Q. What's a "FAQ"?
A. Frequently Asked Questions. "FAQ" is often pronounced "fack". Not to be confused with "Frequently Unanswered Questions" (FUQ), like you find when your Google-Fu is insufficient and all you can find are many people who posted EXACTLY the same question you have, followed by a long series of "me too!" posts, ending in a "Never mind, I figured it out myself..." post, with NO hints whatsoever to help you answer your question. "FUQ" is pronouced "f--", umm... well... you can figure that out yourself. It is what you say when you reach the end of a very long thread and your question remains unanswered.
Q. What's a "Rift"?
A. "Rift" is what we affectionately call the "Oculus Rift", a shiny new tech toy that thousands of us are having horrible anxiety attacks over just WAITING to get our trembling hands on, and that is just the UNFINISHED Dev Kit version! We dream about viciously attacking the box it comes in to rip out its contents and wrap that enticingly seductive device around our grinning faces as quickly as humanly possible. In fact, we even dream about it.
Q. That really didn't answer my question. Let me be more specific. What exactly IS an "Oculus Rift", and what can it do for ME?
A. Okay, fine, if you really want the technobabble mumbo jumbo. But where's the fun in that? The Oculus Rift is an exciting new product from a company named Oculus, started by an infectiously enthusiastic young man named Palmer Luckey, who wanted his own fully immersive Virtual Reality experience. He built a prototype out of duct tape and prayers, and started a Kickstarter campain to help fund it. He sent his prototype to John Carmack, who endorsed it to all the right people at just the right time. The rest is history! This exciting new product uses the latest in affordable electronics technology available to us because of the popularity of smart phones and tablet computers. The Rift is a tool that Oculus will use in its secret plans to take over the world and force us ALL to spend our time with funny looking devices hugging our faces. But to be less scary, it will be designed by an artistic fashion designer so it does not betray its purpose like the "Face Hugger" from a certain movie about "Aliens from Outer Space":
![Image](http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080210191235/aliens/images/thumb/9/94/Alien_facehugger.jpg/250px-Alien_facehugger.jpg)
Q. Umm... WTF?
A. [Queue evil laughter]: "Mwa-ha-ha-haaaa!"
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRamB30E9mU[/youtube]
Q. Okay then, I will go look it up myself. [Googles it... Has more questions].
A. May I help you?
Q. Okay, now I know all about the Oculus Rift, but what is a "Rift Rider"?
A. "Rift Rider" is the name of an application for the Oculus Rift, and other consumer and DIY wide-FoV HMD devices. We hope that it becomes THE "killer app" for the Oculus Rift, helping Oculus to take over the world and force us ALL to...
Q. Excuse me! Not that again! What does a "Rift Rider" DO?
A. The "Rift Rider" is a Virtual Amusement Park application, letting you sit in your favorite easy chair, strap on your Rift (or other wide-FoV head-tracked HMD), and relive the fun you had as a kid when your family went to Disney Land or other far away and exotically expensive amusement park wonderlands filled with exciting thrill rides and colorful characters and scenery, taking you into its own "virtual world" to give you the best time you had in your life. Except this time, that virtual world is EVEN MORE VIRTUAL!
Q. Now I am confused... What does "FoV" mean? What is an "HMD"?
A1. That was TWO questions! Let's answer those one at a time: "FoV" means "Field of View". It is measure in angular degrees, and it tells how wide the pixels are spread in front of your face.
A2. "HMD" means "Head Mounted Display". It is what positions those flashy and colorful pixels in your FoV, replacing your view of reality with its own virtual version of reality, as far as the eye can see!
Q. Cool! How much will it cost?
A. We are so sure that you will want to come back for more, that we will even give you your first taste of this addicting experience FOR FREE!
... More to come later ...
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)