SOCIAL REALITY GAMING
A social reality game includes a server receiving a selection of a challenge from a user at a client. The challenge includes a set of tasks. The server receives at least one confirmation message associated with at least one of the tasks of the challenge over a predefined period of time associated with the challenge. The server validates the confirmation message using a digital profile of the user. The server assigns points to the user upon completion of a task of the selected mission. The server offers a reward to the user upon completion of the challenge. The reward is based on the accumulated points in the digital profile of the user. The challenge is completed when all tasks from the challenge are validated.
The present application claims the benefit of the U.S. provisional application, entitled “Social Search Engine Which Integrates Social Game Mechanics,” Application No. 61/162,229, and filed on Mar. 20, 2009.
TECHNICAL FIELDThis invention relates to the field of gaming, and, in particular, to social reality gaming.
BACKGROUNDOnline social networks are increasingly popular due their relative ease of use to communicate with other users in a centralized system. Social network service focuses on building and reflecting of social networks or social relations among people, e.g., who share interests and/or activities. A social network service essentially consists of a representation of each user (often a profile), his/her social links, and a variety of additional services. Most social network services are web based and provide means for users to interact over the internet, such as e-mail and instant messaging. Although online community services are sometimes considered as a social network service in a broader sense, social network service usually means an individual-centered service whereas online community services are group-centered. Social networking sites allow users share ideas, activities, events, and interests within their individual networks.
The present invention is illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings.
A social reality game is herein described. In one embodiment, a server receives a selection of a challenge from a user at a client. The term challenge is used interchangeably with mission, referral, and recommendation. A challenge includes a set of tasks. The server receives at least one confirmation message associated with at least one of the tasks of the challenge over a predefined period of time associated with the challenge. The server validates the confirmation message using a digital profile of the user. The server assigns points to the user upon completion of a task of the selected mission. The server offers a reward to the user upon completion of the challenge. The reward is based on the accumulated points in the digital profile of the user. The challenge is completed when all tasks from the challenge are validated.
In one embodiment, social reality gaming server provides a service to a user or subscriber. The service may include offering a menu of real life challenges or missions to which the user selects and updates his progress on one of the computing devices 110, 108, 106. The service allows user to communicate with other subscriber of the service and share his/her experience while completing the real life challenge or mission. The details of the method for providing such service are further described below.
Storage device 204 can include a database storing digital profiles of users/subscribers. A digital profile of a user includes several attributes (name, age, address, email, trust rank, reputation, location, etc. . . . ). Storage device 204 also includes a library of real-life challenges. Challenges are real life accomplishments or missions that can be broken down into one or more tasks.
Client interface 206 is configured to communicate with computing devices 110, 108, and 106. Third party server interface 208 is configured to communicate with a third party social network server 102.
Mission module 210 is configured to provide and refer specific challenges to a user. A menu of all challenge grouped in relevant categories may be provided. A particular challenge may be suggested to the user from another user or based on other parameters (digital profile) from the user.
Validation module 212 is configured to receive and validate a confirmation message from the user. A confirmation message can include any type of data from the user used to verify and validate a task and the progress of a selected challenge. The confirmation message may also be referred to as a check-in message. Confirmation messages may be in the form of GPS data sent from a mobile device with GPS capability, data shared with other social network service servers, and other attributes and parameters. Additional types of mission validation/confirmation data can include: uploading a photo, writing text, the proximity of the user at the time of the confirmation to other users, submitting a confirmation code (like coupon codes), social affirmation actions performed by the user's social network (e.g., “thumbs up”, responding to my mission completion message, etc.).
At 310, points are assigned to the user upon completion of a task of the selected mission. At 312, a reward is offered to the user upon completion of the challenge. The reward can be based on the accumulated points—or other attributes of the user's activity in the system—in the digital profile of the user. The challenge is considered completed when all tasks from the challenge are validated.
