Asynchronous social events in computer-implemented games

• US 8,808,093 B1
• Filed: 01/23/2012
• Issued: 08/19/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/23/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Zynga Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Zynga Incorporated
• Inventors: Reynolds, Brian, Deegler, Matthew, McArthur, Virginia Ellen
• Primary Examiner(s): YOO, JASSON H
• Application Number:
  US13/356,494
• Time in Patent Office: 939 Days
• Field of Search: 463/1, 463/25, 463 39- 42
• US Class Current: 463/42
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/795 for finding other players; for building a team; for providing a buddy list
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/822 Strategy games; Role-playing games A63F13/825, A63F13/828 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/572 Communication between players during game play of non game information, e.g. e-mail, chat, file transfer, streaming of audio and streaming of video

Abstract

This disclosure generally relates to systems and methods to provide an asynchronous social event in a computer-implemented game. The social event may for example be a virtual party that is staged in a game instance of a host player and may comprise automated attendance of player characters associated with one or more guest players. An event invitation may be sent to the guest players, with the player characters of guest players who accept the invitation being displayed as automatically attending the social event. The social event may be played back to the guest players asynchronously upon request.

Claims

1. A method of hosting a computer-implemented game, the method comprising, by one or more computing devices:

generating a game instance that is associated with a host player;

sending an event invitation to a plurality of guest players who are friends of the host player in a social network, the event invitation being with respect to a social event that is to occur in the game instance of the host player;

in an automated operation using one or more processors, executing the social event in the game instance of the host player, the executing of the social event including displaying automated attendance and behavior of player characters associated with at least some of the plurality of guest players at the social event in the game instance of the host player, without control of the player characters by respective guest players; and

at a later time, after the social event in the game instance of the host player has been executed;

allowing a particular guest player to access the social event in the game instance of the host player, and

executing playback of the social event to the particular guest player, the playback of the social event including displaying automated attendance and behavior of the player characters of other guest players at the social event, the playback including display of in-game actions performed by the host player during the earlier executing of the social event in the game instance of the host player.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the attendance of the social event by respective guest players are conditional upon acceptance of the event invitation by the guest players, the method further comprising receiving acceptance messages from two or more of the guest players, the social event being executed such that automated attendance of the social event is limited to the player characters of the two or more guest players.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the executing of the social event is conditional upon satisfaction of one or more preparation tasks.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the one or more preparation tasks includes acceptance of the event invitation by a threshold number of guest players prior to the expiry of an acceptance deadline.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the prior operations of:

displaying multiple social event options to the host player, each social event option having a particular subject and/or theme; and

receiving user input that indicates user selection of a selected social event option, the social event having the subject and/or theme of the selected social event option.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the social event has a predetermined duration, the executing of the social event comprising displaying automated departure of the player characters of the guest players upon expiry of the social event'"'"'s duration.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the sending of the event invitation to the plurality of guest players comprises sending respective invitation messages to the plurality of guest players.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the sending of the event invitation comprises publishing an invitation on a social networking system.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising executing in-game actions by the particular guest player responsive to user input from the particular guest player during the playback of the social event.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the executing of the social event includes simulating controlled behavior by the player characters of at least some of the guest players during the social event.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing to the host player an event goal comprising a set of tasks, and awarding an in-game event goal benefit to the host player responsive to completion of all of the tasks in the set of tasks.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the executing of the social event further comprises changing a game display of the game instance from a normal mode to an event mode for the duration of the social event, to indicate that the social event is in progress.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein executing the social event further comprises applying a modified scoring scheme during the social event.

14. A system to host a computer-implemented game, the system comprising:

a game engine to generate a game instance that is uniquely associated with a host player;

an event invitation module to send an event invitation to a plurality of guest players who are friends of the host player in a social network, the event invitation being with respect to a social event that is to occur in the game instance of the host player;

a social event module to execute the social event in the game instance of the host player, execution of the social including displaying automated attendance and behavior of player characters associated with at least some of the plurality of guest players at the social event in the game instance of the host player, without control of the player characters by respective guest players; and

a playback module configured to, at a time after the social event in the game instance of the host player has been executed;

allowing a particular guest player to access the social event in the game instance of the host player, and

execute playback of the social event to the particular guest player, the playback of the social event including displaying automated attendance and behavior of the player characters of other guest players at the social event, the playback including display of in-game actions performed by the host player during the earlier executing of the social event in the game instance of the host player.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the attendance of the social event by respective guest players are conditional upon acceptance of the event invitation by the guest players, the system further comprising a receiving module to receive acceptance messages from two or more of the guest players, the social event module being configured to execute the social event such that automated attendance of the social event is limited to the player characters of the two or more guest players.

16. The system of claim 14, further comprising a prerequisite module to monitor satisfaction of one or more preparation tasks, execution of the social event being conditional upon satisfaction of the one or more preparation tasks.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the one or more preparation tasks includes acceptance of the event invitation by a threshold number of guest players prior to the expiry of an acceptance deadline.

18. The system of claim 14, further comprising an event interface module to:

display multiple social event options to the host player, each social event option having a particular subject and/or theme; and

receive user input that indicates user selection of a selected social event option, the social event having the subject and/or theme of the selected social event option.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein the playback module is further configured to execute in-game actions by the particular guest player responsive to user input from the particular guest player during the playback of the social event.

20. The system of claim 14, wherein the social event module includes a simulation module to simulate controlled behavior by the player characters of at least some of the guest players during the social event.

21. The system of claim 14, further comprising an event goal module to manage an event goal comprising a set of tasks to be completed by the host player, and to award an in-game event goal benefit to the host player responsive to completion of all of the tasks in the set of tasks.

22. The system of claim 14, further comprising a display module to change a game display of the game instance from a normal mode to an event mode for the duration of the social event, to provide a visual indication that the social event is in progress.

23. The system of claim 14, further comprising a scoring module to apply a modified scoring scheme during the social event.

24. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium storing instructions which, when performed by a machine, cause the machine to:

generate a game instance that is uniquely associated with a host player;

send an event invitation to a plurality of guest players who are friends of the host player in a social network, the event invitation being with respect to a social event that is to occur in the game instance of the host player;

execute the social event in the game instance of the host player, execution of the social event including displaying automated attendance and behavior of player characters associated with at least some of the plurality of guest players at the social event in the game instance of the host player, without control of the player characters by respective guest players; and

at a later time, after the social event in the game instance of the host player has been executed;

allowing a particular guest player to access the social event in the game instance of the host player, and

execute playback of the social event to the particular guest player, the playback of the social event including displaying automated attendance and behavior of the player characters of other guest players at the social event, the playback including display of in-game actions performed by the host player during the earlier executing of the social event in the game instance of the host player.

25. A system comprising:

means for generating a game instance that is uniquely associated with a host player;

means for sending an event invitation to a plurality of guest players who are friends of the host player in a social network, the event invitation being with respect to a social event that is to occur in the game instance of the host player;

means for executing the social event in the game instance of the host player, execution of the social event including displaying automated attendance and behavior of player characters associated with at least some of the plurality of guest players at the social event in the game instance of the host player, without control of the player characters by respective guest players; and

means for, at a later time, after the social event in the game instance of the host player has been executed;

allowing a particular guest player to access the social event in the game instance of the host player, and

executing playback of the social event to the particular guest player, the playback of the social event including displaying automated attendance and behavior of the player characters of other guest players at the social event, the playback including display of in-game actions performed by the host player during the earlier executing of the social event in the game instance of the host player.