Time Magazine Did Something Amazing Today For VR

I can't get over how the industry has seemingly forgotten its roots and the fun that got this modern VR era started in the first place.

The Internet is abuzz about a Time Magazine article about the impending explosion of virtual and augmented reality technologies.  With slightly overdosed tongue in cheek humor, it teases Oculus Founder Palmer Luckey for his purported nerdish origins and overnight rise to multimillionaire-hood thanks to manna raining from the Facebook heavens.

However, what the Internet found most disconcerting of all was Time Magazine's cover picture which in a single snap robbed the Oculus founder of the coolness everyone seemed to cherish so, and a fear that this will somehow rub off on virtual reality.  Craziness!  Madness!  Where'd that come from?!?

First, I'm sorry, but similar to myself and the other MTBS members (MTBS is where Oculus got their start)...Palmer was never that cool to begin with.  Come'on! :-)  That was half the charm of the whole thing.

That said, I think it's amazing that everyone is having fun making meme's from the Time article.  You want an undignified picture of Palmer Luckey?  After Oculus' Kickstarter success, we had a whole contest with members sharing pictures of Palmer in all kinds of crazy poses, memes, and so on.  Nobody cared; that was half the fun and made for a strong bond.

If Palmer is half the nerd he used to be, he's laughing over this Time article.  Oculus should up the ante with Palmer riding an HMD-equipped gimp or mule or both - or launch a whole contest even.

Honest to goodness, this is easily the coolest cover photo Time Magazine ever had.  Compared to the conservative norm, this is a bit of history and people don't even realize it.  There is nothing more core to virtual reality than being fun for the cool, the eccentric, the Joe Shmoes and the geeky amongst us to do amazing things without judgement.  Don't fear it or try to hide it - EMBRACE it!

UPDATE: Speak of the devil.  Time Magazine completely gets it, and they've been collecting the best memes from all over the Internet based on their cover story.  Oculus, get in on this.  This could easily be the coolest piece of media coverage you've had all year.

All the featured pictures and more can be found in the MTBS Photocrop contest archive.  Have fun!