Hasta La Creative!

OculusVR founder Palmer Luckey is one of the tech industry’s brightest rising stars—a fact Time tried but ridiculously failed to capture on its newest cover.

As you can see above, Luckey is shown in mid … uh, jump? Stumble? Rapturous epiphany? The only things viewers can tell for sure is that he’s been Photoshopped in front of a beach and that he looks ridiculous.

And it’s not just the image drawing heckles from tech enthusiasts. The story’s intro is cringe-inducingly awful at a time when most people have stopped seeing nerds as socially worthless outcasts:

“Palmer Luckey isn’t like other Silicon Valley nerds,” the article begins. “He’s a nerd all right, but not the kind who went to a top-ranked university, wrote brilliant code or studied business plans. He’s cheery and talks in normal sentences that are easy to understand.”

It’s doubtful that all this is just artful baiting of the Reddit crowd, but had it been, the results would likely have been the same. Photoshop has been working overtime today as many took up the challenge to make Luckey (and Time) look even more silly:

Time irresponsibly created a terrible story and cover for VR, but the response has been totally internet. pic.twitter.com/vzHLUzJwfn

— Mike Mika (@MikeJMika) August 6, 2015

Hey guys I’m pretty sure I found Palmer Luckey’s new book that @time magazine #VR cover is based on: pic.twitter.com/IJ8V438jr1

— StephenMauriceGraham (@400facts) August 6, 2015

Nerd: VR’s just a fad. Nobody’s gonna— Palmer Luckey: pic.twitter.com/zEnyoZtj2B

— Andrew Vestal (@avestal) August 6, 2015

We are just getting started…. CC @hmltn @oculus @PalmerLuckey @TIME pic.twitter.com/JV5QRRYSrZ

— Robert McGregor (@ID_R_McGregor) August 6, 2015

You’re welcome internet. I’m sorry Palmer. @TIME pic.twitter.com/eYIjopOWqP

— Vanessa Marie @ RTX (@VRex7) August 6, 2015

But perhaps this un-Photoshopped take was the cruelest cut of all:

When Palmer Luckey was a kid, he said “Someday I’ll be on the cover of Time Magazine, and everyone will respect me.” pic.twitter.com/5svbQHX8kX

— Joel Bernstein (@CastIrony) August 6, 2015

Não faltaram críticas e piadas à compra da Oculus VR pelo Facebook. O gadget da empresa, que ainda é uma esquisita e desajeitada máscara, gerou comoção a ponto dos funcionários da Oculus serem ameaçados de morte (!), mas a grande pergunta que ficava era: quem vai usar um treco desses?

Nessas horas, é sempre bom colocar alguma perspectiva. Em um evento em Los Angeles, o Google apresentou imagens de um dos primeiros protótipos do Google Glass. Hoje, o gadget de vestir está em vias de ganhar uma mãozinha no visual, com rumores de parcerias com a Ray-Ban ou a Oakley para tornar o dispositivo menos feioso.

Em todo caso, esse monte de cabos, fios e telas nas laterais das lentes desse protótipo do Glass não parecem assim tão diferentes da esquisitice atual do Oculus Rift. Mas continua em aberto quais seriam as possibilidades de interação do gadget de realidade aumentada com atividades na rede social. Quem sabe, um revival do FarmVille… 😉