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Creator of Minecraft Develops Experimental VR Project (roadtovr.com)

Posted by samzenpus on from the more-real-than-real dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Despite his on-again off-again relationship with VR headset maker Oculus, the creator of Minecraft, Markus "Notch" Persson, has developed an experimental virtual reality project that leverages WebVR technology to run directly within a browser using a Rift DK2 headset. Notch contributed $10,000 to Oculus' 2012 Kickstarter, and even traveled from Europe to visit the company in its early days. After Facebook's $2 billion acquisition of Oculus in 2014, his enthusiasm dwindled, saying "I definitely want to be a part of VR, but I will not work with Facebook." One month before selling his own company to Microsoft for a similar sum, he said he was "officially over being upset about Facebook buying Oculus."

24 of 63 comments (clear)

  1. Java browser plugin required? by fleabay · · Score: 1

    You don't need VR to fly by the seat of your pants.

    --
    PlanetVulkan.com
  2. That may be. by sims+2 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    But I am still not over having to setup a facebook account to login to sites that cba to make their own login page.

    Or the fact it takes 3 months for their support team to remove your email address from their system.

    --
    Minimum threshold fixed. Thanks!
  3. Incentives ... by BitZtream · · Score: 4, Interesting

    he said he was "officially over being upset about Facebook buying Oculus."

    Yea, when you're about to be bought out by the company who you said you'd never make software for certain things they make ... and then you change your mind for a billion dollars ... you gotta kinda shut your fucking mouth about the other sell-outs that did the same thing you're about to do ... don'tcha?

    Notch is a sell-out douche, plan and simple.

    But you know what, for a billion dollars ... I'm a sell-out douche too. Everyone has their price.

    --
    Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
    1. Re:Incentives ... by PPH · · Score: 2

      Perhaps, after seeing Microsoft in action, Facebook doesn't look so bad after all.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    2. Re:Incentives ... by mjaynes · · Score: 1

      Notch is just being irrational and idealistic. I wouldn't hate him for that but only annoyed.

    3. Re:Incentives ... by mooterSkooter · · Score: 1

      Hmmm, haven't seen much movement the Raspberry PI version of minecraft...erm, EVER!

  4. 2B tears by turkeydance · · Score: 1

    makes it easier to move on

    1. Re:2B tears by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You might think so, but Notch posted not so long ago that the experience hasn't been all good:

      "The problem with getting everything is you run out of reasons to keep trying, and human interaction becomes impossible due to imbalance."
      "Hanging out in ibiza with a bunch of friends and partying with famous people, able to do whatever I want, and I've never felt more isolated."
      "In sweden, I will sit around and wait for my friends with jobs and families to have time to do shit, watching my reflection in the monitor."
      "When we sold the company, the biggest effort went into making sure the employees got taken care of, and they all hate me now."

      Etc.

      Admittedly this is from last year, hopefully the guy is doing better now :)

    2. Re:2B tears by Captain+Hook · · Score: 1

      And that of course would be the other problem with hitting a jackpot, you suddenly have to question the motives of everyone you interact with.

      --
      These comments are my personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the other voices in my head.
    3. Re:2B tears by sg_oneill · · Score: 1

      I think theres a point where you'd have to go "I can literally fly to space as a space tourist on the interest of my bank account". I have no reason at all to be unhappy when 3/4 of the world are on or under $100 a week

      --
      Excuse the Unicode crap in my posts. That's an apostrophe, and slashdot is busted.
    4. Re:2B tears by Reapy · · Score: 1

      I do honestly think the isolation of becoming suddenly rich is probably difficult enough to the point that I would wonder if I were better off working at a good salary in a field I enjoyed rather than sitting on mega millions. I mean look at the posts about notch ever since he hit it big with minecraft, everybody is just mad at the guy all damn time, he can't win.

      I think being 'new money' is probably pretty isolating, and what really is the point and joy of life, of creating anything really, if you don't have people to share it with. A huge house, the stress free management and freedom from daily chores, unlimited travel /vacationing...but you can't go anywhere and interact with people and make connections. It'll always be suspect.

      That has to be hard. And I get it, it's not "I can't pay my rent/mortgage" hard, but, its kinda like you got your life and place in life figured and sorted out, then it's all turned up side down, everybody you know treats you differently, has expectations, wants you to solve their problems. You, stop being the you you though you were.

