I was asking myself the same question. The conclusion I came to is that the getting your mind blown phase doesn't keep you coming back again and again -- it's why games like Minecraft/League of Legends have much higher player counts than say The Last of Us, or other certified mind-blowing games.

I have a Quest 2 and a Steam Deck. Definitely my Steam Deck is getting more use, though it's initial "wow" factor was smaller.

I fear and despise the technology. Every VR experience I have tried feels less like the metaverse and more like I have slipped into the backrooms- a liminal waking nightmare. Perhaps I'm too old but I fear for the day that it's no longer a niche toy and we are at long last _compelled_ to wear a VR headset. At that point, adios reality. “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—for ever.” except instead of a boot it's a Oculus rift thats been surgically attached to your skull.

Probably because that experience of trying a VR headset is 80% of what it provides. Once the novelty wears off you find out there is not much to do with a VR headset for extended periods of time.

I think this is close to it. The challenge is the actual sticky applications are a lot less sexy than the ones that are like a sugar hit. When the novelty IS the value, you are always going to struggle with retention. There are real applications where the value is more than that, but they are never the ones you would show to someone in the first 5 minutes because they aren't nearly as impressive.