Communication between a real world environment and a virtual world environment

A method of communicating between a real world environment and a virtual world environment, the method comprising:

• receiving a signaling message from a communication network of a real world user in the real world environment to initiate an interactive session with a virtual world user in the virtual world environment, wherein the real world user is not logged into the virtual world environment;
• processing the signaling message to identify a virtual world identifier assigned to the virtual world user in the virtual world environment;
• converting the signaling message to a communication request message in a protocol used in the virtual world environment;
• and
• transmitting the communication request message to the virtual world user based on the virtual world identifier to establish the session between the virtual world user and the real world user;
• wherein a conversation for the session is through the virtual world environment from the standpoint of the virtual world user and is through the real world environment from the standpoint of the real world user.

A method of communicating between a virtual world environment and a real world environment, the method comprising:

• receiving a communication request message from a virtual world user in the virtual world environment to initiate an interactive session with a real world user in the real world environment, wherein the real world user is not logged into the virtual world environment;
• processing the communication request message to identify a directory number for the real world user;
• converting the communication request message to a signaling message in a protocol used in a communication network of the real world user;
• and
• transmitting the signaling message to the communication network of the real world user to establish the session between the virtual world user and the real world user;
• wherein a conversation for the session is through the virtual world environment from the standpoint of the virtual world user and is through the real world environment from the standpoint of the real world user.