It depends who you ask at CES, where companies show off innovations that could take us deeper into virtual reality, also known as VR.

The metaverse, essentially a buzzword for three-dimensional virtual communities where people can meet, work and play, was a key topic during the four-day tech rally in Las Vegas that ends Sunday.

Taiwanese tech giant HTC unveiled a high-end virtual reality headset that aims to compete with market leader Meta, and a host of other companies and startups touted augmented reality glasses and sensory technologies that can help users feel , and even smell, in a virtual environment.

Among them, Vermont-based OVR Technology showed off a headset that contains a cartridge with eight primary scents that can be combined to create…