Oculus' Palmer Luckey funds white-supremacist/misogynistic/anti-lgbt harassment group

That's too bad. I have no interest in VR so it's not like I was planning to give him money anyway but he seemed like a bright guy based on his Giant Bomb interviews. Well, fuck him. I hope he is taken to task for that shit by the press and that the GB guys discuss this on their podcast.
 
This, coming from the dude who thought that VR pose was a good idea? Yeah, I'm not surprised. Never seemed like too bright of a dude.

Jokes aside I never really liked the guy.
 
I don't want a witch hunt or anything, but I feel like there are a lot more big names in the industry that support Trump

FeelsBadMan
 
AcademicSaucer said:
Realistically , he only has to ride it out until November and hope for the best right ?
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I don't think there's any riding this out for Palmer. As Krejlooc was saying, Facebook is really only using him as a face for Oculus. They aren't going to just stash him away until November and then trot him out again with fingers crossed that everyone forgot.

He'll either be let go or hidden in some place where you'll never see him connected to the brand again.

I'm sure he's got enough money he can go retire somewhere and we'll only talk about him when he makes Notch-style tweets.
 
Tain said:
couldn't possibly track as well, though, right?
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No, but touch wouldn't track as well as Lighthouse anyways, by the nature of the tech. It's a cheap, non-oculus solution that would be cross compatible.

You could also potentially use Sixense STEMS, if they ever shipped, and those would track as well as lighthouse.
 
CjbUoZ8W0AABp-T.jpg


"I hear you're a racist now, Palmer."
 
Supporting Trump is whatevers, everyone has their political agendas ( as spicy as it is to become a Trump supporter). Being a white supremacist advocate and fund raiser, now thaaaaaat is pretty bad. All he needs is a white robe now
 
Patchy said:
How long until Facebook turf him out? Or no chance?
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We'll see how Facebook PR responds tomorrow.

On one hand, regardless of the candidate, it sets a bad precedent to fire an employee because of whom they support. On the other hand, this is some next-level support of a candidate who seems to contradict a lot of goals of Facebook. As upper-management, he needs to represent the ideals of the company. Is using his money to support Anti-Hilary memes what they want their management to represent in some fashion?

This is real nasty timing for Oculus/Facebook with Oculus Connect 3 conference coming up in less than 2 weeks. Their Touch launch needs to go well or they're going to be swimming up shit creek real fast. This news is certainly not going to help their image right now. If Oculus dumped him (which who knows how his contract is written), they could save the face of the brand a bit and get all of this behind them and focus purely on Touch. If Oculus/Facebook do nothing, it's going to be the real nasty elephant in the room at the conference. If he doesn't get canned, it will be interesting if they let Palmer speak for the company with all of this going on.

The shitty thing is that this is going to be one of those pieces of information added to any Oculus story for a while on major news sites. You know, the ones which give you a little bit of background information on the company and related news.

While I realize Oculus is now more than one person, I really fucking hope they toss him to the side. He got VR started. He got rich. Let him be a rich asshole on his own now like notch. He should not be the face of Oculus anymore.

Wallach said:
Yeah but I can't make this thing worth a shit unless I give them another $200 for Touch next month. Which in the face of this is a pretty hard sell. Their job of selling me on that at Oculus Connect just got unbelievably difficult.
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Exactly how I feel. Oculus/Facebook as a company need to decide how to move forward with this. It will be very telling both ethically and morally how they handle this. I want to get a Touch, but at this point, I'm just not so sure I would want to support this company anymore. They need to handle this situation and give me the fucking strong sell at their OC3 event. If they ignore this like nothing happened, and Palmer is up there being the face of it all, I'm so tempted to just say fuck it and get a Vive.
 
Dirtyshubb said:
I have seen this not only through the news but in person too and it's a quick way for me to realise that the person is a cunt.

Every time these people seem incapable to recognise the privilege that they have had, the benefits and help that they have had throughout their life. In their mind none of that exists and everything they have earned is through hard work and determination.

