Player to spectator handoff and other spectator controls

A system for curating streamed views of virtual environments, the system comprising:

• a game management server that tracks data regarding a shared virtual environment accessible by a plurality of spectator devices over a communication network, each of the plurality of devices controlling a streamed view within the shared virtual environment in accordance with a plurality of view modification options;
• a communication interface that communicates over the communication network, wherein the communication interface:
• receives input from a requesting spectator device over the communication network, the input selecting a view curator of a plurality of view curators for the shared virtual environment, wherein the selected view curator is given control over a streamed view associated with the requesting spectator device;
• hands off control over a streamed view associated with the requesting spectator device to the selected view curator, wherein the selected view curator controls switching between the plurality of view modification options for devices that have handed off control to the selected view curator;
• and
• receives one or more control inputs from the selected view curator, each control input selecting a different view modification option from the plurality of view modification options;
• and
• a processor that executes instructions stored in memory, wherein the processor executes the instructions to:
• modify the streamed view associated with the requesting spectator device in accordance with the control inputs from the selected view curator;
• and
• provide the modified streamed view to the requesting spectator device over the communication network.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having embodied thereon a program executable by a processor to perform a method for curating streamed views of virtual environments, the method comprising:

• generating a shared virtual environment accessible by a plurality of spectator devices over a communication network, each of the plurality of devices controlling a streamed view within the shared virtual environment in accordance with a plurality of view modification options;
• receiving input from a requesting spectator device over the communication network, the input selecting a view curator of a plurality of view curators for the shared virtual environment;
• handing off control over a streamed view associated with the requesting spectator device to the selected view curator, wherein the selected view curator controls switching between the plurality of view modification options for devices that have handed off control to the selected view curator;
• receiving one or more control inputs from the selected view curator, each control input selecting a different view modification option from the plurality of view modification options;
• modifying the streamed view associated with the requesting spectator device in accordance with the control inputs from the selected view curator;
• and
• providing the modified streamed view to the requesting spectator device over the communication network.