The selected mission module is displayed at 414. The mission module can include a mission description module 416, a how to/steps module 418, a badge/achievements to earn module 420, a see who is doing/has done this mission 422, a save for later module 424, and a do it module 426.
Upon choosing the module at 428, the time frame for accomplishing the module is set at 430. The user chooses a mission length at 432, a start data at 434, and an end date at 436.
Upon starting right away at 438, the user receives initial points at 440 for starting. A pre-mission confirmation module 442 includes choosing emotion 454, writing what the use did 456, and taking a photo 458. The user receives points at 450 for checking-in.
Social reality game server may include the following modules/pages: summary module 452, my activity 468, friends activity 482, and settings 401.
Summary module 452 includes a daily inspirational statement module 454, a progress status module 456, a points status update module 458, a last confirmation module 460, a confirmation module 462.
My activity module 468 includes seeing all confirmations 470, seeing all tips received 472, seeing all kudos received 474, editing a confirmation 476, deleting a confirmation 478, and liking a tip that was given to the user 480.
Friends activity module 482 includes seeing friends' recent activity on the selected mission 484, seeing friends who have successfully completed the selected mission 486, seeing who's following the user's progress 488, asking friends to join the selected mission 490, asking friends for advice 492, seeing the number of other users currently playing the selected mission 494, seeing the number of other users who have successfully completed the selected mission 496, seeing the common tips/activities from other users 498.
Settings module 401 includes seeing mission description 403, seeing how to/steps 405, editing a start date 407, ending a selected mission 409, privacy settings 411, and seeing start and end dates of completed missions 413.
User behavior 510 can contribute to data pool at 512 or redeem rewards at 502. The value of objects in the data pool increases at 514. The user is rewarded at 516.
The user redeems rewards by purchasing gifts or making charitable contributions at 504. Such reward redemption allows a user to extract value from the rewards at 506 and allow a user to become motivated towards further behavior at 508.
The exemplary computer system 900 includes a processing device 902, a main memory 904 (e.g., read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, dynamic random access memory (DRAM) such as synchronous DRAM (SDRAM) or Rambus DRAM (RDRAM), etc.), a static memory 906 (e.g., flash memory, static random access memory (SRAM), etc.), and a data storage device 918, which communicate with each other via a bus 931.
Processing device 902 represents one or more general-purpose processing devices such as a microprocessor, central processing unit, or the like. More particularly, the processing device may be complex instruction set computing (CISC) microprocessor, reduced instruction set computing (RISC) microprocessor, very long instruction word (VLIW) microprocessor, or processor implementing other instruction sets, or processors implementing a combination of instruction sets. Processing device 902 may also be one or more special-purpose processing devices such as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a digital signal processor (DSP), network processor, or the like. The processing device 902 is configured to execute the processing logic 926 for performing the operations and steps discussed herein.
The computer system 900 may further include a network interface device 908. The computer system 900 also may include a video display unit 910 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a cathode ray tube (CRT)), an alphanumeric input device 912 (e.g., a keyboard), a cursor control device 914 (e.g., a mouse), and a signal generation device 916 (e.g., a speaker).
The data storage device 918 may include a machine-accessible storage medium 930 on which is stored one or more sets of instructions (e.g., software 922) embodying any one or more of the methodologies or functions described herein. The software 922 may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 904 and/or within the processing device 902 during execution thereof by the computer system 900, the main memory 904 and the processing device 902 also constituting machine-accessible storage media. The software 922 may further be transmitted or received over a network 920 via the network interface device 908.
The machine-accessible storage medium 930 may also be used to store reality social gaming module 924. Reality social gaming module 924 may also be stored in other sections of computer system 900, such as static memory 906.
While the machine-accessible storage medium 930 is shown in an exemplary embodiment to be a single medium, the term “machine-accessible storage medium” should be taken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) that store the one or more sets of instructions. The term “machine-accessible storage medium” shall also be taken to include any medium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying a set of instructions for execution by the machine and that cause the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies of the present invention.
