[naterator]

I understand why people are upset about Facebook's acquisition of OVR, especially the hardcore gamers. I was surprised and upset when I first heard the news, too. However, from Facebook's perspective and the perspective of anyone who cares about having better long distance social experiences or virtual reality experiences, it's a great move. I am sure VR will be primarily used in games, and the tech will be perfected on games, but it has real value in so many other realms. All these assumptions I keep hearing (and those in the article) about how it is going to turn into Second Life style "Metaverse" or whatever is just cynical. Sure, it could turn into that, and be as pernicious as you can imagine. But alternate possibilities are that I could replace Skype, which is awkward for my mother to use, and I could actually go sit in my living room across the ocean and have a conversation with her. That would be amazing.

If all you can see for VR platforms is games/metaverse, then you aren't thinking far enough ahead. I think it would be a tremendous shame if VR is only ever used for games. And Facebook/Oculus won't be the only one pushing VR. Sony is already doing it, and it wouldn't surprise me if Apple, Google, etc. are also working on it. The future (with virtual reality) is going to be awesome. Any privacy concerns can be handled separately, and should be.