Yikes. "Fuck you, Palmer." What the fuck? Folks, this is why creators on the internet have public meltdowns and abandon their communities and/or projects. (See: Phil Fish, TotalBiscuit, and many others.) Simply despicable how these so-called "fans", who have no idea how to run a multi-million-dollar business, can turn on a dime and start slinging vitriol at the person they claimed to idolize just a day earlier. How about, you know, giving the fucking guy the benefit of the doubt? You know, just for a bit, instead of tearing his fucking throat out?
The older I grow, the more I feel that people need "internet cards" that can be forcibly revoked until they at least develop a base amount of empathy.
They never had any problem taking money from these fans, though. Now they sell out to Facebook (yes it is a sellout), and fans get angry, you want to "revoke their Internet card"?
No, they don't get empathy for getting acquired for $2Billion.
1. We don't know anything about the acquisition. We don't know why it happened. We don't know the terms. Nothing is clear yet.
2. People have a right to be angry, but what kind of hubris and egotism must a person have to tell Palmer Luckey to go fuck himself and to call him scum, right to his face? Do people really think this man went from passionate inventor to greedy businessman overnight? I think the top comment in this thread as well as Notch's response demonstrate the healthy adult way to respond to this news. Personal attacks are the lowest of the low, and yet sadly they're the norm on the internet.
1. We know enough, and we can make reasonably informed guesses. Palmer has been giving out enough information on his sub-reddit. In their own words: "nothing will change!", but we know that it's not true. Facebook is acquiring them, not entering in a Partnership with them, regardless of the PR speak.
2. Eh, while I agree that personal attacks are bad, they should have (and probably did) seen this coming. They're smart people, who got a great jumpstart because of a community. They were most certainly aware of what this community thinks of Facebook. They entered into this anyway. If anything, this was a slap in the face of all those people who have supported them from the beginning. The people who gave their money to support their vision.
> Do people really think this man went from passionate inventor to greedy businessman overnight?
Umm, yes? It's not that hard to believe, to be honest. I don't know if I would have turned down the deal with so much money on the table either.
Hmmm until you're presented with multiple $billions (BILLIONS!) of dollars, probably money many of us will never see, and you have to make a choice between your product or probably an early retirement, it's impossible for us to judge a person and call him a "greedy businessman." I might have made the same choice.
"who have no idea how to run a multi-million-dollar business, can turn on a dime and start slinging vitriol at the person they claimed to idolize just a day earlier."
As someone who does run a multi million dollar business and that supported the Oculus Rift buying ten of those in a kickstarter I would tell you something:
Nobody idolized Mr Palmer, they loved the vision, not the man. The vision is way more important than the person.
Specially when they asked for your support, and you support them, and then they change their vision, you have the right to complain, like I do.
Wow. I wish I could give you ten upvotes for raising awareness about this. This is probably worth submitting to HN directly (go for it) because it's both newsworthy in gamedev circles and will help people in a similar situation come up with ideas to cope with the stress. Thank you!
hell, you think us neck-beards are taking it hard? The tweens on /v/ are threatening suicide and asking each other "where were you when video gaming died?"
This is it /v/. I'm killing myself. No, I'm not an attention whore, I will be killing myself now. Facebook fucking ruined everything. Everything I was looking forward to in life is now gone because of corporate greed. We will never have real VR gaming and waifu games. We will never, NEVER FUCKING HAVE IT. Our fucking DREAMS were taken away from us. There is no point in living.
This will get 404 because of mods but I'm sure one of you will see this. I hope this will make some people actually fight against Facebook. I won't be around to see if it will.
The release of Oculus will result in a halo effect around VR-quality hardware in the electronics market. This will make it much easier to create OpenVR (open hardware, no corporate control). Oculus have dropped the ball, but we can still fulfil the vision you dream of. Wouldn't it be better to turn your frustration into a creative force?
Yesterday, they loved the guy. Say what you will about the deal, but Facebook has generated a lot of negativity in a lot of people. Not only did the Kickstarted future of VR sell out, they sold to Facebook. That subreddit has interpreted it as follows:
The dream is real, take my money! (during Kickstarter)
Shatter the dream.
Take a dump on the scattered pieces.
I don't know how anyone can be mad. I mean. I understand why they think they should be mad. But it is not like Palmer lucky is not going to deliver on the promise. He's just doing it under a different corporate structure.
Why would defecating on shards of broken dream damage them further? You could just wash them and glue them together again. Imagine all the egg on Humpty Dumpty when he fell. Perhaps they couldn't glue him together again due to the egg residue.
EDIT: Somebody downvoted me. I don't know why. I felt for Humpty Dumpty.
It has been a laugh to be honest. I asked a friend of mine, who had very recently pre-ordered his second kit, last night if we was excited for the ability to poke people in virtual space. . . . Made me giggle.
Seriously, though. The hatred is very plain, and very understandable. The reason people loved the Oculus is because they felt they had some control over its future. They felt a part of it from the beginning, and were excited to be able to say that they were there to help. Now, though, it appears from the outside that they were used to front-fund a giant acquisition to make a very few people very, very wealthy.
So, essentially, those that I've spoken to are pissed less that it's Facebook, and more that it's any company at all. (It just happens to be Facebook, which is seen as the devil by 20-35 year olds)
