Patent ID: 8443039

Claim:
A system, comprising: a website that a plurality of different users access via the public Internet; a virtual world that is accessed via the website, the virtual world allowing the different users to interact with each other via respective avatars; a client application residing on a host that one of the users uses to interact with the website on the Internet, the client application automatically monitoring the user's interactions; a server in communication with the client application that is remote from the website both physically and with respect to Internet addresses, wherein the client application further automatically communicates certain of the monitored user interactions to the server, and wherein the server includes a distribution manager that determines whether to automatically distribute one or more virtual collectibles to the one user based on the communicated certain user interaction, and wherein the virtual collectible comprises one or more of a static image, a moving image, a sound and a function; and a list of rules that the distribution manager uses to lookup the communicated certain user interaction, wherein the server further comprises a user communications manager that allows the one user to communicate with a group of other users, the group being determined based on the communicated certain user interaction, and wherein the client application uses a multimedia player on the host to render the virtual collectible for perception by the user, and further to render digital content corresponding to the group of users and communications among the group of users, based on the communications between the client application and the server, and wherein the digital content for each of the users includes an image representing a virtual identity, and wherein the client application further allows the user to reposition the image within a virtual space hosted by the server and rendered by the client application based on the communications between the client application and the server.