Use of online messaging to facilitate selection of participants in game play

A method for enabling a host player to select one or more other players to participate in a multiplayer online electronic game played using a plurality of electronic devices linked in communication over a communications network, each of said plurality of electronic devices being operated by a different player, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) enabling the host player to initiate a chat session;
• (b) enabling the host player to invite one or more other players to join the chat session, and sending an electronic invitation to join the chat session to each of the one or more players invited by the host player to join the chat session;
• (c) enabling any of the players who were invited by the host, to be a participant in the chat session;
• (d) enabling the host player to forward a network address corresponding to an electronic device being operated by the host to any other player participating in the chat session;
• (e) automatically launching an instance of the multiplayer online electronic game on each electronic device being operated by any player participating in the chat session, said step of automatically launching being in response to a game initiating action performed by the host player so that any player participating in the chat session automatically becomes a participant in the multiplayer online electronic game;
• and
• (f) enabling each player to transmit voice chat data to all of the other players who have joined the chat session.

A method for enabling a host player, who is a member of an online messaging service that enables the host player to build a player contact list of one or more players with whom the host prefers to chat and/or play multiplayer online computer games, to select one or more other players to participate in a multiplayer online electronic game played using a plurality of electronic devices linked in communication over a communications network, each of said plurality of electronic devices being operated by a different player, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) enabling the host player to initiate a voice chat session;
• (b) enabling the host player to invite one or more other players to join the voice chat session;
• (c) enabling any of the players who were invited by the host, to be a participant in the voice chat session;
• (d) enabling the host player to forward a network address corresponding to an electronic device being operated by the host to any other player participating in the voice chat session;
• and
• (e) providing a player contact list to the host player and enabling the host player to select one or more players to participate in the multi player online electronic game from the player contact list by transmitting a voice chat message from the host player to any other player participating in the voice chat session, said voice chat message identifying a multiplayer online electronic game that the host player will be launching or has already launched on the electronic device operated by the host player so that any other player participating in the voice chat session can selectively launch an instance of the multiplayer online electronic game on the electronic device operated by the player, so that any player participating in the chat session who selectively launches the multiplayer online electronic game becomes a participant in the multiplayer online electronic game.

A system for enabling a host player to select one or more other players to participate in playing a multiplayer online electronic game played using a plurality of electronic devices linked in communication over a communications network, each of said plurality of electronic devices being operated by a different player and including:

• (a) a display on which a user interface is implemented;
• (b) a memory in which a plurality of machine instructions are stored;
• (c) a microphone operatively coupled to the electronic device and which produces audio signals in response to words spoken by a user into the microphone;
• (d) a sound transducer operatively coupled to the electronic device so as to replicate sounds corresponding to an audio data signal received over the communications network by the electronic device to which said at least one sound transducer is operatively coupled;
• and
• (e) a processor coupled to the memory for executing said plurality of machine instructions, said processor implementing a plurality of functions when executing the machine instructions, including:
• (i) enabling the host player to initiate a chat session;
• (ii) enabling the host player to invite one or more other players to join the chat session;
• (iii) enabling any of the players who were invited by the host, to be a participant in the chat session;
• (iv) automatically launching an instance of the multiplayer online electronic game on each electronic device being operated by any player participating in the chat session, said step of automatically launching being in response to a game initiating action performed by the host player so that any player participating in the chat session automatically becomes a participant in the multi player online electronic game;
• (v) employing the microphone, the sound transducer, and the electronic device to enable each player to transmit voice chat data to all other players participating in the chat session;
• (vi) sending an electronic invitation to a player being invited by the host player to join the chat session;
• (vii) producing an audible announcement with said at least one sound transducer apprising a recipient of the electronic invitation that the host player has invited the recipient to join the chat session;
• and
• (viii) enabling the electronic invitation to be accepted by the recipient through use of a verbal response spoken into the microphone by the recipient.