I’m sorry, but it’s not. Same as the alternative to a meat-based diet isn’t “have you tried starving?”. Only other inside-out tracking headsets are made by Apple and Pico (Bytedance). Both companies that are as bad as Meta. You can debate whether humanity needs VR/AR, but that’s a different topic. VR in it’s current state is driven by Meta.

I fully agree with you that Meta should not have the quasi monopoly that they have. But what’s the alternative?

As one of those gamers, the answer imho is quite simple: Ignoring the awful data practices of Meta, the Quest 2/3 as a product is great. Over the years, my Q2 kept improving, with constant updates, new features and general performance improvements. I just got a Q3, and the technological jump is enormous. Add to that the absolute lack of (affordable) alternatives, and you have an easy choice: recognize that Meta has done more for the VR space than anyone else, or don’t do VR.

AFAIK coal power plants often(always? Idk) use steam to drive their turbines in order to generate electricity. I’m not arguing against nuclear, but for a very diverse mix. Warm dry summer -> solar. Rainy dark winter -> hydro & wind. If we keep burning fossils, including nuclear, until we can switch to 100% renewals, I’m okay with that. The big advantage of renewals is the comparatively low cost of phases where no electricity is produced. A solar farm doesn’t generate cost at night. Coal and nuclear plants can’t just be “switched on and off” at will, and if they don’t produce, still need a lot more attention. But for the meantime, they are necessary, until we either overbuilt so much renewables to cover for “no wind/sun/rain” situations, or get some storage solutions (batteries, hydrogen, biofuels,…) Implement on a large enough scale.

Adding to this, while the wind doesn’t always blow, and the sun doesn’t always shine, nuclear needs water to evaporate. In a world where droughts during summer get ever more common, nuclear/coal is not the 24/365 solution it once was. The future has to rely on a diverse mix of different energy sources, if it wants to be resilient.