Tech oligarchs are encouraging the creation of virtual worlds as a cheap way to avoid problems in the real one.

  • StellarTabi [none/use name]
    ·
    edit-2
    3 years ago

    IMO that iteration of VR was kind of like if Starbucks offered a $50 cup of coffee.

    There's very few people who wanted it and could afford it who didn't go out and buy it.

    Now we have to get nuanced on "wanted it" and "could afford it".

    Wanted It - It was first gen, not that great tbh. Then facebook bought Oculus, Oculus lied and said FB login would not be required, then facebook announced that they lied, now everyone associates VR with shitty things like forced login to facebook. There were several "unmaterialized wants", or "wants in waiting", such as waiting for more games, a killer app, flagship games, please something that's not a tech demo. I never saw evidence they were trying to branch out into business uses, such as VR as an alternative for 4+ 4k monitors. So if they tried that, they failed to market it, because I might have actually bought one for that.

    Could Afford It - in the fiscally responsible sense, not the far right version of that term, of course. That shit was expensive.

    Basically, the supply and demand chart condemned this product until conditions improved.