Patent ID: 8678891

Claim:
A method comprising: while playing a multi-player video game in which multiple players each supply inputs to a respective input device to control a corresponding game character in a game world displayed on a display screen, controlling movements of each game character in the game world in accordance with respective first game character control operations during the playing of the multi-player video game; in response to satisfaction of one or more conditions, protecting the one player's game character from harm in the game world; controlling movements of the protected game character in the game world; stopping the protecting of the one player's game character in response to one or more protecting stopping conditions, whereby the movements of the one player's game character in the game world are controllable in accordance with the first game character control operation for that game character; and if all game characters are protected during the playing of the multi-player video game, causing current playing of the multi-player video game to end.