I never minded the VR, and was actually sorta discouraged to RP the first few times I tried before it became VR.
The issue is that the summit is a IC starting point, its generally where people get their first RP experience, and in my case, I felt like I was blocked from the community by the Summit. Its nice to be able to have philosophical discussions, and complex big issue debates, but those things scare noobies who don't understand the game enough and if they can't get involved...well...it keeps them out of the community.
I agree there needs to be a big IC channel for the big issues, but the summit is also the 'face' of RPing, and putting that in front, combined with the issues on the IGS forum, it scares people. It makes them think they can't get casually involved, it removes a lot of the fun from RPing for newer pilots. Which I think is the problem.
And yes, my VR dealie will help that, but unless my VR dealie is able to get the publicity that the Summit has, the Summit will remain the first contact point for IC interactions, and we need to keep that in mind.
Also, when I stop being lazy, I'll make a topic to get feedback and suggestions on how and in what way to set up the VR hangout so it is accessible to as many people as possible.
Till then it'll be a nightclub.