Collaborative online gaming system and method

A collaborative online gaming system, implemented using at least one game server capable of communicating with a plurality of player devices operated by game players, the system comprising:

• one or more game servers, at least some of which are configured to allow connections from devices operated by players and at least some of which are configured to allow a new player to join an ongoing game instance, wherein a game instance is an instantiation of a game program executed by the game server;
• at least one processor configured with computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:
• gather data associated with the one or more game servers and one or more game players;
• store the gathered data into a database cloud for storing persistent state data for one or more players and the one or more game servers;
• and
• automatically deploy additional game instances based at least in part on the number of players in existing game instances;
• match a prospective new player with one or more game instances executed by one or more of the plurality of game servers, wherein matching comprises:
• presenting the prospective new player with a list of game instances, wherein the list includes, for each game instance on the list, a visual indication of a skill level category based on a skill level rating for that game instance, wherein the skill level category assigned to each game instance is determined based on a comparison of a skill level rating of the prospective new player with the skill level rating for that game instance.

A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a computing system, cause the computing system to implement a method comprising:

• identifying a plurality of game servers, at least some of which are configured to allow connections from devices operated by players and at least some of which are configured to allow a new player to join an ongoing game instance, wherein a game instance is an instantiation of a game program executed by a game server and is an ongoing game instance if at least one player is playing, or initiating play, in that game instance;
• gathering data associated with the plurality of game servers and one or more players;
• storing the gathered data in a database cloud for storing persistent state data for the one or more players and the plurality of game servers;
• identifying one or more prospective new players;
• and
• automatically deploying additional game instances based at least in part on the number of players in existing game instances;
• matching the one or more prospective new players with one or more game instance executed by one or more of the plurality of game servers, wherein matching comprises:
• presenting the prospective new player with a list of game instances, wherein the list includes, for each game instance on the list, a visual indication of a skill level category based on a skill level rating for that game instance, wherein the skill level category assigned to each game instance is determined based on a comparison of a skill level rating of the prospective new player with the skill level rating for that game instance.