Detecting collusion in online games

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12115458-B2
Application number	US-202318363399-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 1, 2023
Priority date	May 13, 2021
Publication date	Oct 15, 2024
Grant date	Oct 15, 2024

Abstract

A collusion detection system may detect collusion between entities participating in online gaming. The collusion detection system may identify a plurality of entities associated with and opponents within an instance of an online game, determine social data associated with the plurality of entities, determine in-game behavior data associated with the plurality of entities, and determine, for one or more pairings of the plurality of entities, respective pairwise feature sets based at least in part on the social data and the in-game behavior data. The collusion detection system may then perform anomaly detection on the respective pairwise feature sets and, in response to the anomaly detection detecting one or more anomalous pairwise feature sets, output one or more suspect pairings of the plurality of entities corresponding to the one or more anomalous pairwise feature sets as suspected colluding pairings.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
identify a plurality of entities associated with an instance of an online game, wherein the plurality of entities are opponents within the instance of the online game;
determine interaction data associated with the plurality of entities;
determine, for a first entity of the plurality of entities and a second entity of the plurality of entities, a pairwise feature set based at least in part on the interaction data associated with the plurality of entities; and
perform anomaly detection on the pairwise feature set.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the one or more processors to:
perform additional anomaly detection on a plurality of pairwise feature sets that correspond to respective pairings of the plurality of entities associated with the instance of the online game.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the one or more processors to:
in response to the anomaly detection detecting the pairwise feature set as anomalous, output the first entity and the second entity as a suspected colluding pair.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first entity is a first team of a plurality of first players and the second entity is a second team of a plurality of second players.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the pairwise feature set includes one or more metrics associated with a relationship represented in social data of the interaction data, the relationship being between one of the plurality of first players of the first team and one of the plurality of second players of the second team.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the relationship is a friend relationship on one of an in-game social platform, a game distribution system social platform or an external platform.

7. The system of claim 4 , wherein the pairwise feature set includes one or more metrics associated with one or more past instances of the online game that included at least one of the plurality of first players and at least one of the plurality of second players.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the pairwise feature set includes one or more metrics associated with one of:
a difference in a first ranking of the first entity and a second ranking of the second entity for the instance of the online game;
an amount of time the first entity and the second entity spent without engaging while within a threshold distance during the instance of the online game;
one or more first items dropped by the first entity and picked up by the second entity during the instance of the online game;
one or more second items dropped by the second entity and picked up by the first entity during the instance of the online game;
one or more third entities of the plurality of entities that engaged the first entity and the second entity during the instance of the online game; or
damage over time by one of the first entity and the second entity against the other of the first entity and the second entity.

9. A computer-implemented method comprising:
identifying a plurality of entities associated with an instance of an online game, the plurality of entities being opponents within the instance of the online game;
determining interaction data associated with the plurality of entities;
determining, for one or more pairings of the plurality of entities, respective pairwise feature sets based at least in part on the interaction data associated with the plurality of entities;
performing anomaly detection on the respective pairwise feature sets associated with the instance of the online game; and
in response to the anomaly detection detecting one or more anomalous pairwise feature sets, outputting one or more suspect pairings of the plurality of entities corresponding to the one or more anomalous pairwise feature sets as suspected colluding pairings.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 , wherein the entities of the plurality of entities are teams of players, a first entity of the plurality of entities being a first team of a plurality of first players and a second entity of the plurality of entities being a second team of a plurality of second players.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein a respective pairwise feature set associated with the first entity and the second entity includes one or more metrics associated with a relationship represented in social data of the interaction data, the relationship being between one of the plurality of first players of the first team and one of the plurality of second players of the second team.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11 , wherein the relationship is a friend relationship on one of an in-game social platform, a game distribution system social platform or an external platform.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein a respective pairwise feature set associated with the first entity and the second entity includes one or more metrics associated with one or more past instances of the online game that included at least one of the plurality of first players and at least one of the plurality of second players.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 , wherein a particular respective pairwise feature set of the respective pairwise feature sets is associated with a first entity of the plurality of entities and a second entity of the plurality of entities, and the particular respective pairwise feature set includes one or more metrics associated with one of:
a difference in a first ranking of the first entity and a second ranking of the second entity for the instance of the online game;
an amount of time the first entity and the second entity spent without engaging while within a threshold distance during the instance of the online game;
one or more first items dropped by the first entity and picked up by the second entity during the instance of the online game;
one or more second items dropped by the second entity and picked up by the first entity during the instance of the online game;
one or more third entities of the plurality of entities that engaged the first entity and the second entity during the instance of the online game; or
damage over time by one of the first entity and the second entity against the other of the first entity and the second entity.

15. One or more computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
identifying a plurality of entities associated with an instance of an online game, wherein the plurality of entities are opponents within the instance of the online game;
determining interaction data associated with the plurality of entities;
determining, for one or more pairings of the plurality of entities, respective pairwise feature sets based at least in part on the interaction data associated with the plurality of entities;
performing anomaly detection on the respective pairwise feature sets associated with the instance of the online game; and
in response to the anomaly detection detecting one or more anomalous pairwise feature sets, outputting one or more suspect pairings of the plurality of entities corresponding to the one or more anomalous pairwise feature sets as suspected colluding pairings.

16. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 15 ,

Assignees

• Electronic Arts Inc

Inventors

• Greige Laura
• Trotter Meredith
• Narravula Sundeep
• Aghdaie Navid
• De Mesentier Silva Fernando

Classifications

• A63F13/35

  Details of game servers · CPC title

• A63F13/795

  for finding other players; for building a team; for providing a buddy list · CPC title

• A63F13/798

  for assessing skills or for ranking players, e.g. for generating a hall of fame · CPC title

• A63F13/352

  involving special game server arrangements, e.g. regional servers connected to a national server or a plurality of servers managing partitions of the game world · CPC title

• A63F13/75 Primary

  Enforcing rules, e.g. detecting foul play or generating lists of cheating players · CPC title