Oculus is getting social updates! Those taking part in the Rift Public Test Channel (RPTC) will get January’s Oculus Rift update early. Oculus community members that aren’t in the RPTC will get their update this month, Oculus Blog announced. This update will bring aboard two new social sharing features — Public Homes and Facebook
Open Up Your Oculus Home to Others
Community members can decorate their Oculus Home to have backgrounds with planets, cityscapes, and landscapes that can make it look sunny year round. We can make them customized to our own taste with high end pirate furniture, posters, and lively music, among other props.
This month, we’ll be getting Public Homes, or a way to share our virtual abode with those on our friends list and other Oculus members. The new addition to Oculus Home is kind of like an open house for the virtual world. Once officially released, the Oculus community will get a Public setting they can switch on or off and allow or decline other people to appear as a guest inside their Public Home.
How do we find these viewable homes? The feature will be located in the section called Places where your Inventory and Notifications are located. Oculus says that putting your settings on Public also gives those who participate and also have a knack for digital home design “a chance to appear in a rotating list of recommended Homes for others to explore.”
Why would you want to use Public Homes? To be more social with friends and family that have an Oculus headset, but also to see how creatively decorated some homes can be. Also, to meet others who share similar interests. How will they do this? They’ll recommend homes for you to visit.
Livestream Directly to Facebook
Pictures, comments, status updates, videos, events, AR overlays — now, Facebook will get Livestreaming for Rift. Hitting “Livestream to Facebook” from the Dash will let Oculus users stream directly to their Facebook in real time, allowing their friends to view it.
Recently, Oculus Go got Mobile Casting, which is a great addition that allows onlookers to view what’s going on in VR on their smartphone or tablet. Clearly, making it easier for our friends, partners, and those around us to view VR from the inside is at Oculus’ full attention.
Mixed Reality and live stream applications are available for content creators to download and learn to use, but Oculus’ mobile casting and livestreaming are far easier to use in the moment. These updates also give those without a VR headset access to viewing VR no strings attached.
Oculus is not only taking care of a few pain points, they understand how social influence works. No doubt, the more viewers live VR streams get, the more enticing it’ll be for viewers to try it out and then get a setup for themselves. It works for YouTube and Instagram, so this move is a fitting one.
Although easier live streams are what virtual dreams are made of, Oculus does warn that “developers can opt in or out of this feature, so livestreaming may not be available on all apps.” So far, Dead & Buried, VR Sports Challenge, and their esports game Echo VR are stream ready.
