Social Graph Avatars as Non-Player Characters for Game Invitations
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The cumbersome process of selecting friends to play games with in online gaming services reduces user friendliness and convenience, as users often navigate through multiple menus to invite friends, making the experience frustrating.
Innovation Solution
The system identifies associated users from a social graph and includes their avatars as non-player-characters in the game, allowing users to interact with these avatars to invite them to join in a game, simplifying the invitation process through audible calls or physical gestures, without the need to navigate through menus.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If users navigate through menus to select friends to play games with, then friend selection functionality is achieved, but user friendliness and convenience deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the friend selection functionality with the game environment by integrating social graph data directly into the game world. Friends appear as NPCs within the game scene, combining the social networking feature with the gaming experience, thereby eliminating the need for separate menu navigation and improving ease of operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary layer that translates social graph relationships into in-game NPC representations. This intermediary mechanism automatically maps friend data to game characters, serving as a bridge between the social network system and the game environment, thus eliminating complex menu interactions while maintaining friend selection functionality.
2Productivity
If traditional menu-based friend selection is used, then friend invitation functionality is achieved, but user convenience and engagement deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary action by pre-loading friend data from the social graph into the game environment before the user needs to invite anyone. Friends are already represented as NPCs in the game world, so when the user wants to invite a friend, the target is already visible and accessible within the game scene, eliminating the need for separate menu navigation and improving invitation efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides self-service by automatically managing the friend invitation process. When users interact with friend-NPCs in the game, the system automatically handles the invitation logic, data retrieval, and game session initiation without requiring users to manually navigate through invitation menus or configure settings, thereby improving both convenience and efficiency.
Data Source
AI summary
In accordance with one or more aspects, for a particular user one or more other users associated with that particular user are identified based on a social graph of that particular user. An avatar of at least one of the other users is obtained and included as a non-player-character in a game being played by that particular user. The particular user can provide requests to interact with the avatar of the second user (e.g., calling out the name of the second user, tapping the avatar of the second user on the shoulder, etc.), these requests being invitations for the second user to join in a game with the first user. An indication of such an invitation is presented to the second user, which can, for example, accept the invitation to join in a game with the first user.