11 ms·

> Facebook is betting the farm on the metaverse stuff and it's an odd bet.

by mjfl 5y ago

JCM9 5y ago
There’s a whole bunch of geriatric millennials out there remembering what happened to second life. With the pandemic letting up the last thing people are going to want to do is live in some virtual world. Fresh air is the new black.
- quickthrowman 5y ago
  How could anyone ever forget flying penises pelting Anshe Chung in the face during a CNN-sponsored Second Life ‘town hall’? Anyone expecting something different from the ‘metaverse’ is living in a fantasy world. Porn companies and sex workers will make money in VR environments, whether mainstream companies can remains to be seen.
- spookthesunset 5y ago
  Yup. All I see is second life v2. (Third Life?)
dymk 5y ago
I've been using a roommate's Quest 2 for a few days. A few years ago I was using an OG Oculus. The Quest 2 is so much staggeringly better in every way. So much so that I can see a future where people are spending hours in VR games rather than hours playing games on a monitor. Yes, there are issues to work out with the headbands, weight, general FPS and battery life, but I finally _get_ it. The amount of badassery you feel as you shoot headcrabs and combine in Half Life: Alyx is hard to describe in words. Maybe that's not Metaverse persay (is that like, VR chat or something?), but it is the equipment that Facebook is selling, and they've got their own set of games that're pretty fun too.
- jmknoll 5y ago
  I’m with you on this. I received a Quest as a Christmas gift and basically went from 0 to 100 on VR and the Metaverse. It finally makes sense to me. Like you say, there are some issues with the tech, but they’ll be resolved in time, and it’s clear that this is the future of gaming at least, and maybe much of social media/virtual interaction.
  - YXNjaGVyZWdlbgo 5y ago
    The problem is that the problems are mostly the same problems we had since 2012. I am not sure if we can really address them without new breakthrough technologies.
  - magicjosh 5y ago
    Wow what are your favorite apps? And a bit more leading question, what apps have you used in the last week?
    - dymk 5y ago
      In no particular order (well, except for Alyx, which is the gold standard)... - Half Life: Alyx - Lucky's Tale - Beat Saber - Thumper
    - Arainach 5y ago
      Not OP, but I also picked up a Quest 2 and was impressed after finding all previous VR experiences I'd tried gimmicky and not holding my attention for long. Lately I've been sinking time into: Half-Life Alyx I Expect You To Die (and its sequel) The Climb (and eventually its sequel, I assume) Creed
  - civilized 5y ago
    For the sake of argument let's take you folks' word that it's the future of gaming (for the subset that can tolerate and enjoy the headsets). How much money is in that? I don't believe for a moment that it'll extend into work interactions. Maybe family visiting type experiences, again for the subset that can enjoy the headset setup.
- magicjosh 5y ago
  Wow what's better? As an Oculus owner I dismissed the 2 as just aesthetic. Can it run Alyx natively? On the Oculus 1 it requires a PC and cable.
  - dymk 5y ago
    Sorry, I should have been more clear about Alyx - in both situations I'm running Alyx on a PC, and using the headset tethered. That being said, Quest 2 uses a USB-C cable that is quite a bit lighter and easier to manage than the Oculus' HDMI cable.
    - stavros 5y ago
      You can use it untethered too, I haven't had any issues at all with it.
  - GekkePrutser 5y ago
    No but streaming services specially for VR are starting up already.
- ErneX 5y ago
  That's not technically Quest 2 that's PC VR (a nice PC hooked to a Quest 2).
  - dymk 5y ago
    That's true, but specific to the Quest 2 hardware is the much nicer display, lighter than its predecessor, its inside-out tracking is more convenient than setting up stationary tracking beacons (a-la Valve Index), its guardian system is nice for setting up arbitrary play areas, and it degrades more gracefully at low FPS than its predecessor by respecting 6dof of head movement at a minimum of 90fps at all times, reducing motion sickness.
- endisneigh 5y ago
  I felt the same way, I literally bought a Quest 2 for everyone in my family. We have 4 of them and over $200 worth of games. After a couple months no one uses it anymore. It's sad lol. I do think it's amazing - Superhot is one of the best games I've ever played. But I get it - I don't know how to explain, but it seems like work to use it.
  - ripper1138 5y ago
    It seems like they sold a ton over the holidays this year. I and at least 4 of my friends got a quest 2 and all of us have already not used it since early Jan. VR has been looking for a killer app for 5 year and the most popular app so far is basically VR guitar hero but only for one player.
  - GekkePrutser 5y ago
    I guess you don't have a game PC? The PC games are amazing. If you don't have a good pc there's some streaming services coming online too like plutosphere that's doing a free beta now.
    - parineum 5y ago
      > The PC games are amazing I'm a PC gamer and have a very capable PC but haven't bought any VR equipment because I don't know what I'd play. The issue is probably that I'm not looking for an excuse to buy a headset, I'm waiting for a reason. I don't seek out information for VR and none of it is getting through to me.
      - shock-value 5y ago
        If you are into simulations (driving, flying) then I'd say get a headset ASAP. Also potentially if you see yourself getting into immersive rhythm/fitness games. Otherwise I think it's pretty reasonable to wait for more compelling content to be released (and reap the benefits of the better hardware that will be available at that time).
      - majewsky 5y ago
- spywaregorilla 5y ago
  I've been posting a lot of comments recently about how much Half Life Alyx disappointed me, not with any sort of motive but here we go again. I felt incredibly lame shooting the headcrabs in half life alyx. They were fat and slow, and when I felt like they were going to hit me I tapped the left stick twice to teleport 20m away while they waddled towards me hopelessly. When they hit me, I just kind of shrugged because the experience of being hit in VR is so uninteresting. A lot of the times I would just be annoyed that aiming at a headcrab 10m was hard so I just waited for it to fall close to me then shoot it at point blank range 4 times. In resident evil 4 (which is now vr but I've no experience with it) the zombies did this thing where they ran at you really fast, but when they got close, they walked slowly. This was because you had low mobility when aiming, so the enemies had to play nice to give you a chance. Half Life Alyx felt like that but way more so. Everything coddled you to the point of seriously breaking immersion for me. Electric dog? Warns you that it's going to zap a path for like 10 seconds before doing anything. Machine gunner guy? Shoots for 10 seconds then sits still for another 5 in plain sight while reloading. Normal combine guys? Mostly just standing out in the open or failing to use cover effectively so you can casually snipe their weak spot. Felt to me like a poorly curated house of dead line gun game.
xkfm 5y ago
I think it'll play out in five to seven years. I'm also in the group that bought a Quest 2 over the holidays and am really, really, really impressed. It's very close to being more than a novel experience. Immersed works well, but because of the res of the headset, you can't actually see any more text than you would on your monitors in real life, the monitors are just bigger. For games, FPSes and driving games seem to be "solved", but almost every other genre still needs work. Basically, if a game genre is normally played first person, it'll work well in VR already. Movies, TV, manga/comics are there too. I'm at the point now where I don't plan on buying another monitor unless I absolutely have to. I should note that I only play multiplayer experiences with PCVR because I'm afraid of getting banned for whatever reason and having my headset bricked. That's one area I'm worried about, but it's not related to the hardware/technology.
JKCalhoun 5y ago
I'm all in if they get behind the power glove.

