An interactive virtual world having avatars. Scenes in the virtual world as seen by the eyes of the avatars are presented on user devices controlling the avatars. In one approach, a method includes identifying a location of an avatar in a virtual world, and a point of gaze of the avatar; adjusting, based on the point of gaze, a lens that directs available light received by the lens so that the lens can focus on objects at all distances; collecting, using the adjusted lens, image data; and generating a scene of the virtual world as seen by the avatar, the scene based on the collected image data, the location of the avatar, and the point of gaze of the avatar.