PROGRAM, INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD, AND INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS

Abstract

To enhance an advertising effect by a network game.SOLUTION: In a game terminal 104, a first advertisement screen 146 is displayed at prescribed timing when a game is executed. When the first advertisement screen 146 is displayed, game content for advantageously progressing the game is provided to a player as a reward. On the first advertisement screen 146, it is notified that a sponsor provides the reward because advertisement is displayed. Also, the reward is provided at any time not only by an advertisement display but also by various behaviors of accessing a site opened by the sponsor, registering a mail address, answering a questionnaire, purchasing a product, or the like.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to advertisement control for network games. [Background technology]

[0002] Smartphones are becoming more commonly used not only as communication devices but also as game devices. Network games, which are popular on smartphones, are provided by accessing a platform built on a game server from the smartphone. Network games often focus on character development, cooperation and competition with other players, and collection of cards and items.

[0003] Network games are often played during spare time such as during travel, breaks, and before going to bed. Since there are many opportunities for players to view the game, it is considered that displaying advertisements in network games can easily increase product awareness. The advertisements referred to here may be advertisements for games, but may also be advertisements for products such as soft drinks and toys, and may include various advertisements such as advertisements for movies, sports, and television programs. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] JP 2009-095367 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] However, displaying advertisements during a game may cause players to feel that the advertisements are distracting. In particular, if advertisements are displayed so conspicuously that they interfere with gameplay, there is a concern that they may actually damage the advertiser's corporate image.

[0006] The present invention was completed based on the above problem recognition, and its main object is to provide a technique for improving the advertising effectiveness of network games. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] An information processing device in one aspect of the present invention includes a game execution unit that controls the progress of a game, an advertisement display unit that displays advertisements at predetermined timing, and a reward provision unit that provides the player with game content to give the player an advantage in the game as a reward, in response to the display of the advertisement. The advertisement display unit notifies the user that a reward has been provided by the advertiser when displaying the advertisement.

[0008] A game server in one aspect of the present invention is connected to game terminals capable of executing first and second network games via a communication network. The game server includes a game management unit that manages the progress of the first and second network games on the game terminal, an advertisement sending unit that sends advertisements to the game terminal to be displayed while the first and second network games are being played on the game terminal, and a reward providing unit that provides the player with game content to give the player an advantage in the game as a reward in response to the display of the advertisement. When the first network game is executed on the game terminal, the advertisement sending unit sends an advertisement indicating that an advertiser will provide a reward for advantageously playing the first network game, and also indicating that the advertiser will provide a reward in the second network game for advantageously playing the second network game.

[0009] An information processing device according to an embodiment of the present invention displays within the game the name of a sponsor of the game and the fact that game content for giving an advantage in the game has been provided by the sponsor. Effect of the Invention

[0010] According to the present invention, it becomes easier to increase the advertising effectiveness of a network game. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0011] [Figure 1] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the game system. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the game system. [Diagram 3] FIG. 13 is a data structure diagram of an advertisement setting table. [Figure 4] FIG. 11 is a screen diagram of a first advertising screen. [Diagram 5] FIG. 13 is a screen diagram of a second advertising screen. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0012] In this embodiment, a game server provides a plurality of types of network games to game terminals, and game content is provided to players by advertisers (hereinafter referred to as "sponsors") who are sponsors of the games. The game content referred to here may be anything that helps a player to progress through the game advantageously, such as characters, equipment, items, or item lottery tickets, or anything that can be collected in the game world. Hereinafter, the game content provided at the sponsor's expense is referred to as a "sponsor reward." When a player starts a game, a message is displayed on the game terminal indicating that a sponsor reward has been provided. By providing game content at the sponsor's expense, the player's favorable impression of the sponsor is increased. The following description will focus on the provision of sponsorship rewards and the method of notifying them.

[0013] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the hardware configuration of a game system 100. As shown in FIG. In the game system 100, a plurality of game terminals 104a, 104b, 104c, . . . 104n (hereinafter, collectively referred to as "game terminals 104" when collectively referred to or when no particular distinction is made) are connected to a game server 102 via the Internet 106. In this embodiment, the game terminals 104 are assumed to be smartphones. The game terminals 104 may be portable game consoles or general-purpose computers such as laptop PCs. The game terminals 104 and the Internet 106 are connected wirelessly, but may also be connected by wire. A unique ID called a player ID is given to each game player in advance. The game server 102 provides games to each game terminal 104.