The following description sets forth numerous specific details such as examples of specific systems, components, methods, and so forth, in order to provide a good understanding of several embodiments of the present invention. It will be apparent to one skilled in the art, however, that at least some embodiments of the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known components or methods are not described in detail or are presented in simple block diagram format in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the present invention. Thus, the specific details set forth are merely exemplary. Particular implementations may vary from these exemplary details and still be contemplated to be within the spirit and scope of the present invention.
Embodiments of the present invention include various operations, which will be described below. These operations may be performed by hardware components, software, firmware, or a combination thereof. As used herein, the term “coupled to” may mean coupled directly or indirectly through one or more intervening components. Any of the signals provided over various buses described herein may be time multiplexed with other signals and provided over one or more common buses. Additionally, the interconnection between circuit components or blocks may be shown as buses or as single signal lines. Each of the buses may alternatively be one or more single signal lines and each of the single signal lines may alternatively be buses.
Certain embodiments may be implemented as a computer program product that may include instructions stored on a machine-readable medium. These instructions may be used to program a general-purpose or special-purpose processor to perform the described operations. A machine-readable medium includes any mechanism for storing or transmitting information in a form (e.g., software, processing application) readable by a machine (e.g., a computer). The machine-readable medium may include, but is not limited to, magnetic storage medium (e.g., floppy diskette); optical storage medium (e.g., CD-ROM); magneto-optical storage medium; read-only memory (ROM); random-access memory (RAM); erasable programmable memory (e.g., EPROM and EEPROM); flash memory; or another type of medium suitable for storing electronic instructions.
Additionally, some embodiments may be practiced in distributed computing environments where the machine-readable medium is stored on and/or executed by more than one computer system. In addition, the information transferred between computer systems may either be pulled or pushed across the communication medium connecting the computer systems.
The digital processing device(s) described herein may include one or more general-purpose processing devices such as a microprocessor or central processing unit, a controller, or the like. Alternatively, the digital processing device may include one or more special-purpose processing devices such as a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), or the like. In an alternative embodiment, for example, the digital processing device may be a network processor having multiple processors including a core unit and multiple microengines. Additionally, the digital processing device may include any combination of general-purpose processing device(s) and special-purpose processing device(s).
Although the operations of the method(s) herein are shown and described in a particular order, the order of the operations of each method may be altered so that certain operations may be performed in an inverse order or so that certain operation may be performed, at least in part, concurrently with other operations. In another embodiment, instructions or sub-operations of distinct operations may be in an intermittent and/or alternating manner.
In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof. It will, however, be evident that various modifications and changes may be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative sense rather than a restrictive sense.
Claims
1. A method for a social reality game:
- receiving, at a server, a selection of a challenge from a user at a client, the challenge comprising a set of tasks;
- receiving at least one confirmation message associated with at least one of the tasks of the challenge over a predefined period of time associated with the challenge;
- validating the confirmation message using a digital profile of the user;
- assigning points to the user upon completion of a task of the selected mission; and
- offering a reward to the user upon completion of the challenge, the reward based on the accumulated points in the digital profile of the user, the challenge completed when all tasks from the challenge are validated.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein validating the confirmation message further comprises:
- communicating with a third party server to verify a content of the confirmation message based on the digital profile of the user, the digital profile of the user comprising a plurality of attributes, the third party server sharing at least one attribute of the digital profile of the user,
- wherein the user is a member of a social network system of the third party server.
3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
- providing a menu of challenges; and
- suggesting one or more challenges based on a referral from another user, the other user having a defined relationship with the user.
4. The method of claim 3 further comprising:
- computing a trust quotient based on the digital profile of the other user in relation to challenges; and
- computing a trust rank based on the trust quotient and the defined relationship between the user and the other user.
5. The method of claim 4 wherein the trust quotient and trust profile are computed based on a weighted normalization function of a number of interactions between the user and the other user.
