Supervisory Control for Online Game Virtual Item Sales
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current systems lack effective control over sales permissions for virtual items in online games, particularly in ensuring that users, especially children, are protected from unfair sales or trades of virtual items, which can lead to financial exploitation.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that utilize a supervisory user to control permissions for virtual item sales by establishing connections between supervisory and user accounts, allowing the supervisory user to grant or deny permissions for sales, offers, and trades, with notifications sent to users regarding permission status, thereby protecting users from unfair transactions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If users are allowed to freely sell virtual items in online games, then user autonomy and trading freedom are improved, but users (especially children) become vulnerable to financial exploitation and unfair sales
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a supervisory user account as an intermediary between the user and the virtual item sale system. The supervisory user must explicitly approve or deny sale requests before transactions can be completed. This intermediary layer prevents children from making unfair sales while still allowing them to trade when authorized, thus resolving the contradiction between trading freedom and protection from exploitation.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If supervisory controls are implemented for virtual item sales, then protection from exploitation is improved, but system complexity and user restriction increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the user account system into two distinct roles: regular users who can initiate sales and supervisory users who have approval authority. This segmentation allows the system to implement protection mechanisms without requiring complex oversight for every single transaction, as the supervisory role can be assigned once per user account. The segmentation simplifies the complexity by creating clear hierarchical boundaries.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If supervisory approval is required for all sales, then protection from unfair transactions is improved, but transaction speed and user convenience deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by requiring supervisory users to pre-approve or deny sale permissions before transactions occur. Once permission is granted, multiple sales can proceed without requiring repeated supervisory intervention for each individual transaction. This preliminary authorization approach maintains protection from unfair transactions while significantly improving transaction speed for approved users.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for controlling sales permissions pertaining to sales activities by users of an online game are disclosed. Exemplary implementations may: store information on electronic storage related to the users of the online game; execute an instance of the online game and implement the instance of the online game; receive supervisory input from a supervisory user; receive user input to request or initiate a sale; determine whether the request is in accordance with the one or more sales permissions; effectuate a performance of the sale of one or more particular virtual items, responsive to a determination that the request is permitted; and effectuate presentation of a notification to the user that conveys the user lacks permission, responsive to a determination that the request is not permitted under the one or more sales permissions.