Online Poker Community Segmentation and Access Control

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Solution Overview

Problem

Online poker games lack the ability to restrict player access to specific tables, leading to uncontrolled interactions among players, which can negatively impact social gaming experiences by forcing players to play with unsuitable opponents.

Innovation Solution

Implementing a method to identify player attributes and create dedicated play areas or tables based on common characteristics, allowing only subset players to participate while excluding others, thereby enabling controlled community interactions and competitions.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Ease of operation

If players are allowed to access any poker table freely, then player accessibility and ease of operation are improved, but player control and social experience quality deteriorate due to uncontrolled interactions with unsuitable opponents

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveplayer accessibility to tablesVSAvoidnegative social interactions from unsuitable opponents
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the player population into distinct communities based on shared characteristics (e.g., geographic location, social connections, game preferences). Each community is assigned to specific poker tables, creating segmented play environments. This allows players to access tables within their community while preventing access by players outside the community, thus maintaining both accessibility for members and control over social interactions.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

2Reliability

If dedicated community poker tables are created with access restrictions, then social experience quality and player control are improved, but system complexity and device complexity increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvequality of social gaming experienceVSAvoidcomplexity of table management system
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system automatically performs community detection and table assignment based on player attributes and interactions. The complexity of identifying communities, determining their characteristics, and assigning appropriate tables is handled autonomously by the system without requiring manual intervention from operators or players. This self-service approach manages the inherent complexity while delivering reliable social gaming experiences.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #25Self-service

3Adaptability or versatility

If player attributes are analyzed and communities are formed, then player control and social experience are improved, but information processing requirements and system resources increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveability to create customized play environmentsVSAvoidcomputational resources for attribute analysis
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSUse of energy by moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The system implements community detection and table assignment in a staged manner, initially using a subset of player attributes and gradually expanding as more data becomes available. Rather than analyzing all possible player attributes simultaneously, the system performs partial analysis based on the most relevant characteristics for forming meaningful communities, thus reducing computational resource requirements while still achieving adaptability.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #16Partial or excessive action

Data Source

PatentUS9965921B2Poker communities
Publication Date: 2018.05.08 ZYNGA INC

AI summary

Methods, systems, and computer programs are presented for providing play areas to communities of players in an online game. One method includes an operation for identifying attributes of players in the online game. A characteristic that is common to a subset of players is determined in the online game, where the characteristic is based on the attributes of players in the online game. The method further includes an operation for creating a playing area in the online game, such that the subset of players are allowed to play in the playing area, but other players in the online game, that are outside the subset of players, are disallowed from playing in the playing area. The subset of players is then enabled to play in the playing area with other players from the subset of players.