Managing and presenting avatar mood effects in a virtual world

Abstract

A method for managing and presenting avatar mood effects in a virtual world may include allowing a mood effect to be associated with a user's avatar in the virtual world from a plurality of predefined mood effects. The method may also include presenting the associated mood effect to other users of the virtual world.

1 . A method for managing and presenting avatar mood effects in a virtual world, comprising:
 allowing a mood effect to be associated with a user's avatar in the virtual world from a plurality of predefined mood effects; and   presenting the associated mood effect to other users of the virtual world.   
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising presenting an interface to define each of the plurality of mood effects. 
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein presenting the interface to define each of the plurality of mood effects comprises:
 permitting a script to be associated with each mood effect;   permitting an action to be associated with each mood effect, wherein the action associated with a particular mood effect is performable by the user's avatar while the particular mood effect is associated with user's avatar; and   permitting an appearance of the user's avatar to be associated with each mood effect.   
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein allowing a mood effect to be associated with the user's avatar from a plurality of predefined mood effects comprises:
 allowing a happy mood effect to be selected and associated with the user's avatar; and   allowing a sad mood effect to be selected and associated with the user's avatar.   
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising presenting a visual indicator associated with the user's avatar to other users in the virtual world in response to the associated mood effect being selected and associated with the user's avatar. 
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising changing the mood effect presentable to other user's in the virtual world in response to the user selecting another mood effect from the plurality of mood effects to be associated with the user's avatar. 
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising at least one of presenting a predefined script in association with the user's avatar to other users in the virtual world to indicate the selected mood of the user's avatar in the virtual world, the user's avatar performing a predefined action to indicate the selected mood of the user's avatar in the virtual world, and the user's avatar having a predetermined appearance in the virtual world to indicate the selected mood of the user's avatar. 
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 requesting the user to select a mood of the user's avatar in response to the user logging into the virtual world; and   associating the mood effect corresponding to the mood selected by the user with the user's avatar.   
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 standardizing the plurality of mood effects as avatar mood effect attributes within the virtual world; and   permitting the mood effect attributes to be shared by other avatars in the virtual world.   
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising permitting a query by another user of the mood effect of the user's avatar to assist in interacting within the virtual world. 
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising allowing mining of mood effect changes and any actions taken by the user's avatar while in a particular mood effect. 
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising permitting an action to be associated with the mood effect, wherein the action is performable by the user's avatar when in the mood effect. 
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising triggering the action to be performable by the user's avatar in response to occurrence of a predetermined event in the virtual world. 
   
   
       14 . A method for managing and presenting avatar mood effects in a virtual world,
 profiling a set of mood effect changes to portray different real-world emotions and moods by a user's avatar to other users of the virtual world;   defining a predetermined action based on each mood effect change, the predetermined action to be performed by the user's avatar in the virtual world in response to the user's avatar being associated with a mood corresponding to the mood effect change; and   triggering the change in the mood effect in response to occurrence of a predetermined event.   
   
   
       15 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising at least one of:
 changing a script in response to each mood effect change;   changing actions performable by the user's avatar in response to each mood effect change; and   changing an appearance of the user's avatar in response to each mood effect change.   
   
   
       16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein changing an appearance of the user's avatar comprises changing clothing of the user's avatar in the virtual world. 
   
   
       17 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein changing a script comprises changing one of a verbal and a visual utterance expressible by the user's avatar. 
   
   
       18 . A method for managing and presenting a mood of a user's avatar in a virtual world, comprising:
 presenting a mood effect of the user's avatar to other users in the virtual world, wherein presenting the mood effect comprises at least one of:
 presenting a predefined script in association with the user's avatar to other users in the virtual world to indicate a mood of the user's avatar; 
 performing a predefined action by the user's avatar to indicate the mood of the user's avatar; 
 presenting the user's avatar with a predetermined appearance to indicate the mood of the user's avatar. 
   
   
   
       19 . The method of  claim 18 , further comprising triggering a mood change in response to an event. 
   
   
       20 . The method of  claim 18 , further comprising:
 standardizing a set of mood effects in the virtual world; and   permitting the mood effects to be shared by each of the avatars in the virtual world.