Cross-Platform Game System Mediator Mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
In game systems where commercial game machines and portable information terminals are connected via a network, there is a lack of cooperation between user groups, leading to decreased motivation for players due to uneven progression and reliance on playing time or cost, which can result in reduced engagement.
Innovation Solution
A game system where a first game terminal provides a game to one user group, a second game terminal provides a different game to another user group, and a server device connects them via a network, allowing value data storage, situation provision, and benefit conferment. Users can expend predetermined values to create advantageous situations for the other group, and satisfy benefit conditions to receive benefits for their own game progression, promoting mutual participation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If character growth depends on playing time or number of games, then progression is tied to investment cost, but player motivation decreases when they cannot secure sufficient playing time despite high capability
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a mediator mechanism where another player can assist in character progression through a specific function (e.g., item delivery, mission completion). This intermediary action allows the primary player to gain progression benefits without personally investing the required playing time, thus resolving the contradiction between progression reliability and player motivation.
2Adaptability or versatility
If game systems provide separate games to different user groups (portable terminals and business game machines), then each group has dedicated gameplay, but cooperation between user groups is inadequate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the previously separate user groups by enabling cross-platform interaction. Players from portable terminal groups and business game machine groups can now cooperate through the assistance function, combining their efforts to achieve character progression goals that neither group could accomplish alone, thus enhancing inter-group cooperation while maintaining user group specialization.
Solution Approach 2:
The assistance function serves multiple purposes: it enables cooperation between different user groups, allows players to help each other across platforms, and provides an additional pathway for character progression. This multi-functional mechanism resolves the contradiction by making the system universally applicable to all user groups while fostering productivity through cooperation.
Data Source
AI summary
Provided is a game system that makes it possible for different user groups mutually to participate in the progression of a game. In a game system (1), a user terminal (8) that provides a mobile game to a first user group, a game machine (GM) that provides an arcade game to a second user group that is different from the first user group, and a center server (3) that provides a predetermined service thereto, are connected together via a network. And, upon the condition that the first user of the first user group expends a predetermined value, the game system (1) provides an advantageous situation for the arcade game to the second user of the second user group; and moreover, if a benefit condition is satisfied in the arcade game, confers a benefit that can be used in the mobile game upon the first user.