13. 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; said server outputting data for displaying said subset of said set of local characters to a user computer associated with said particular user; updating said subset on a periodic basis to accommodate changes in the set of local characters due to one or more of said plurality of characters arriving and/or leaving from said portion of said common area; and regularly updating said subset to accommodate changes in the set of local characters due to said specific character moving out of a previous portion of said common area to a new portion of said common area and/or due to other characters of said set of local characters moving into or out of said portion of said common area, wherein said subset is determined based on those of said set of local characters found in the portion of said common area where said specific character is currently present, wherein said subset of said set of local characters for display on the user computer has 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, wherein for a different particular user using a different specific character in said portion of said common area, said server outputs data for displaying a different subset of said set of local characters to the user computer associated with said different particular user, said different subset having at least one character different than the characters of said subset, wherein said selected criteria includes whether each one of said characters or their corresponding user is on a friend's list of said specific character or said particular user.
13. 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; said server outputting data for displaying said subset of said set of local characters to a user computer associated with said particular user; updating said subset on a periodic basis to accommodate changes in the set of local characters due to one or more of said plurality of characters arriving and/or leaving from said portion of said common area; and regularly updating said subset to accommodate changes in the set of local characters due to said specific character moving out of a previous portion of said common area to a new portion of said common area and/or due to other characters of said set of local characters moving into or out of said portion of said common area, wherein said subset is determined based on those of said set of local characters found in the portion of said common area where said specific character is currently present, wherein said subset of said set of local characters for display on the user computer has 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, wherein for a different particular user using a different specific character in said portion of said common area, said server outputs data for displaying a different subset of said set of local characters to the user computer associated with said different particular user, said different subset having at least one character different than the characters of said subset, wherein said selected criteria includes whether each one of said characters or their corresponding user is on a friend's list of said specific character or said particular user. 14. The method of claim 13 , wherein said subset of said set of local characters for display is selected to be less than or equal to a predetermined maximum number of characters for display in a particular display area.