Patent ID: 8750313

Claim:
A method of defining message flow paths in a distributed virtual world formed by a plurality of peer servers each hosting a virtual space corresponding to a cell of the distributed virtual world, comprising: receiving, at a neighboring peer server hosting a virtual space neighboring a virtual space hosted by an originating peer server, a message flow path setup message from the originating peer server identifying a plurality of produced message types produced by at least one virtual object within a virtual space hosted by the originating peer server and a scope of the plurality of produced message types; identifying, at the neighboring peer server, ones of the plurality of produced message types that are of interest to the neighboring peer server; identifying, at the neighboring peer server, ones of the plurality of produced message types that are of interest to at least one further neighboring peer server of the neighboring peer server; providing a response to the originating peer server identifying the ones of the plurality of produced message types that are of interest to the neighboring peer server such that messages of the ones of the plurality of produced message types are subsequently routed from the originating peer server to the neighboring peer server; and updating a routing table by the neighboring peer server such that messages of a plurality of consumed message types from the at least one further neighboring peer server of the neighboring peer server are routed to the peer server.