Embodiments disclose a recommendation engine that implements a system and method for classifying users and media content, and for determining which media items a particular user will most likely enjoy. By organizing users and media content in a 3 dimensional virtual space and assigning x, y, and z coordinates to each, their relationship and affiliation with/to one another is defined by their distances from each other. When a user rates a media item highly, both that user and that media item move closer together. When a user gives a negative rating to a media item, they move farther apart. Further multiple users who rate the same media item similarly move closer together to form clusters of similar interest groups. This terraforms the virtual space into a natural attraction/separation of like-minded/different-minded users and similar/dissimilar media content.