VIRTUAL-WORLD BENEFIT TO MOTIVATE PHYSICAL-WORLD PURCHASE

• US 20120066040A1
• Filed: 09/15/2010
• Published: 03/15/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Original Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Inventors: Farraro, Eric J., Tapley, John
• Application Number:
  US12/883,042
• Publication Number:
  US 20120066040A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.12
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0209 Incentive being awarded or redeemed in connection with the playing of a video game
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0215 Including financial accounts

Abstract

A virtual-world benefit may be used to motivate a physical-world purchase. A game machine presents a suggestion that a user (e.g., a player of a game hosted by the game machine) make a purchase of physical-world item, and the suggestion includes an indication that the purchase entitles the user to the virtual-world benefit, thus providing the user with an incentive to make the purchase of the physical-world item. The virtual-world benefit may include a virtual world item, an amount of virtual-world currency, or both. Supposing that the user makes the purchase, the game machine accesses purchase data of the physical-world item. The purchase data indicates that the user has made the purchase. Based on the purchase data, the game machine changes a data structure of the user. The data structure is accessible by a process that configures the virtual environment as including the virtual-world benefit.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

causing a presentation of a suggestion that a user make a purchase of a physical-world item with an amount of physical-world currency, the physical-world item being a physically tangible good, the physical-world currency being declared as legal tender by a government,

the suggestion including an indication that the purchase entitles the user to a virtual-world benefit that includes a virtual-world item valid in a machine-generated virtual environment,

the virtual-world item being a physically intangible good that is manipulable in the machine-generated virtual environment,

the presenting being performed using a processor of a machine as configured by a module;

accessing purchase data of the physical-world item, the purchase data indicating that the user made the purchase of the physical-world item; and

changing a data structure of the user in response to the purchase data of the physical-world item,

the data structure being accessible by a process that is executable to configure the machine-generated virtual environment as including the virtual-world benefit.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the data structure is representative of an inventory of the user; and

the changing of the data structure updates the inventory of the user based on the virtual-world item, the updated inventory of the user specifying that the virtual-world item corresponds to the user.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

causing a presentation of at least a portion of the machine-generated virtual environment to the user based on the updated inventory of the user, the portion depicting the virtual-world item.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining the virtual-world item based on the amount of physical-world currency.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining the virtual-world item based on the physical-world item.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising:

identifying a category of the physical-world item, the category being indicative of a set of physical-world items that includes the physical-world item; and

wherein

the determining of the virtual-world item is based on the identified category of the physical-world item.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the physical-world currency is listed in International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 4217.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the virtual-world benefit includes an amount of virtual-world currency that is usable as a medium of exchange in the machine-generated virtual environment, the virtual-world currency being not declared as legal tender by any government.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein:

the virtual-world currency is absent from International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 4217; and

a quantity of the virtual-world currency is exchangeable for a further virtual-world item within the machine-generated virtual environment, the further virtual-world item being a further physically intangible good that is manipulable in the machine-generated virtual environment.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein:

the data structure is representative of an account of the user; and

the changing of the data structure increments the account of the user by the amount of virtual-world currency, the account of the user specifying a quantity of the virtual-world currency, the quantity corresponding to the user.

11. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

determining the amount of virtual-world currency based on the amount of physical-world currency.

12. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

determining the amount of virtual-world currency based on the physical-world item.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the purchase data indicates that purchase of the physical-world item was made using the amount of the physical-world currency.

14. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining that the user is eligible for an opportunity to obtain the virtual-world benefit; and

wherein

the causing of the presentation of the suggestion is in response to the determining that the user is eligible.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein:

the determining that the user is eligible is based on a history of purchases made by the user.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein:

the determining that the user is eligible is based on an achievement attained by the user in playing a game that uses the machine-generated virtual environment.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the purchase data includes a reference to the presented suggestion, the reference indicating that the purchase corresponds to the presented suggestion.

18. A system comprising:

a suggestion module implemented using a processor of a machine, the suggestion module being configured to cause a presentation of a suggestion that a user make a purchase of a physical-world item with an amount of physical-world currency,

the physical-world item being a physically tangible good, the physical-world currency being declared as legal tender by a government,

the suggestion including an indication that the purchase entitles the user to a virtual-world benefit that includes a virtual-world item valid in a machine-generated virtual environment,

the virtual-world item being a physically intangible good that is manipulable in the machine-generated virtual environment; and

a provision module configured to;

access purchase data of the physical-world item, the purchase data indicating that the user made the purchase of the physical-world item; and

change a data structure of the user in response to the purchase data of the physical-world item,

the data structure being accessible by a process that is executable to configure the machine-generated virtual environment as including the virtual-world benefit.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein:

the data structure is representative of an inventory of the user;

the provision module is configured to update the inventory of the user based on the virtual-world item, the updated inventory specifying that the virtual-world item corresponds to the user; and

the system further comprises

a game module configured to;

determine that the user is eligible for an opportunity to obtain the virtual-world benefit based on an achievement attained by the user in playing a game that uses the machine-generated virtual environment; and

cause a presentation of at least a portion of the machine-generated virtual environment to the user based on the updated inventory of the user, the portion depicting the virtual-world item.

20. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

causing a presentation of a suggestion that a user make a purchase of a physical-world item with an amount of physical-world currency,

the physical-world item being a physically tangible good, the physical-world currency being declared as legal tender by a government,

the suggestion including an indication that the purchase entitles the user to a virtual-world benefit that includes a virtual-world item valid in a machine-generated virtual environment,

the virtual-world item being a physically intangible good that is manipulable in the machine-generated virtual environment;

accessing purchase data of the physical-world item,

the purchase data indicating that the user made the purchase of the physical-world item; and

changing a data structure of the user in response to the purchase data of the physical-world item,

the data structure being accessible by a process that is executable to configure the machine-generated virtual environment as including the virtual-world benefit.