Patent ID: 8516553

Claim:
A method comprising steps of: serving virtual world content stored on a server to a website over the Internet, the virtual world content including a plurality of activities in a virtual world and virtual character content, the virtual character content including a plurality of virtual characters that interact with the virtual world content forming the plurality of activities in the virtual world, the plurality of virtual characters including a plurality of premium virtual characters and a plurality of generic virtual characters; responsive to authenticating one of a plurality of paid user accounts which requires a user having paid for access, permitting user control of a premium virtual character via said one of the plurality of paid user accounts, the premium virtual character being one of the plurality of premium virtual characters; responsive to a request for a temporary user account which does not require a user having paid for access, creating a temporary user account and permitting user control of a generic virtual character via the temporary user account, where the temporary user account permits said user control only for a specified period of time after the temporary account is created, the generic virtual character having a generic visual appearance that is different from visual appearances of the plurality of premium virtual characters, and the temporary user account being one of a plurality of temporary user accounts; disabling the temporary user account after the specified period of time, wherein the temporary user account cannot be reenabled after the disabling and wherein the temporary user account is not extendible past the specified period of time, wherein access to the plurality of activities via the virtual world content is provided exclusively to a plurality of authorized user accounts, the plurality of authorized user accounts consisting of the plurality of paid user accounts and the plurality of temporary user accounts.