Player State Persistence in Peer-to-Peer Virtual Environments
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing virtual environments, particularly multi-player and peer-to-peer systems, do not support the saving and persistence of user attributes or state across different sessions or environments, leading to loss of player progress and individuality.
Innovation Solution
The technology enables the automatic saving and reinstatement of player state parameters across multiple sessions and environments, allowing players to maintain their progress, avatars, and user-generated content across different virtual environments.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If user attributes are saved in single-player games, then player progress is preserved across sessions, but this functionality cannot be extended to multi-player peer-to-peer games because game state is tied to specific user interactions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the game state into two distinct components: instance state (specific to each game session and environment) and player state (portable across sessions). By separating these states, the system can save and restore player-specific attributes without capturing transient multiplayer interaction data, enabling progress preservation in peer-to-peer environments.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts player-specific state variables from the overall game state. Instead of saving the complete game state including other players' actions and environment-specific data, the system identifies and saves only the player's personal attributes and progress, which can be reinstated in different game sessions regardless of which specific multiplayer instance is accessed.
2Loss of information
If complete game state is saved in peer-to-peer environments, then all player interactions are preserved, but player-specific progress cannot be distinguished from transient session data
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by treating different types of state data differently. Player-specific state variables are marked for persistence and saved to long-term storage, while instance-specific state variables are kept in memory only for the duration of the game session. This selective approach preserves necessary information without requiring complex management of all possible state variables.
3Adaptability or versatility
If player state is persisted across different virtual environments, then player individuality is maintained, but conflicts may arise when multiple players interact with the same environment
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary layer between player state and game instance state. When a player joins a multiplayer session, the system mediates by loading the player's persisted state into the current session context, allowing conflicts to be resolved through the game's existing state synchronization mechanisms rather than requiring a complete redesign of state management for cross-environment portability.
Data Source
AI summary
The present technology allows state information associated with a player to be saved at a first time and restored at a second time. The state information can pertain to attributes of the player such as stats associated with the player in a particular environment or collection of environments, can pertain to attributes of an avatar such as a current outfit or skin worn by the avatar, current settings for an avatar, adornments or objects possessed by an avatar, etc. The state information can also pertain to attributes of a virtual world as interacted with by the player such as the location of objects or characteristics of objects that the player may have previously interacted with.