Patent ID: 8145676

Claim:
A method for managing donations of shared inventory in a virtual universe, the method comprising the steps of: a computer system receiving a request to make a shared inventory item available for donation, wherein the request to make the shared inventory item available for donation comprises a condition for borrowing the shared inventory item; the computer system, in response to the step of receiving the request to make the shared inventory item available for donation, marking the shared inventory item as available for donation, wherein the step of marking the shared inventory item as available for donation comprises generating and storing metadata associated with the shared inventory item; the computer system, after the step of marking the shared inventory item as available for donation: presenting a list identifying inventory items to a user, wherein the list identifies donated shared inventory items and inventory items owned by the user; receiving a request from a first user to borrow the shared inventory item; and receiving a request from a second user to borrow the shared inventory item; the computer system, in response to the step of receiving the request from the first user: creating one of a copy of a file from an inventory source or a reference to the shared inventory item; and presenting an indication of the condition for the borrowing the shared inventory item to the first user; the computer system, in response to the step of presenting the indication of the condition, receiving an acceptance of the condition from the first user; the computer system, in response to the step of receiving the acceptance of the condition from the first user, lending the shared inventory item to the first user; the computer system, after the step of receiving the request from the second user, lending the shared inventory item to the second user so that the first user and the second user are simultaneously borrowing the shared inventory item; and the computer system tracking usage of the shared inventory item by the first and second users.