Interface-based game-space contest generation

• US 9,782,679 B1
• Filed: 09/08/2014
• Issued: 10/10/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/20/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kabam (Netmarble Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabam (Netmarble Corporation)
• Inventors: Chu, Yuexin, Genco, Alex, Lee, Jason, Henrick, Clive, Curtis, Matthew, Smalley, Kellen Christopher, Caldarone, Michael C.
• Primary Examiner(s): McCulloch, Jr., William H
• Application Number:
  US14/480,516
• Time in Patent Office: 1,128 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/335 using Internet
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/70 Game security or game management aspects
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/79 involving player-related data, e.g. identities, accounts, preferences or play histories
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/798 for assessing skills or for ranking players, e.g. for generating a hall of fame computing the game score A63F13/46
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/85 Providing additional services to players
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/55 Details of game data or player data management
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5546 using player registration data, e.g. identification, account, preferences, game history
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/558 by assessing the players' skills or ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3276 wherein the players compete, e.g. tournament

Abstract

An approach to facilitating interface-based game-space contest generation is provided. A user interface may be provided to an administrator. The user interface may be configured to receive user inputs from the administrator that include one or more performance criteria to be associated with a contest to be provided in a game space, one or more awards to be distributed in association with the contest, and one or more qualifications to participate in the contest. A notification that relates to the contest may be provided, based on the user inputs, in the game space. Performance scores of users that participated in the contest may be determined based on the performance criteria and activities that are performed in the game space by the participating users. Automated distribution of the awards to individual ones of the participating users may be facilitated in accordance with the performance scores of the individual participating users.

Claims

1. A system for facilitating generation and execution of contests for an online game to be provided in a game space in which the online game is played, wherein the generation includes providing a user interface to an administrator of the contests, and wherein the game space is configured to facilitate interaction of users with the game space and/or each other by performing operations in the game space to achieve one or more game objectives in response to commands received from client computing platforms associated with the users, the system comprising:

one or more processors configured by machine-readable instructions to;

provide the user interface for presentation to the administrator, wherein the user interface is configured to receive user inputs from the administrator that indicate;

(i) one or more performance criteria to be associated with one or more contests for the online game to be provided in the game space in which the online game is played,

(ii) one or more awards to be distributed in association with the one or more contests, wherein the one or more awards include virtual items usable in the game space,

(iii) one or more qualifications to participate in the one or more contests, and

(iv) one or both of a predetermined schedule and a trigger for initiating individual contests in the one or more contests, and

wherein the user interface is further configured to receive an activation user input from the administrator to initiate the one or more contests,

wherein the users participate in ongoing gameplay within the game space by inputting commands that are transmitted over a network to the one or more processors via the client computing platforms associated with the users such that the users that participate in the one or more contests continue to participate in the ongoing gameplay during the one or more contests;

store a contest template that indicates the user inputs;

responsive to receipt of the activation user input from the administrator to initiate the one or more contests, provide, based on the contest template, a notification in the game space that invites participation to the one or more contests, wherein the notification is provided to one or more users that are qualified to participate in the one or more contests in light of the one or more qualifications;

determine, based on the performance criteria and activities that are performed in the game space by the users that participated in the one or more contests, performance scores of the participating users, wherein the activities can be performed by the users in the game space without regard to their participation in the one or more contests such that the activities are performed during the one or more contests by both the users that participated in the one or more contests and by one or more users that did not participate in the one or more contests,

wherein determining the performance scores of the participating users includes monitoring the activities of the one or more contests that are performed by the users that participated in the one or more contests, and

wherein the performance criteria and the activities that are performed in the game space, that contribute to the determination of the performance scores of the participating users in the one or more contests, are the same performance criteria and activities performed by the users when performing operations in the game space to achieve one or more game objectives of the ongoing gameplay, wherein the performance criteria include one or more of resource collection, building possession, rescues, or level progress such that the users'"'"' resource collection, building possession, recues, or level progress while the user is participating in the one or more contests also impact the user'"'"'s achievement of the one or more game objectives of the ongoing gameplay within the game space; and

automatically distribute the awards to individual ones of the participating users in accordance with the performance scores of the individual participating users.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the performance criteria relate to success with respect to the one or more contests.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the qualifications include merit-based qualifications associated with the game space earned separately from the one or more contests and prior to a contest period that defines one or more durations of availability of the one or more contests, wherein the one or more durations correspond to the one or more contests.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the merit-based qualifications relate to one or more of possessed buildings, collected resources, combat history, rescue history, or levels associated with the game space.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured by machine-readable instructions such that the notification indicates one or more of the users that are qualified to participate in the one or more contests based on the qualifications.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured by machine-readable instructions to automatically and repeatedly initiate additional contests by providing notifications to qualified users, determining the performance scores, and distributing the awards, wherein initiation of the additional contests is based on the contest template and in accordance with one or both of the predetermined schedule and the trigger as indicated by the user input received from the administrator.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured by machine-readable instructions such that at least one of the awards is distributed to at least one of the participating users in response to the performance scores of the at least one participating user satisfying one or more performance thresholds.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the user inputs received from the administrator further indicate one or more predetermined intervals of the one or more contests, wherein the one or more processors are configured by machine-readable instructions such that the awards are distributed to the individual participating users based on the one or more predetermined intervals of the one or more contests.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the one or more processors are configured by machine-readable instructions such that a first award of the awards is distributed during a first predetermined interval of the predetermined intervals to a first participating user of the participating users in response to the performance scores of the first participating user satisfying a first performance threshold during the first predetermined interval, and such that a second award of the awards is distributed during a second predetermined interval of the predetermined intervals to the first participating user in response to the performance scores of the first participating user satisfying a second performance threshold during the second predetermined interval.

