Method and apparatus for motivating interactions between users in virtual worlds

A method, comprising:

• hosting, by a server, a virtual world in which users can interact with each other via respective avatars;
• allowing a first one of the users to specify criteria associated with one or more virtual goods possessed by a second one of the users for use in the virtual world;
• receiving at the server, from a first client associated with the first user, information regarding a URL associated with a publicly accessible website that the first user is visiting via a network;
• receiving at the server, from a second client associated with the second user, information regarding the URL associated with the same publicly accessible website that the second user is simultaneously visiting via the network;
• automatically by a server, in response to receiving the information from the first and second clients that the first and second users are simultaneously visiting the same publicly accessible website, comparing the criteria with information in a profile of the second user;
• and
• automatically, by the server, alerting the first user about the second user based on information in the profile of the second user matching at least some of the criteria via communications by the server with the first client, wherein the publicly accessible website is separate from the server and its hosted virtual world with respect to network addresses.