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

[OldFatherTime]

I just cancelled my pre-order.

I actually thought you might be able to get around the FB account but apparently there's no way. I have seen multiple reports of it going wrong on fake accounts. Then losing all access. I can't be bothered with that!

Damn - I was looking forward to the new Quest!

Oh well if they change this policy I'll buy one but I can't see that happening.

Shame there's no alternative re: price, performance etc

 

[Ravenger]

Oh well if they change this policy I'll buy one but I can't see that happening.

There is a chance Germany could force a reversal. If that happens then the rest of the EU might follow suit, and potentially the UK too.

 

[Shaolin Chicken]

There is a chance Germany could force a reversal. If that happens then the rest of the EU might follow suit, and potentially the UK too.

I really hope that happens, I will not be using a facebook account.

 

[Slinky69]

Not keen on using a Facebook account for anything, certainly not for something so apparently unrelated as using a VR headset!

 

[Deleted member 66701]

I really hope that happens, I will not be using a facebook account.

I really don't know what the issue is. You know you don't HAVE to post stuff on it right?

Just create an account with the bare minimum of information, set privacy to max (people can't search for you if you do that) and you are good to go. You never actually have to log on to the social media platform and use if if you don't want to.

It's no different than creating a Blizzard account, Steam or EA account or whatever other game platform account etc.

 

[Ravenger]

I really don't know what the issue is. You know you don't HAVE to post stuff on it right?

Just create an account with the bare minimum of information, set privacy to max (people can't search for you if you do that) and you are good to go. You never actually have to log on to the social media platform and use if if you don't want to.

It's no different than creating a Blizzard account, Steam or EA account or whatever other game platform account etc.

That's fine, and that's what I will have to do.

Some people have long standing FB accounts they've posted loads of stuff on, some of which someone might take offense to and report (let's face it, these days people take offense at anything). They can't make their accounts fully private without losing all the social aspects they've been using for years, though the risk is lower if your account is set to friends only permissions. But even then stuff can leak out.

 

[Shaolin Chicken]

I think you also need to be actively using the the facebook account or they will close it.

 

[Ravenger]

I think you also need to be actively using the the facebook account or they will close it.

It's unknown if using a Facebook account to log into an Oculus device counts as actively using it, but you would hope it does.
Some users have claimed they've never really used their accounts but they're still active and working years later.

 

[Begbie]

Yeah, this is enough to stop me buying. And I use FB.

I bought a quest 2, what a loser.

 

[Ravenger]

Seems there's another issue now - automated bans where you have to submit evidence to lift them are effectively indefinite bans, as due to covid Facebook don't have the staff available to review any evidence you submit. In fact the automated message you get from them states that they may never get around to reviewing your evidence!

So Facebook bans are mostly automated and happen instantly, but as the appeal process needs a human in the loop your account is left in limbo... Nice. Some people have been waiting months for a review. October is going to be interesting...

 

[Begbie]

Seems there's another issue now - automated bans where you have to submit evidence to lift them are effectively indefinite bans, as due to covid Facebook don't have the staff available to review any evidence you submit. In fact the automated message you get from them states that they may never get around to reviewing your evidence!

So Facebook bans are mostly automated and happen instantly, but as the appeal process needs a human in the loop your account is left in limbo... Nice. Some people have been waiting months for a review. October is going to be interesting...

How do you even get banned from Facebook? Unless your constantly posting nonsense? Literally shouldn't worry anyone out of the dramatic/chav FB groups.

 

[Ravenger]

How do you even get banned from Facebook? Unless your constantly posting nonsense? Literally shouldn't worry anyone out of the dramatic/chav FB groups.

Simply creating an account and making it private immediately (as people will do for VR if they don't want to engage with Facebook's main social features) can trigger an automated suspension as it's considered bot-like behaviour.

One user on Reddit who created an account in advance of getting the Quest 2 said his wife rejected his friend request and blocked him (because she didn't realise he'd created a Facebook account) and now his account is disabled because apparently the automatic systems think he's a bot. He appealed, but there's no sign of a review happening soon. When his Quest 2 arrives he may not be able to use it at all.

Never heard of anything like that happening with other game platform accounts.

 

[Begbie]

Simply creating an account and making it private immediately (as people will do for VR if they don't want to engage with Facebook's main social features) can trigger an automated suspension as it's considered bot-like behaviour.

