16. The method of claim 12 , wherein the environmental chat comprises one or more of an environmental text chat and an environmental voice chat.
12. 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 such that the chat distance is inversely proportional to the number of avatars; 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; determining, at the server system, whether the area of the virtual universe associated with the environmental chat comprises an environmental chat obstruction; and in response to determining that the area of the virtual universe associated with the environmental chat comprises an environmental chat obstruction, modifying, at the server system, the chat distance associated with the environmental chat based on a location of the environmental chat obstruction.