Providing offers for sales of combinations of virtual items at discounted prices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9256887-B2
Application number	US-201414273141-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 8, 2014
Priority date	Jul 30, 2012
Publication date	Feb 9, 2016
Grant date	Feb 9, 2016

Abstract

A method of providing offers for sales of combinations of virtual items at discounted prices is disclosed. An offer is generated for a sale of a combination of virtual items at a discounted price. The offer for the sale of the combination of virtual items at the discounted price is presented to a user. The presenting suggests to the user that the combination of virtual items is randomly selected from a set of virtual items and the discounted price is randomly selected from a set of discounted prices, the presenting of the offer being performed by a processor. However, in actuality, the combination of virtual items or the discounted price may not be selected randomly.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
presenting a user with an option to request an offer for a sale of a combination of virtual items at a discounted price, the presenting of the user with the option being made within a first game on a game networking system;
based on the user choosing the option, allowing the user to play a second game on the game networking system;
based on a result of an action of the user within the second game, selecting the combination of virtual items and the discounted price; and
presenting the user with the offer for the sale of the combination of virtual items at the discounted price, one or more modules incorporated into the game networking system to configure a capability of the game networking system to generate revenues from sales of virtual items by performing the presenting of the user with the option, the allowing of the user to play the second game, the selecting of the combination of virtual item and the discounted price, and the presenting of the user with the offer for the sale of the combination of virtual items at the discounted price, the one or more modules implemented by one or more processors of the game networking system.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the presenting of the user with the option is based on a determination of an optimal time at which to present the user with the option within the first game.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determination of the optimal time is based on a monitoring of a behavior of the user with respect to the first game.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the selecting of the combination of virtual items is further based on the result of the action of the user causing the user to achieve a level of performance within the second game.

5. The method of claim 1 , the presenting of the user with the option being a reward for an action performed by the user with respect to the first game.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising presenting the user with an option to play the second game again for a fee.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the result of the action of the user within the second game appears to be random to the user, but is actually not random.

8. A system comprising:
one or more modules incorporated into a game networking system to configure a capability of the game networking system to generate revenues from sales of virtual items, the one or more modules implemented by one or more processors, the one or more modules configured to, at least:
present a user with an option to request an offer for a sale of a combination of virtual items at a discounted price, the presenting of the user with the option being made within a first game on the game networking system;
based on the user choosing the option, allow the user to play a second game on the game networking system;
based on a result of an action of the user within the second game, select the combination of virtual items and the discounted price; and
presenting the user with the offer for the sale of the combination of virtual items at the discounted price.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the presenting of the user with the option is based on a determination of an optimal time at which to present the user with the option within the first game.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the determination of the optimal time is based on a monitoring of a behavior of the user with respect to the first game.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the selecting of the combination of virtual items is further based on the result of the action of the user causing the user to achieve a level of performance within the second game.

12. The system of claim 8 , the presenting of the user with the option being a reward for an action performed by the user with respect to the first game.

13. The system of claim 8 , further comprising presenting the user with an option to play the second game again for a fee.

14. The system of claim 8 , wherein the result of the action of the user within the second game appears to be random to the user, but is actually not random.

15. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising a set of instructions that, when incorporated into a game networking system as one or more modules executed by at least one processor of the game networking system, causes the at least one processor to perform operations to configure a capability of the game networking system to generate revenues from sales of virtual items, the operations comprising:
presenting a user with an option to request an offer for a sale of a combination of virtual items at a discounted price, the presenting of the user with the option being made within a first game on the game networking system;
based on the user choosing the option, allowing the user to play a second game on the game networking system;
based on a result of an action of the user within the second game, selecting the combination of virtual items and the discounted price; and
presenting the user with the offer for the sale of the combination of virtual items at the discounted price.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the presenting of the user with the option is based on a determination of an optimal time at which to present the user with the option within the first game.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the determination of the optimal time is based on a monitoring of a behavior of the user with respect to the first game.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the selecting of the combination of virtual items is further based on the result of the action of the user causing the user to achieve a level of performance within the second game.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15 , the presenting of the user with the option being a reward for an action performed by the user with respect to the first game.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15 , further comprising presenting the user with an option to play the second game again for a fee.

Assignees

• Zynga Inc

Inventors

• Santini Fabio
• Lai Peter Pao

Classifications

• G07F17/34

  depending on the stopping of moving members {in a mechanical slot machine}, e.g. "fruit" machines · CPC title

• G07F17/32

  for games, toys, sports, or amusements · CPC title

• G06Q30/0209 Primary

  Incentive being awarded or redeemed in connection with the playing of a video game · CPC title

• G07F17/326

  Game play aspects of gaming systems · CPC title

• G07F17/3255

  Incentive, loyalty and/or promotion schemes, e.g. comps, gaming associated with a purchase, gaming funded by advertisements · CPC title