In 2014 people were derrided for their views on Facebook's takeover of Oculus

[Ravenger]

This is a very interesting article about how users get banned on Facebook.

https://www.elliott.org/blog/banned-from-facebook-permanently-how/

As one of the article comments says, Facebook is unaccountable and has no way to appeal bans.

 

[Dicehunter]

This is a very interesting article about how users get banned on Facebook.

https://www.elliott.org/blog/banned-from-facebook-permanently-how/

As one of the article comments says, Facebook is unaccountable and has no way to appeal bans.

Doesn't surprise me, Facebook is immoral.

 

[Zefan]

While I understand the concern - and I do agree that there's something very shady about Facebook in general, especially with this where it was specifically stated it wouldn't happen - I think many are doom-mongering a little, assuming future behavior based on what's happened in the past/present. Obviously there is no other data to go by so it has to be taken in to account, but I still think it's a bit short sighted. The fact is, removing access to a platform you've paid nothing for (as is currently the case) is one thing, removing part of what is considered significant functionality of a product that you've paid for is another. I understand that they can put things in their T&Cs but that doesn't make them bullet proof; I am pretty sure that if they continue to ban people in this way, resulting in the limiting of full functionality of a piece of purchased hardware based on "reasons" shown above, they'll end up in court.

 

[Ravenger]

While I understand the concern - and I do agree that there's something very shady about Facebook in general, especially with this where it was specifically stated it wouldn't happen - I think many are doom-mongering a little, assuming future behavior based on what's happened in the past/present. Obviously there is no other data to go by so it has to be taken in to account, but I still think it's a bit short sighted. The fact is, removing access to a platform you've paid nothing for (as is currently the case) is one thing, removing part of what is considered significant functionality of a product that you've paid for is another. I understand that they can put things in their T&Cs but that doesn't make them bullet proof; I am pretty sure that if they continue to ban people in this way, resulting in the limiting of full functionality of a piece of purchased hardware based on "reasons" shown above, they'll end up in court.

All we can go on is the information we have now. The reports of existing users of Oculus hardware who are unable to create or reactivate Facebook accounts, and so face being locked out of the Oculus ecosystem entirely are concerning.

One things for sure, we're going to see a lot more examples of this from October, unless Facebook revises its procedures to allow these people a way back in.

 

[Dicehunter]

All we can go on is the information we have now. The reports of existing users of Oculus hardware who are unable to create or reactivate Facebook accounts, and so face being locked out of the Oculus ecosystem entirely are concerning.

One things for sure, we're going to see a lot more examples of this from October, unless Facebook revises its procedures to allow these people a way back in.

All in all I've been banned 3 times, 1st time because I had a pic of Yondu from Guardians of the Galaxy, Someone obviously didn't like that so reported me, Banned with no option of appeal, 2nd time I was asked for official ID for reasons unknown but someone at Facebook didn't believe my actual photo and passport were real so they banned me, 3rd and final time time only a few months ago I tried to make a new account, Again just to keep in touch with people, My real name and real photo, It got banned maybe 2 minutes later, In all the time I had a Facebook account I never said diddly squat to anyone minus my friends and family, Liked a few pages but that's it, This is a huge problem with Facebook, Their system is broken.

 

[varkanoid]

All in all I've been banned 3 times, 1st time because I had a pic of Yondu from Guardians of the Galaxy, Someone obviously didn't like that so reported me, Banned with no option of appeal, 2nd time I was asked for official ID for reasons unknown but someone at Facebook didn't believe my actual photo and passport were real so they banned me, 3rd and final time time only a few months ago I tried to make a new account, Again just to keep in touch with people, My real name and real photo, It got banned maybe 2 minutes later, In all the time I had a Facebook account I never said diddly squat to anyone minus my friends and family, Liked a few pages but that's it, This is a huge problem with Facebook, Their system is broken.

naw they banned you because you werent active enough creating all those $ from the adverts you get bombarded with for fake 2tb USB drives etc. by the way I bought one of those for a laugh just interested to see what it was. A tiny metal drive with a 256mb drive faked up as a 2tb drive. Reported it to Fakebook, got my £9.99 back through paypal. Still those adverts appear.

 

[Dicehunter]

naw they banned you because you werent active enough creating all those $ from the adverts you get bombarded with for fake 2tb USB drives etc. by the way I bought one of those for a laugh just interested to see what it was. A tiny metal drive with a 256mb drive faked up as a 2tb drive. Reported it to Fakebook, got my £9.99 back through paypal. Still those adverts appear.

