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Comment by dsrguru | Hacker News Reader

I said this on the other thread, but this is the most terrifyingly awesome technology acquisition I've ever seen. Facebook chat in two years: put on a headset and get teleported to a room in a virtual world where you can talk to your friends' avatars. Skype and Google+ Hangouts suddenly seem very 20th century.

I've always found Facebook's stock to be a ridiculously risky long-term investment since their entire growth plan is predicated on monetizing an already established customer base, where a single event that causes people to switch en masse to a more private/secure social network would destroy the company. After today's acquisition I no longer think this.

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> Facebook chat in two years: put on a headset and get teleported to a room in a virtual world where you can talk to your friends' avatars. Skype and Google+ Hangouts suddenly seem very 20th century.

This doesn't happen in two years at all -- it's hard to keep track, but Google Glass has been in its public beta release for over a year and yet there are no people walking around using them, at least where I'm from.

Plus I think most of us are still using the keyboard (be it virtual or physical) to tap instant messages and email -- if VR would be so mature in two years that we'd be able to do a lot of things through a virtual world, why haven't we ditched keyboards straight away?

There is likely a user input revolution around the corner, but I'd be looking at the 2024 date or later. This is probably a good reason why to be concerned about the purchase -- Facebook seems unlikely to care about Oculus games beyond what Oculus promised in their Kickstarter.

I totally agree that wearable computers like Google Glass aren't ready to replace conventional mobile devices. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that the webcam+screen model of video chat (not the keyboard+mouse model of computing) in the near future will be replaced by something like webcam+Rift+Omni. I think the technology will likely be mature enough within the next few years and that the public is already ready to adopt it.

Before the 1964 World's Fair, the notion of video chat to accompany the telephone was considered science fiction. Even after the technology was demonstrated to the public, it stayed in the realm of science fiction, as seen in the film 2001, until the 21st century. I really think that being able to interact with other people in a digital world a la the Matrix would sell millions of units instantly.

> Put on a headset and get teleported to a room in a virtual world where you can talk to your friends' avatars. Skype and Google+ Hangouts suddenly seem very 20th century.

I'd rather talk to my friends' faces, albeit on a computer screen, rather than their avatars in a virtual room. Face to face communication isn't practical when both parties are wearing something over their eyes.

Fair point, I forgot about the lack of eyes part. I guess the Oculus Rift would work better for a multiplayer FPS where your characters are all wearing helmets.

> put on a headset and get teleported to a room in a virtual world where you can talk to your friends' avatars.

Uhm...No thanks. Second life has already been tried.

Why does this idea keep coming up? It sucks every.single.time.

Either you're misunderstanding me or you're equating an anthill with the pyramids of Giza. In Second Life, your avatar is a sprite on a screen. With Oculus Rift + Virtuix Omni, your avatar is you. It's like the Matrix. Or Avatar. Or a [lower resolution] lucid dream where you can interact with people from the real world in video game maps. For me, that's truly awesome in the literal sense of the word.

No, I understand you exactly. But I'm also paying attention to the last 30 years where this keeps getting tried and either it doesn't work or it degenerates into a 2nd life analog.

There's nothing magical about 2nd life, but in a first person POV and in 3d.

Would you find it magical if it were truly immersive 3d where eye movements would scroll and an Omni-like 3D treadmill actually worked?

No it's even worse. Now I have to work even harder to have the marginal experience I can have from my desk.

Have you tried a Crystal Cove Oculus? Have you seen the demos from HD cameras that capture video in almost 360 degrees?

Explain how sitting in front of my desk, with this gear on, looking at avatars of my friends, no matter the fidelity of the gear, is a better communication medium than group chat or video hangouts or the million other more efficient communication mediums that exist is worth anything more than a passing novelty?

Or are you proposing that I look at a high bandwidth, 3d video stream of somebody with a black rrectangle strapped to their face while they look at my complimentary version?

Wait.

It's not that it's a better communication medium any more than a 4K monitor is a better medium for learning what's being broadcast on your television. But it's certainly more enjoyable.

Imagine if you had an actual supernatural button that you could press to teleport yourself to an alternate dimension in which you could chat with friends. It wouldn't be a more effective tool for communication than a phone or video chat, but I'm sure you'd often use it since magic is, well, magical. VR is the closest you're gonna get to that experience.

Edit: And hopefully there would be a workaround for the issue of goggles obstructing the face.

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