
Facebook announces Horizon, a VR massive-multiplayer world - tosh
https://techcrunch.com/2019/09/25/facebook-horizon/
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mindgam3
"Because everyone is going to be able to create their own... spaces... Horizon
is going to have this property where it grows and expands and gets better and
better over time." \- Zuckerberg keynote (1)

In related news, a high-ranking Facebook exec revealed that Zuckerberg had
been planning to name this massively multiplayer online experience "Myspace".

After heated internal discussions, Horizon was chosen as the brand name for
Zuck's vision for "the future of computing", as, well, it seemed somewhat less
played out.

1\.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOJ8KE5g6kg&t=45m01s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOJ8KE5g6kg&t=45m01s)

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jobigoud
Haven't watched the keynote yet, is this a renaming or expansion of Facebook
spaces (already a VR world where you connect with your friends) ? Or is it
something new entirely? And do you need a fb account to go to Horizon?

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joshschreuder
> As part of the launch, Facebook will on October 25 shut down its existing
> social VR experiences Facebook Spaces and Oculus Rooms, leaving a bit of a
> gap until Horizon launches.

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heyitsguay
I'd love to see a decentralized version of this - VR instances run on
individual or group-owned servers that perform the bulk of the environmental
simulation and rendering for clients, and have some sort of intercommunication
protocol. Once we have high-res environments and fluid UIs to use them, I
really want to create my own virtual space, share it, and experience others'
spaces, I just don't necessarily want Facebook controlling it.

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bai0
Have you checked out JanusVR? It's pretty much what you're describing. Its web
client, native client, and server are all open source. Anyone can create
worlds and host them like you would any other website, and links between sites
are represented as portals.

For a sampling of some of the worlds people have built, check out
[https://vesta.janusvr.com/](https://vesta.janusvr.com/)

~~~
heyitsguay
Interesting, thanks for sharing! So what are the features a big company like
Facebook can offer over e.g. JanusVR? Asset generation? Network effects? Does
JanusVR have anything like a killer app?

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gremlinsinc
So, is this the REAL reason for Libra coin?

Create a virtual world that completely mirrors the real world, and that world
will need currency and economics at scale too, why not use an alt coin as it's
base?

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xaedes
Second Life 2.0

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0xdeadb00f
Reminds me more of Ready Player One

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bad_good_guy
Why are advertisements for big tech companies always so... cringey? What
target audience responds to this kind of marketing?

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mark_l_watson
I love my Oculus Quest device and some of the experiences that you can buy for
it are very compelling (eternal thanks to the developers of Vader Immortal)
but, I just don’t see much fun in VR for huge numbers of participants.

I helped build a VR racing system at SAIC in the 1990s that had two units,
each with full motion, haptics in steering wheel, and it’s own Reality Engine
graphics display. Racing against one other person was lots of fun. I may be
having a failure of imagination here, but I just think I would enjoy Horizon,
as it is described.

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theboulevardier
Does anyone else find those avatars really creepy? They look like the
characters in those weird CGI kids cartoons.

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FrozenVoid
Its for many reasons: 1.It scale better: less memory/rendering time. 2.It
allows low-end hardware. 3.It appeals to children(probably a huge chunk of
audience). Facebook isn't going the Second Life route(visuals-first,scripting,
limited capacity servers), they're making something that is essentially a
casual/social videogame with VR and scripting added - and capable of hosting
hundreds(like VRchat).

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BlueTemplar
VR causes development issues in children (especially for eyesight). Facebook
_really_ likes the game of poking the bear, doesn't it?

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hesburg
I would be very careful anything that Facebook does after hearing they former
bosses whistleblowings.

VR is interesting but I'm not ready to sacrifice my privacy for that.

Sorry Facebook, just to be honest.

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mrguyorama
Why would I use this over the existing product, VR Chat:
[https://www.vrchat.net/](https://www.vrchat.net/)

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s3r3nity
It doesn't have to be either-or...any game / app / service can, and should,
have competitors.

Plus, the article provides a lot of comparisons to relevant services that help
differentiate Horizon in the marketplace.

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xenospn
Mixing Facebook trolls with VR sounds like a very, very bad idea.

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J5892
It could never be worse than VR Chat.

(as far as trolls go, I mean. I love VR Chat)

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not_a_cop75
"We've collected your personal info. Now let us keep collecting your
interactions, so we can really know you."

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thdespou
They should have named it OASIS...

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princeb
second life gets a second wind

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dblank9
Ah crap, I wanted to build something like that. Oh well...

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0xdeadb00f
You can still do it. Make it open source too.

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will_crusher
Its called Mozilla Hubs

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MR4D
So, Facebook finally read “Snow Crash”, I see.

The Black Sun comes to life!

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jillesvangurp
That book also featured crypto-currencies which is of course another thing
Facebook is dabbling with. And it had a plot that featured vastly diminished
US government marginalized by commercial burbclaves and other corporate
entities, which seems to be exactly why governments are anxious to block Libra
and worried about companies like FB having valuations exceeding the GDP of
most countries.

I recently re-read Snow Crash. I love that book. A lot of that stuff looks a
lot less like science fiction these days.

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espeed
Seek don't simulate.

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codesushi42
This looks like the new Google Lively.

And no one will use it.

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rolltiide
Facebook Home

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bas
Please no.

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walrus01
Here's hoping that nobody named Ted Faro is involved.

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kromem
For a company with the resources FB has, it's remarkable how out of touch they
are.

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t0mbstone
I think you are underestimating the appeal of being able to watch movies or tv
shows with a friend or loved one in VR.

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collyw
Obviously I am as well.

Sounds like watching a move or TV show while being on the phone to a loved
one.

