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What's the big deal with Facebook account needed to use (some apps on) Oculus? Why people hate this

petra.skachova
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In this thread I´d like to face the fact that many people don´t want to use Oculus as they need a Facebook account. I will list some advantages of having a FB account connected in vr, and an (obvious) solution for those who don´t want to link their personal FB account with Oculus. There might be also downsides of the Facebook integration in an overall independent and complete Oculus platform that could survive maybe without the Zuckerberg's hand on it. Let's discuss this. 
--------------------------
(yes, I edited the intro to be more clear in what I wanted to express, this is the point I wanted to discuss with you). 
Let's talk about Oculus headsets and the privacy. I'd like to point out that I am not a FB fan, I only want to know your point of view, as I understood that this is a widely discussed question. 
The whole deal was to connect with your friends you already have on Facebook, in order to have someone to share your virtual experiences, apps and games with. I see no deal with this, since I myself have a Facebook account. Lately Facebook added through new firmware updates additional functions, so now you can message, chat, call and share directly with your Facebook friends. Also, Facebook Horizon is coming, and it will be a whole new level of social life.

Still, I understand that a lot of people don´t fancy the social world. I´m not a great fan of it either, as I value my privacy and don´t share my private life on these channels. I even cancelled myself from FB in the past as I didn´t see it as a necessary implementation to my life. Then I reactivated it to promote my activities and it helped actually 🙂 

It´s obvious, that every vr headset producer will ask you to log-in or create an account in order to link you with their services, to merge it with your information and to offer you a better experience. Facebook is asking for a FB account, HTC Vive and Sony will have an admission of their own, too.

I personally found a great advantage of having a FB account connected with my Oculus, because it was easy to find right away someone from my trusted contacts who also had an Oculus and we could try some apps together. Doing it alone is sometimes very boring and not the point.

With that being said - for all those who don´t want to be obliged to have a FB account to use Oculus, don´t worry. Just create a new FB account, with a name and picture you prefer, that you will use on your Oculus just for that purpose. There you can still add friends who have Oculus and you can share the experience together. It can be your secondary FB account that no one will have access to, just you and the people you want. I really don´t see such a bid deal with it. You don´t have to post there anything, no phone number, no photos, no posts. It´s your life and your privacy and that´s understandable.

It would be a pity if just this reason stopped you from discovering the amazing world of VR.
What is your opinion about it - do you agree or disagree with Facebook wanting your account connected in order to use Oculus?

P.S.: I edited the part about Xiaomi as it was not an exact and detailed information, it was not the point of the thread, so don't stick to that). I also edited the title of the thread a tiny little bit to be more clear. 

Thank you Everyone for posting your opinion! 


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101 REPLIES 101

petra.skachova
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Zenbane said:


Ray_Sover said:

"What's the big deal with Facebook account needed to use Oculus? Why people hate this fact"

For any newbies coming to this thread, I'd just like to point out that it's not a fact that you need a Facebook account to use Oculus.



This topic arose because Facebook will require that users have a linked Facebook Account if they want to experience Horizon.

“You still will use your Oculus ID,” Fitzgerald told me. “Your name in Horizon is your Oculus identity, but we do require a linked Facebook account and that lets us do some great things around both safety — making sure it’s backed by a real person — but also for the people who want to invite more of their social network from their Facebook world into their VR environment. [With Facebook integration] they have better tools to do that — they can share out to groups and communities. But it is a Facebook product and we want to take advantage of the social features that Facebook has built as we’re thinking this through.”


https://venturebeat.com/2019/12/01/facebooks-beat-games-acquisition-is-a-stepping-stone-toward-horiz...

I have 2 Facebook accounts now. One for personal use, and one for VR. No big deal in my case. I look forward to trying out Horizon.


Me too, can't wait to try the Horizon, I am really curious. 

petra.skachova
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kobs57 said:

When I bought my Rift CV1, that was all you could get then, you could log without a FB account or with it didn't matter. We all had fun everyone was seeing everyone inviting peoples over in Oculus homes peoples you didn't even knew came to visit and all was well. then they arranged updates so peoples with FB accounts couldn't see the "others" it started a whole mess of confusion and went on for weeks, you couldn't see your friends, I had to communicate with some of mine via e-mail to see what was going on etc. then they simply cut off "the others" from the whole community, you (I) couldn't see anyone no one could visit my homes, I was alone. In other words I was  forced to use a FB account if I wanted to interact with my friends. Why do peoples hate? It's always by force, no one is asking, "it's ours and this is the way it works" you (peoples who paid to use it and liked it) are just sheep in the field. Most peoples like to be considered and asked. Same with FB itself, at one point they deleted accounts and pages which had contents that didn't fit with FB's way of thinking. I think that's "Why people hate this fact" or have grudges against FB, they have no consideration for peoples opinions, As someone said "it's private, they let you in if you don't like the way it works get off the bus" an autocracy that's what FB is


Many people did not get my thread and post, and you did! Thank you for your answer 🙂 interesting point of view 

petra.skachova
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dburne said:

I am not a huge fan of Facebook, I do have an account for family and friends but it is not tied to my Oculus account.
One can not deny though the contributions FB is making to the VR community overall with their expertise and continuing development of their Oculus Platform.
And that is a very good thing for the industry.


dburne, you also say a right thing: let's not forget about the contribuiton FB made in developing and investing in the platform. They can have their own purpose in doing that, but if we are here it's because we have an Oculus vr headset and we appreciate it.

petra.skachova
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Firstly I'd like to thank you for answering to my thread.
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I read and appreciated every single post, even the arguing about this topic which took place here:-) among some users. This proves that this particular topic is a hot potato, and that users and society is divided in two... Let's admit two things that I can assume after reading all your answers:
1) Facebook did do something good for the VR by investing into Oculus, at least it motivates the other big players on the market to come with something equally big or bigger to create some more competition. Competition is vital, it cuts down the prices, gives a wider choice of products and kicks the development. This can't be denied... 
2) Facebook will always open discussions, disagreements and argues.. Whether you like this company or not. As well as Google! 

