Maintaining community integrity

• US 7,753,795 B2
• Filed: 03/16/2007
• Issued: 07/13/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/20/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Schneider, Steve C., Harris, Adam P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hotaling, II; John M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): D'Agostino; Paul A.
• Application Number:
  US11/725,175
• Publication Number:
  US 20070276521A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,215 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 463/42
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/75 Enforcing rules, e.g. detecting foul play or generating lists of cheating players
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5586 for enforcing rights or rules, e.g. to prevent foul play
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3241 Security aspects of a gaming system, e.g. detecting cheating, device integrity, surveillance computer security G06F21/00

Abstract

Maintenance of community integrity in a gaming network is disclosed. One or more devices interacting with a particular game in the gaming network may be monitored. During the course of monitoring these devices, indicia of the violation of certain rules that define fair game play may be identified. A user and/or device engaged in certain illicit game play activity that resulted in the violation of the rules that define fair game play may subsequently be identified. The identified user and/or device may then be penalized as to maintain the integrity of the gaming community. Various penalties may be implemented, including ejection from the gaming network or prohibitions with regard to future access to the gaming network. Various retributive actions may also be taken against a particular user who has engaged in illicit game play activity with respect to future game session activity.

Claims

1. A method for maintaining community integrity in a gaming network, comprising:

monitoring one or more devices interacting with a game in the gaming network for indicia of violation of one or more rules, the one or more rules defining fair game play;

identifying at least one user associated with one of the one or more monitored devices as a cheater based on at least the indicia of violation of the one or more rules defining fair game play, the indicia of violation indicating the presence of illicit game play;

querying the one or more monitored devices associated with the at least one user identified as a cheater to determine the presence of new code or modified code associated with violating the one or more rules defining fair game play; and

penalizing the cheater for engaging in illicit game play when a response to a query is not received or when the response includes an incorrect response, and the illicit game play is in violation of the one or more rules defining fair game play, wherein penalizing the cheater includes overwriting code on the device associated with the at least one user identified as a cheater.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more rules defining fair game play include rules accessed from a computing device tasked with maintaining community integrity.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein penalizing the cheater further includes ejecting the monitored device associated with the at least one user identified as a cheater from the gaming network.

4. The method of claim of claim 1, wherein penalizing the cheater further includes adding the at least one user identified as a cheater to a list of other users identified as cheaters.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein penalizing the cheater further includes adding an indicia of the device utilized by the cheater to a list of other devices identified as having been used to engage in illicit game play.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein penalizing the cheater further includes informing one or more other users in the gaming network that the at least one user identified as a cheater has violated one or more rules defining fair game play.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein penalizing the cheater further includes instituting at least one retributive action in a game session.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein penalizing the cheater further includes restricting network bandwidth between the device associated with the at least one user identified as a cheater and at least one other device in the gaming network.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the overwritten code includes software for a hardware component coupled to and enabling illicit game play by the device associated with the at least one user identified as a cheater, whereby overwriting of the software prevents interaction of the hardware component with the device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein penalizing the cheater further includes prohibiting the at least one user identified as a cheater from entering into a game session with another user who is not involved in illicit game play.

11. The method of claim 3, wherein one or more other devices in the gaming network maintain peer-to-peer connectivity with one another notwithstanding the ejection of the monitored device associated with the at least one user identified as a cheater.

12. The method of claim 4, wherein users identified on the list of cheaters are prohibited from accessing the gaming network.

13. The method of claim 4, wherein the users identified on the list of cheaters are monitored more frequently for indicia of violation of one or more rules defining fair game play.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the prohibition is instituted after the at least one user identified as a cheater has engaged in a pre-defined number of acts constituting illicit game play in violation of the one or more rules defining fair game play.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the users identified on the list of cheaters must request readmission to the gaming network following prohibition from accessing the network.

16. The method of claim 5, wherein devices identified on the list of devices of having been used to engage in illicit game play are prohibited from accessing the gaming network.

17. The method of claim 6, wherein the one or more other users are informed of the at least one user identified as a cheater having violated one or more rules defining fair game play in a game lobby.

18. The method of claim 7, wherein the at least one retributive action is selected from a group consisting of assigning an undesired characteristic to a character in the game session that is controlled by the at least one user identified as a cheater, the undesired characteristic being relative to the nature of the game, identifying the position of a character in the game session that is controlled by the at least one user identified as a cheater, and discoloration of a character in the game session that is controlled by the at least one user identified as a cheater.

19. A system for maintaining community integrity in a gaming network, comprising:

a monitoring module stored in memory and executable by a processor to monitor one or more devices interacting with a network game;

an analysis engine stored in memory and executable by a processor to identify one or more indicia of violation of one or more rules that define fair game play;

a query engine stored in memory and executable by a processor to generate one or more queries that may be used to further verify whether the one or more monitored devices are engaged in illicit game play in response to the indicia of violation of the one or more rules defining fair game play; and

a community maintenance module stored in memory and executable by a processor to penalize at least one user associated with one of the one or more monitored devices identified as a cheater based on at least the indicia of violation of the one or more rules defining fair game play, the indicia of violation indicating the presence of illicit game play and wherein penalizing the at least one user includes overwriting code on the device associated with the at least one user identified as a cheater.

20. The system of claim 19 further including a rules library comprising at least one of the one or more rules that define fair game play.

21. The system of claim 19 further including a rules generator configured to generate at least one of the one or more rules defining fair game play, the at least one of the one or more rules being generated through observations of interactions with the game in the gaming network.

22. A computer-readable storage medium having embodied thereon a program, the program being executable by a computer processor to perform a method for maintaining community integrity in a gaming network, the method comprising:

monitoring one or more devices interacting with a game in the gaming network for indicia of violation of one or more rules, the one or more rules defining fair game play;

identifying at least one user associated with one of the one or more monitored devices as a cheater based on at least the indicia of violation of the one or more rules defining fair game play, the indicia of violation indicating the presence of illicit game play;

querying the one or more monitored devices associated with the at least one user identified as a cheater to determine the presence of new code or modified code associated with violating the one or more rules defining fair game play; and

penalizing the cheater for engaging in illicit game play when a response to a query is not received or when the response includes an incorrect response, and the illicit game play is in violation of the one or more rules defining fair game play, wherein penalizing the cheater includes overwriting code on the device associated with the at least one user identified as a cheater.