Methods and systems for assembly of crews for facilitating execution of social game activity

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9757654-B2
Application number	US-201113244689-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 26, 2011
Priority date	Feb 25, 2011
Publication date	Sep 12, 2017
Grant date	Sep 12, 2017

Abstract

Methods for assembly and management of friends for crew participation in a social gaming program. One method includes providing a game activity within the social gaming program, and the game activity is identified as gated for crew participation. The method identifies parameters for assembly of friends to complete crew participation for the game activity that is identified as gated for crew participation. Then, querying data provided by the social networking system to analyze contact data of friends that are likely for crew participation, and sending an invite message to the friends that are likely for crew participation. The friends that are accepted are added as crew members for crew participation to complete the game activity. An in-game reward for each of the friends that are part of the crew participation is generated upon detecting completion of the game activity.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for automatically connecting client devices for assembling a collaborative crew for participation in a social gaming program, the social gaming program running on a social gaming system connected by a network to a social network, comprising:
providing a game activity within the social gaming program executing on one or more servers in the social gaming system, the game activity being identified as gated for crew participation, wherein a game activity is identified as gated for crew participation when the game activity is associated with a gate that sets a pre-determined number of friends to be added by a user as crew members for crew participation and wherein hardness of the gate depends on a measure of size of a social network data structure for the user from the social network, wherein the social network data structure is an adaptive array;
identifying, at the one or more servers, parameters for assembly of friends to complete crew participation for the game activity that is identified as gated for crew participation;
using contact data of friends to query data provided by the social network to determine friends that are likely for crew participation;
sending an invite message across the network to the friends on the social network that are likely for crew participation;
accepting, at the one or more servers, selected ones of the friends that respond to the invite message for assembly of the collaborative crew, the friends that are accepted being added as crew members of the collaborative crew for crew participation to complete the game activity, wherein the assembly of the collaborative crew enables a connectivity of client devices to the collaborative crew having the respective crew members;
generating, at the one or more servers, an in-game reward for each of the crew members of the collaborative crew upon detecting completion of the game activity, the game activity being assigned a goal to identify the completion; and
syndicating completion of the game activity to a social network feed displayed on a client device of a crew member.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein a game activity that is gated is associated with gating rules for the crew members selected, wherein certain crew members selected produce a different one of the gating rules.

3. The method of claim 1 , the parameters for assembly of friends is associated with a type of game activity to be completed, wherein more complex game activities require friends having more experience, or combination of friends having specific skills for completing the game activity as part of crew participation.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the contact data of friends at least identifies experience of the friends with one or more games or one more game activities in the one or more games.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the contact data includes historical data that is analyzed to define particular friends as being likely for crew participation.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein accepting selected ones of the friends that respond to the invite message is facilitated through a graphical user interface dialog that provides pictures representing the friends and that is displayed on the client device.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein upon detecting completion of the game activity, providing access to a next level of the social gaming program.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the contact data of each friend is obtained from the social network from time to time or on demand, the contact data includes identifying information regarding each friend and friends of friends, and the social gaming system stores historical play data for each of the friends that have played the social gaming program.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising,
storing the detected completion in a data base in the social gaming system; and
associating data regarding the completion with the contact data of each friend that is part of the crew members for the completed game activity.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the in-game reward is selectable through a gift selection screen that identifies in-game contents available to provide crew members and that is displayed on the client device, the selected gift selections being assigned a user ID of the receiving friend.

11. Computer readable media having program instructions for automatically connecting client devices for assembling a collaborative crew for participation in a social gaming program running on a social gaming system connected by a network to a social network, the computer readable media comprising:
program instructions for providing a game activity within the social gaming program executing on one or more servers in the social gaming system, the game activity being identified as gated for crew participation, wherein a game activity is identified as gated for crew participation when the game activity is associated with a gate that sets a pre-determined number of friends to be added by a user as crew members for crew participation and wherein hardness of the gate depends on a measure of size of a social network data structure for the user from the social network, wherein the social network data structure is an adaptive array;
program instructions for identifying parameters for assembly of friends to complete crew participation for the game activity that is identified as gated for crew participation;
program instructions for using contact data of friends to query data provided by the social network to determine friends that are likely for crew participation;
program instructions for sending an invite message across the network to the friends on the social network that are likely for crew participation;
program instructions for accepting, at the one or more servers, selected ones of the friends that respond to the invite message for assembly of the collaborative crew, the friends that are accepted being added as crew members of the collaborative crew for crew participation to complete the game activity, wherein the assembly of the collaborative crew enables a connectivity of client devices to the collaborative crew having the respective crew members;
program instructions for generating, at the one or more servers, an in-game reward for each of the crew members of the collaborative crew participation upon detecting completion of the game activity, the game activity being assigned a goal to identify the completion; and
program instructions for syndicating completion of the game activity to a social network feed displayed on a client device of a crew member.

12. The computer readable media of claim 11 , wherein the game activity that is gated is associated with gating rules for the crew members selected, wherein certain crew members selected produce a different one of the gating rules.

13. The method of claim 11 , the parameters for assembly of friends is associated with a type of game activity to be completed, wherein more complex game activities require friends having more experience, or combination of friends having specific skills for completing the game activity as part of crew participation.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the contact data of friends at least identifies experience of the friends with one or more games or one more game activities in the one or more games.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the contact data includes historical data that is analyzed to define particular friends as being likely for crew participation, and accepting selected ones of the friends that respond to the invite message is facilitated through a graphical user interface dialog that provides pict

Assignees

• Cantor Andres
• Zynga Inc

Inventors

• Cantor Andres

Classifications

• A63F13/87

  Communicating with other players during game play, e.g. by e-mail or chat · CPC title

• A63F2300/556

  Player lists, e.g. online players, buddy list, black list · CPC title

• A63F13/69 Primary

  by enabling or updating specific game elements, e.g. unlocking hidden features, items, levels or versions · CPC title

• A63F2300/609

  for unlocking hidden game elements, e.g. features, items, levels · CPC title

• A63F13/795

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