1. A method for providing characters for efficient display in a common room of an online entertainment system including at least one server, said method comprising the steps of: providing a common area for participation by a plurality of characters engaging in the online entertainment system, said plurality of characters including a specific character of a particular user; receiving input which enables selecting a portion of said common area for display to said particular user using said server; determining a set of local characters from said plurality of characters that are stored in said server and are linked to users, wherein said set of local characters are characters that are present in said portion of said common area; analyzing information in said server that is linked to said set of local characters or linked to a corresponding user of said set of local characters for matching a selected criteria linked to said specific character or linked to said particular user; determining a subset of said set of local characters for display to said particular user as being present in said portion of said common area, wherein said subset is generated using said selected criteria to determine said subset from said set and where said subset includes fewer characters than said set; and said server outputting data for displaying said subset of said set of local characters to a user computer associated with said particular user, wherein said data has said subset of said set of local characters for display on the user computer with fewer characters than said set of local characters, thereby resulting in displaying less than all of those of said plurality of characters that are present in said portion of said common area.