Facebook in Your Face: Why Social VR Apps Aren’t a Surprise

You Didn't Think Facebook Spent $2 Billion on Virtual Reality Company, Oculus, just to Dip its Feet into the Next Unproven Frontier in VideoGames, did you ? No, the Massive Company has Reconfirmed that, it is Interested in Bringing its Core Social Networking Apps to VR in the Future, to Let Users Share 360° Virtual Views of What they're Doing, for example. At the Code/Media Conference in California Last Night, Facebook Chief Product Officer, Chris Cox, Responded to a Question about "the one thing you haven't accomplished yet that you'd really like to figure out", by Saying "virtual reality is pretty cool; we're working on apps for VR". To Cox, VR is just a More Impressive, All-Encompassing Extension of the Kind of Experience Sharing Millions of Users already do on Facebook. "You're just sending a photo, you're sending a video, you're sending a piece of text, you're sending an idea, you're sending a thought. [With VR], there's a version of the world where you're sending a fuller, immersive picture of what you're doing..." Cox Cited Existing VR Demos that Put People in the Seat of a Blue Angel Jet Fighter or a Yurt in Mongolia as Examples of the Kind of 360° Virtual Experiences Facebook Users — Ranging from Everyday Joes to Celebrities like Beyoncé — will Eventually be Able to Share with their Friends on the Platform.


"You immediately understand... the first time you're in it, you realize you're looking at the future." This "Announcement" Really Isn't a Surprise. When Facebook Acquired Oculus nearly a Year Ago, CEO Mark Zuckerberg was Effusive about Possibilities Beyond the Headset Maker's Initial Gaming Focus. "Imagine enjoying a courtside seat at a game, studying in a classroom with students and teachers all over the world, consulting with a doctor face to face, or going shopping in a virtual store where you can touch and explore the products you're interested in just by putting on goggles in your own home", Zuckerberg Said at the Time. Oculus' Brendan Iribe, Touted the Ability to Talk to a Friend's Virtual Avatar "Face to Face", rather than in a 2D Video Window on a Flat Screen. Executives from Oculus and Facebook Have Consistently Said they Expect Virtual Reality to be the Next Major Computing Platform — Maybe Even the Final Computing Platform. Given that Expectation, it would be a Bit Silly if Facebook Wasn't Working on Some Sort of VR Extension for its Social Network. On the Contrary, Working on the Assumption of a VR-Dominated Future, Facebook Seems Determined Not to Lag Behind the Crowd, as it did with Underpowered Mobile Apps in the Early Wake of the Smartphone Revolution.


For Some, though, Facebook Publicly Discussing the Social Networking Potential of VR, will Re-Raise All Sorts of Old Fears about the Company, Forcing Development Focus Away from Gaming or Requiring a Facebook Login for Every Oculus Rift User or Something. Those Fears still Seem a Bit Overblown at this Point. Gaming was the Overwhelming Focus of the 1st Oculus Connect Conference Last September and Game-Like Environments Dominated the Demos Shown on the Crescent Bay Prototype there. The Company also Hired Naughty Dog Veteran, Jason Rubin, to Head Up its 1st-Party Game Development Efforts Last June and Released its Own 1st-Party Action/Adventure Game, HeroBound alongside the Launch of the Gear VR. As for Facebook Becoming a Mandatory Part of the End-User, Oculus Experience, the Folks at Oculus, Have Continually Insisted that, Facebook has been an Extremely Hands-Off Corporate Owner. "I guarantee that you won't need to log into your Facebook account every time you wanna use the Oculus Rift", Oculus Founder, Palmer Luckey Told a Reddit AMA Shortly after the Acquisition.


"The agreement with [Zuckerberg] was 'Use what services you want from Facebook. We're just here to help'", Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe Told us Last Summer. "If you don't want to use any, you don't have to but, there probably are some services that we provide, like payment services and all kinds of things that they have a really good platform for that we don't." These Kinds of Quotes and Promises are Only True until they're Not, of Course. There's Always a Chance Facebook will Pull a Heavy-Handed Bait-and-Switch and Force Oculus Down a More Social-Focused, Account-Integrated Path. But, the "Revelation" that Facebook is Planning VR Versions of its Apps Isn't a Warning Sign that, this is Coming to Pass. On the Contrary, it's a Completely Obvious and Expected Move from a Company that Poured Billions of Dollars into Oculus because, it Believes VR will be an Important Platform for All Sorts of Computing Uses. That includes a Major Focus on Gaming Up Front but, there's No Use in Pretending that, it Doesn't include Facebook's Core Social Networking Business as well.




Info Source:

http://recode.net/2015/02/17/facebook-is-working-on-virtual-reality-apps-that-it-thinks-beyonce-will-use