On the upside we have an unlimited budget to make VR real and on the downside the team can always start again with VC money if necessary.
Edit: You edited it now to say 'John Carmack & Co's VR company' which still doesn't make much sense. Carmack joined Oculus as a CTO almost exactly a year after Oculus had its successful Kickstarter campaign.
Also, all I really meant to say was "the company Carmack works at" in a shorter way. I have massive respect for Palmer Luckey.
The devkit ended up using better sensors etc. , but both Luckey and Carmack were important in making the initial unit that was in the E3 demo that helped build confidence for the kickstarter.
E3 2012: John Carmack’s VR headset [1]
John Carmack is making a virtual reality headset, $500 kits available soon, video interview inside [2]
E3 2012: John Carmack unveils virtual reality gaming headset [3]
Hands-On With Oculus Rift, John Carmack's Virtual Reality Goggles [4]
John Carmack's snazzy VR headset takes to kickstarter with the oculus rift [5]
This was not a case of Carmack trying to steal credit or the company, it was purely the result of his enthusiasm. It speaks well of Carmack that he took such a prominent role without concern for compensation or ownership.
[1] http://www.edge-online.com/news/e3-2012-john-carmacks-vr-hea...
[2] http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/06/06/john-carmack-is-making-a-v...
[3] http://www.t3.com/news/john-carmack-unveils-virtual-reality-...
[4] http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/725013/hands-on-with-o...
[5] http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-08-01-john-carmacks-s...
But if I may pick nits, any billionaire -- nerd or not -- is most assuredly not "one of us". The rest of us have to worry about paying the bills, driving ourselves to our jobs, working in less-than-stellar offices, worrying about the cost of gas, food and medical bills, the education their kids receive, etc.
I'm not trying to stoke the fires of class warfare, but billionaires are not shackled for financial reasons like the rest of us. They can vacation in paradise, make cool things happen at a stroke of a pen, and if they choose to spend hours per day doing nothing but daydreaming and speculating...they can.
Some people are just extremely lucky (I'm guessing here. I hardly believe this happens).
Some people are technical geniuses, care little about the money, and end up having truckloads of them, being at the right moment with the right skill. Carmack his an example - read his writings, he's an amazingly humble person. Linus Torvalds, too, just to mention another person.
What about the rest of the billionaires?
We're talking about billions here, not just millions (!). The rest of the billionaires (must be) are A-type personalities who live for accumulating money and tearing the competition apart.
When you have such personality, and context, you never rest. Even when you're at rest; you're not on holiday, when you're on holiday. You need to be single minded and live almost single-dimensionally; being a psychopath is of great help. Steve Jobs is a perfect example. Even if we take out the personality factor, we're talking about billions here - competition is extremely fierce.
As usual, of course, I don't mean that reality is black and white or "type-3" is every billionaire.
But it's important to have a clear understanding of how this works, to avoid daydreaming of being such a person (which by the way, I would never want to be).
This is a recurring theme in HN, and the usual agreed opinion is that after having a certain amount of money (upper middle class), there's very little gain in happiness by having more money.
And by the way, any middle class person has access to the best places on earth and best experiences out there.
So I'm guessing you were referring to maybe a different aspect of his post?
If you feel like a person's possessions define who they are, yes, a billionaire can never be like you. Don't you think that's a little limiting?
What about the millionaire businessman you meet at a conference? What about your neighbour who earns three times as much as you do? What about your other neighbour who makes half?
Personally, I get a small PhD scholarship, but I don't worry about paying my bills and I like my humble office much more than facebook's open space. I have savings that could last me a couple of years and for all intents and purposes I feel plenty rich. I can also take a vacation free from worries, unlike the CEO of a big company.
Anyone with no kids and a full time job can spend hours per day doing nothing but daydreaming and speculating - most americans seem to waste their leisure time watching TV. If that's what you want, nothing is stopping you. You need not wait for the billions.
The only major difference between a super-rich person and an upper-middle class employee is the freedom to quit your job and pursue other things. However, I know a lot of people who made enough money to retire and none have stopped working.
No, most people do not "worry" about these things. You make it sound so dystopian.
It's the closest thing to a dream team for nerds: Abrash and Carmack, two of the people who completely changed an entire industry in the 90s; Luckey, the definition of a true hacker who helped revive a dying market (if there ever was one in the first place); Forsynth and Binstock, who also played a key role in many areas in the games industry; and lastly, Zuckerberg, a ruthless nerd with impossibly-deep pockets.
[0] http://home.comcast.net/~tom_forsyth/ [1] http://www.oculusvr.com/blog/welcome-atman-binstock-chief-ar...
If I'm not mistake I believe that a handful of the VR people are also working on the steambox and controller which still has a ways to go.
Valve's hands are already full with the SteamBox, the controller, Steam itself and however many games they have in development. But yes, you're right - some of the VR developers might simply be relocated to other projects within Valve. Who knows.
[0] http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/13/3985642/great-cleansing-at...
[1] http://www.trueplayergear.com/
[2] http://www.lazygamer.net/general-news/razer-climbing-on-the-...
[3] InfinitEye: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nH86II2CwdE
That's really not responsible or honest.
Starting to feel like the VR times we are in might mimic the advancements of physics and the genius around the early 1900s.
I thought Luckey was smart to bring in Carmack then Zuckerberg has all three working for him, definitely won the game and using money in a way others can only dream.
I just hope Oculus is allowed to steer near its originally intended path. I'm not holding my breath.
With that, Facebook is now mainstream. Facebook buying Oculus just made VR mainstream again and noticed in finance. So while game developers and gamers were sold (I backed it), the mainstream remembered it from the past VR experiences which sucked. All the VR guys are in one place, well funded, attracting more to it and there is a mainstream outlet for VR (Facebook) and funding will be out in the market because of the deal. Now everyone is sold on it even if some developers and backers were surprised by it (even I felt a bit eh). I ultimately think it was a genius move.
To read Abrash tell it, Facebook's recent acquisition of Oculus VR influenced his decision by rendering virtual reality development a viable career path.
How do you figure?