Patent Document ID: 9384469
Application ID: 12234854

Base Claim:
1. A method comprising: determining, at a server system, a number of avatars in an area of a virtual universe associated with an environmental chat associated with an avatar; determining, at the server system, a chat distance associated with the environmental chat associated with the avatar based on the number of avatars in the area of the virtual universe associated with the environmental chat, wherein the chat distance is inversely proportional to the number of avatars; and modifying, at the server system, the chat distance in response to detecting a change in the number of avatars in the area of the virtual universe associated with the environmental chat.

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Claim 9:
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein said determining the number of avatars in the area of the virtual universe associated with the environmental chat associated with the avatar comprises determining the number of avatars in the area of the virtual universe associated with the environmental chat associated with the avatar periodically at a predefined periodic rate.