6. The method of claim 4 further comprising:
- selecting an advertisement based on comments and ratings of the referred challenge, the trust quotient and trust profile of the other user; and
- attaching the selected advertisement to the referred challenge.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein the challenge comprises a real life mission for the user, a real life experience for the user, or a real life game for the user.
8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
- providing users with virtual in-application currency and rewards to perform real life in-application actions, the actions improving the value of a shared data corpus, the user's in-application reputation, and the quality of social relationships among participating users.
9. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, having instructions stored therein, which when executed, cause a computer system to perform a method comprising:
- receiving a selection of a challenge from a user at a client, the challenge comprising a set of tasks;
- receiving at least one confirmation message associated with at least one of the tasks of the challenge over a predefined period of time associated with the challenge;
- validating the confirmation message using a digital profile of the user;
- assigning points to the user upon completion of a task of the selected mission; and
- offering a reward to the user upon completion of the challenge, the reward based on the accumulated points in the digital profile of the user, the challenge completed when all tasks from the challenge are validated.
10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 wherein validating the confirmation message further comprises:
- communicating with a third party server to verify a content of the confirmation message based on the digital profile of the user, the digital profile of the user comprising a plurality of attributes, the third party server sharing at least one attribute of the digital profile of the user,
- wherein the user is a member of a social network system of the third party server.
11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 wherein the method further comprises:
- providing a menu of challenges; and
- suggesting one or more challenges based on a referral from another user, the other user having a defined relationship with the user.
12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 wherein the method further comprises:
- computing a trust quotient based on the digital profile of the other user in relation to challenges; and
- computing a trust rank based on the trust quotient and the defined relationship between the user and the other user.
13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 wherein the trust quotient and trust profile are computed based on a weighted normalization function of a number of interactions between the user and the other user.
14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 further comprising:
- selecting an advertisement based on comments and ratings of the referred challenge, the trust quotient and trust profile of the other user; and
- attaching the selected advertisement to the referred challenge.
15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 wherein the challenge comprises a real life mission for the user, a real life experience for the user, or a real life game for the user.
16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 wherein the method further comprises:
- providing users with virtual in-application currency and rewards to perform real life in-application actions, the actions improving the value of a shared data corpus, the user's in-application reputation, and the quality of social relationships among participating users.
17. A server for a social reality game comprising:
- a client interface configured to communicate with one or more clients;
- a third party server interface configured to communicate with one or more servers, the one or more servers comprising elements of a digital profile of one or more users;
- a storage device coupled to the client and third party interface, the storage device configured to store digital profiles of users, a library of challenges, trust quotients and trust profiles of users; and
- a processing device coupled to the storage device, the processing device comprising a challenge module and a validation module, the challenge module configured to present and refer one or more challenges to a user, the validation module configured to receive a confirmation message from the user associated with a task of a selected challenge, and to validate the confirmation message.
18. The server of claim 17 wherein the validation module is configured to validate the confirmation message using a digital profile of the user, to assign points to the user upon completion of a task of the selected challenge, and to offer a reward to the user upon completion of the challenge, the reward based on the accumulated points in the digital profile of the user, the challenge completed when all tasks from the challenge are validated.
19. The server of claim 17 wherein the validation module is configured to validate the confirmation message by communicating with a third party server to verify a content of the confirmation message based on the digital profile of the user, the digital profile of the user comprising a plurality of attributes, the third party server sharing at least one attribute of the digital profile of the user, wherein the user is a member of a social network system of the third party server.
20. The server of claim 17 wherein the challenge module is configured to provide a menu of challenges, and to suggest one or more challenges based on a referral from another user, the other user having a defined relationship with the user.
Type: Application
Filed: Jun 11, 2012
Publication Date: Dec 20, 2012
Inventor: Michael Kim (Bellevue, WA)
Application Number: 13/493,878
International Classification: A63F 9/24 (20060101);