Explain how sitting in front of my desk, with this gear on, looking at avatars of my friends, no matter the fidelity of the gear, is a better communication medium than group chat or video hangouts or the million other more efficient communication mediums that exist is worth anything more than a passing novelty?

Or are you proposing that I look at a high bandwidth, 3d video stream of somebody with a black rrectangle strapped to their face while they look at my complimentary version?