Methods and systems for rendering an interactive virtual environment for communication is provided. The interactive virtual environment is depicted from images to be displayed on a display and the interactive virtual environment is generated by a
computer program that is executed on at least one computer of a
computer network system. The interactive virtual environment includes one or more
virtual user avatars controlled by real-world users. The method further includes controlling a
virtual user avatar to move about a
virtual space and generating an interface for composing a message to be displayed as a virtual message within the
virtual space. The virtual message is posted to an interactive space within the
virtual space. The method further includes associating permissions to the virtual message, such that the permissions define which of the one more
virtual user avatars are able to view the virtual message that is posted to the interactive space. The virtual message is one of a plurality of virtual message posted to the interactive space, and the permissions prevent viewing of the virtual message by virtual user avatars that do not have permission to view the virtual message. The permissions may be based on one of buddy lists, game familiarity relative to other real-world users,
skill level of other real-world users, and combinations thereof. In some embodiments, the avatars can be computer controlled bots, thus not requiring a real-world user to dictate control.