Patent ID: 7686693

Claim:
A system for enabling a host player to select one or more other players to participate in playing a multiplayer online electronic game played using a plurality of electronic devices linked in communication over a communications network, each of said plurality of electronic devices being operated by a different player and including: (a) a display on which a user interface is presented; (b) a memory in which a plurality of machine instructions are stored; and (c) a processor coupled to the memory for executing said plurality of machine instructions, said processor executing the machine instructions to implement a plurality of functions, including: (i) acquiring a contact list associated with the host player from an online messaging service along with the status of each contact, the contact list being associated with the online messaging service rather than any particular online electronic game; (ii) displaying the contact list along with an indication of each contact's status, wherein the contact's status indicates, for each contact, the contact's status with regard to the communication network, the contact's status with regard to the online messaging service, and whether the contact is utilizing the system enabling the contact to participate in playing the multiplayer online electronic game; (iii) enabling the host player to utilize the online messaging service to initiate a chat session using the online messaging service rather than any particular online electronic game; (iv) enabling the host player to select one or more players to invite to join the chat session including contacts from the contact list as well as players not associated with the online messaging service; (v) enabling any of the players who were invited by the host, to participate in the chat session, the chat session being independent from any particular game; (vi) providing the host player with a game selection menu thereby enabling the host player to selectively initiate launching an instance of a multiplayer online electronic game, the instance of the multiplayer online electronic game being separate from the chat session and the host player selecting the instance of the multiplayer online electronic game from a plurality of games displayed at the game selection menu; and (vii) automatically launching the multiplayer online electronic game on each electronic device being operated by each player participating in the chat session, the multiplayer online electronic game being launched in response to the host player selectively initiating launch of the instance of the multiplayer online electronic game, so that each player participating in the chat session automatically becomes a participant in the instance of the multiplayer online electronic game.