The OP should quote the paragraph that actually describes what he doesn't want to work on:

"All these trends have been there for a long time. I used to be hypothetically
antsy about a major ad-run operation going long in VR. Now that Facebook has
bought Oculus, that's not a hypothetical anymore.

Now, I'm writing this just as the kerfuffle about Facebook running psychological
experiments on their users is ebbing. This is not surprising; if you're trying
to maximize engagement (and thus ultimately ad revenue), these are the kinds of
trials you run, because you want to know what to show to people.

So imagine a shared universe MMORPG, expressly operated by a company that
*already knows all your friends*, that's trying to maximize your engagement
("hey, all your friends are playing right now, don't you want to join too?"),
selling your attention to advertisers, and by the way, also building a detailed
profile on everything you do so they can do all of this even better in the future.
It's okay, go on doing whatever you want, we just want to watch! (Through your
own eyeballs if possible.) And mind, this has nothing to do with Facebook
specifically; given the current set of business practices in the tech industry,
this is pretty much what you end up with no matter which big player ends up
owning the thing. (Google is trying to tie you to their services too. As are MS
and Apple.)

That's a very cyberpunk future all right, but one I'd prefer not to live in."

Summary: He thinks that VR is a completely different thing that has the potential to keep gamers even longer "in front of the monitor", but that evil corporations are going to use adds to corrupt everyones soul.

I'm not touching VR with a ten-foot pole. I keep plants next to my monitor and TV for a reason. I'm also the kind that buys the smallest TV possible. What immerses me is the content, not the way it's delivered.

I'm leaning more towards you siding with whatever opinion you align closest with.

"From a tech perspective, VR is really exciting. It's easily the most interesting
(and challenging!) thing I've ever worked on, and not only is it an amazing
subject in its own right, working in the field you also get to work with lots
of brilliant people. As an engineer, it's a dream come true."

Okay...so what the fuck are you talking about? Oh right, here it is...

"So, to make sure that's properly unpacked: when I say that I think "VR is bad
news", I am talking specifically about the VR-enabled MMORPG-esque shared
universes that cyberpunk has promised us :), not about the much wider and more
open-ended concept of "things we might be able to do with working VR headsets
once they exist".

K, I don't care for MMORPGs either, so get back to work code monkey.

I guess this forum was not the right place to post this news.

Handhelds, tablets, laptops, phone games, playing in your room / man cave, all anti social. VR is just another display device, and imo completely impractical for MMORPG. VR didn't seem anti social at all in Otherland. Maybe he should read better books.

It's not insightful. It's another person who is spreading doom and gloom about technology and clearly has no faith in humanity to begin with. Like people are suddenly going to anti-social cause of this tech? Anyone who comes to that conclusion lives a very sheltered life and has very little understanding of human behavior. People have been prediciting the technology thats going to keep us all inside for the longest time and it still hasn't happened and it never will because it goes against are very nature.

i do think its more anti-social then gaming by yourself but vr never interested me anyways

i think there is a diff level of anti social that comes with vr depending on your living arrangements.  say you have a wife and a kid or two.  while gaming you can still talk and see what there doing so not that anti social but with vr your cut off from all that.  If a kid falls you wont know till they come get you, phone rings you wont know if your by yourself.  wife asks you to do something she now has to walk over and get your attention and startle you  

Its not news its just an opinion, and guess what people on forums have opinions too.

His reasons for not liking it are kinda dumb. And gaming is usually a very anti social thing.