Patent ID: 8694585

Claim:
A method, comprising: receiving from a first account a message in a first format associated with a first synthetic environment; determining whether the message is to be sent to an endpoint is one of: logged into the first synthetic environment, logged into a second synthetic environment, and not logged into any synthetic environment, the endpoint being associated with a second account, wherein the determining comprises: polling the endpoint to determining whether the endpoint is logged into one of the first or the second synthetic environments or not logged into any synthetic environment; and in the event that the endpoint is logged into one of the first or the second synthetic environments: querying the endpoint for an identifying number; and comparing the identifying number to a list of identifying numbers corresponding to accounts logged into one of the first or the second synthetic environments to determine whether the endpoint is logged into the first synthetic environment or the second synthetic environment; configuring the message to be transferred from the first account to the second account using a first communication interface implemented with the first synthetic environment, the first communication interface being configured to transfer data between the first synthetic environment and an application using a first protocol that is substantially different from a second protocol used with a second communication interface; transforming the message and the data using the first protocol to generate the message in a second format based on a friends' list, a guild list, a preference, or a filter; and sending the message in the second format from the first synthetic environment to the second account associated with the second synthetic environment using the first communication interface and the first protocol, the first protocol being one of extensible messaging and presence protocol (XMPP), Jabber, wireless application protocol (WAP), Internet control message protocol (ICMP), Internet relay chat (IRC), Property Class, short messaging system (SMS), or simple message transfer protocol (SMTP).