Patent ID: 8128498

Claim:
A method for effecting offline player behavior within a persistent virtual world online game managed by a game server, wherein the game server observes and generates game events for the persistent virtual world online game, the method comprising: activating an offline player agent for an offline player, wherein the offline player agent has an associated set of offline player rules and wherein each offline player rule in the set of offline player rules defines an action to be taken by a character associated with the offline player on behalf of the offline player in the persistent virtual world online game responsive to a specified game event; monitoring, by the offline player agent, for an occurrence of a game event corresponding to an offline player rule in the set of offline player rules, wherein the occurrence of the game event triggers a corresponding offline player rule from the set of offline player rules; responsive to the game event triggering the corresponding offline player rule, generating by the offline player agent one or more offline player game events, wherein generating one or more offline player game events comprises generating a sequence of offline player game events under control of a script; and sending the one or more offline player game events from the offline player agent to the game server, as if the one or more offline player game events were generated by a game client device associated with the offline player, to effect an action on behalf of the offline player, wherein the game server prohibits attribute or skill increases that result from the sequence of offline player game events in the persistent virtual world online game.