Do You Want to Take Virtual Selfies With Your Facebook Friends in Virtual Reality?

Because Facebook sure thinks you will -- hopefully via the VR platform it bought for $2 billion:

Just featured at Facebook's F8 developer conference, Upload VR is impressed on a "jaw-dropping" level:

A social virtual reality demo by Facebook at its F8 developers conference showed two people separated by 35 miles interacting in VR with hand gestures, voice chat and head movements. The pair connected in VR as naturally as if they were standing together. In reality, they were in two Oculus Rifts holding Oculus Touch hand controllers. In VR, the social app demo showed the pair taking a virtual selfie inside what looked like a 360-degree photo of London, and uploading it to their Facebook account.

Seriously, NWN readers, what's your take? I've got my own reaction, of course, but I don't want to always lead with that.

I mean, if you really want my take:

To me, this demo strongly suggests Facebook doesn't understand either VR or even its own platform. Most people like Facebook because it enables fast, light, and easy engagement with their real social network -- as opposed to deeply immersive (and time-consuming) engagement via avatar representations of it. And for the indeterminate future, using an extremely costly, attention-imposing VR setup shines most when it depicts fantastic experiences that transcend the real world -- as opposed to, say, glorified tourist photos.

But like I said, maybe that's just me.

Please share this post:

Tweet

 

Comments

[zz bottom]

I do hope it will be not only you.

[Issa Heckroth]

My take?

ROFL.

That is all.

[Iggy]

No. I see most of my FB friends in the flesh.

[Iggy]

On the other hand, I would love to use VR to take a selfie with the floating head of Zardoz.

[sirhc deSantis]

Well, "strongly suggests Facebook doesn't understand either VR or even its own platform" wish I had a platform where although I didn't understand my users it still brought in the beer money...sounds familiar :)

Seriously, tie the thought of a quadrillion FBers as disembodied heads floating around static backdrops doing whatever they do now only in 3D (I have zero idea) tied to the boy Luckeys naif vision of gold farming dissent via VR and..

I reckon there just might be a hell and I get to see it. Can't hardly wait.

[metacam]

I think we need to look at most stuff coming out now for VR as experimental. No one really knows what people are going to want to do with it. I could see a day where there are cheap 360 degree cameras everywhere and being able to go places virtually in real time. Now that would be cool.