      I saw notches post about his new house and the party he has with celebrities in it, and just thought how big, sad, and lonely that house looked, and wondered if any of those people were really his friends.

      Objectively, what you really want is 2 billion dollars in the bank and nobody with a clue you have it. Live a normal, comfortable life, that's the true dream. Drop fame, I can't imagine that has ever been good for anybody.

  5. I have seen this exact demo... by Arkh89 · · Score: 2

    ... presented by Inigo Quilez and Pol Jeremias, last year at GDC. Shadertoy had this for more than a year (if you want to warm up your GPU : https://www.shadertoy.com).

  6. Re:All this talk of VR... by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 2

    . I've been hearing about it for (at least) the last 20 years and it's still not in widespread use. Sometimes technologies just don't catch on.

    Nah. The issue is that the technologies haven't caught up. The reason this round has more traction than the one back in the 90's is the tracking and the displays have gotten significantly better. This could be fad, it could fade out, but people will still want it. So a few years later a new innovation in technology will raise it all over again. This will keep happening until the right ingredients come along to make it a hit. Just like what happened with mobile phones, PDAs (smart phones to all you youngsters out there), and now smartwatches.

    Here's a fun fact: We'll see more talk about 3D TVs in the years to come. Not because people just like to babble about it, but because we do see in stereo. It'll never go away. We'll always want volumetric imaging, commonly referred to around here as holograms. We'll always want voice control of our appliances. It's a matter of technology, not a flaw in the premise.

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    "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

  7. I dont see the difference by spire3661 · · Score: 2

    He will sell out to Microsoft, a convicted abusive monopolist, right there next to AT&T and Standard Oil, but Facebook is a bridge too far? What a tool.

    --
    Good-bye
    1. Re:I dont see the difference by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      He said he got over it. Why don't you do the same.

    2. Re:I dont see the difference by Barlo_Mung_42 · · Score: 1

      To be clear, he would have sold out to Facebook too. Only an idiot wouldn't.

    3. Re:I dont see the difference by Trogre · · Score: 1

      ... or someone who knows something about Facebook that you don't.

      --
      "Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
    4. Re:I dont see the difference by Barlo_Mung_42 · · Score: 1

      Yeah, like you'd turn your back on that much money.

  8. Oh great by WaffleMonster · · Score: 2

    Opening up the GPU to random sites on the Internet is going to be quite the gold rush for hax0rs everywhere.

    1. Re:Oh great by narcc · · Score: 1

      It's been supported, by every major browser, for years. It hasn't become a problem. Your fear is imaginary.

      --
      Required reading for internet skeptics
  9. Re:What happened to that other game? by Dins · · Score: 1

    He got distracted to the tune of about $2 Billion.

  10. Re:Notch. Lonely fat pig by mooterSkooter · · Score: 1

    His saying that he would open source MC eventually pissed me off. Now, the game I have loved for several years is in the hands of fucking microsoft! Microsoft of all the fucking companies. how long before linux is dropped? All development has gone into the windows version since Microsoft acquisition. If he was so desperate to get rid of it why not open source the fucker and keep making money anyway.

    Nah, respect has gone down hugely with this fella...though I still love Minecraft :-)

  11. Re:All this talk of VR... by mooterSkooter · · Score: 1

    I don't give a toss if it hasn't "caught on". I have a DK2 and it's great fun, worth every penny. Even if most of the stuff I can use it with is demo's or just interesting little toys. It's fun. Lot's of fun.

    If you haven't tried it then I suggest doing so but you will need a fast computer to get the most out of it.

  12. Re:Notch is abhorrent by dabadab · · Score: 2

    Zachary Barth made infinimer, of which Notch took the unencrypted source code and made Minecraft.

    That's a pretty serious allegiation that would be easy to prove since the source code for Infiniminer was leaked and the source code for Minecraft was reversed - yet nobody came up with this but you.
    Do you have any proof or we can just assume that you are spewing bullshit?

    Notch Persson gave nothing back.

    I would think helping out Humble Bundle (with money and with spreading the word) in itself classifies as giving back to the indie scene.

    He shit all over the Indie scene, having made himself thie authoratitve voice in indy culture.

    Oh, yeah, we all know the story of the extrovert Notch who has pushed himself into the limelight... oh, wait, no, it's something you have fabricated.

    Frankly, if you dislike someone, just say so, but do not make up shit and especially do not make up shit that is obviously not true.

    --
    Real life is overrated.