10. A computer-implemented method of facilitating generation and execution of contests to be provided in a game space, wherein the generation includes providing a user interface to an administrator of the contests, and wherein the game space facilitates interaction of users with the game space and/or each other by performing operations in the game space to achieve one or more game objectives in response to commands received from the users, the method being implemented on a computer system that includes one or more physical processors, the method comprising:

providing the user interface for presentation to the administrator, wherein the user interface receives user inputs from the administrator that indicate;

(i) one or more performance criteria to be associated with one or more contests for the online game to be provided in the game space in which the online game is played,

(ii) one or more awards to be distributed in association with the one or more contests, wherein the one or more awards include virtual items usable in the game space,

(iii) one or more qualifications to participate in the one or more contests, and

(iv) one or both of a predetermined schedule and a trigger for initiating individual contests in the one or more contests, and

wherein the user interface further receives an activation user input from the administrator to initiate the one or more contests,

wherein the users participate in ongoing gameplay within the game space by inputting commands that are transmitted over a network to the one or more processors via the client computing platforms associated with the users such that the users that participate in the one or more contests continue to participate in the ongoing gameplay during the one or more contests;

storing a contest template that indicates the user inputs;

responsive to receipt of the activation user input from the administrator to initiate the one or more contests, providing, based on the contest template, a notification in the game space that invites participation to the one or more contests, wherein the notification is provided to one or more users that are qualified to participate in the contest in light of the one or more qualifications;

determining, based on the performance criteria and activities that are performed in the game space by the users that participated in the one or more contests, performance scores of the participating users,

wherein the activities can be performed by the users in the game space without regard to their participation in the one or more contests such that the activities are performed during the one or more contests by both the users that participated in the one or more contests and by one or more users that did not participate in the one or more contests, the one or more users that did not participate in the one or more contests including a non-qualified user that is not qualified to participate in the one or more contests in light of the one or more qualifications,

wherein determining the performance scores of the participating users includes monitoring the activities of the one or more contests that are performed by the users that participated in the one or more contests, and

wherein the performance criteria and activities that are performed in the game space, that contribute to the determination of the performance scores of the participating users in the one or more contests, are the same performance criteria and activities performed by the users when performing operations in the game space to achieve one or more game objectives of the ongoing gameplay, wherein the performance criteria include one or more of resource collection, building possession, rescues, or level progress such that the users'"'"' resource collection, building possession, recues, or level progress while the user is participating in the one or more contests also impact the user'"'"'s achievement of the one or more game objectives of the ongoing gameplay within the game space; and

distributing automatically the awards to individual ones of the participating users in accordance with the performance scores of the individual participating users.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the performance criteria relate to success with respect to the one or more contests.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the qualifications include merit-based qualifications associated with the game space earned separately from the one or more contests and prior to a contest period that defines one or more durations of availability of the one or more contests, wherein the one or more durations correspond to the one or more contests.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the merit-based qualifications relate to one or more of possessed buildings, collected resources, combat history, rescue history, or levels associated with the game space.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the notification indicates one or more of the users that are qualified to participate in the one or more contests based on the qualifications.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

automatically and repeatedly initiating additional contests by providing notifications to qualified users, determining the performance scores, and distributing the awards, wherein initiation of the additional contests is based on the contest template and in accordance with one or both of the predetermined schedule and the trigger as indicated by the user input received from the administrator.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising facilitating automated distribution of at least one of the awards to at least one of the participating users in response to the performance scores of the at least one participating user satisfying one or more performance thresholds.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the user inputs received from the administrator further indicate one or more predetermined intervals of the one or more contests, the method further comprising facilitating, based on the one or more predetermined intervals of the one or more contests, the automated distribution of the awards to the individual participating users.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

facilitating automated distribution of a first award of the awards during a first predetermined interval of the predetermined intervals to a first participating user of the participating users in response to the performance scores of the first participating user satisfying a first performance threshold during the first predetermined interval; and

facilitating automated distribution of a second award of the awards during a second predetermined interval of the predetermined intervals to the first participating user in response to the performance scores of the first participating user satisfying a second performance threshold during the second predetermined interval.