[0014] FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the game system 100. As described above, the game system 100 includes a game server 102 and a game terminal 104. Each component of the game terminal 104 and the game server 102 is realized by hardware including computing units such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and various coprocessors, storage devices such as memory and storage, and wired or wireless communication lines connecting them, and software stored in the storage devices and supplying processing instructions to the computing units. The computer program may be composed of a device driver, an operating system, various application programs located in higher layers thereof, and a library that provides common functions to these programs. Each block described below shows a functional block rather than a hardware-based configuration. The game server 102 may be configured to include a web server, and the game terminal 104 may be configured to include a portable communication terminal with a web browser installed thereon.

[0015] (Game Server 102) The game server 102 includes a communication unit 108 , a data processing unit 110 , and a data storage unit 112 . The communication unit 108 is responsible for communication processing with the game terminal 104 via the Internet 106. The data storage unit 112 stores various data. The data processing unit 110 executes various processes based on the data acquired by the communication unit 108 and the data stored in the data storage unit 112. The data processing unit 110 also functions as an interface between the communication unit 108 and the data storage unit 112. The data storage unit 112 stores various information such as game programs.

[0016] The data store 112 includes an advertisement store 136 and a player data store 138 . The player data storage unit 138 stores information regarding each player's playing status, such as the player's rank, game content owned by the player (character, equipment, items, etc.), playing time, player attributes, etc. Player attributes are information that defines the individual attributes of a player, such as gender, age, place of residence, etc. The advertisement storage unit 136 stores advertisement information. The advertisement information is image and text information of advertisements displayed on the game terminal 104, etc. The advertisement storage unit 136 also stores information regarding sponsor rewards, which will be described in detail later.

[0017] The communication unit 108 includes an advertisement transmission unit 142. The advertisement transmission unit 142 transmits advertisement information to the game terminal 104.

[0018] The data processing unit 110 includes a reward providing unit 126 , a game management unit 114 , and a player registration unit 128 . The player registration unit 128 accepts player registration from the game terminal 104 via the communication unit 108. When player registration is requested, the player registration unit 128 assigns a player ID to the player and registers the player in the player data storage unit 138.

[0019] The reward providing unit 126 provides rewards to players. The rewards are game contents that can be used in the game. Rewards may be provided when a player achieves a predetermined condition during a game, or may be provided as a sponsor reward. The game management unit 114 manages the progress status of multiple types of games for each game and each player.

[0020] (Game terminal 104) The game terminal 104 includes a user interface unit 118 , a communication unit 116 , a data processing unit 120 and a data storage unit 122 . The user interface unit 118 accepts operations from the player via the touch panel, and is responsible for processing related to the user interface, such as image display and audio output. The communication unit 116 is responsible for communication processing with the game server 102 and other game terminals 104 via the Internet 106. The data storage unit 122 stores various data. The data processing unit 120 executes various processes based on data acquired by the user interface unit 118 and the communication unit 116 and data stored in the data storage unit 122. The data processing unit 120 also functions as an interface for the user interface unit 118, the communication unit 116, and the data storage unit 122.

[0021] The data processing unit 120 includes a game execution unit 132. The game execution unit 132 controls the progress of the game in cooperation with the game server 102. The game execution unit 132 may be formed as a software module downloaded from the game server 102. The communication unit 116 acquires various game information from the game server 102, and the data processing unit 120 causes the user interface unit 118 to display a game screen. The user interface unit 118 also detects various inputs by the user, and the data processing unit 120 notifies the game server 102 of the input information via the communication unit 116. In response to this input information, the game management unit 114 of the game server 102 cooperates with the game execution unit 132 of the game terminal 104 to control the progress of the game.

[0022] The communication unit 116 includes an advertisement receiving unit 140. The advertisement receiving unit 140 receives advertisements from an advertisement transmitting unit 142.