> Facebook is betting the farm on the metaverse stuff and it's an odd bet.

by mjfl 5y ago

> Facebook is betting the farm on the metaverse stuff and it's an odd bet.

JCM9 5y ago

There’s a whole bunch of geriatric millennials out there remembering what happened to second life. With the pandemic letting up the last thing people are going to want to do is live in some virtual world. Fresh air is the new black.

quickthrowman 5y ago
How could anyone ever forget flying penises pelting Anshe Chung in the face during a CNN-sponsored Second Life ‘town hall’? Anyone expecting something different from the ‘metaverse’ is living in a fantasy world. Porn companies and sex workers will make money in VR environments, whether mainstream companies can remains to be seen.
spookthesunset 5y ago
Yup. All I see is second life v2. (Third Life?)

dymk 5y ago

I've been using a roommate's Quest 2 for a few days. A few years ago I was using an OG Oculus. The Quest 2 is so much staggeringly better in every way. So much so that I can see a future where people are spending hours in VR games rather than hours playing games on a monitor. Yes, there are issues to work out with the headbands, weight, general FPS and battery life, but I finally _get_ it. The amount of badassery you feel as you shoot headcrabs and combine in Half Life: Alyx is hard to describe in words. Maybe that's not Metaverse persay (is that like, VR chat or something?), but it is the equipment that Facebook is selling, and they've got their own set of games that're pretty fun too.

