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I think Meta is really on to something by going full throttle into VR. One point I've heard Mark make in various interviews is the increasing immersion of socia

I think Meta is really on to something by going full throttle into VR. One point I've heard Mark make in various interviews is the increasing immersion of social media and the internet in general. We started out with text, then we moved to images and gifs, then video and livestreaming started taking over. The trend is clear. If you've ever tried VR where other people are in the same world as you, it really does feel different in a hard to describe way than just a video call. It's more immersive. VR won't be the end all be all (at least for the foreseeable future), there will still be people communicating with each other via text/images/videos. Part of the issue is that VR is still thought of as an "experience", rather than a boring tool/avenue to do other things with.

grepfru_it 4y ago
So I'm a bit ashamed to admit I have been playing waaaay too much DayZ lately and this line rings so very true >If you've ever tried VR where other people are in the same world as you, it really does feel different in a hard to describe way than just a video call. It's more immersive. One day, 5 of my completely separate friends got onto DayZ and ended up meeting with each other (friend A knew Friend D, friend B knew friend E, friend A knew friend E, kind of thing) and my entire schedule for that day went on the backburner. Instead we stood around on the top of a castle talking about random things, drove around, went hunting, raided some bases, and looted some towns for gear. It really really really felt like going hiking and running into random people you know. Plus you can drink in real life so then you have the same social experience as if you're sitting around a campfire. It is extremely hard for me to explain the experience except comparing it to meeting up with friends and doing random things for a few hours. Kind of like MUDs and MOOs from the 80s and 90s. My wife was extremely angry with me because this happened on the one day she worked from home and assumed this was what I did all day. I felt guilty for about 5 minutes before I realized I rarely socialize and this was a true social experience! So all that to say I look forward to what Mark can do with VR, as DayZ is based on a 10 year old 3d engine that is showing it's obvious age on next gen consoles.
- Mockapapella 4y ago
  That's a really neat experience. Thanks for sharing :)
mattbrewsbytes 4y ago
Meta has claimed Enterprise/Businesses is a market they are going for so I think a fundamental question is: does that immersive feeling of being in VR world in a business/professional setting for knowledge workers have measurable better outcomes than existing ways to meet/collaborate? A better outcome is where it financially offsets the cost of hardware, software, support and training. That is the question an Enterprise would want an answer to before investing in $1500 headsets for people. Anecdotes online are that even the tech-savvy Meta employees aren't using VR for their collaborations internally and have to be forced. That's not a good sign. I don't know that the tech, etc. is far enough along to know the answer to that fundamental "is it worth it?" question. Maybe as costs drop it becomes an easier decision. How long will that be though? The factor outside of Meta's control is impatience with investors looking at quarterly results. Is developing and honing this VR collaboration Enterprise tool going to take 4 more losing quarters or is it 20? or 40? (i.e. 5 or 10 years)

grepfru_it 4y ago

So I'm a bit ashamed to admit I have been playing waaaay too much DayZ lately and this line rings so very true >If you've ever tried VR where other people are in the same world as you, it really does feel different in a hard to describe way than just a video call. It's more immersive. One day, 5 of my completely separate friends got onto DayZ and ended up meeting with each other (friend A knew Friend D, friend B knew friend E, friend A knew friend E, kind of thing) and my entire schedule for that day went on the backburner. Instead we stood around on the top of a castle talking about random things, drove around, went hunting, raided some bases, and looted some towns for gear. It really really really felt like going hiking and running into random people you know. Plus you can drink in real life so then you have the same social experience as if you're sitting around a campfire. It is extremely hard for me to explain the experience except comparing it to meeting up with friends and doing random things for a few hours. Kind of like MUDs and MOOs from the 80s and 90s. My wife was extremely angry with me because this happened on the one day she worked from home and assumed this was what I did all day. I felt guilty for about 5 minutes before I realized I rarely socialize and this was a true social experience! So all that to say I look forward to what Mark can do with VR, as DayZ is based on a 10 year old 3d engine that is showing it's obvious age on next gen consoles.

Mockapapella 4y ago
That's a really neat experience. Thanks for sharing :)

mattbrewsbytes 4y ago

Meta has claimed Enterprise/Businesses is a market they are going for so I think a fundamental question is: does that immersive feeling of being in VR world in a business/professional setting for knowledge workers have measurable better outcomes than existing ways to meet/collaborate? A better outcome is where it financially offsets the cost of hardware, software, support and training. That is the question an Enterprise would want an answer to before investing in $1500 headsets for people. Anecdotes online are that even the tech-savvy Meta employees aren't using VR for their collaborations internally and have to be forced. That's not a good sign. I don't know that the tech, etc. is far enough along to know the answer to that fundamental "is it worth it?" question. Maybe as costs drop it becomes an easier decision. How long will that be though? The factor outside of Meta's control is impatience with investors looking at quarterly results. Is developing and honing this VR collaboration Enterprise tool going to take 4 more losing quarters or is it 20? or 40? (i.e. 5 or 10 years)