[0023] The user interface unit 118 includes an input unit 124 that accepts input from the player, and an output unit 134 that outputs various information such as images and sounds to the player. The input unit 124 mainly detects the player's touch operation on the screen as input. The output unit 134 includes an advertisement display unit 130 that displays advertisements received by the advertisement receiving unit 140 on the screen.

[0024] Normally, a game play screen is generated by the game execution unit 132 and displayed by the output unit 134. In the case of multi-play, the game management unit 114 of the game server 102 manages game setting information common to each player. The game execution unit 132 of the game terminal 104 generates a play screen in response to the game setting information provided by the game server 102 and operation inputs by the players. The game management unit 114 of the game server 102 updates the game setting information based on operation inputs from each player.

[0025] FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the data structure of advertisement setting table 144. As shown in FIG. The advertisement setting table 144 is stored in the advertisement storage unit 136. The game server 102 provides a plurality of games G1 to Gn. A player downloads any game to the game terminal 104. A sponsor places advertisements in one or more games by paying an advertisement fee to a game management company. In FIG. 3, sponsor S1 places advertisements in three games, games G1, G2, and G3.

[0026] A portion of the advertising fee is provided to the player as a sponsor reward. Although details will be described later, when playing game G1, an advertising screen is displayed at the start of the game (when logging in). When the advertising screen is displayed, the communication unit 116 of the game terminal 104 notifies the game server 102 of which game's advertising screen was displayed by which player. The reward providing unit 126 refers to the advertising setting table 144 and provides the sponsor reward to the player.

[0027] According to FIG. 3, when the advertisement screen for game G1 is displayed, sponsor S1 provides 10 "stones" to the player. The "stones" referred to here are a type of game content, and the player can enter a lottery by consuming a predetermined number of stones. Depending on the lottery result, the player can obtain various characters, equipment, and items. The stones are game content like currency that increases the player's chances of progressing in the game to an advantage. The reward providing unit 126 updates the player data in the player data storage unit 138 and provides the player with a sponsor reward by adding 10 stones as game content owned by the player.

[0028] The advertisement screen also includes a link to the official website of sponsor S1. When the player selects this link to access sponsor S1's website, sponsor S1 provides the player with 30 stones. Furthermore, when the player registers an email address with sponsor S1, sponsor S1 presents the player with 40 stones as a sponsorship reward. If the player views sponsor S1's in-game advertisement, accesses sponsor S1's website, and registers an email address, he or she can receive a total of 80 stones, which is, so to speak, "treated" by sponsor S1.

[0029] Stones are game content that is unique to each game. For example, stones obtained in game G1 can only be used in game G1. As a variant, stones obtained in game G1 may be usable in other games.

[0030] According to FIG. 3, sponsor S2 advertises in two games, games G4 and G5. When playing game G4, an advertising screen is displayed at the start of the game, and the player is provided with five stones that can be used in game G4. Various sponsor rewards other than stones may be provided. When the official website of sponsor S2 is accessed through either game G4 or G5, character C1 is provided as a sponsor reward. In addition, when an email address is registered, a grimoire M, which is an item that strengthens the character's magical ability, is provided.

[0031] Game contents such as stones, characters C1, and grimoires M are all valuable to players, and therefore cannot be supplied in unlimited quantities in order to maintain game balance. Usually, players obtain such game contents by drawing lots or by completing missions such as defeating boss characters set in the game. In other words, game contents are obtained in return for the costs (effort) that players put into the game.

[0032] In this embodiment, game content (sponsor reward) is also provided by sponsors. The sponsor reward may be obtained automatically when the game is played, or may be obtained on condition of additional actions such as accessing a website or registering an email address. The sponsor can pay an advertising fee to the game operator to display advertisements in the game. The advertising fee becomes the profit of the game operator, but a portion of it is returned to the player as a sponsor reward. In order to maintain game balance, the game operator adjusts the sponsor reward so that it is not excessively supplied. The reward providing unit 126 of the game terminal 104 may set a cap on the total supply of sponsor rewards within a predetermined period.