If I ever make another account I'll remember to click on all their adverts

 

[Combat squirrel]

Surely they can't 'ban your fb account' and it stops you using a rift in Steam games for example? Surely not, that's madness - I want a Rift S but to use it in steam games, so id not even use rifts software store.

 

[Ravenger]

Surely they can't 'ban your fb account' and it stops you using a rift in Steam games for example? Surely not, that's madness - I want a Rift S but to use it in steam games, so id not even use rifts software store.

You need to log into the Oculus software (either the PC desktop App, or the phone app) to use an Oculus headset.

So potentially, when Facebook login is required you might be prevented from using a Facebook headset if your account is disabled/banned - you can't even log on to the software to use it.

Until Facebook clear this up, this seems to be the way it works.

 

[Combat squirrel]

You need to log into the Oculus software (either the PC desktop App, or the phone app) to use an Oculus headset.

So potentially, when Facebook login is required you might be prevented from using a Facebook headset if your account is disabled/banned - you can't even log on to the software to use it.

Until Facebook clear this up, this seems to be the way it works.

Shame the Rift S is well priced! probably for a reason though ! I'll save up for a HTC then.

 

[Ravenger]

Shame the Rift S is well priced! probably for a reason though ! I'll save up for a HTC then.

HTC aren't really in the home VR market right now. The main two rivals for the Rift S currently are the Valve Index (which is over twice as expensive), and the HP Reverb G2 (which is 50% more expensive and out in October)

 

[Combat squirrel]

HTC aren't really in the home VR market right now. The main two rivals for the Rift S currently are the Valve Index (which is over twice as expensive), and the HP Reverb G2 (which is 50% more expensive and out in October)

Reverb looks interesting, depends on how good the optics are I guess - that's a lot of pixels to drive however!

Read up on the valve index now and that looks great IMO

 

[Ravenger]

Looks like Facebook are going to dominate the VR market with the Quest 2, which looks to be an amazing device - XR2 chipset, nearly 4K display, 6GB RAM, redesigned controllers, and the price is rumoured to be £299.

Which makes it even more vital that issues around Facebook's data handling and account management are challenged and addressed.

 

[Ravenger]

https://www.roadtovr.com/fake-facebook-account-oculus-headset-community-standards/

Good to see the gaming sites looking into this now.

Facebook confirm that an account ban means losing access to your device and games. Though they apparently are still working out the details of if you can still access purchased content offline if banned.

The article doesn't address the main issue though, in that an account ban is a permanent one, as you can only have one account, ever. Other gaming ecosystems allow you to have multiple accounts, so you can always start fresh.

 

[Andrew_McP]

Thanks for surfacing this thread, because I'd missed all this Facebook stuff. I was planning on reinstalling my CV1 soon, for one of my occasional visits to VR (and nausea!) land, but I have absolutely no interest in a Facebook account, so I need to have this on my radar now. I suppose it might be possible to have an account and lock it down hard so it's invisible to the rest of Facebook users, but I imagine it takes some doing. Better start researching!

 

[Ravenger]

Thanks for surfacing this thread, because I'd missed all this Facebook stuff. I was planning on reinstalling my CV1 soon, for one of my occasional visits to VR (and nausea!) land, but I have absolutely no interest in a Facebook account, so I need to have this on my radar now. I suppose it might be possible to have an account and lock it down hard so it's invisible to the rest of Facebook users, but I imagine it takes some doing. Better start researching!

If you already have an Oculus account then you don't have to do anything immediately, as you've got until 2023 to merge your Oculus account with a Facebook one. However, it's likely that more and more content will be integrated with Facebook, so possibly by that time it'll be almost impossible to use without an a Facebook account anyway.

Apparently it's not too hard to 'lock down' a Facebook account so that it's essentially private. The issue with Facebook is they sometimes disable accounts like that for 'inactivity'. Hopefully having a VR device attached and with purchases and VR usage means that the accounts won't get flagged as inactive.

All these questionmarks about how this is going to work is why I'm going to be waiting for a bit before deciding if I want to get a Quest 2.

 

[Andrew_McP]

If you already have an Oculus account then you don't have to do anything immediately

Thanks, that's even more useful to know.

 

[Ravenger]

I'm seeing several reports daily on the Oculus reddits where users have been banned from Facebook and so face the prospect of being unable to use Quest 2, and even locked out of their Oculus games when FB is required for all devices.

That's going to snowball I think in October.

I'm seriously wondering if I should cancel my Quest 2 preorder, as even though I don't reckon I'll have any issues, I'd like to see how Facebook is going to sort these issues out.

 

[Oh Ed not again.]

Chapter 6 of Alyx, 5 more chapters to go before 11th October and then the Rift S is up for sale.

 

[Deleted member 66701]

Yeah, I don't care.