Patent ID: 8585501

Claim:
A method for managing a computer-based game session, said method comprising: receiving, by a game hosting service, a request to start a party session from a remote computer, the request associated with a user profile, wherein the party session exists outside of a game and across different games; selecting, by the game hosting service by using positive feedback information associated with available players stored in the user profile, one or more of the available players for the party session to form a first group of players, the positive feedback information set by a user associated with the user profile, wherein an available player who has accepted an invitation from the user to a social network comprises a friend gamer, and an available player who has been given positive feedback by the user comprises a positive feedback person, the game hosting service prioritizing for selection the friend gamer over the available players who are not friend gamers, and prioritizing for selection the available players who are not friend gamers and have higher positive feedback set by the user than other available players who are not friend gamers; establishing, by the game hosting service, a party session identifier indicative of the first group of players; establishing, by said game hosting service, a game session identifier upon start of a first game session by said first group of players; establishing a first game-play session identifier for tracking statistics of each of said first group of players during said first game session; retaining said party session identifier and said game session identifier upon completion of said first game session; abandoning said first game-play session identifier upon completion of said first game session; updating said positive feedback information of the user profile upon completion of said first game session; and selecting a second group of players from the party session for a second game session by using the positive feedback information to prioritize the available players that have higher positive feedback information than other available players.