System and method for enabling players to participate in asynchronous, competitive challenges

• US 9,682,324 B2
• Filed: 05/12/2010
• Issued: 06/20/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/12/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Activision Publishing Incorporated (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Activision Publishing Incorporated (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Bansi, Charnjit Singh, Kerby, Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): Lewis, David L
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hoel, Matthew D.
• Application Number:
  US12/778,884
• Publication Number:
  US 20110281638A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,596 Days
• Field of Search: 463 23
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/46 Computing the game score
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/53 involving additional visual information provided to the game scene, e.g. by overlay to simulate a head-up display [HUD] or displaying a laser sight in a shooting game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/69 by enabling or updating specific game elements, e.g. unlocking hidden features, items, levels or versions
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/795 for finding other players; for building a team; for providing a buddy list
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5566 by matching opponents or finding partners to build a team, e.g. by skill level, geographical area, background, play style
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/6036 for offering a minigame in combination with a main game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/61 Score computation

Abstract

Players are enabled to participate in competitive challenges within a videogame. The challenges may provide for interactive play between players while the players play the videogame in an asynchronous manner. The challenges may be based on actual performances of one or more tasks by the players within the videogame. The tasks may include, for example, one or more of a race, a battle, a fight, a musical performance (or simulated music performance), a puzzle, and/or other objectives or tasks.

Claims

1. A system configured to enable players to participate in competitive challenges within a videogame, the system comprising:

a computing platform comprising one or more processors, the one or more processors being configured to execute computer program modules to provide a first player with a videogame, the computer program modules comprising;

a first performance monitoring module configured to quantify performance of a task by the first player within the videogame by determining values for a set of performance metrics characterizing the performance of the task by the first player;

a first challenge creation module configured to create, subsequent to completion of the task by the first player, a challenge for a second player,

wherein to complete the challenge the second player must perform the task in accordance with values dictated by the challenge for a set of challenge metrics,

wherein challenge metrics correspond to two or more of the performance metrics that characterize the performance of the task by the first player, and

wherein the values dictated by the challenge for the set of challenge metrics are based on values for the corresponding performance metrics determined by the first performance monitoring module in quantifying performance of the task by the first player;

a first challenge communication module configured to initiate transmission of a challenge invitation associated with the challenge to a computing platform associated with the second player, wherein the challenge invitation is configured such that the values achieved by the second user with respect to the set of challenge metrics while performing the task are implemented to automatically determine whether the second player has successfully completed the challenge;

a computing platform associated with the second player comprising one or more processors executing computer program modules to provide the videogame to the second player, the computer program modules comprising;

a second challenge communication module configured to receive the challenge invitation, and to convey the challenge invitation to the second player; and

a challenge access module configured to receive acceptance of the challenge by the second player, and to provide, responsive to the acceptance, access to the challenge for the second player so that the second player can attempt the task within the videogame.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first challenge creation module is further configured to receive a selection of the second player by the first player, and wherein the first challenge communication module is further configured such that transmission of the challenge invitation to the second player is based on the selection of the second player by the first player.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer program modules further comprise a first challenge criteria module configured to receive selection by the first player of one or more of the performance metrics, and, responsive to the received selection, to include challenge metrics in the challenge that correspond to the selected one or more performance metrics.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer program modules further comprise a first challenge customization module configured to customize the challenge by including user selected content in the challenge invitation.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the user selected content comprises one or more of text, video, still images, or audio.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the challenge access module is configured to, responsive to the task including videogame content not previously unlocked by the second player content, provide temporary access to locked videogame content during one or more attempts of the challenge by the second player to facilitate such an attempt.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the locked videogame content comprises one or more of a venue, a vehicle, an aircraft, a pet, a weapon, a virtual opponent, or a virtual teammate.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer program modules executed by the one or more processors of the computing platform associated with the second player further comprise:

a second performance monitoring module configured to quantify performance of the task by the second player within the videogame by determining values for the performance metrics that correspond to the challenge metrics; and

a challenge monitoring module configured to determine whether the second player has completed the challenge based on a comparison of the values for the performance metrics achieved by the second player with the values for the challenge metrics that are dictated by the challenge.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the second challenge communication module is further configured to initiate transmission of a result of the performance of the task by the second user to the computing platform associated with the first user, wherein the result of the performance of the task by the second user indicates whether the second user completed the challenge during performance of the task.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer program modules executed by the one or more processors of the computing platform associated with the second player further comprise:

a second challenge creation module configured to create, responsive to the second user completing the challenge, a re-challenge for the first player,

wherein to complete the re-challenge the first player must perform the task in accordance with values dictated by the re-challenge for a set of re-challenge metrics, and