Every time I have had to listen to people like this it becomes clear that they have absolutely no experience with what it's like to be poor, to have to worry about do you put money on your gas or electric because you can only afford to do one, to have to skip every school trip because you can't afford it, borrowing £17 to go on a trip and taking time to pay it back, to have to get a blazer for school from the school hand me downs etc.

Many times though you can tell that when challenged about this they will agree with you but deep down they think that they still had it bad and that for you to be in the situation you were in you must have somehow deserved it because they are better than you.

Just pure scum and deserve no consideration since they are often willfully dismissive of the truth.
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It's not just those who grew up privileged. To some there is a psychology involved in those who made it rich to make themselves out to be the hero of their own story with no help from anyone else. They were great and were always destined for greatness. Anyone who struggles therefore deserves it and should not take money away from those great people doing great things.

Meet exhibit "A". Craig T. Nelson:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=yTwpBLzxe4U
 
Krejlooc said:
You can grab some Playstation Moves and use them with SteamVR.
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I mean at that point I'd just as soon use the Vive instead. It's not like I'd have more interest in buying an exclusive game on their store any more than I would their exclusive controllers, it's all the same problem. What a bunch of fuckery.
 
Iced_Eagle said:
We'll see how Facebook PR responds tomorrow.

On one hand, regardless of the candidate, it sets a bad precedent to fire an employee because of whom they support. On the other hand, this is some next-level support of a candidate who seems to contradict a lot of goals of Facebook. As upper-management, he needs to represent the ideals of the company. Is using his money to support Anti-Hilary memes what they want their management to represent in some fashion?

This is real nasty timing for Oculus/Facebook with Oculus Connect 3 conference coming up in less than 2 weeks. Their Touch launch needs to go well or they're going to be swimming up shit creek real fast. This news is certainly not going to help their image right now. If Oculus dumped him (which who knows how his contract is written), they could save the face of the brand a bit and get all of this behind them and focus purely on Touch. If Oculus/Facebook do nothing, it's going to be the real nasty elephant in the room at the conference. If he doesn't get canned, it will be interesting if they let Palmer speak for the company with all of this going on.

The shitty thing is that this is going to be one of those pieces of information added to any Oculus story for a while on major news sites. You know, the ones which give you a little bit of background information on the company and related news.

While I realize Oculus is now more than one person, I really fucking hope they toss him to the side. He got VR started. He got rich. Let him be a rich asshole on his own now like notch. He should not be the face of Oculus anymore.
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Either they try to weather the shitstorm coming and force Palmer into PR hiding, or they get him to resign, way the laws are setup, they cant just out and fire him (california laws)
 
Iced_Eagle said:
We'll see how Facebook PR responds tomorrow.

On one hand, regardless of the candidate, it sets a bad precedent to fire an employee because of whom they support. On the other hand, this is some next-level support of a candidate who seems to contradict a lot of goals of Facebook. As upper-management, he needs to represent the ideals of the company. Is using his money to support Anti-Hilary memes what they want their management to represent in some fashion?

This is real nasty timing for Oculus/Facebook with Oculus Connect 3 conference coming up in less than 2 weeks. Their Touch launch needs to go well or they're going to be swimming up shit creek real fast. This news is certainly not going to help their image right now. If Oculus dumped him (which who knows how his contract is written), they could save the face of the brand a bit and get all of this behind them and focus purely on Touch. If Oculus/Facebook do nothing, it's going to be the real nasty elephant in the room at the conference. If he doesn't get canned, it will be interesting if they let Palmer speak for the company with all of this going on.

The shitty thing is that this is going to be one of those pieces of information added to any Oculus story for a while on major news sites. You know, the ones which give you a little bit of background information on the company and related news.

