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General: Oculus Envisions a BILLION Person MMO

SBFordSBFord Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129

Oculus VR has lofty goals in that they believe they can create an MMO that can host about a fifth of the world's population. That's right a billion people all sharing the same game space. The fly in the ointment, so to speak, is convincing the world that Oculus is indeed the real deal and to perfect an emerging technology.

Getting to one billion users may also have been the reason Oculus decided to join up with Facebook instead of a traditional gaming company. While Iribe says Oculus is still as committed to games as ever, the company realized that a focus on games could artificially limit its reach. "Do you want to build a platform that has a billion users on it, or only 10, 20, or 50 million?" asks Iribe, noting that dedicated game systems don't sell nearly as well as mobile devices in the grand scheme of things.

Obviously, the billion-person MMO is a long ways off, but the company has its eye on a stepping stone: Oculus hopes to convince players that they're having a "real conversation" with another person. For now, the uncanny valley of imperfect video game graphics will keep people from having photorealistic faces, but even cartoony ones might be enough to get us to the tipping point, Iribe says. "[I]f you let go, you can have a real conversation with a person. That's the holy grail we're trying to get to."

And should they indeed reach that scale with Facebook's help, there's another potential application for all those people. Last year, NASA dreamt how a billion-person VR holodeck could help search the cosmos for signs of extraterrestrial life. That sounds like a game worth playing.

Read more at The Verge.

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Comments

  • DragimDragim Member UncommonPosts: 867

    A billion eh?  Sounds like facebook is already injecting their dogma into Oculus.

    Where will these billion people come from you ask? It is simple: Facebook.

    I can see it now... Facebook spamming ads like...

    "Play Farmville, Virtual Reality style!" 

    "The biggest MMO ever, come see your corn grow!  Come watch your cows walk around the field!  Come actually say hello and see your virtual neighbors!  Oculus Farmville, the biggest mmorpg on earth!"

    /rolleyes

    -----------------

    """Last year, NASA dreamt how a billion-person VR holodeck could help search the cosmos for signs of extraterrestrial life. That sounds like a game worth playing."""
     
    I can see it now...
     
      "You have discovered life on another planet and his name Alien Bob! Add as friend?  Poke? Send a virtual teddy bear?"
     
    (Alien Bob has accepted your friend request)
    (Alien Bob has probed you)
    (Jill Worthington "likes" Alien Bob's post about invading earth.)
    (Jill Worthington is now listed as deceased.)
    (Alien Bob has changed his hometown to Earth)

     

     
     
     
     

    I am entitled to my opinions, misspellings, and grammatical errors.

  • StrayfeStrayfe Member UncommonPosts: 199

    To get 12 million subscribers, World of Warcraft had to simplify the genre to unprecedented levels, stripping it of just about everything that made it what it was.  Can you imagine how shallow an MMO would have to be to cater to 1 billion people?  It'll probably be, "Log into the server, stand in one spot, look around, congratulations, you win!" 

    My disappointment is profound in that technology which could have been used to create the ultimate gaming experience has been acquired by Facecrook, to be mass produced for Derpy Casual McBrainlacker, and to set the genre back another decade.  Sieg heil Adolf Zuckerberg.

  • asmkm22asmkm22 Member Posts: 1,788
    A fifth of the world's population is not a billion people.  It would be about a seventh.

    You make me like charity

  • Ex0dUs101Ex0dUs101 Member UncommonPosts: 273
    As long as you need facebook to access it, which ive no doubt you will, you can count me out. 
  • NadiaNadia Member UncommonPosts: 11,798
    Originally posted by Strayfe

      Can you imagine how shallow an MMO would have to be to cater to 1 billion people? 

    It'll probably be, "Log into the server, stand in one spot, look around, congratulations, you win!" 

    good point

  • PhaserlightPhaserlight Member EpicPosts: 3,071
    The "Facebook ad" jibe is a bit ridiculous, and tired. Needless to say, something like that would be horribly immersion breaking, and go against the grain of "presence" Oculus has been promoting.

    My guess is the Facebook we know won't even be recognizable in 10 years (about the time a 1,000,000,000 user shared experience becomes feasible?); it will look completely different.

    The way this technology is converging with things like social media and Google maps / Earth is really fascinating. It feels sometimes like I'm no longer going to be the dominant life form on this planet in a few decades; imagine what full, free, open real-time monitoring of the Earth's surface might do. Something like this in VR would affect... everything.

