The first VR head mounted display and motion tracking HMD
were created in the early 1960’s, it wasn’t actually virtual reality yet, but
the display was made so that head movements would move a remote camera and the
user would be able to see their entire environment. VR has been around for a
long time and has been used for various industries, military, film and
entertainment and video games. Now VR has moved into the social media realm and
it is changing the business entirely.
Facebook and Oculus Rift
On March 2014, Mark Zuckerberg announced the acquisition of
Oculus Rift VR for $2 billion, this was a firm confirmation as to where social
media is going next, with Facebook being the largest social media company in the
world. Zuckerberg stated that the acquisition would allow users to “share
unbounded spaces and experiences with people in your life.” At the most recent F8 conference in San Francisco, Facebook presented its vision for the future of VR. It showed a group of avatars that people will be able to create and wear like masks, a toy box where people can draw on the image they are looking at to create accessories and props and a way to share images through virtual post boxes. They also allow users to step into a photo and have a 360-degree view by clicking on it, they even added selfie sticks to take pictures with other people’s avatars.
Other Social Media VR
Since then other platforms like Youtube and snapchat have introduced new VR systems that are changing the way users share their experiences. Youtube presented a the 360-degree video support and spatial audio, which gives an immersive experience that people can share like any other video. Snapchat has also added products into the virtual reality fold, the Snapchat lenses. These lenses add augmented reality elements to any picture or scene. Users can walk around the 3D objects with the smartphone camera. The World lenses actually follow around the 3D environment, they move and rotate according to where the camera moves. Pokemon Go was the first to try something like augmented reality, but it did not incorporate the social media aspect, instead focusing on just the gaming experience.
Since then other platforms like Youtube and snapchat have introduced new VR systems that are changing the way users share their experiences. Youtube presented a the 360-degree video support and spatial audio, which gives an immersive experience that people can share like any other video. Snapchat has also added products into the virtual reality fold, the Snapchat lenses. These lenses add augmented reality elements to any picture or scene. Users can walk around the 3D objects with the smartphone camera. The World lenses actually follow around the 3D environment, they move and rotate according to where the camera moves. Pokemon Go was the first to try something like augmented reality, but it did not incorporate the social media aspect, instead focusing on just the gaming experience.
Facebook VR vs. Other Platform VR
The industry is using VR in different ways, Facebook for
example and other platforms like vTime create virtual spaces that people can go
in and out of and invite friends. The platforms require users to have an avatar
and are designed to interact with people in these virtual spaces. While other
platforms like snapchat augment what the user is already seeing by adding 3D
objects to the ‘actual’ world. Platforms like Youtube allow the user to also experience the actual world in a 3D setting through 360-degree video. Most VR effects are in their infancy stage but
we can expect that VR will be changing all social media platforms in the coming
years.
Facebook, Oculus Rift v Zenimax Media Lawsuit
Zenimax Media, a private video game company, filed a lawsuit
against Oculus Rift in May 2014. Zenimax claimed that an ex-employee, John
Carmack’s, contributions to Facebook or Oculus Rift were the intellectual
property of ZeniMax. They stated that ‘ZeniMax provided necessary VR technology
and other valuable assistance to Oculus employees in 2012 and 2013 to make the
Oculus Rift a viable VR product, superior to other VR market offerings.’ Oculus’
response was that ZeniMax falsely took ownership to take advantage of the
Facebook acquisition and that they never shared a single line of code or
technology with ZeniMax’s code or technology. In February 2017, a Texas jury
awarded ZeniMax $500 million in their lawsuit. The court found that oculus
violated ZeniMax’s copyrights and trademark and had violated a nondisclosure agreement.
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I had no idea that VR had been around since as early as the 1960s! I thought it was a relatively new technology (although Nintendo did dabble with a VR headset in the 80s that was only black and red. Boy was that a failure).
ReplyDeleteI think the social application of having a 360 camera at Coachella or sporting events, so anyone with a headset at home can potentially experience the event is really important. 99% of people can't afford to head to a massive concert or front row seats at an NFL team, but many more people can afford a smartphone and a VR headset with it.