Patent ID: 8167724

Claim:
A guest-management system in an online multiplayer virtual reality environment comprising: a network interface disposed to receive a guest access request for a guest client and input data from a plurality of remotely-located clients, the input data operative to control avatars associated with the remotely-located clients in a modeled virtual reality environment; a memory holding program instructions operable for: determining whether the guest client is sharing a user account with a member client; if the guest client is sharing the user account with the member client, allowing the guest client to provide input data operative to control a guest avatar's movements in the modeled virtual reality environment; applying one or more restrictions on the guest avatar's movements in the modeled virtual reality environment relative to a location of a member avatar controlled by the member client in the modeled virtual reality environment and based on whether the guest client is sharing the user account with the member client; and a processor, in communication with the memory and the network interface, configured for operating the program instructions.