Palmer Luckey äußert sich zur Unterstützung von Nimble America

Wie wir gestern berichteten, soll Palmer Luckey Nimble America finanziell unterstützen. Nimble America arbeitet an einem Meme Generator für Memes, die sich gegen Hillary Clinton richten. Die Organisation steht also hinter Donald Trump.

Palmer Luckey äußert sich zu den Vorwürfen

Luckey sagt auf Facebook, dass die News teilweise richtig ist. Er hat Nimble America mit 10.000 US-Dollar unterstützt, denn er glaubt, dass die Organisation frische Ideen hat, wie man mit jungen Wählern kommunizieren sollte. Außerdem sagt Luckey, dass er jedoch nicht der „NimbleRichMan“ auf Reddit war und auch in keinster Weise bei Nimble America beschäftigt ist. Luckey möchte nicht, dass seine politische Einstellung als Einstellung von Oculus aufgefasst wird. Es ist seine private Meinung und diese repräsentiert nicht Oculus.

Die Antwort von Daily Beast ließ aber nicht lange auf sich warten. Ben Collins sagt auf Twitter, dass Palmer Luckey nicht die Wahrheit sagt und als NimbleRichMan auf Reddit geschrieben hat. Als Beleg veröffentlicht Collins auf Twitter die entsprechende E-Mail:

Palmer Luckey hat bisher nicht auf die Veröffentlichung der E-Mails reagiert. Theoretisch lässt sich eine solche Mail auch einfach nachbilden, doch warum sollte The Daily Beast in diesem Punkt lügen und Beweise manipulieren?

Vermutlich wäre es für Palmer besser gewesen, wenn er sich nicht zu der Sache geäußert hätte. Mit seiner vermeintlich falschen Aussage gießt Luckey nur noch mehr Öl ins Feuer.

[Quelle: Reddit]

Der Beitrag Palmer Luckey äußert sich zur Unterstützung von Nimble America zuerst gesehen auf VR∙Nerds. VR·Nerds am Werk!

Oculus Founder Issues Statement After Developer Backlash to Polarizing Politics

Eyes have been on Palmer Luckey, the founder of Facebook-owned Oculus, following an article linking him to ‘Nimble America’, a polarizing political group that’s been described as part of the fringe ‘alt-right’. Following developer and community backlash, Luckey has issued an apology and a denial of some of the claims made against him.

While Brendan Iribe is the CEO of Oculus, Luckey is the company’s founder and in many ways an important public face of Oculus thanks to his role in bringing about the VR renaissance we’re currently enjoying.

oculus palmer luckey and Brendan Iribe
Oculus founder Palmer Luckey (left) and CEO Brendan Iribe (right)

Luckey was the subject of a recent article by The Daily Beast which claims that he has admitted to being a financial backer of Nimble America, a group dedicated to supporting Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump by circulating negative memes of Hillary Clinton, Trump’s Democratic opponent in the race for the White House.

While Road to VR doesn’t cover politics, backlash among Oculus’ developers and community has brought the issue into the VR realm.

According to the original article, Luckey confirmed to The Daily Beast that he had used the pseudonym ‘NimbleRichMan’ to write a (now deleted) post in the pro-Trump subreddit /r/The_Donald, on behalf of the organisation which says it’s dedicated to proving “shitposting is powerful and meme magic is real.” Founders of that subreddit have helped circulate and popularise white supremacist memes depicting Trump, according to the same Daily Beast report. Nimble America had apparently taken credit for a billboard spotted in Pittsburgh, depicting a caricature of Clinton bearing the slogan “Too Big to Jail,” referring to the Democratic candidate’s recent email server troubles.

nimble-hillary

Luckey has issued a statement in response to the article via his personal Facebook page. The part-apology, part-denial confirms that Luckey made a large donation to Nimble America, but refutes claims that he made specific posts under the Reddit username NimbleRichMan.

I am deeply sorry that my actions are negatively impacting the perception of Oculus and its partners.The recent news stories about me do not accurately represent my views.

Here’s more background: I contributed $10,000 to Nimble America because I thought the organization had fresh ideas on how to communicate with young voters through the use of several billboards. I am a libertarian who has publicly supported Ron Paul and Gary Johnson in the past, and I plan on voting for Gary in this election as well.

I am committed to the principles of fair play and equal treatment. I did not write the “NimbleRichMan” posts, nor did I delete the account. Reports that I am a founder or employee of Nimble America are false. I don’t have any plans to donate beyond what I have already given to Nimble America.