[0033] FIG. 4 is a screen diagram of the first advertisement screen 146. The advertisement display unit 130 displays the first advertisement screen 146 as an initial screen when the game G1 is played. As shown in the advertisement setting table 144 in Fig. 3, the sponsor S1 is placing an advertisement in the game G1. Therefore, the first advertisement screen 146 is an advertisement for the sponsor S1.

[0034] The first advertisement screen 146 includes a banner advertisement 148 and an introduction advertisement 150. A link to the official website of the sponsor S1 is attached to the banner advertisement 148. The player can access the official website of the sponsor S1 by selecting the banner advertisement 148. When the banner advertisement 148 is accessed, the communication unit 116 notifies the game server 102 of the access occurrence. At this time, the reward providing unit 126 provides the player with 30 stones as a sponsor reward (see FIG. 3).

[0035] An email address can be registered on the official website of sponsor S1. When the email address is registered, the communication unit 116 notifies the game server 102 of the registration. At this time, the reward provision unit 126 provides the player with 40 stones as a sponsor reward (see FIG. 3).

[0036] Advertisement storage unit 136 stores, for each sponsor, an image of banner advertisement 148 and a uniform resource locator (URL) of an official website as advertisement information. Advertisement transmission unit 142 transmits the advertisement information to game terminal 104, advertisement reception unit 140 receives the advertisement information, and advertisement display unit 130 displays banner advertisement 148 based on the advertisement information.

[0037] The introduction advertisement 150 indicates that a sponsor's reward (10 stones) has been provided when the first advertisement screen 146 is displayed. The text written in the introduction advertisement 150 is automatically generated by the reward providing unit 126, and is transmitted from the advertisement transmitting unit 142 to the advertisement receiving unit 140 as part of the advertisement information. The sponsor may set any text data in the introduction advertisement 150. In FIG. 4, it is indicated that 10 stones have been presented as a sponsor's reward by the sponsor S1 providing the movie "AX", and that more stones can be obtained by accessing the official website of the movie "AX" from the banner advertisement 148.

[0038] When playing the game G1, the first advertisement screen 146 is automatically displayed. In other words, the player can obtain the sponsor reward simply by playing the game G1 as usual. The introduction advertisement 150 on the first advertisement screen 146 notifies the player that the sponsor reward has been given by the sponsor S1. The player is likely to have a favorable impression of the sponsor S1 because the sponsor reward is provided without the player having to take any action for the sponsor S1.

[0039] Usually, when an advertisement is displayed when starting a game, the player may find the advertisement annoying. However, the first advertisement screen 146 in this embodiment is also a screen for notifying the player that a sponsor reward has been given. In other words, the first advertisement screen 146 is not a screen that forcibly displays an advertisement to the player. Since the first advertisement screen 146 conveys information that is favorable to the player, the player is unlikely to feel annoyed by the display of the first advertisement screen 146.

[0040] A player who feels an affinity with the sponsor S1 is more likely to respond by taking additional actions such as visiting the sponsor S1's official website, registering an email address, or answering a questionnaire in return for the sponsor's reward. In addition, the sponsor can not only raise awareness of the movie "AX" by viewing the first advertising screen 146, but also gradually reward the player's actions, such as visiting the official website and registering an email address, with the sponsor's reward. As a result, it becomes easier to concentrate advertising budgets (sponsor's rewards) on customers who are more likely to purchase products.

[0041] FIG. 5 is a screen diagram of the second advertisement screen 152. After displaying the first advertisement screen 146 in the game G1, the advertisement display unit 130 displays the second advertisement screen 152. The second advertisement screen 152 includes a leading advertisement 154 and a download button 156. The sponsor S1 places advertisements in the games G2 and G3 in addition to the game G1 (see FIG. 3). The leading advertisement 154 indicates that the sponsor S1 provides sponsor rewards not only to the game G1 but also to other games G2 and G2. The contents of the leading advertisement 154 are also generated by the reward providing unit 126 as part of the advertisement information.

