Chat clusters for a virtual world application

A method for organizing avatars for display during a communication session, the method comprising:

• receiving a request to join an existing chat cluster from at least one user;
• automatically adjusting a size of an existing conversation area associated with the chat cluster responsive to a number of participants requesting to join the chat cluster and a number of participants currently within the chat cluster;
• automatically re-positioning the avatar of the requesting at least one user such that the re-positioned avatar is positioned within the adjusted conversation area;
• and
• automatically re-orienting the avatars within the conversation area such that the avatars in the chat cluster are facing toward each other.

A method for organizing avatars representing users for display in a virtual environment comprising:

• identifying avatars to be placed in a chat cluster;
• automatically re-positioning the identified avatars so that the identified avatars are located within a conversation area;
• and
• automatically re-orienting the avatars such that the avatars face a center of the conversation area.

A method for adjusting display viewpoints of a user viewing a virtual environment containing an avatar representing the user and avatars representing other users comprising:

• providing a wide angle viewpoint to the user of the visual environment;
• receiving a request from the user to join a chat cluster;
• automatically re-positioning the avatar representing the user in a chat cluster with avatars of other users;
• and
• providing a close up angle viewpoint to the user of the other avatars in the chat cluster.

A method for adjusting communication channels of a user in a virtual environment containing an avatar representing the user and avatars representing other users, the method comprising:

• providing a virtual environment wide communication channel to the user to allow the user to receive and transmit communications to and from any other user in the virtual environment;
• receiving a request from the user to join a chat cluster in the virtual environment;
• automatically re-positioning avatars representing the users participating in the chat cluster such that the re-positioned avatars are positioned within a conversation area in the virtual environment, said conversation area having a size responsive to the number of users participating in the requested chat cluster;
• and
• providing a chat cluster communication channel in which communications transmitted from the user are transmitted only to other users that are participating in the chat cluster.

A computer readable medium for providing chat clusters in a virtual environment in which at least one user requests a chat cluster of at least two participating users to be formed, the computer readable medium comprising instructions causing a processor to automatically:

• generate a conversation area within the virtual environment having a size responsive to a number of users participating in the requested chat cluster;
• re-position avatars representing the users participating in the requested chat cluster such that the re-positioned avatars are positioned within the conversation area;
• and
• re-orient the avatars such that the avatars in the chat cluster are facing toward each other within the conversation area.

A computer-implemented method of organizing avatars representing users for display in a virtual environment, the method comprising:

• receiving a request from at least one user requesting that a chat cluster of at least two participating users be formed;
• automatically generating a conversation area within the virtual environment having a size responsive to a number of users participating in the requested chat cluster;
• and
• causing the avatars representing the users participating in the requested chat cluster to be displayed in a virtual environment such that the avatars are positioned within the conversation area, and such that the avatars in the chat cluster are facing toward a common location, wherein the common location is within the conversation area.