One user on Reddit who created an account in advance of getting the Quest 2 said his wife rejected his friend request and blocked him (because she didn't realise he'd created a Facebook account) and now his account is disabled because apparently the automatic systems think he's a bot. He appealed, but there's no sign of a review happening soon. When his Quest 2 arrives he may not be able to use it at all.

Never heard of anything like that happening with other game platform accounts.

Oh, that's quite awful.

 

[danlightbulb]

One user on Reddit who created an account in advance of getting the Quest 2 said his wife rejected his friend request and blocked him (because she didn't realise he'd created a Facebook account) and now his account is disabled because apparently the automatic systems think he's a bot. He appealed, but there's no sign of a review happening soon. When his Quest 2 arrives he may not be able to use it at all.

Two lessons to be learnt here:
1. talk to your wife; or
2. dont befriend your wife on facebook.

Joking aside i dont see the harm in facebook wanting you to have an account however they do need to make some improvements to make sure genuine customers dont lose access to the hardware they have bought.

 

[Ravenger]

Joking aside i dont see the harm in facebook wanting you to have an account however they do need to make some improvements to make sure genuine customers dont lose access to the hardware they have bought.

Yep, these issues are completely solvable with a bit of customer service and policy changes. Remember when Steam was permabanning accounts because of Paypal chargebacks when transactions went wrong? These days you just lose access to the game involved if there's an issue over payment. If too many transactions go wrong you might be locked out of the Steam store, but not your account.

 

[Deleted member 66701]

Simply creating an account and making it private immediately (as people will do for VR if they don't want to engage with Facebook's main social features) can trigger an automated suspension as it's considered bot-like behaviour.

One user on Reddit who created an account in advance of getting the Quest 2 said his wife rejected his friend request and blocked him (because she didn't realise he'd created a Facebook account) and now his account is disabled because apparently the automatic systems think he's a bot. He appealed, but there's no sign of a review happening soon. When his Quest 2 arrives he may not be able to use it at all.

Never heard of anything like that happening with other game platform accounts.

I'm sure a quick message on the CS section of the Oculus website along the lines of "please resolve this of I will have to return the device for a refund" will get this fixed quite quickly.

 

[TNA]

I bought a quest 2, what a loser.

Is that a typo there? Was that meant be a t? Lol

 

[PieEater]

I'm sure a quick message on the CS section of the Oculus website along the lines of "please resolve this of I will have to return the device for a refund" will get this fixed quite quickly.

Sorry been there and done that after Facebook permanently disabled my account Oculus support were totally unable to assist. They told me to create a duplicate account which is totally against Facebooks policies and will result in an instant ban. They then told me to use the Facebook forums which you can only access if you have a Facebook account

 

[PieEater]

I really don't know what the issue is. You know you don't HAVE to post stuff on it right?

Just create an account with the bare minimum of information, set privacy to max (people can't search for you if you do that) and you are good to go. You never actually have to log on to the social media platform and use if if you don't want to.

It's no different than creating a Blizzard account, Steam or EA account or whatever other game platform account etc.

At the moment I don't think anyone is aware of what information Facebook will be pulling from your Oculus account and / or device. Obviously the headsets have the ability to scan and map your rooms and their contents which would be very useful information for Facebook. I'm not saying that this is what they will be doing but the potential is there and Facebooks stock in trade is personal information. This is a very different situation to creating an account with a commercial reseller.

 

[krooton]

I'm not saying that this is what they will be doing but the potential is there and Facebooks stock in trade is personal information.

Only it isn't, they make their money by selling advertising space, and use user information for targeting purposes, they do not 'sell your data' to companies. Or if they do, that is not their public business model.

We use Facebook for advertising, and there are no options for buying/downloading/exporting personal data, as purchasing 3rd party personal data is illegal in the EU.

All we can do is load in lists of email addresses from our own database, and either target them with adverts, or create lookalike audiences (letting the algorithm try and find other Facebook users with similar profiles) for serve adverts to. The other option to is create an audience not based on our own data, where we can select broad attributes, such as 'likes xyz company'. Again, we get no data, the idea is that our ads are served to people who will be interested in our company, click through, and hopefully sign up for direct marketing.