Achievements for a virtual world game

1. A system comprising:

a computer, providing output information in a form to be displayed on a display screen, said output information including virtual world information indicative of a virtual world with which a user can interact, said computer controlling registering a number of different virtual characters with which the user can interact in the virtual world, said computer also maintaining information about actions taken by the user, comparing said actions to a sequence of actions that is necessary to obtain an achievement icon, and providing said user with said achievement icon when said user has carried out all of said sequence of actions, and displaying achievement icon information on at least one user information page in the virtual world, where said user information page shows first achievement icons that have been awarded, second achievement icons that have not been awarded but where actions to obtain the achievement award are known, and third achievement icons that have not been awarded but where actions to obtain the achievement award are not known; and

where said first achievement icons that have been awarded are shown in a first way, said second achievement icons that have not been awarded but are known are shown in a second way that is distinguishable from the first way, and said third achievement icons that have not been awarded and are not known are shown in the third way different than the first and second ways, wherein said achievement icon that has been awarded includes an achievement card which shows a level of achievement of the user, a numerical count of a number of the user's friends who have earned the same achievement, and said sequence of actions which were taken to earn the achievement.

2. A system as in claim 1 , wherein said achievement card also shows a total percentage of all participants in the virtual world who have earned the achievement.

3. A system as in claim 1 , wherein said page of achievement icons shows achievement icons that cannot yet be obtained by a user.

4. A system as in claim 3 , wherein said page of achievement icons also shows achievement icons that have been started but have not yet been awarded, because the user has not completed the entire sequence of actions but where the user has completed some part of said sequence of actions.

5. A system as in claim 4 , wherein said page of achievement icons also shows other achievement icons which have not been started, and where the user is not given information about what will be necessary to complete the other achievement Icons.

6. A system as in claim 1 , wherein said virtual characters can be traded in the virtual world, but said achievement icons cannot be traded in the virtual world.

7. A system as in claim 1 , wherein said achievement icon is awarded when the user has collected a specified number of virtual objects in the virtual world.

8. A method comprising:

sending from a server computer system to a client computer over a network, output information in a form to be displayed on a display screen, said output information including virtual world information indicative of a virtual world with which a user can interact;

registering, in the server computer system, a number of different virtual characters with which the user can interact in the virtual world;

maintaining information about actions taken by the user in the virtual world in the server computer system;

comparing said actions to a sequence of actions that is necessary to obtain an achievement icon; and

providing said user with said achievement icon as part of said output information when said user has carried out all of said sequence of actions, and displaying said achievement icon on at least one user information page in the virtual world, and where said user information page shows first achievement icons that have been awarded, second achievement icons that have not been awarded but where actions to obtain the achievement award are known, and third achievement icons that have not been awarded but where actions to obtain the achievement award are not known; and where said first achievement icons that have been awarded are shown in a first way, said second achievement icons that have not been awarded but are known are shown in a second way that is distinguishable from the first way, and said third achievement icons that have not been awarded and are not known are shown in the third way different than the first and second way, wherein said achievement icon that has been awarded includes an achievement card which shows a level of achievement of the user, a numerical count of a number of the user's friends who have earned the same achievement, and said sequence of actions which were taken to earn the achievement.

9. A method as in claim 8 , wherein said achievement card also shows a total percentage of all participants in the virtual world who have earned the achievement.

10. A method as in claim 8 , wherein said page of achievement icons shows achievement icons that cannot yet be obtained by a user.

11. A method as in claim 10 , wherein said page of achievement icons also shows achievement icons that have been started but have not yet been awarded, because the user has not completed the entire sequence of actions but where the user has completed some part of said sequence of actions.

12. A method as in claim 11 , wherein said page of achievement icons also shows other achievement icons which have not been started, and where the user is not given information about what will be necessary to complete the other achievement icons.

13. A method as in claim 8 , further comprising allowing said virtual characters to be traded in the virtual world, but preventing said first achievement icons from being traded in the virtual world.

14. A method as in claim 8 , wherein said achievement icon is awarded when the user has collected a specified number of virtual objects in the virtual world.