    "The simple is the seal of the true and beauty is the splendor of truth" -Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
    Authored 139 missions in Vendetta Online and 6 tracks in Distance

  • WizardryWizardry Member LegendaryPosts: 19,332

    Another lame connection to Facebook,just what the world does not need.

    That is all these guys are doing,connecting with Facebook just like everyone else as it reaches out to huge numbers.

    The problem is that EVERYTHING sounds like it is about profits or potential high profits instead of concrete ideas to make a great game.This is no worse than Blizzard telling everyone to come join us we have the most gamer's.

    I(f you have nothing concrete to sell you talk about numbers or potential numbers and not the material or core product itself.

    In other words they have nothing to sell,no product not even a though of a product,just  small talk about linking to FB.

     

    Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.

  • DamonVileDamonVile Member UncommonPosts: 4,818
    ready player one?
  • FearumFearum Member UncommonPosts: 1,175

    I would guess it will be a VR Facebook with a design like a big lobby. You can probably go do a fantasy dungeon run or go play a fps map or even do some farming in farmville. Have your facebook character as your game person and grow him in many games within the lobbies, sounds lame just like Facebook.

  • BMBenderBMBender Member UncommonPosts: 827

    1 billion huh? the elephant in the room barely kept 11 million happy for awhile, color me skeptical. Unless they equate angry birds = mmo than yea viable

    image
  • LyrianLyrian Member UncommonPosts: 412
    If this billion person MMO was what I have in my head. That'd be amazing. But unfortunately with all the let downs of late...I somehow doubt this will be what I'm thinking of.
  • TobrukTobruk Member UncommonPosts: 46
    Originally posted by DamonVile
    ready player one?

    that's exactly what they are aiming for. Also a great book.

  • RusqueRusque Member RarePosts: 2,785

    lol

    You can barely get a couple million people to agree what constitutes a good MMO. A billion. lol.

    But if I'm not going to play dumb, I know they're using the term "MMO" very loosely considering farmville is an "MMO" to them.

    Anyone expecting an MMO with any amount of complexity or gameplay we would consider a "video game" should not hold their breath.

  • itchmonitchmon Member RarePosts: 1,999

    how about we get another one to 10 million (1% of 1 billion) before we start throwing around the B word.

     

    or hell, how about making good games and however many people play them, then great.

    RIP Ribbitribbitt you are missed, kid.

    Currently Playing EVE, ESO

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  • syriinxsyriinx Member UncommonPosts: 1,383
    they were worried about a platform of only 50 million?  They probably wont even sell that many Rifts so whats the big deal?
  • DenambrenDenambren Member UncommonPosts: 399

    While the goal is too ambitious for our generation to live and see it, I'm glad that Facebook is pouring its money into speeding the development of VR, even if there will no doubt be some questionable motives behind the funding.

     

    We all benefit from this in the end, as it will do great things for virtual reality research.

  • KyleranKyleran Member LegendaryPosts: 43,435
    Nice gimmick, good for getting hits on Facebook I guess.

    "True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde 

    "I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant

    Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm

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    Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™

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  • BMBenderBMBender Member UncommonPosts: 827


    Originally posted by DMKano
    Read the statement carefully

    The believe they can create an MMO that can host 1 billion players.

    They never claim that there will actually be 1 billion players - just that the tech will be able to handle it.

    Big difference.

    The actual game might only see 20k actual players - their statement would still hold true.

     


    yea they didn't actually say they wanted to create a bill mmo. However, I still think it's a moot point. Considering how total mmo population growth has tracked vs global population growth; even limiting it to 1st 2nd world economies; it would take generations before a single title would/could coup that many players. In all likely hood by the time that happens, FB won't even exist anymore and someone else will be coming up with the tech.

    Sure that could change if developers, and more importantly executive producers, decide to make games again instead of cash grabs. Unfortunately, no indication that trend is ending anytime soon

    image
  • DaranarDaranar Member UncommonPosts: 392
    Haha,  doesn't matter how many people are in an MMO, until the genre changes back to it's roots, all this means is more people to get in your way and ruin your single-player experience.

    If I want a world in which people can purchase success and power with cash, I'll play Real Life. Keep Virtual Worlds Virtual!


  • EndoRobotoEndoRoboto Member Posts: 275
    Oasis would be pretty dope but facebook is like IOI.
  • holyneoholyneo Member UncommonPosts: 154
    Must be f2p,lol
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