Customizing offers for sales of combinations of virtual items

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9345974-B1
Application number	US-201213562055-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jul 30, 2012
Priority date	Jul 30, 2012
Publication date	May 24, 2016
Grant date	May 24, 2016

Abstract

A method of customizing offers for sales of combinations of virtual items at discounted prices is disclosed. A combination of virtual items of a computer-implemented game is selected such that the sum of the values of each of the combination of virtual items has a proportion to an amount of currency in an account of a user of the computer-implemented game, the selecting being performed by a processor. An offer for a sale of the combination of the virtual items at a discounted price is generated for the user of the computer-implemented game. The offer for the sale of the combination of virtual items at the discounted price is presented to the user.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of, at a game networking system, rewarding a user of the game networking system for performing an action with respect to the game networking system, the rewarding including generating an offer for a sale of a combination of virtual items at a discounted price for presentation in a user interface of a client device system of the user, the game networking system being separate from the client device system, the method comprising:
selecting the combination of virtual items from a set of virtual items represented by game state data maintained in a data store at the game networking system, the selecting based on the sum of the values of the virtual items in the combination of virtual items having a proportion to an amount of currency in an account of a user of the computer-implemented game;
generating an offer for a sale of the combination of the virtual items at a discounted price to the user of the computer-implemented game, the discounted price being less than the sum of the values of the virtual items in the combination of virtual items;
communicating the offer for the sale for presentation to the user in the user interface; and
providing the combination of the virtual items to the user based on a detection of an acceptance of the offer by the user, the providing including updating the game state data, the selecting, generating, communicating, and providing being performed by at least one processor of the game networking system.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining a number of items to include in the combination of virtual items based on an analysis of an acceptance rate by users of past offers for sales of combinations of virtual items.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining an amount to charge the user to receive the presenting of the offer, the determining based on an analysis of profits received from users agreeing to pay the amount to receive presentations of past offers, and wherein the presenting of the offer is based on the user agreeing to pay the amount.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the presenting of the offer is integrated into a user interface of a game having a style that matches preferences of the user, the preferences of the user determined from a monitoring of activities of the player with respect to a game networking system.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the presenting of the offer is based on the amount of currency in the account of the user transgressing a threshold.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the discounted price is selected based on a level of an activity of the user with respect to a game networking system.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the presenting of the offer is provided in a user interface that is overlaid unobtrusively over an additional user interface, the additional user interface corresponding to a game that the user is currently playing on a game networking system.

8. A system comprising:
one or more modules implemented by one or more computer processors of a game networking system, the one or more modules configured to, at least:
select a combination of virtual items from a set of virtual items maintained as game state data in a data store at the game networking server system, the selecting based on the sum of the values of each of the combination of virtual items having a proportion to an amount of currency in an account of a user of the computer-implemented game;
generate an offer for a sale of the combination of the virtual items at a discounted price to the user of the computer-implemented game, the discounted price being less than the sum of the values of each of the combination of virtual items;
communicate the offer for the sale for presentation to the user in the user interface; and
providing the combination of the virtual items to the user based on a detection of an acceptance of the offer by the user, the providing including updating the state data.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the at least one module is further configured to determine a number of items to include in the combination of virtual items based on an analysis of an acceptance rate by users of past offers for sales of combinations of virtual items.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the at least module is further configured to determine an amount to charge the user to receive the presenting of the offer, the selecting based on an analysis of profits received from users agreeing to pay the amount to receive presentations of past offers, and wherein the presenting of the offer is based on the user agreeing to pay the amount.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the at least one module is further configured to integrate the offer into a user interface of a game having a style that matches preferences of the user, the preferences of the user determined from a monitoring of activities of the player with respect to a game networking system.

12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the at least one module is further configured to present the offer is based on the amount of currency in the account of the user transgressing a threshold.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the at least one module is further configured to select the discounted price based on a level of an activity of the user with respect to a game networking system.

14. The system of claim 8 , wherein the at least one module is further configured to overlay a user interface advertising the offer in an unobtrusive manner over an additional user interface, the additional user interface corresponding to a game that the user is currently playing on a game networking system, the unobtrusive manner confirmed based on feedback received from users of a game networking system.

15. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium embodying a set of instructions in modules that, when provided as part of a game networking system hosting a computer-implemented game, causes at least one computer processor of the game networking system to perform operations, the operations comprising:
selecting a combination of virtual items from a set of virtual items maintained as game state data in a data store at the game networking server system, the selecting based on the sum of the values of each of the combination of virtual items having a proportion to an amount of currency in an account of a user of the computer-implemented game;
generating an offer for a sale of the combination of the virtual items at a discounted price to the user of the computer-implemented game, the discounted price being less than the sum of the values of each of the combination of virtual items;
communicate the offer for the sale for presentation to the user in the user interface; and
providing the combination of the virtual items to the user based on a detection of an acceptance of the offer by the user, the providing including updating the game state data.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the selecting includes determining a number of items to include in the combination of virtual items based on an analysis of an acceptance rate by users of past offers for sales of combinations of virtual items.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15 , the operations further comprising determining an amount to charge the user to receive the presenting of the offer, the selecting based on an analysis of profits received from users agreeing to pay the amount to receive a presenting of past offers, and wherein the presenting of the offer is based on the user agreeing to pay the amount.

18. The n

Assignees

• Santini Fabio
• Lai Peter
• Zynga Inc

Inventors

• Santini Fabio
• Lai Peter

Classifications

• G07F17/3244 Primary

  Payment aspects of a gaming system, e.g. payment schemes, setting payout ratio, bonus or consolation prizes · CPC title

• A63F13/60 Primary

  Generating or modifying game content before or while executing the game program, e.g. authoring tools specially adapted for game development or game-integrated level editor · CPC title

• A63F2300/532

  using secure communication, e.g. by encryption, authentication · CPC title

• A63F13/792 Primary

  for payment purposes, e.g. monthly subscriptions · CPC title

• G07F17/3281

  wherein game attributes are transferred between players, e.g. points, weapons, avatars · CPC title