While I realize Oculus is now more than one person, I really fucking hope they toss him to the side. He got VR started. He got rich. Let him be a rich asshole on his own now like notch. He should not be the face of Oculus anymore.
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I'm thinking he'll probably be pressured to step down on his own accord.
 
This...is highly disturbing news. Starting to regret Oculus over Vive now. Only opted for Oculus since I could carry it in a suitcase from US to Europe saving a ton of money in the process.
 
Is this group, strictly speaking, a "white supremacy" group?

I mean it's clearly an alt-right organization full of trolls who aren't into promoting equality, and I'm sure there are some full blown racists within their ranks.

I just want to be certain. Because the truth is bad enough without sugar coating it as some kind of Klan meeting.

If that's what it is, by all means. I really am asking.
 
I think if Palmer came out as a Republican or that he only supported Trump or gave a donation to his campaign or the RNC it wouldn't be such a big deal.

But since it turned out he is actively involved in communicating Trump's hateful policies around, this has become a such more important issue.

And, holy fuck at his girlfriend's tweets...

He is irrevocably damaged.
 
Oculus has had quite a few missteps but nothing on this level. I'm really interested to see how Facebook responds.
 
Saya said:
I think if Palmer came out as a Republican or that he only supported Trump or gave a donation to his campaign or the RNC it wouldn't be such a big deal.

But since it turned out he is actively involved in communicating Trump's hateful policies around, this has become a such more important issue.

And, holy fuck at his girlfriend's tweets...

He is irrevocably damaged.
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Now I'm expecting a photoshop of him with "DAMAGED" tattooed on his forehead.
 
What an embarrassment. I feel bad for everyone else at oculus that does not share his views. Hopefully someday Palmer can see the light and be better to other people.
 
tuxfool said:
No. Nobody likes or respects him anyway.
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Yeah, that's what I thought.

I could think of some typical business conservatives that might vote trump, and anyone already losely connected to GamerGate, but that's about it.

Was suprised to hear this about palmer though, so what do I know?
 
x3sphere said:
I'm thinking he'll probably be pressured to step down on his own accord.
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One relative constant of the alt-right is members being extremely unapologetic. That he's apparently extremely open about his views means he's quite comfortable with them. This could get ugly. I hope not, of course, but it could well be the first time someone at that level silently went off into the night away from business on their own.

He'll get shoved, but don't expect any apologies or even non-apology apologies.

Facebook needs to get on top of this ASAP, though, for both PR and actual long-term business reasons. There's quite a future in VR for social, entertainment and educational purposes evolving in the coming years and Facebook wants in. It's no small part of their business strategy. It's not a thing they can really afford to write off.
 
Saya said:
I think if Palmer came out as a Republican or that he only supported Trump or gave a donation to his campaign or the RNC it wouldn't be such a big deal.

But since it turned out he is actively involved in communicating Trump's hateful policies around, this has become a such more important issue.

And, holy fuck at his girlfriend's tweets...

He is irrevocably damaged.
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I bet he's only doing it because of his girlfriend

She seems to be in pretty deep. Still though, they're both creeps.
 
AndrewDean84xX said:
Is this how VR dies?
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No, this is how Oculus Rift loses a chunk of goodwill with core gamers aka the segment of people they need to champion the product right now.

VR won't live or die by the Rift. I think Palmer will do damage control for the Rift (basically disassociate himself and his comments from the product), and since a lot of people actually believe in the racist (and elitist) ideologies that emanate from the Trump campaign, the Rift will be fine. The likeability and future support of Palmer (from core gamers) are the two biggest losses out of this. In other words, Carmack will probably be positioned as the face and spokesperson of the Rift from here on out.
 
BreezyLimbo said:
I bet he's only doing it because of his girlfriend

She seems to be in pretty deep. Still though, they're both creeps.
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Why are you so certain someone like Palmer Luckey couldn't possibly harbor these feelings on his own? Or that he'd stick with someone intolerable, precisely when his own posts under his pseudonym reveals he's got a high opinion of himself?
 
