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Facebook announces updated avatars, game invites, and challenges for Quest ecosystem

The Oculus Quest ecosystem will offer more features geared towards bringing VR users together.

Chris Jarrard

September 16, 2020 11:20 AM

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The announcements and demonstrations were coming hard and fast during the Oculus Connect live event and Facebook took the opportunity to share information on the upcoming quality of life improvements for players who regularly interact with others using the Quest. Users will now be able to share game invites and gameplay challenges for titles integrated into the Quest ecosystem. 

Facebook also teased a revamp of the Avatars currently used with Oculus Quest and announced that a new developer SDK specifically made for Avatars would soon be made available so content creators can offer more-detailed characters for use on the platform. No one wants to go out into the vast cyber world without some sort of snazzy digital representation of themselves. Hopefully, these new Avatar designs will be just what the doctor ordered for folks who prefer to hang out on Facebook VR instead of in real life.

Of course, most people can't meet up in real life right now anyway due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation. When you look at the news from that perspective, it makes you wonder if Facebook is actually super clever and is using their cyber-snooping abilities to enhance non-physical contact. Or maybe they are just collecting your data to sell to advertisers and political campaigns as they have been known to do in the past. All I know is that I'm super creeped out by everything happening these days and I feel more alone than ever before. Is there anyone else out there who feels the same? Can there be hope for us — the lonely internet lurkers longing for the simple touch of another person? Will I ever be able to make a real connection? Do people even read this far into these types of posts?

Thanks for reading Shacknews. I hope you're feeling well. 

Chris Jarrard

Contributing Tech Editor

Chris Jarrard likes playing games, crankin' tunes, and looking for fights on obscure online message boards. He understands that breakfast food is the only true food. Don't @ him.