Oculus Rift; Wearing a simple T-shirt, with a tousled hairdo and trying to look credible in his teenage excitement, 19-year-old Palmer Lucky gave the slogan: "Join the revolution and help us change video games forever." With these words ended the video he uploaded in 2012 on Kickstarter, in an attempt to raise money and complete the construction of Oculus Rift, this "mask" that transports whoever wears it to the world of virtual reality. A month later he raised $ 2,4 million and, if nothing else, achieved a revolution in how you can fund a good idea - his campaign was considered one of the most successful in history through crowdfunding. If there was no such initial amount, the Oculus Rift it would not have evolved enough and we may have never been to the events of the last few days when Oculus VR (Oculus Rift) was acquired from Facebook against 2 billion dollars.
A year had passed. During his term the sub essay Oculus Rift έφτασε στα χέρια μερικών χιλιάδων developers βιντεοπαιχνιδιών και τεχνολογικών εφαρμογών και η εταιρεία Oculus VR έφτασε να συγκεντρώσει από μια σειρά επενδυτών το ποσό των 90 εκατ. δολαρίων, ώστε η περίφημη κάσκα να βγει επιτέλους στην αγορά. Οσοι είχαν δοκιμάσει να τη «φορέσουν» έμεναν με το στόμα ανοιχτό, η εμπειρία που προσέφερε ήταν ό,τι για δεκαετίες έμοιαζε με ένα χαμένο στοίχημα: η εικονική πραγματικότητα στον κόσμο των παιχνιδιών μπορούσε να υπάρξει. Ηταν σαν να είχε επιτέλους βρεθεί το Αγιο Δισκοπότηρο. Και το είχε βρει ένας αυτοδίδακτος πιτσιρικάς, ο οποίος πειραματιζόταν με κατασκευές στο γκαράζ των γονιών του. Πριν ακόμη ενηλικιωθεί, αγόραζε με το χαρτζιλίκι του ό,τι σχετικό γκάτζετ κυκλοφορούσε και, σύμφωνα με τον ίδιο, είχε φτάσει να κατέχει την παγκοσμίως μεγαλύτερη συλλογή HMD (οθόνες προσαρμοσμένες στο κεφάλι). Σε όλες αυτές τις συσκευές, όμως, έβρισκε ψεγάδια. Η ιδέα να φτιάξει κάτι καλύτερο δημιουργήθηκε για να μπορέσει ο ίδιος, πρώτα από όλα, να ζήσει την απόλυτη εμπειρία gaming σε περιβάλλον εικονικής πραγματικότητας. Αυτό, άλλωστε, ήταν το μυστικό της επιτυχίας του. Ηξερε τι λείπει, ήξερε τι έπρεπε να διορθωθεί.
Oculus Rift is now almost ready. What they did to Oculus was to create a product affordable (its demo version costing 300 dollars) and incomparably better than any similar device made to date. Niet Mitchell, a software engineer who is now working on Oculus, speaking at Time magazine, tried to describe how plausible your tour is. In the case, for example, at the edge of the cliff, you feel real vertigo. "You know you're not going to fall into the cliff, but again your brain says" do not do this step "".
And then, Facebook came
"The impressive thing with this technology is that you feel like you are really in another world, along with other people," said Mark Zuckerberg, who had tried Oculus Rift, impressed and bought Oculus VR shortly. What, however, originally sounds like an unlikely success story has been seen by several as an act of betrayal. Hundreds of gamers have expressed their mistrust of Facebook's acquisition of the company and felt cheated for the initial support of the campaign. "With this deal, Kickstarter may have lost his innocence," the Guardian newspaper commented. Laki responded that the sale of Oculus is the best possible move for the future of virtual reality and not for his wallet. He even assured the world that the company will continue to operate independently in order to achieve its goals. All this did not convince anyone and there were cases like Mark Pearson, creator of the popular Minecraft game, who canceled his plans to create a compatible version of his game with Oculus Rift.
Lucky, however, still has very powerful allies. One of them is John Carmack, a legend in the world of gamers – he is considered one of the pioneers in the creation of 3D graphics about twenty years ago. Carmack, therefore, had devoted himself in recent years to the technology of virtual reality and, when he heard about the effort of the stranger from California, he was interested in trying the "mask". His enthusiastic comments are partly responsible for the explosion of popularity of the Oculus Rift in its early stages. In fact, Carmack believed so much in her future technology, ώστε εγκατέλειψε τη δική του εταιρεία και εργάζεται πλέον ως CTO στην Oculus VR. Το όραμά του είναι το Oculus Rift να εξελιχθεί σε μια αυτόνομη συσκευή με δικό της λειτουργικό system, without needing, as now, to be connected to a computer.
But somewhere here is an interesting question: what does Facebook have to do with all this? According to Lew Grossman of Time magazine, Zuckerberg's decision to invest in virtual reality, a technology that has long been seen as unsuccessful, is surprising and "one of the biggest and stranger comebacks in history." Here, then, is the essence. Zuckerberg saw something different. "After the games, we will evolve it Oculus Rift on a platform for many other experiences, "he said. "Imagine enjoying a race from the first place, being in a class of students and teachers from all over the world or consulting a doctor face to face - all just by wearing a helmet at home. It really is a new communication platform. " While some things still sound like science fiction scenarios, this first truly successful passage into the virtual reality universe could gradually lead to a new technological revolution - rather than a simple video game revolution, as Palmer Lucky originally dreamed.
Was the betrayal the Facebook acquisition?
Irineos Philippidis, co-owner of groopio.com, of the Greek self-financing platform, explained that there is nothing wrong with this move and that the specific legal framework used by Kickstarter (which does not provide shares to financiers) "acquiesces" Laki and does not justify the reactions of the world. Then why did they exist? "The world has reacted and is hesitant because we are at the beginning of a new era," says Philippidis. "But Facebook's interest proves that the idea was good and that the crowdfunding model works. Anyway, in America at this moment many companies are choosing not so much for money as for promotion and advertising. "
Let's add, however, trying to justify people's reactions, that there was also a romance in this whole story. Fanatic gamers didn't trust Lucky as a businessman, but as one of them. After all, they chatted with him for hours on the MTBS (originally the phrase "Meant To Be Seen") forum, a community for those who shared the vision of virtual reality. In fact, Lucky himself, signing as PalmerTech, had commented on the forum when he announced his intention for the Kickstarter that he needed the money for the cost of the work, that he did not intend to make a profit from this story, and that if he had any left over ten dollars, he'll celebrate with one pizza and a beer!