[0042] The download button 156 allows the player to download games G2 and G3. Since the player has experienced the benefit of receiving sponsorship rewards by playing game G1, the player is likely to want to receive sponsorship rewards for other games as well. This method increases the opportunities for games G2 and G3 to be downloaded via game G1. This is beneficial for the game management company, and also benefits sponsor S1 in that it can increase the amount of advertising exposure. For example, if the player has already downloaded game G2, a button for launching the game G2 app may be displayed on the second advertisement screen 152 instead of the download button 156 for game G2.

[0043] The game system 100 has been described above based on the embodiment. Network games are often played little by little and frequently in spare time. For this reason, advertising of network games is considered to be effective in increasing product awareness. In this embodiment, before the sponsor reward is given on the premise of an action such as accessing an official website or registering an email address, the sponsor reward is essentially provided unconditionally just for playing the game. By providing the sponsor reward before requesting the player to take an action, it is possible to increase favorability towards the sponsor.

[0044] A player who has a favorable impression of the sponsor is more likely to perform additional actions, such as accessing the official website, registering an email address, answering a survey, and purchasing a product related to the sponsor. In addition, a sponsor reward is set for each action as an incentive for the additional action. For example, if the advertising period is set to 15 days, a sponsor reward may be provided each time the first advertising screen 146 is displayed for the first five days, and a sponsor reward may be provided each time the official website is accessed from the sixth to eighth days. From the ninth day onwards, a sponsor reward may be set for each consumption or action leading to consumption, such as registering an email address, answering a survey, and purchasing a product.

[0045] In this embodiment, the first advertisement screen 146 is displayed at the start of the game, not during the game. Since it is not an advertisement during game play, it is easy to maintain the worldview of the game. Furthermore, as described in relation to FIG. 5, it is also possible to induce players to play various games by using sponsorship rewards as an incentive.

[0046] The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment and modified examples, and the components can be modified without departing from the gist of the present invention. Various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining multiple components disclosed in the above-mentioned embodiment and modified examples. In addition, some components can be deleted from all the components shown in the above-mentioned embodiment and modified examples.

[0047] Although the game system 100 has been described as being composed of multiple game terminals 104 and one game server 102, some of the functions of the game terminal 104 may be realized by the game server 102, or some of the functions of the game server 102 may be assigned to the game terminal 104. Also, a third device other than the game server 102 and the game terminal 104 may be responsible for some of the functions. 2 may be understood as a single "information processing device" from a broader perspective. How to allocate the multiple functions required to realize the present invention to one or more pieces of hardware may be determined in consideration of the processing capacity of each piece of hardware, the specifications required for the game system 100, and the like.

[0048] Generally, people have a psychological tendency that the more information about a product they are exposed to, the greater their desire for the product. Since network games are frequently viewed by players, it is possible to increase the player's interest in the product by disclosing product information little by little on the first advertisement screen 146. For example, if the product is a movie, the first advertisement screen 146 displayed for the first time may explain the outline of the movie, the second advertisement screen 146 may explain the cast of the movie, and the third advertisement screen 146 may display comments from the actors. When the first advertisement screen 146 is displayed multiple times, the content of the introductory advertisement 150 may be changed to increase the player's interest in the product.

[0049] A sponsor reward may also be given when a product is purchased. The store terminal acquires a player ID from the game terminal 104, and notifies the game server 102 of the product purchase together with the player ID. Upon receiving the notification, the reward providing unit 126 provides the sponsor reward to the player. The game server 102 can collect various information such as players who only viewed the first advertisement screen 146, players who have even registered their email addresses, and players who have actually purchased a product. The data processing unit 110 of the game server 102 may have a "profile generating unit" that uses this information to create a customer profile of each player (customer), such as whether the player is interested in the product, whether the player is the type who is likely to take proactive action, and so on. The advertisement transmitting unit 142 may transmit advertisement information introducing products other than the advertised product to customers who are highly responsive. In addition, collaboration between the game and the sponsor may be considered. For example, a mini-game that can be played only by people who have viewed the advertisement, registered their email addresses, or answered a questionnaire may be provided.

