Meta is a complete dumpster fire
Meta is a complete dumpster fire
Nothing profound here, just need to vent: I haven't used Facebook for several years now, but I just got my 10 year old son a Meta Quest 2 and had to activate it by linking to my Facebook account. Just two days later I got a warning that the account will be locked because they detected that a child was using the Quest with an adult account (maybe because of the types of games he was playing?). My options are to either make him his own, restricted account (requires a credit card for verification) or prove that I am in-fact an adult (requires photo ID). No fucking way is Facebook getting either my credit card or photo ID. This is some sorry attempt to extort even more personal info from people. I can't understand how so many people tolerate this. How is this company still in business, let alone worth half a trillion dollars? If I had known how bad things have gotten, I would never have bought their VR.
Your last sentence is the answer.
Posting and sharing your experiences is how this gets fixed.
we all could have shared that if they had asked.
just got my 10 year old son a Meta Quest 2
How is this company still in business
Uhh...
Valve Index ftw
While I agree it’s the better headset, the $800 price difference and the requirement for an attached gaming computer, make it easy to see why the Quest gets the attention it does.
The closest thing I’ve found to an in-between is the Pico 4 at ~$450 and doesn’t require any accounts. The game library is quite limited, so it’s not a full replacement for the Quest, but it can connect wired or wireless to a dedicated PC. Newegg seems to be the best US supplier for them.
These days you really better pay attention what you're buying and what kind of ecosystem you're buying into.
I get why they check if it's children with accounts they're not supposed to have... I once saw a documentary about VR. And there are lots of adults enjoying adult content. Mingling in virtual bars and clubs and doing adult stuff. I'm not sure if VRChat etc are available on the Meta devices... But it's not great that children are in those virtual areas. Not for them and not for the other people who want to do their thing. So I get why they're cracking down on this and forcing people to use the correct account.
However, requiring phone numbers, ID and credit cards is ridiculous. And lots of services do it. Google also restricted my account (for claimed suspicious activity) and now they want my ID. And I refuse to provide it.
Vrchat is available on quest headsets but they have their own independent policies and account, so it should not really be meta's problem here.
That's weird, Meta has a whole department whose only job is to uphold user privacy. They even have a Chief Privacy Officer role, and they are saying that user choice and user privacy is super important to them and the core of every product 0-0.
https://about.fb.com/news/2019/07/ftc-agreement/
Yeah, fuck them. Gaslighting POS.
https://github.com/basti564/Oculess
Could try this out.
My mate has a Quest 2 and he's only been able to use it twice due to system updates forcing him to re-login with his FB account which has somehow become dislocated from his Meta account.
That's weird, the requirement to link it to an existing Facebook account was lifted in August 2022, it should only require a stand-alone meta account to set up and use.
I have never had my Facebook account linked to my meta quest 2.
Second this.
Also VR is supposed to be for kids 14 and up.
Yes, but also yes.
Giving Meta our information is bad enough.
Allowing them to take our information even when we did not give it freely is even worse.
Advertising via Meta is even worse than that, but small businesses have very little choice between Meta and Google for that. Buying something sold by Meta is best avoided entirely.Google tried this on YouTube some time ago. They wanted me to verify I'm an adult by sending them my ID or a credit card number. Sure, Google, sure, wait here. I'll be back in 5 minutes.
I had to do this too and Facebook wouldn’t even allow me to reopen or create a new account after I closed it years ago. I even sent them my picture. They said I didn’t meet community standards or some shit.
I’ve had Facebook since it was college email addresses only. Never posted anything and barely used the messenger.
Same, no facebook here, meta standalone only.