Messaging Service for Out-of-Game Player Communication
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current multiplayer games lack the ability for active players to communicate with inactive players outside the game environment, requiring players to switch to external applications or expose personal contact information, which is a security concern, especially in team-based games where players are strangers.
Innovation Solution
A messaging service that enables out-of-band communications between active players within the game and inactive players via various messaging platforms, using an API to interface with in-game communications modules and messaging platforms, while obfuscating player identities to protect personal information.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If players use external applications to communicate outside the game, then communication capability is improved, but security and privacy are compromised due to exposure of personal contact information
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a messaging service as an intermediary between the game system and external messaging platforms. This service layer allows players to communicate outside the game without exposing their personal contact information, as the messaging service acts as a mediator that masks real identities while enabling communication functionality.
2Adaptability or versatility
If players switch to external applications for communication, then communication flexibility is improved, but operational complexity increases due to context switching
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple communication capabilities (in-game chat and external messaging) into a unified interface through the messaging service. Players can initiate external communication directly from the game without switching applications, as the messaging service integrates both communication modes into a single operational flow.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the messaging service interfaces with multiple messaging platforms, then communication versatility is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The messaging service serves as an intermediary layer between the game system and multiple external messaging platforms. This single service point handles all platform-specific complexities, allowing the game to support multiple messaging platforms without increasing complexity within the game system itself.
Data Source
AI summary
A system in which players participate as characters in a virtual game world via game clients executing on client devices and communicate via an in-game communications channel. A messaging service is provided that enables active players to communicate with non-players via messaging platform(s). A player may send a message to another person via an in-game communications channel; upon detecting that the person is not active in the game, the service maps the person's identity to one or more messaging platform endpoints, tags the source of the message with the sending player's in-game identity, and forwards the message to the person via the messaging platform(s). The person may respond to the message via the messaging platform(s). The identities of the active player may be obfuscated so that a player's personal contact information is not exposed.