wherein the values dictated by the re-challenge for the set of re-challenge metrics include a value for a first re-challenge metric that is based on a value for a corresponding performance metric determined by the second performance monitoring module in quantifying performance of the task by the second player as the second player completed the challenge; and

wherein the second challenge communication module is further configured to initiate transmission of a challenge invitation associated with the re-challenge to the computing platform associated with the first player.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the set of re-challenge metrics include a parameter that was not included in the set of challenge metrics.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the first re-challenge metric was not included in the set of challenge metrics.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the computer program modules executed by the one or more processors of the computing platform associated with the second player further comprise:

a second challenge criteria module configured to receive selection by the second player of a performance metrics, and, responsive to the received selection, to include the first re-challenge metric in the set of re-challenge metrics.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of challenge metrics is a single metric.

15. A system configured to enable players to participate in competitive challenges within a videogame, the system comprising:

one or more physical processors configured to execute computer program modules to provide a first player with a videogame, the computer program modules comprising;

a challenge communication module configured to receive a challenge invitation, and to convey the challenge invitation to the first player,

wherein to complete the challenge the first player must perform a task in accordance with values dictated by the challenge for a set of challenge metrics, and

wherein the values dictated by the challenge for the set of challenge metrics are based on a previously completed performance of the task by a second user; and

a challenge access module configured to receive acceptance of the challenge by the first player, and, responsive to the acceptance, to provide access to the challenge for the first player so that the first player can attempt the task within the videogame so that performance of the task by the first user can be automatically evaluated in comparison with the values dictated by the challenge for the set of challenge metrics.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the challenge access module is configured to, responsive to the task including videogame content not previously unlocked by the first player, provide temporary access to locked videogame content during one or more attempts of the challenge by the first player to facilitate such an attempt.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the locked videogame content comprises one or more of a venue, a vehicle, an aircraft, a pet, a weapon, a virtual opponent, or a virtual teammate.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the computer program modules further comprise:

a performance monitoring module configured to quantify performance of the task by the first player within the videogame by determining values for a set of performance metrics that correspond to the challenge metrics; and

a challenge monitoring module configured to determine whether the first player has completed the challenge based on a comparison of the values for the set of performance metrics achieved by the first player with the values for the challenge metrics that are dictated by the challenge.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the challenge communication module is further configured to initiate transmission of a result of the performance of the task by the first user to a computing platform associated with the second user, wherein the result of the performance of the task by the first user indicates whether the first user completed the challenge during performance of the task.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the computer program modules further comprise:

a challenge creation module configured to create, responsive to the first user completing the challenge, a re-challenge for the second player,

wherein to complete the re-challenge the second player must perform the task in accordance with values dictated by the re-challenge for a set of re-challenge metrics, and

wherein the values dictated by the re-challenge for the set of re-challenge metrics include a value for a first re-challenge metric that is based on a value for a corresponding performance metric determined by the performance monitoring module in quantifying performance of the task by the first player as the first player completed the challenge; and

wherein the challenge communication module is further configured to initiate transmission of a challenge invitation associated with the re-challenge to a computing platform associated with the second player.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the set of re-challenge metrics include a parameter that was not included in the set of challenge metrics.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the first re-challenge metric was not included in the set of challenge metrics.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the computer program modules further comprise:

a challenge criteria module configured to receive selection by the second player of a performance metrics, and, responsive to the received selection, to include the first re-challenge metric in the set of re-challenge metrics.

24. A computer-implemented method of enabling players to participate in competitive challenges within a videogame, the method being implemented in a computer system comprising one or more processors configured to execute one or more computer program modules, the method comprising:

monitoring performance of a task within the videogame by a first player with respect to a performance metric;

creating a challenge based on performance of the task by the first player, wherein to complete the challenge the task must be performed while at least equaling the performance of the first player with respect to the performance metric;

initiating transmission of a challenge invitation associated with the challenge to a second player, wherein the challenge invitation is configured such that the value achieved by the second user with respect to the performance metric while performing the task is implemented to automatically determine whether the second player has successfully completed the challenge;

receiving acceptance of the challenge by the second user; and

providing, responsive to the received acceptance, access to the challenge for the second player so that the second player can attempt the task within the videogame.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising receiving selection of the performance metric by the first player, and wherein the challenge requires equaling the performance of the first player with respect to the performance metric responsive to the received selection.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein providing access to the challenge for the second player comprises providing temporary access to locked videogame content responsive to the task including videogame content not previously unlocked by the second player during one or more attempts of the challenge by the second player to facilitate such an attempt.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the locked videogame content comprises one or more of a venue, a vehicle, an aircraft, a pet, a weapon, a virtual opponent, or a virtual teammate.