And least but not last:
As for the privacy issue, it will always concern many of us, that's understandable. It looks like information is worth a lot of money in this modern world, but I think it's analyzed rather generally and not focused on certain Mr. John Black from Smith Street 220 in LA. Or so I hope. 

The only important thing that must not be touched by these big corporation is that the users must have the freedom to choose. This applies also to the whole VR platform, accounts and other uses in the Oculus. 

Amen:-) 

The thread is still open and I think it's important to have our say here, so that FB, Oculus and others know that we want our rights and thoughts to be respected and have this in mind. 

Zenbane
MVP
MVP
@"petra.skachova"

First of all, I'd like to thank you for thanking everyone.

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The only important thing that must not be touched by anyone is the possibility to have the freedom to choose.
This is not something that is important when dealing with a corporation. When it comes to Business and Industry, there is no expectation to place the same ideals that we place upon Governments and Religion. Facebook, like any other organization, is free to offer products and services as they see fit, within the confines of laws and regulations. There is no law nor regulation that requires a company to offer a freedom to choose within their own offerings.

Consumers, by default, have the only freedom to choose that is necessary: You can choose to do business with any company you like.

If someone doesn't approve of Facebook and/or Oculus, then they have the freedom to choose another company. Simple.

Anonymous
Not applicable

kevinw729 said:

Excellent point @OmegaM4N
The next phase of this deployment of VR will be highly fluid, and the prospects of a "land-grab" and creation of "ecosystems" may be a mute point in this changing landscape.

We understand that you do not invest $3billion into VR for only a small part of it,  but to own it! That was always the concern, and many tried to state that those concerns were groundless.... we now see the substance.

The hope maybe that in encouraging the ubiquity of your social media platforms with your VR/AR platforms may be seen to be their "Microsoft moment", but to be honest, shoehorning this in at this point, reveals how much the loss of subtlety has been impacted by recent departures from the executive team. 

As has been said, you attempt to judge a company by its intentions and its corporate governance - seeing last minute restrictions and stipulations after purchase is a concern.





It's a 'moot' point, not a 'mute' point. 🙂

And nobody that I'm aware of has tried to state any such thing. We all knew when Facebook bought Oculus that they were planning on integrating Facebook into the whole thing, if anyone didn't assume this right from the start then they would be VERY naive people, and I don't think any of us here are in the remotest bit naive.

And you don't 'shoehorn' something like this, these things take time and money to implement. If Facebook WERE going to 'shoehorn' something in they would have done so a couple of years ago rather than taking the time and considerable expertise in bringing it to the platform in the not-too-distant future. Facebook and Oculus don't rush things, they take the time to do these things RIGHT. We've seen this with the Touch controllers and the Half Dome prototype.

OmegaM4N
Expert Trustee


kevinw729 said:

Excellent point @OmegaM4N
The next phase of this deployment of VR will be highly fluid, and the prospects of a "land-grab" and creation of "ecosystems" may be a mute point in this changing landscape.

We understand that you do not invest $3billion into VR for only a small part of it,  but to own it! That was always the concern, and many tried to state that those concerns were groundless.... we now see the substance.

The hope maybe that in encouraging the ubiquity of your social media platforms with your VR/AR platforms may be seen to be their "Microsoft moment", but to be honest, shoehorning this in at this point, reveals how much the loss of subtlety has been impacted by recent departures from the executive team. 

As has been said, you attempt to judge a company by its intentions and its corporate governance - seeing last minute restrictions and stipulations after purchase is a concern.






Oh most definitely AR will overtake VR in the future, i can see future headsets that will encompass both VR and AR, and the headset will look like a pair of glasses that can use AR or tint your lens black for standard VR that we have today, but the one thing all of us here are fully aware of is that VR is here to stay, and not only for entertainmant, education, science, medical, the possibilities for VR and AR seems limitless at this point, so just keep the faith because 2020 has just started and i think we will see some better alternatives and competition this year appear or be announced. 😉




CV1/Vive-knuckles)/Dell Vr Visor/Go/Quest II/ PSVR.

kevinw729
Honored Visionary
@snowdog
>It's a 'moot' point, not a 'mute' point.

Oh, thanks for pointing out the typo - must have been absently thinking about how best to "mute" some of the posters on this forum - cheers.  B)

@Ome@OmegaM4N
i can see future headsets that will encompass both VR and AR, and the headset will look like a pair of glasses....

Yeah - most have us have not really been fans of single AR or VR applications, but have been hoping for a MR solution. Now with the Varjo and Lynx we seem to be getting closer to a better state. The rumors of the Facebook AR glasses also leads some to think we will see a Quest / AR hybrid before we ever see a proper CV2.

I think Facebook really are focused now on their own movement forward in MR development, and may explain why they suspended the Half Dome project for the Lenovo partnership - so that any future new headsets would follow the hybrid path than just be a PC only approach. 

https://vrawards.aixr.org/ "The Out-of-Home Immersive Entertainment Frontier: Expanding Interactive Boundaries in Leisure Facilities" https://www.amazon.co.uk/Out-Home-Immersive-Entertainment-Frontier/dp/1472426959

Anonymous
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RIP Rift.
Goooo Quest!

Zenbane
MVP
MVP
Rift is still here, going strong, and has a bright future.

I have Rift and Quest. Quest is great, but it aint no Rift!