Patent ID: 8037416

Claim:
A computer-implemented method, comprising: receiving an indication of a requirement to present a plurality of elements to a user of a virtual world, wherein the user is represented by an avatar in the virtual world, wherein the plurality of elements include avatars representative of other users and other display objects representative of physical objects; determining, for the plurality of elements, respective degrees of importance to the user, wherein the respective degrees of importance to each of the plurality of elements are specified in a user profile of the user or the respective degrees of importance to each of the plurality of elements is determined based on past interactions of the user with the each of the plurality of elements; determining a density of elements to be presented to the user; determining, based on the respective degrees of importance and the density of elements, one or more display characteristics for each element, wherein the one or more display characteristics indicate the degree of importance of each element to the user, and wherein determining one or more display characteristics for each element comprises sorting the plurality of elements according to their respective degrees of importance; and presenting the sorted plurality of elements to the user, wherein each element is presented according to its respective one or more display characteristics.