VR is the future, but it's still very early. Hopefully not too early that it will crash and disappear for another 20 years.
In the end we will have light weight unobtrusive glasses with combined AR/VR capabilities that you can comfortably use anywhere you like.

I haven't tried it yet so I can't say whether the current devices have a chance to become mainstream. They look a bit bulky but who cares. I do the majority of my gaming by myself on a projector so wearing a headset is no problem.

It all depends on the games.

Well I wouldn't say 3D was that much of a dud. At least the movie industry is making tons of money with it.

I don't really care if VR will be a fad. The few years it will be popular will be enough to get my fill and enough content out of it. But in the end it's really hard to estimate the success. While both 3D and motion controls have their wow effect, the effect of VR is so much stronger on the individual person. I think physical marketing will be the key here. Everyone knew before 3D and MC what it was and how it would feel like because they already experienced it before. But with VR almost no one knows how and why it is so amazing. Even in this forum misinformation is constantly spreading around and people write it off before having tried it.

So there would need to be big campaigns in malls and festivals and wherever people are to give them hands on experience with it or they won't see how amazing it really is.

i think 3D didn't work because most movies didn't use it well ,and motion control worked only 1 generation because they were bought by casuals gamers why would a casual games bough another console with motion control when they already have a Wii.
I think VR will attract hardcore gamers and not casuals so if it used well i don't thnik VR will die

VR isnt going to be a fad.
3 years from now, it ll be a market with a decent user base.

Software will keep improveing, and not just games.

Training simulations
Tourism
School learning
virtual hangout spots on the net (virtual cafe)
virtual concerts
1st person virtual porn
virtual sports channels (choose what to look at, when watching sports)

virtual movies (again you have choice of what to look at)
..
.
ect ect

Theres so many area's VR can do / change experiances.
I even think VR will make motion controllers make more sense, and help those sales pick up.

I can see VR as something you wont really "get" until you experience it.

This. I was pretty skeptical about VR until I got a chance to try it myself. Now I'm sold on it.