Event determination in a virtual universe

1. A method for automatically determining an occurrence of an event in a virtual universe, comprising:

monitoring a plurality of regions within the virtual universe; and

determining an occurrence of an event within at least one of the plurality of regions according to locations of avatars that are on-line in the virtual universe and fields of view that the avatars have from each of the locations, wherein the determining of an occurrence of an event comprises applying an event weighting to the locations of the avatars that are on-line in the virtual universe and to locations of the virtual universe that are in the field of view of the avatars, wherein each event weighting applied to locations that have avatars congregated thereat and locations that are in the field of view of the avatars signifies a probability that an event is occurring at a particular location, specifying a weight multiplier to a particular location within the virtual universe as a function of a number of avatars viewing the location, wherein the weight multiplier affects the event weighting according to the number of avatars viewing the particular location, the more number of avatars viewing the location has a higher weight multiplier that corresponds to a higher event weighting specified for that location, while the less number of avatars viewing the location has a lower weight multiplier that corresponds to a lower event weighting specified for that location, and modifying the event weighting of a location in the virtual universe in response to a determination that the weighting is disproportionate to an average weighting that is historically associated with that location.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising declaring the occurrence of an event to the avatars.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the declaring of the occurrence of an event comprises notifying the avatars through a medium that includes at least one of an email message, instant message, or a bulletin board.

4. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the declaring of the occurrence of an event comprises notifying the avatars through an invitation to teleport to the location of the event.

5. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the declaring of the occurrence of an event to the avatars within the virtual universe is based on specified notification and event threshold preferences.

6. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the declaring of the occurrence of an event comprises notifying users that have avatars in the virtual universe but are presently off-line during declaration of the event.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the determining of an occurrence of an event comprises permitting designated avatars with event declaration permissions to manually trigger an event declaration.

8. The method according to claim 7 , further comprising enabling the designated avatars to tag events with predetermined event identification tags.

9. The method according to claim 7 , further comprising applying a weight to the designated avatars that is indicative as having more importance with respect to observing an event that is potentially interesting to other avatars without event declaration permissions.

10. A computer system for automatically determining an occurrence of an event in a virtual universe, comprising:

at least one processing unit;

memory operably associated with the at least one processing unit; and

an event occurrence detection tool storable in memory and executable by the at least one processing unit, the tool comprising:

a virtual universe monitoring component configured to monitor a plurality of regions within the virtual universe; and

an event determination component configured to determine an occurrence of an event within at least one of the plurality of regions monitored by the virtual universe monitoring component, wherein the event determination component determines an occurrence of an event according to locations of avatars that are on-line in the virtual universe and fields of view that the avatars have from each of the locations, wherein the event determination component is further configured to apply an event weighting to each of the locations that have avatars and to locations of the virtual universe that are in the field of view of the avatars, wherein each event weighting applied to locations that have avatars congregated thereat and locations that are in the field of view of the avatars signifies a probability that an event is occurring at a particular location, specify a weight multiplier to a particular location within the virtual universe as a function of a number of avatars viewing the location, wherein the weight multiplier affects the event weighting according to the number of avatars viewing the particular location, the more number of avatars viewing the location has a higher weight multiplier that corresponds to a higher event weighting specified for that location, while the less number of avatars viewing the location has a lower weight multiplier that corresponds to a lower event weighting specified for that location, and modify the event weighting of a location in the virtual universe in response to a determination that the weighting is disproportionate to an average weighting that is historically associated with that location.

11. The system according to claim 10 , further comprising an event declaration component configured to declare the occurrence of an event to the avatars.

12. The system according to claim 11 , wherein the event declaration component is further configured to provide notification through a medium that includes at least one of an email message, an instant message, video or a bulletin board.

13. The system according to claim 11 , wherein the event declaration component is further configured to provide notification through an invitation to teleport to the location of the event.

14. A computer-readable storage device storing computer instructions, which when executed, enables a computer system to automatically determine an occurrence of an event in a virtual universe, the computer instructions comprising:

monitoring a plurality of regions within the virtual universe; and

determining an occurrence of an event within at least one of the plurality of regions according to locations of avatars that are on-line in the virtual universe and fields of view that the avatars have from each of the locations, wherein the determining of an occurrence of an event comprises applying an event weighting to the locations of the avatars that are on-line in the virtual universe and to locations of the virtual universe that are in the field of view of the avatars, wherein each event weighting applied to locations that have avatars congregated thereat and locations that are in the field of view of the avatars signifies a probability that an event is occurring at a particular location, specifying a weight multiplier to a particular location within the virtual universe as a function of a number of avatars viewing the location, wherein the weight multiplier affects the event weighting according to the number of avatars viewing the particular location, the more number of avatars viewing the location has a higher weight multiplier that corresponds to a higher event weighting specified for that location, while the less number of avatars viewing the location has a lower weight multiplier that corresponds to a lower event weighting specified for that location, and modifying the event weighting of a location in the virtual universe in response to a determination that the weighting is disproportionate to an average weighting that is historically associated with that location.

15. The computer-readable storage device according to claim 14 , further comprising instructions for declaring the occurrence of an event to the avatars.

16. The computer-readable storage device according to claim 15 , wherein the declaring of the occurrence of an event comprises instructions for notifying the avatars through a medium that includes at least one of an email message, instant message, or a bulletin board.

17. The computer-readable storage device according to claim 15 , wherein the declaring of the occurrence of an event comprises instructions for notifying the avatars through an invitation to teleport to the location of the event.

18. The computer-readable storage device according to claim 15 , wherein the declaring of the occurrence of an event comprises instructions for notifying users that have avatars in the virtual universe but are presently off-line during declaration of the event.

19. A method for deploying an event occurrence detection tool for use in a computer system that automatically determines an occurrence of an event in a virtual universe, comprising:

providing a computer infrastructure operable to:

monitor a plurality of regions within the virtual universe; and

determine an occurrence of an event within at least one of the plurality of regions according to locations of avatars that are on-line in the virtual universe and fields of view that the avatars have from each of the locations, wherein the determining of an occurrence of an event comprises applying an event weighting to the locations of the avatars that are on-line in the virtual universe and to locations of the virtual universe that are in the field of view of the avatars, wherein each event weighting applied to locations that have avatars congregated thereat and locations that are in the field of view of the avatars signifies a probability that an event is occurring at a particular location, specifying a weight multiplier to a particular location within the virtual universe as a function of a number of avatars viewing the location, wherein the weight multiplier affects the event weighting according to the number of avatars viewing the particular location, the more number of avatars viewing the location has a higher weight multiplier that corresponds to a higher event weighting specified for that location, while the less number of avatars viewing the location has a lower weight multiplier that corresponds to a lower event weighting specified for that location, and modifying the event weighting of a location in the virtual universe in response to a determination that the weighting is disproportionate to an average weighting that is historically associated with that location.