Patent ID: 8527430

Claim:
A method for allocating customer service representatives in a virtual universe, the method comprising: in response to a customer avatar entering a virtual universe store that is defined in a virtual universe and that comprises an unavailable original customer service representative avatar, cloning via a processing unit the unavailable original customer service representative avatar and assigning the clone to the customer avatar; assigning by the processing unit a real-time experience rating value to the customer avatar as a function of observing body traversal movements of the customer avatar by: assigning a first real-time experience rating value if the observed body traversal movements comprise picking-up or manipulating a store item; and assigning a second real-time experience rating value that is lower than the first real-time experience rating value if the observed body traversal movements do not comprise picking-up or manipulating the store item; assigning by the processing unit a historical shopping value to the customer avatar as a function of retrieving historical customer data from a data store by: assigning a first shopping value if the retrieved historical customer data comprises a total shopping purchase amount that meets a minimum threshold amount; and assigning a second shopping value that is lower than the first shopping value if the retrieved historical customer data comprises a total shopping purchase amount that is below the minimum threshold amount; creating by the processing unit a customer profile value for the customer avatar as a function of adding the assigned real-time experience rating value to the assigned historical shopping value; choosing by the processing unit a subavatar as a function of the created customer profile value by choosing a first subavatar that is controlled by a human if the created customer profile value meets a high-priority customer profile requirement threshold, and by choosing a second subavatar that is controlled by an automated artificial agent if the created customer profile value is below the high-priority customer profile requirement threshold; and populating by the processing unit the assigned clone with the chosen subavatar, wherein the populated clone engages the customer avatar.