Patent ID: 7534157

Claim:
A toy for utilizing a computer system for providing a virtual world to a user of said toy, the computer system comprising: a server subsystem serving virtual world data, via the Internet, to a user computer, and receiving a registration code provided with said toy from the user computer; a storage subsystem storing data relating to a plurality of registration codes, said registration codes corresponding to said plurality of toys, wherein said toy is one of the plurality of toys; a registration subsystem verifying said registration code against the data relating to the plurality of registration codes, and registering said toy in the system responsive to said verifying, said registration subsystem also determining a quantity of toys registered by said user, wherein the verifying includes determining a validity of said registration code; and a virtual world providing subsystem for providing the virtual world data to a browser application executing on the user computer and capable of displaying web pages, wherein the virtual world data is for use by the user computer to present a virtual world to the user, wherein the virtual world includes a virtual toy representing said toy and a reward that is based on said quantity of toys registered by said user, where said reward includes extra rewards for more toys being registered, where said extra rewards are greater rewards than rewards that would be obtained from registering said toys individually and wherein the virtual world data provides a plurality of activities for the user and the virtual toy to participate in via interactions with the user computer, the plurality of activities including all of virtually feeding the virtual toy, playing with the virtual toy, virtually purchasing virtual furnishings for a virtual room in the virtual world using virtual cash, and virtually purchasing virtual food for the virtual toy using the virtual cash for virtually feeding to the virtual toy in the virtual world and said activities allow using said extra rewards as part of said activities.