Patent ID: 8676659

Claim:
A system for facilitating a proposed financial transaction between a first party associated with a first gamer tag and a second party associated with a second gamer tag, the system comprising: a storage device comprising the first gamer tag, the second gamer tag, a first real financial account, a second real financial account, a first gaming device identifier, and a second gaming device identifier; an electronic communication interface configured to: receive, from a first gaming device, information associated with the first gamer tag, information associated with the second gamer tag, information associated with the proposed financial transaction, and the first gaming device identifier; and receive, from a second gaming device, the second gaming device identifier; and a processor operatively connected to the communication interface and configured to: determine that the first gamer tag is associated with the first real financial account and the second gamer tag is associated with the second real financial account; authenticate the first gamer tag to the first gaming device identifier, wherein authentication is based on at least one gaming console controller; send to the second gaming device a communication comprising the proposed financial transaction; authenticate the second gamer tag with the second gaming device identifier, wherein authentication is based on the at least one gaming console controller; and facilitate the proposed financial transaction outside a virtual environment, responsive to receiving permission to facilitate the proposed financial transaction from the second gaming device, based at least partially on the processor determining that the first gamer tag is associated with the first real financial account, determining that the second gamer tag is associated with the second real financial account, authenticating the first gamer tag to the first gaming device identifier, and authenticating the second gamer tag to the second gaming device identifier, wherein the proposed financial transaction outside the virtual environment involves a payment in real currency from the first real financial account to the second real financial account, and wherein the payment is for one or more real goods or services; wherein the first gamer tag corresponds to a first avatar of the first party that is present in the virtual environment; wherein the second gamer tag corresponds to a second avatar of the second party that has no access to the virtual environment.