Collaborative access model for shared virtual environments

As shared virtual environments move beyond mere exemplars of computer graphics techniques, and evolve more meaningful content, issues such as 'ownership' or 'access' become important. Some artefacts in synthetic environments have 'real world' counterparts and require 'real world' access control and security. Others are entirely synthetic, and may require more esoteric access control. In either case, support for access model definition is becoming an important consideration for the future of virtual environments. In this paper we explore the different types of access required by different styles of VE, and develop a novel access model appropriate for these situations