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Re:Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices by avarun on Tuesday August 18, 2020 @08:02PM (#24205764)
Not sure if you know what device you're talking about. The Oculus Quest is very much a platform, not a "peripheral". There's no device that the Quest connects to to be used as a peripheral. It's a completely stand alone computing device that serves as a platform for third party software, the same as your phone which requires an account.
Re:Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices by ryandrake on Tuesday August 18, 2020 @10:15PM (#24206507)
Nothing in the announcement limits this to the Quest. It says Oculus "devices" including peripherals. What is the justification for requiring an account to use a peripheral that you plug into your computer?

Even if it were just the Quest: How is it reasonable to require an account to use a "stand alone computing device"? I have many stand alone computing devices in my home without the need for an account with their manufacturers.

I was already skeptical of my Oculus Rift when after buying it I learned I needed to create an account just to download drivers (WTF!) No other device on my computer requires an account to obtain drivers. I would love to hear the justification.

Re:Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices by crakhamster01 on Wednesday August 19, 2020 @03:48AM (#24208133)
I'm not sure I follow this line of thought. Without an account, what would all the game purchases you make be associated with? What about friends lists? Support requests? The Oculus, and the vision for the product, is more akin to consoles than it is your run-of-the-mill PC.
Re:Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices by IanSanders on Wednesday August 19, 2020 @07:20AM (#24209217)
I disagree.

Take oculus Rift as an example. You own a game (on a different platform) which supports VR (including your device). You plug your Rift in, calibrate the sensors/room and start playing the game. You shouldn't even need internet connection.

For support requests, use the serial number, like everywhere else.

Consoles work offline just fine.

Re:Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices by IanSanders on Wednesday August 19, 2020 @07:23AM (#24209237)
>I would love to hear the justification.

"We require you create an account so that we can protect your personal data."

Re:Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices by saxonww on Tuesday August 18, 2020 @08:56PM (#24206083)
I know the blog post refers to "Oculus devices" and does not in any way imply that the account is required only for the Quest. I agree that the Quest is not the same as their other headsets. I disagree that any of these should require an account.
Re:Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices by not_zxc on Wednesday August 19, 2020 @04:02AM (#24208201)
Not the OP, but I was wondering the same thing. I also don't know which devices I'm talking about.

The thing is: to sell me stuff, you don't need to know my name. You don't need to keep tabs on me. You may offer it, but I may decline. Plenty of mortar-and-bricks-stores work this way: there are loyalty cards for tracking, but customers who forego them do not have to register to make a purchase.

Point in fact: there are also internet shops that allow such options. Sure, they need a bit of data to send the parcel and the confirmation/invoice/etc. But that doesn't require everyone to create a username/password combination - and some internet shops blissfully do not require that. They get paid and ship the purchase to the address specified, and that's it.

In this case, it seems purchases could be tied to the Oculus device specified during the purchase. While I can certainly imagine benefits to tying purchases to a user account (e.g., ability to use on multiple Oculus devices), I don't see a reason to require logging in. Am I overlooking something?

Re:Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices by wlesieutre on Wednesday August 19, 2020 @09:38AM (#24210212)
> In this case, it seems purchases could be tied to the Oculus device specified during the purchase. While I can certainly imagine benefits to tying purchases to a user account (e.g., ability to use on multiple Oculus devices), I don't see a reason to require logging in. Am I overlooking something?

If (when) the device fails, you would lose all of its associated software licenses and have to buy them again