Still, my actions were my own and do not represent Oculus. I’m sorry for the impact my actions are having on the community.

Following Luckey statement, Daily Beast Senior News Editor Ben Collins, one of the authors of the initial article, says that the refutations are false, citing emails from Luckey himself, which Collins posted to Twitter.

VR Developer and Community Backlash

In the aftermath of the story breaking, Motherboard has reported that several developers producing titles for Oculus’ Rift VR platform have spoken out in response, many stating they’re withdrawing their support for the Oculus platform as long as Luckey is still with the company.

With Fez and Superhypercube publisher Polytron stating, “In a political climate as fragile and horrifying as this one, we cannot tacitly endorse these actions by supporting Luckey or his platform.”

Insomniac Games, who have developed and released two games exclusively for Oculus’ platform (with one more on the way), took a more measured and diplomatic approach; speaking to Motherboard, the company said, “Insomniac Games condemns all forms of hate speech. While everyone has a right to express his or her political opinion, the behavior and sentiments reported do not reflect the values of our company. We are also confident that this behavior and sentiment does not reflect the values of the many Oculus employees we work with on a daily basis.”

As for the VR community which has grown alongside the fledgling VR industry, many have expressed anger at Luckey’s stance. A thread about the Daily Beast article on the Oculus section of Reddit has seen a whopping 3,900 comments, with some users disavowing Oculus and its Rift headset while others expressed shock, disbelief, and disappointment at the news.

Whether this will have a tangible impact on Oculus as a company remains to be seen. For now the company hasn’t made any public statements regarding the incident except to point to Luckey’s personal statement.

The post Oculus Founder Issues Statement After Developer Backlash to Polarizing Politics appeared first on Road to VR.

Luckey Revealed To Be Funding Pro-Trump Meme Group, VR/Tech Community Reacts

Politics and the Internet. Like oil and water they do not mix well, and that is just under normal circumstances. With campaigning in an extremely polarising and increasingly volatile American Presidential election well underway. The result has already been labeled by politicians and pundits as divisive, with both Republican and Democratic candidates taking very different approaches as the march towards Election Day on Tuesday, November 8 2016.

But whilst politics and the internet do not mix well, it is still a battlefield for canvasing, generating support and running down both opposition candidates and supporters. From social media platforms like Twitter, to message boards and advertisements.

PalmerLuckey_1

It is certainly not unusual for businessmen and women to become involved in the campaign process, and throw their weight, monetary or otherwise behind a candidate. As such the news that Oculus founder Palmer Luckey was such a supporter would not necessarily be newsworthy in any ‘normal’ election. However, how Luckey has been supporting his chosen candidate is anything but usual and the result, combined with comments he has made on Reddit under an alias is already causing a major division between him and parts of the virtual reality (VR) dev and tech community as well as a major public relations headache for Oculus themselves.

As revealed by The Daily Beast it seems that Luckey has been financially backing Nimble America; a non-profit group operating on Reddit’s r/The_Donald subreddit and designed to generate so called internet “shitposting” content, such as memes. All to spread pro-Donald Trump/anti-Hillary Clinton messaging as widely as possible. It’s a group that hasn’t had the cleanest of records and that also has some interesting board rules on what is acceptable when discussing Trump, including “No Dissenters or SJWs”.

It seems that through the account ‘NimbleRichMan’, Luckey not only donated “significant funds” to the cause but also in an Reddit ‘Ask Me Anything’ thread – partly made, it appears, to address concerns some Trump supporters had about their mysterious benefactor. NimbleRichMan pledged to match donations by, among other things, “flying my jet a minute less”.


Additional messages posted by the now deleted account include one relating to the secrecy of his actions. That there was an inherent risk in speaking out in favour of the Trump campaign.

“Where are all the wealthy, powerful, and public-ally identifiable Trump supports?[sic] We dare not say a word. It would destroy us. I would never dream of blacklisting a business for the political views of the men who work there but the same cannot be said for many HRC supporters.”

The full selection of posts from the NimbleRichMan account are available here.

Again, whilst Mr. Luckey is perfectly at liberty to spend his money however and support politically whoever he so likes, as you might imagine, supporting such a polarising figure as Donald Trump (and particularly in such a fashion) has led to a wave of mostly negative reactions on social media. It has resulted in some enthusiasts and figures in the generally liberal-leaning technology sector to reevaluate their opinions of one of VR’s figureheads. And, by extension, their association with Oculus as a whole as Luckey’s money is seen to be that of Oculus.