jmknoll 5y ago
I’m with you on this. I received a Quest as a Christmas gift and basically went from 0 to 100 on VR and the Metaverse. It finally makes sense to me. Like you say, there are some issues with the tech, but they’ll be resolved in time, and it’s clear that this is the future of gaming at least, and maybe much of social media/virtual interaction.
- YXNjaGVyZWdlbgo 5y ago
  The problem is that the problems are mostly the same problems we had since 2012. I am not sure if we can really address them without new breakthrough technologies.
- magicjosh 5y ago
  Wow what are your favorite apps? And a bit more leading question, what apps have you used in the last week?
  - dymk 5y ago
    In no particular order (well, except for Alyx, which is the gold standard)... - Half Life: Alyx - Lucky's Tale - Beat Saber - Thumper
  - Arainach 5y ago
    Not OP, but I also picked up a Quest 2 and was impressed after finding all previous VR experiences I'd tried gimmicky and not holding my attention for long. Lately I've been sinking time into: Half-Life Alyx I Expect You To Die (and its sequel) The Climb (and eventually its sequel, I assume) Creed
- civilized 5y ago
  For the sake of argument let's take you folks' word that it's the future of gaming (for the subset that can tolerate and enjoy the headsets). How much money is in that? I don't believe for a moment that it'll extend into work interactions. Maybe family visiting type experiences, again for the subset that can enjoy the headset setup.
magicjosh 5y ago
Wow what's better? As an Oculus owner I dismissed the 2 as just aesthetic. Can it run Alyx natively? On the Oculus 1 it requires a PC and cable.
- dymk 5y ago
  Sorry, I should have been more clear about Alyx - in both situations I'm running Alyx on a PC, and using the headset tethered. That being said, Quest 2 uses a USB-C cable that is quite a bit lighter and easier to manage than the Oculus' HDMI cable.
  - stavros 5y ago
    You can use it untethered too, I haven't had any issues at all with it.
- GekkePrutser 5y ago
  No but streaming services specially for VR are starting up already.
ErneX 5y ago
That's not technically Quest 2 that's PC VR (a nice PC hooked to a Quest 2).
- dymk 5y ago
  That's true, but specific to the Quest 2 hardware is the much nicer display, lighter than its predecessor, its inside-out tracking is more convenient than setting up stationary tracking beacons (a-la Valve Index), its guardian system is nice for setting up arbitrary play areas, and it degrades more gracefully at low FPS than its predecessor by respecting 6dof of head movement at a minimum of 90fps at all times, reducing motion sickness.
endisneigh 5y ago
I felt the same way, I literally bought a Quest 2 for everyone in my family. We have 4 of them and over $200 worth of games. After a couple months no one uses it anymore. It's sad lol. I do think it's amazing - Superhot is one of the best games I've ever played. But I get it - I don't know how to explain, but it seems like work to use it.
- ripper1138 5y ago
  It seems like they sold a ton over the holidays this year. I and at least 4 of my friends got a quest 2 and all of us have already not used it since early Jan. VR has been looking for a killer app for 5 year and the most popular app so far is basically VR guitar hero but only for one player.
- GekkePrutser 5y ago
  I guess you don't have a game PC? The PC games are amazing. If you don't have a good pc there's some streaming services coming online too like plutosphere that's doing a free beta now.
  - parineum 5y ago
    > The PC games are amazing I'm a PC gamer and have a very capable PC but haven't bought any VR equipment because I don't know what I'd play. The issue is probably that I'm not looking for an excuse to buy a headset, I'm waiting for a reason. I don't seek out information for VR and none of it is getting through to me.
    - shock-value 5y ago
      If you are into simulations (driving, flying) then I'd say get a headset ASAP. Also potentially if you see yourself getting into immersive rhythm/fitness games. Otherwise I think it's pretty reasonable to wait for more compelling content to be released (and reap the benefits of the better hardware that will be available at that time).
    - majewsky 5y ago
spywaregorilla 5y ago
I've been posting a lot of comments recently about how much Half Life Alyx disappointed me, not with any sort of motive but here we go again. I felt incredibly lame shooting the headcrabs in half life alyx. They were fat and slow, and when I felt like they were going to hit me I tapped the left stick twice to teleport 20m away while they waddled towards me hopelessly. When they hit me, I just kind of shrugged because the experience of being hit in VR is so uninteresting. A lot of the times I would just be annoyed that aiming at a headcrab 10m was hard so I just waited for it to fall close to me then shoot it at point blank range 4 times. In resident evil 4 (which is now vr but I've no experience with it) the zombies did this thing where they ran at you really fast, but when they got close, they walked slowly. This was because you had low mobility when aiming, so the enemies had to play nice to give you a chance. Half Life Alyx felt like that but way more so. Everything coddled you to the point of seriously breaking immersion for me. Electric dog? Warns you that it's going to zap a path for like 10 seconds before doing anything. Machine gunner guy? Shoots for 10 seconds then sits still for another 5 in plain sight while reloading. Normal combine guys? Mostly just standing out in the open or failing to use cover effectively so you can casually snipe their weak spot. Felt to me like a poorly curated house of dead line gun game.

xkfm 5y ago

I think it'll play out in five to seven years. I'm also in the group that bought a Quest 2 over the holidays and am really, really, really impressed. It's very close to being more than a novel experience. Immersed works well, but because of the res of the headset, you can't actually see any more text than you would on your monitors in real life, the monitors are just bigger. For games, FPSes and driving games seem to be "solved", but almost every other genre still needs work. Basically, if a game genre is normally played first person, it'll work well in VR already. Movies, TV, manga/comics are there too. I'm at the point now where I don't plan on buying another monitor unless I absolutely have to. I should note that I only play multiplayer experiences with PCVR because I'm afraid of getting banned for whatever reason and having my headset bricked. That's one area I'm worried about, but it's not related to the hardware/technology.

JKCalhoun 5y ago

I'm all in if they get behind the power glove.