[0050] The data processing unit 110 of the game server 102 may include an "advertising control unit." The advertising control unit determines in which game and for how long an advertisement will be placed, depending on the advertising fee provided by the sponsor and the corporate image of the sponsor. For example, it is considered that an advertisement for a product targeted at women will be more effective if it is placed in a game with a large number of female players. The advertising control unit may select a game for which an advertisement will be placed by matching the target demographic of the product with the customer profile of each game, or may suggest the game to the sponsor.

[0051] The number of sponsors that can place advertisements in a certain game may be limited to one. The display period of the advertisement may be set according to the advertisement fee. In addition, if the sponsor S1 obtains the right to display an advertisement on the first advertisement screen 146 for five days, the sponsor may advertise the same product for the five days, or may advertise different products for each of the five days.

[0052] A number of sponsors may be able to display advertisements for a given game at the same time. For example, when the advertising fees of sponsor S1 and sponsor S2 are 7:3, the advertisement of sponsor S1 may be displayed on the first advertisement screen 146 with a probability of 70% and the advertisement of sponsor S2 may be displayed with a probability of 30%.

[0053] The more players a game has, the more effective the advertising will be. Therefore, if a game is popular, it is worth paying high advertising fees. Game operators who provide high-quality games will have an advantage.

[0054] To ensure that the advertisement is viewed, the first advertisement screen 146 may be set so that it cannot be closed until it has been displayed for a predetermined period of time, for example, about three seconds.

[0055] Although the first advertising screen 146 has been described as being displayed when the game starts (when logging in), the first advertising screen 146 or the second advertising screen 152 may also be displayed at any time that does not interfere with gameplay, such as when the game ends, when a mission within the game is completed, when a received message is opened, or when a specified time has arrived. [Explanation of symbols]

[0056] 100 Game system, 102 Game server, 104 Game terminal, 106 Internet, 108 Communication unit, 110 Data processing unit, 112 Data storage unit, 114 Game management unit, 116 Communication unit, 118 User interface unit, 120 Data processing unit, 122 Data storage unit, 124 Input unit, 126 Reward providing unit, 128 Player registration unit, 130 Advertisement display unit, 132 Game execution unit, 134 Output unit, 136 Advertisement storage unit, 138 Player data storage unit, 140 Advertisement receiving unit, 142 Advertisement transmitting unit, 144 Advertisement setting table, 146 First advertisement screen, 148 Banner advertisement, 150 Introduction advertisement, 152 Second advertisement screen, 154 Lead advertisement, 156 Download button

Claims

1. A computer comprising: an advertisement display means for displaying advertisements for products or services of advertisers (excluding the game provider) in a game provided by the game provider; a reward providing means for allowing a player to play a sub game, different from a main game, within the game as a reward to the player for viewing the advertisement; A program that functions as a

2. The advertisements displayed by the advertisement display means include banner advertisements for accessing a site related to the advertiser's products or services. The program according to claim 1.

3. The advertisements displayed by the advertisement display means include introductory advertisements that introduce the advertiser's products or services.

3. The program according to claim 1 or 2.

4. The reward providing means provides, as a reward to a player who has viewed the advertisement, game content to be used in the game, the amount of which to be provided within a predetermined period of time being limited.

4. The program according to claim 1.

5. A computer comprising: an advertisement display means for displaying advertisements for products or services of advertisers (excluding the game provider) in a game provided by the game provider; a reward providing means for allowing a player to play a sub game, different from a main game, within the game as a reward to the player for viewing the advertisement; Function as a The advertisements displayed by the advertisement display means include a banner advertisement for accessing a site related to the advertiser's product or service, and an introduction advertisement introducing the advertiser's product or service, the reward providing means provides, as a reward to the player who has viewed the advertisement, game content to be used in the game, the amount of which to be provided within a predetermined period of time being limited; program.

6. A computer comprising: Displaying advertisements for products or services of advertisers (excluding said game providers) within games provided by said game providers; As a reward for a player who has viewed the advertisement, a sub-game different from a main game can be played within the game by the player for viewing the advertisement; An information processing method comprising:

7. An advertisement display means for displaying advertisements for products or services of advertisers (excluding said game provider) within a game provided by said game provider; a reward providing means for allowing a player to play a sub game, which is different from a main game, within the game as a reward to the player for viewing the advertisement; An information processing device comprising:

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