Meanwhile, E McNeill creator of cyberpunk hacking title Darknet has sought a more direct way to counter Luckey’s actions. Calling upon like-minded Oculus developers to join him in donating towards the Democrat campaign in order to redress the balance of the up to $11,000 (USD) it is believed Luckey donated to Nimble America. E McNeill donating $1000 (USD) himself.

It is unclear what, if anything Oculus will do with regard to the story and Luckey has made no additional comments at this time. There was some speculation stemming from the initial The Daily Beast article that Luckey was no longer with the company. Oculus later confirmed to The Verge that this was not the case.

VRFocus will bring you more information as this story develops. If you’re a VR dev who wishes to make a statement in reaction to this morning’s Luckey/Trump news story please email: pgraham@vrfocus.com

Palmer Luckey finanziert Donald Trumps Meme Machine

Palmer Luckey, der Erfinder der Oculus Rift und Gründer von Oculus, hat auch ein politisches Bewusstsein. Luckey unterstützt finanziell eine Gruppe hinter Donald Trump, die verunglimpfende Memes von Hillary Clinton erstellt.

Luckey finanziert Donald Trumps Meme Machine

Luckey unterstützt die Pro-Trump Organisation „Nimble America“, welche sich selbst als “social welfare 501(c)4 non-profit” beschreibt. Nimble America sagt, dass sie beweisen wollen, dass „Shitposting“ und Memes ein wichtiges Instrument seien. Auf Reddit gab die Organisation Palmer den Namen „NimbleRichMan“. Luckey sagt, dass er Nimble America nur finanziell unterstützt und die Idee lustig fand. Luckey sagt, dass er sein Geld nicht einer Gruppe hinterherwerfen würde, wenn er nicht daran glauben würde, dass das Projekt funktioniere. Wenn es sich als schlechtes Investment herausstellt, dann wird er kein weiteres Geld investieren.

Auf der Webseite der Organisation wurde (mittlerweile gelöscht) Luckey so beschrieben:

„NimbleRichMan is a near Billionaire and staunch supporter of the Common Sense Conservative movement. He is co-founder along with D.B. Purple and our third silent partner. Milo Yiannopoulos has personally vetted NimbleRichMan and the Non-Profit Nimble America, Inc. he helped create. NimbleRichMan will continue to guide Nimble America as its Vice-President.“

Um die Webseite aufzubauen und die Entwicklung zu starten, hatte die Organisation 11.000 US-Dollar einsammeln müssen. Dies gelang mit dem Geld von Luckey innerhalb von 48 Stunden. Mittlerweile sind  auch die wichtigen Einträge auf Reddit aber wieder gelöscht. Vermutlich hat man sich mit der öffentlichen Darstellung nicht nur Freunde gemacht.

Wenn diese Geschichte wahr ist, dann sollte es kein gutes Licht auf Palmer Luckey werfen. Unwahrscheinlich ist es aber nicht. Auch Luckeys Freundin ist eine bekennende Trump Unterstützerin und die Aktion passt zum Humor von Luckey.

[Quelle: The Daily Beast]

Der Beitrag Palmer Luckey finanziert Donald Trumps Meme Machine zuerst gesehen auf VR∙Nerds. VR·Nerds am Werk!

Palmer Luckey Responds to Reports on VR Steam Sales ‘Flatlining’

If you’ve failed to miss it this week Steam released its monthly hardware and software survey and in terms of virtual reality (VR) specs the figures haven’t looked particularly good. This has meant that the VR naysayers have piped up commenting that the VR bubble has burst or that the mainstream push hasn’t worked. But Palmer Luckey founder of Oculus has taken to Twitter to say otherwise.

In his posting Luckey states: “So much clickbait about Rift/VR sales “flatlining” or “crashing” based on the Steam user hardware survey. Not how the data works, guys.

“The fraction of Steam users who use their headset with Steam, opt to take the survey, and have their VR headset connected when they do.

“Vast majority of VR market never touches that survey.”

Palmer Luckey, Founder at Oculus

While its natural that Luckey would defend the statistics from the Steam survey, the figures are no way indicative of the current VR consumer market in relation to the majority of hardware and software sales.

The survey is purely optional for one and while Steam does have a multitude of titles that support Oculus Rift, Oculus Home is likely the first port of call for most owners buying software. The HTC Vive is marginally higher than its rival but its going to be Steam is the main hub for all Vive software. Also worth noting is that the summer period is usually the quietest for the videogame market, as manufacturers and developers get ready for the festive season. You only need to look at Sony Interactive Entertainment’s (SIE’s) launch line-up of PlayStation 4 Slim (September), PlayStation VR (October) and PlayStation 4 Pro (November) to see that.

