Forget magical virtual worlds. In its quest to broaden the audience for virtual reality, Meta is now embracing much more familiar surroundings: Owners of Meta’s Quest VR headsets will soon be able to create digital replicas of any room in their house, and then invite others to “visit” them in those spaces.

Imagine, for instance, having a spontaneous family reunion in a metaverse version of your living room – perhaps even with an avatar that looks just like you, and not a character that has escaped from a video game.

“There is something very magical about scanning a space that you know, bringing someone else who knows that space into it and feeling like you’re there together,” says Vishal Shah, the vice president of Meta’s metaverse.

That magic, in turn, could help Meta turn its vision o

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