EventHorizon said:
It's not just those who grew up privileged. To some there is a psychology involved in those who made it rich to make themselves out to be the hero of their own story with no help from anyone else. They were great and were always destined for greatness. Anyone who struggles therefore deserves it and should not take money away from those great people doing great things.

Meet exhibit "A". Craig T. Nelson:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=yTwpBLzxe4U
Click to expand...
Oh yeah I'm sure there are those people too, like you said everyone wants to be the hero of their own story without giving credit to anyone else.

I grew up in a council flat with my mum on benefits and my dad not having a job (or officially living with us so no benefits) and I should be buying my own home within the next 6 months if everything goes to plan (first person in my family to do so). I am the prime example of someone working their way up from the bottom: didn't go to university, dropped out of college, first job was a cleaner, then Porter, then post room, then office admin, then social media and events admin, then social media data officer and finally a social media manager.

Through all of this it took a lot of hard work and determination that I am proud of yet I will freely admit that I had help along the way - friend of my wife got me the cleaning job, had people put in good words for me for others, government help to hopefully buy my house etc.

It just gets so frustrating to grow up and live that life to hear others claim poverty and poor upbringing when they clearly have no idea what it's like to actually come from nothing and try to pass off all their success as being 100% them.

That clip as you said is a prime example of how some of these people think, being oblivious to the help they received throughout their life.

I suppose this mentality is probably the cause of a lot of racism, the (often willfully) inability to empathise with what struggles others have had to go through in their positions.
 
BocoDragon said:
Is this group, strictly speaking, a "white supremacy" group?

I mean it's clearly an alt-right organization full of trolls who aren't into promoting equality, and I'm sure there are some full blown racists within their ranks.

I just want to be certain. Because the truth is bad enough without sugar coating it as some kind of Klan meeting.

If that's what it is, by all means. I really am asking.
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The Alt-Right is a White Nationalist group. They had a press conference last week here are some choice quotes:

"Race is a foundation of identity. You’re a part of something, whether you like it or not."

"When you ask whites to celebrate diversity, you're asking them to celebrate their dwindling numbers."

"I do not want my country to become one in which my children and grandchildren are not only a racial minority, but at the rate things are going now, a hated and despised minority."

"Why is Africa poor? Why is, on the other hand, Haiti equally poor? … This is because they’re populated by the same people."

"East Asians have the highest IQ — about an average of 102, 103. Next come whites at about 100. Next come Hispanics, which are a very varied population — hard to put a firm figure on them. And then blacks have an average IQ of about 85."

"There’s been an overrepresentation by Jews in intellectuals who have tried to undermine the legitimacy of white racial consciousness."

"Jews have their own identity. They’re not European."
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Vox has a very good overview of the movements various parts.

The group Palmer is funding is associated with Milo Yiannopoulos. Here is a good overview of what he is about.
 
I'll say one thing - hopefully in 30 or 40 years, VR, and then AR will meet their promise and truly change the world, and then we will look back on the birth of the industry and realize that, much like the apple vs microsoft, atari vs commodore era of early computers, the early days of VR/AR were riveting with drama.
 
The white supremacy claim seems a bit dubious, even somewhat libelous. I think part of GAF wants to label any conservative leaning as white supremacy because it implicitly perpetuates a status quo of whites being in power, but that seems way too short sighted for me. You're not a white supremacist unless you openly state it. I'm a progressive as a disclaimer.

That said, how this dude thought it was a good idea to go smug trolling (and I actually like smug trolling, I can also appreciate Phil Fish for instance), and then has the need to draw attention to it by turning it into a cause, given the position he's in. You'd have to be a real bellend. Of course he'll call himself a martyr, as he already claimed that any company in support of Trump would get blacklisted and his company is in a fast lane to get blacklisted. But Zuckerberg really has no other option than to protect his investment and do a big shuffle. Maybe also get rid of Carmack, as much as I hope he doesn't.
 
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