Again, I'm not clear on what a virtual world could offer you that stuff like Second Life didn't already offer. My argument is that hardware simply introduces an additional barrier to the idea that hasn't caught on to begin with.

VR doesn't allow you to leave behind your imperfect real world any more than a good show, game, or a book. Having actually used VR, I can firmly say that the level of immersion simply isn't there. For VR to feel truly immersive you'd likely need to have some kind of a brain/computer interface and we're many decades away from that. I'm sure headsets will keep getting better and smaller, but real immersion requires simulating other senses as well. Basic stuff like moving around in VR without getting nauseous is an unsolved problem right now.

Meeting people with a VR headset on isn't really that different from meeting people by looking at the screen. In fact, this kind of stuff seems far more promising to me.

The fact that people are pouring billions into this idea, doesn't mean that it's magically going to overcome all the challenges and all the competition. My main argument here is that VR has to compete with other forms of entertainment, and many existing options provide high quality entertainment with a lower entry barrier. This is the fatal flaw that I see in the foreseeable future.