Patent ID: 8214750

Claim:
A method for coalescing and collapsing a first area of a virtual universe into a second area of the virtual universe, the method comprising the steps of: a computer determining an indication to reduce usage of a computing resource in the virtual universe; the computer determining the first area of the virtual universe for coalescing and collapsing into the second area of the virtual universe responsive to said computer detecting the indication to reduce usage of the computing resource in the virtual universe, wherein the first area comprises a plurality of virtual universe objects; the computer selecting a first set of the plurality of virtual universe objects for moving from the first area into the second area, wherein said step of the computer selecting the first set of the plurality of virtual universe objects comprises the computer identifying those of the plurality of virtual universe objects that are interactive virtual universe objects; the computer analyzing whether an avatar is likely to interact with one or more of those of the plurality of virtual universe objects that are interactive virtual universe objects; the computer selecting the one or more of those of the plurality of virtual universe objects that are interactive virtual universe objects in the first set of the plurality of virtual universe objects; the computer coalescing the first set of the plurality of virtual universe objects into the second area from the first area; and the computer collapsing the first area of the virtual universe in response to the coalescing of the first set of the plurality of virtual universe objects into the second area from the first area.