If you’ve not seen the figures they show that 0.18 percent of Steam users own a HTC Vive, while its 0.10 percent for Oculus Rift in August. HTC Vive owners grew 0.3 percent in July while August was flat. The Oculus Rift was similar with 0.3 percent growth in July and 0.1 percent in August.

One of the main reasons people could be looking at the figures so intently is that neither Oculus/Facebook or Valve/HTC has released actual sales figures for their headsets. So no one outside of the respective companies really knows how many VR head-mounted displays (HMDs) have actually hit the market.

As further details are revealed on the subject, VRFocus will keep you updated.

Oculus VR Respond to Zenimax Lawsuit Amendment

Earlier this evening VRFocus reported on an update to the ongoing lawsuit between Zenimax Media and Oculus VR, in which Zenimax now claim that the technology for the Oculus Rift software development kit (SDK) was in fact developed by their research team. Now, Oculus VR has issued a statement regarding the matter to VRFocus.

Palmer Luckey

The lawsuit update, filed earlier this evening, suggests that not only did Oculus VR unlawfully obtain technology and research from Zenimax (through John Carmack), but also that a story was fabricated to make the commonly known creator of the Oculus Rift, Palmer Luckey, appear to be just that. Instead, Luckey allegedly recognised the rising popularity of virtual reality (VR) and obtained Zenimax’s technologies for his own use.

Responding to the claims, and Oculus VR spokesperson offered the following statement to VRFocus:

“This complaint filed by ZeniMax is one-sided and conveys only ZeniMax’s interpretation of the story. We continue to believe this case has no merit, and we will address all of ZeniMax’s allegations in court.”

The lawsuit will be going to trial, although no date has yet been set. VRFocus will of course keep you updated with all the latest details.

Zenimax Claims Creation of Oculus Rift in Latest Oculus VR Lawsuit Amendment [UPDATED]

The ongoing lawsuit between Zenimax Media and Oculus VR has taken an interesting new turn today, as the former has claimed that the latter’s Palmer Luckey did not actually invent the Oculus Rift. Instead, Zenimax accuse Luckey and John Carmack, former employee of Zenimax now at Oculus VR, of directly stealing virtual reality (VR) technology from the company.

John Carmack

In an update to the lawsuit originally filed back in March 2014, Zenimax Media has amended their claim with new information today. The suit now names John Carmack, Brendan Iribe, CEO at Oculus VR, and Oculus VR parent company Facebook directly.

“Instead of complying with his contract, during his last days at ZeniMax, he copied thousands of documents from a computer at ZeniMax to a USB storage device,” reads the amended filing. “He never returned those files or all copies of them after his employment with ZeniMax was terminated. In addition, after Carmack’s employment with ZeniMax was terminated, he returned to ZeniMax’s premises to take a customized tool for developing VR Technology belonging to ZeniMax that itself is part of ZeniMax’s VR technology.”

Directly attacking Luckey, Zenimax now assert that the commonly known creator of the Oculus Rift did not actually have the knowledge required to do so. Instead, Zenimax suggest that Luckey stole the tools to create an SDK from Zenimax.

PalmerLuckey_2

“Oculus used ZeniMax’s hardware and software technology to create a software development kit (“SDK”) for the Rift and to develop, modify, and tune the Rift hardware. Luckey did not have the expertise or knowledge to create a viable SDK for the Rift. An SDK permits programmers to make use of new hardware by providing the technical specifications by which a computer communicates with that hardware, as well as program code that allows utilization of the hardware’s functions. ZeniMax designed the specifications and functionality embodied in the Rift SDK, and directed its development.”

The reason for this? Zenimax state that Luckey – rather than being the brainchild behind the device – recognised the growing popularity of VR and decided to take advantage of it for himself.

“Luckey recognized the extraordinary value that ZeniMax, aglobal leader in interactive entertainment content, and its employee Carmack, a uniquely experienced and widely acclaimed programmer, added to the modified Rift headset. Luckey also recognized the skyrocketing interest in and public support for virtual reality technology that had been generated  by ZeniMax. Only days after the E3 Convention, Luckey formed his company – then called Oculus LLC – to commercialize the Rift. [sic]”

With both parties having moved beyond the point of settlement, the Zenimax Media and Oculus VR lawsuit will go to trial. Exactly when this will happen is not yet known, but of course VRFocus will keep you updated with all the latest details.

UPDATE: Following the publication of this article Oculus VR has contacted VRFocus to issue a statement. More details can be found here.