Patent Document ID: 9354700
Application ID: 13485715
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A computer-implemented method comprising: obtaining, by a hardware-implemented communication module from a communicatively coupled social network server over a network, social network information for a player of an online social game, the social network server providing a social network external to the online social game; identifying, by game logic for the player of the online social game, a first social contact of the player from the social network external to the online social game and a second social contact of the player from the social network external to the online social game, the identifying of the first and second social contact based on the social network information obtained for the player from the social network server of the social network, the first social contact and second social contact being different from the player; in a virtual world of the online social game, identifying, by a hardware-implemented location module, a first location of a first virtual object that represents the first social contact of the player and a second location of a second virtual object that represents the second social contact of the player; determining, by the hardware-implemented location module, a location adjacency metric for the first virtual object and the second virtual object within the online social game, the location adjacency metric being a function of a definable distance between the first location of the first virtual object that represents the first social contact and the second location of the second virtual object that represents the second social contact in the virtual world of the online social game; determining, by a hardware-implemented social module, a social adjacency metric for the first virtual object and the second virtual object, the social adjacency metric being a function of a max value divided by a social distance value corresponding to a social degree of separation between the first social contact and the second social contact in the social network external to the online social game; and modifying, by a processor of a machine, a game state of the player of the online social game based on a combination of whether the location adjacency metric indicates that the first location and the second location are within a first predetermined distance and whether the social adjacency metric indicates that the first social contact and the second social contact are within a second predetermined social distance, the game state corresponding to a numerical value.