Patent Publication Number: US-2009233717-A1

Title: Methods, systems and apparatus for virtual event initiated electronic communications

Description:
Benefit under 35 USC § 119(e) to U.S. provisional application No. 61/069,341 is hereby claimed, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     With massively multiplayer network games entering the mainstream computing environment, i.e., games not relegated to computer geeks or nerds, in manifestations such as Second Life and Warcraft, a greater amount of participant time is devoted to these “hobbies”. Recent data supports the anecdotal conclusions that such games are materially affecting the real world lives of the participants due to missed work days, decreased social interactions with others, adversely modified sleep patterns and similar manifestations. From the perspective of those persons and entities on the supplier or vendor side of the equation, this type of behavior correlates to increased screen time, which is the objective of any computer-based business that derives revenue from its participants or partners. However, there are social costs as well. 
     If the primary business objective is to retain a participant&#39;s current interest in such games in order to maximize screen time, a secondary objective is to retain a participant&#39;s future interest in the game if not presently interacting with the game. In other words, if you can&#39;t keep them, then make sure that they come back. However, these objectives are sometimes at odds. For example, engaging games that are directed to the first objective are often difficult to leave (the game is intentionally engaging). If one does leave and there is no way of pausing the entire game (which is true in nearly all multi-player games), something could happen to the player&#39;s virtual interests during the time away, or an opportunity to do something in the virtual environment may be missed. A prior art solution was to pause the game play during such absences, at least with respect to that player. However, that solution would put such player at a disadvantage unless all other players were similarly affected. Otherwise, the game would continue without the player. 
    
    
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention in one respect relates to methods, systems and apparatus for electronically communicating a change in the state of an object or player in an interactive, networked virtual game (“game”) to a participant who is not then currently interacting with the game (“remote player”). Through exploitation of the invention embodiments, remote players need not be linked to the network under which the game operates in order to receive information concerning the state of at least one object in the virtual game (“object information”), or information concerning the state of at least one player (“player information”) in the virtual game in which they are a player, although such disassociation is not required. Depending upon the implementations of the various invention embodiments, the remote player may also actively solicit such information (“poll mode”), and/or may passively receive such information as a condition changes (“event-based push mode”) and/or may receive such information at predetermined intervals after a condition has changed (“time-based push mode”). In each of the specified instances, select information concerning the virtual environment is delivered to the remote player, enabling the remote player to remain engaged with the game, and potentially reentering the same. 
     The invention in another respect relates to methods, systems and apparatus for a remote player to electronically communicate to the interactive, networked virtual game at least one play instruction in response to object information or player information (“responsive play instruction”) or for a remote player to self-initiate at least one play instruction without having received object information or player information (“initiated play instruction”). In this manner, the remote player remains actively engaged with the game even when not participating “at the screen” (“virtual player”). As with the reception of object and/or player information, the degree to which a virtual player can assume the role of a player while not directly engaged with the game is considered a variable within the discretion of the game operator or other authoritative figure. Thus, the tools and options made available to the players of the game remains variable depending upon the objectives of the game and the game operators, as will be discussed below. In many embodiments, the nature of the game will determine the parameters of invention exploitation. For instance, in some embodiments, information otherwise deliverable from the game to a remote player may be restricted until the player pays a premium, reaches a certain level of achievement, establishes certain alliances, unblocks a communications jam instituted by an adverse player, waits, etc. Similar rationale and metrics can be used with respect to remote player originated instructions to the game. With respect to the payment of a premium, for example, the payment may comprise virtual consideration (e.g., virtual currency acquired, earned and/or bartered) and/or actual currency (e.g., PayPal payment to the game vendor of US dollars); with respect to the attention of a certain level of achievement, for example, the achievement may be related to advancing towards a conclusion during game play or the attainment of certain skills; with respect to the establishment of certain alliances, for example, access to communication conduits (incoming and/or outgoing) may require a relationship with another player possessing such assets/abilities; with respect to the unblocking of communication jams, for example, access to communication conduits (incoming and/or outgoing) may require payment of a premium or accomplishment of a virtual task; with respect to waiting, for example, it may be necessary for the remote player (and/or some or all other remote players) to simply wait for a period of time until communications are restored, either partially or wholly, as the case may be. 
     Modes of Communication: While the modes of information and instruction communication according to the invention are varied, certain benefits can be realized by using least mean time reception or transmission modes. In many networked virtual games, the ability to timely react to a change in virtual circumstances is rewarded. Thus, both the latency between player notification and player reaction are material to the reaction time determination. When a player is actively engaged in the game, i.e., s/he is not a remote player, the information communications and instruction communications take place through the game interface, and are presumptively equal among players (ignoring the very real variable of ISP to user data speeds). However, a different interface must be used with respect to remote players, by definition. 
     Modes of non-game communication comprise various electronic communication means through which informative contact to the remote player can be made. A non-exclusive and non-exhaustive list of such communication means includes Real Simple Syndication (“RSS”) feeds, instant messaging (“IM”) communications, Simple Messaging Service (“SMS”) texting, text-to-speech (“TtS”) voice communications (wireless or wireline), electronic mail (“email”), and addressable audio/video feeds over broadcast frequencies or similar technologies. Some of these electronic communication means use standardized delivery protocols, which makes widespread communication rather straightforward: knowing a remote player&#39;s mobile telephone number is all that is needed to send an SMS text to that person; knowing a remote player&#39;s RSS address is all that is needed to send short communications to that person. However, while a single protocol is used for certain types of communications, a particularly useful communication means remains segmented into proprietary protocols, namely, IM. 
     Unlike SMTP for email or the XML schema for RSS fees, IM protocols are generally unique for each network, e.g., AOL/AIM, Google Talk, ICQ, MSN Messenger and Yahoo! Chat. Therefore, it is not possible to use a single IM server for transmitting and receiving communications or instructions, respectively. Moreover, users of such networks are transparent outside of the network in which they use. As a consequence, the sender of a communication must be logged into the network AND have the unique address of the communication recipient. Embodiments of the invention address this complexity by employing an IM proxy arrangement between the game API and the network of interest. 
     The IM proxy arrangement includes a unified presence for at least one IM network, and is operatively linked to the game API in order to obtain information that will be the subject of communications to remote players. In this manner, information from the game can be conveyed through the at least one IM network. As noted above, the remote player&#39;s IM address is also needed to complete the communication. To enable such communication, each remote player that is interested in at least the possibility of receiving IM messages makes his/her IM address accessible by the IM proxy. As a consequence, the IM proxy functions similar to an IM “buddy” or friend on the network, but is instead a portal to other information networks not normally linked to the at least one IM network. As a result of this configuration, information originating from other sources can be ported to IM communications that are specifically directed to one or more persons. 
     Beneficially, IM communications are only sent when the recipient is confirmed to be “on line”. Thus, there is a built-in delivery verification, unlike alternative communication means that deliver the message, but cannot virtually guarantee that the recipient has seen the communication, presuming that the recipient has not simply walked away (email, SMS text, and voicemail are examples of blind deliveries wherein the communications are sent and stored regardless of whether the recipient is even engaged with the receiving apparatus).