatever Nate Mitchell wants to call it this week. There will also be COUNTLESS third party app developers out there, offering their wares through alternate means. Steam will be one of the largest indie VR portals. So no worries, the content will be there, in all the colors of the kinky rainbow! 🙂

Not a Rift fanboi. Not a Vive fanboi. I'm a VR fanboi. Get it straight.

Anonymous · ‎05-07-2015

"Calanar" wrote:
I am fine with an app store. I am not fine with it locking out other content. I think, and I hope, what he was saying here was that in their own store they would make sure the apps were decent and wouldn't make the rift into a bad experience. However I also think he was saying that people could do what they want outside this. Note his talk about the surfboard input device. I want to go on record and say if they pull an apple and make a locked headset in which the only software that runs on it is from the app store they lose me. That's my bridge too far. It is why I use android instead of iPhone and its why I am PC instead of Mac. I like apple interfaces I do not like their toll gates and restrictive control. Hopefully Oculus will not strangle the VR golden goose here by trying to do that.

Palmer has responded in the past that they do not intend to lock the headset and I am not sure Nate is saying in the above that you won't be able to run non-approved software. I will give them the benefit of the doubt on this, but watching cautiously.

*this

yazze · ‎05-07-2015

As a commercial product, you can bet Oculus exclusive content will be locked to the platform, as it's already the case with Gear VR.

There are many great Gear VR experiences, Oculus makes Gear VR, but you don't have one? Well there's no other HMD you can play it on, and there's no hack for now.

It's annoying, but it'll be up to developer to adapt their VR Games to different platforms, Oculus, Gear Vr, Steam, Morpheus etc...

However I doubt that Oculus will be locked to this platform, and of course I'm sure you'll be able to play other content and apps outside the store.

What worries me more, is that there are not many content creator, especially big publisher who will develop for it if it doesn't take off...