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US 8,574,065 B2Granted
Controlling player-to-player commerce in video game environment
AssigneeLeviathan Entertainment, LLC
InventorAndrew Van Luchene
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Players of a video game can enter contracts and engage in various simple or complex financial transactions employing credit systems such as credit cards, other financial instruments and other mechanisms to facilitate the enforcement of such contracts. Default on agreements by players or player characters can result in financial penalties which the video game system can apply.
Claims19
A method performed by a computer, the method comprising:
- providing, by a Video Game Central Server, a virtual environment that is accessible to one or more players;
- receiving, by the Video Game Central Server, real world financial information from a player;
- maintaining, by the Video Game Central Server, the real world financial information in a player account associated with the player;
- receiving, by the Video Game Central Server, a request to incur a financial obligation from the player;
- providing, by the Video Game Central Server, the player with the option to satisfy the financial obligation with virtual funds or real world funds
- providing, by the Video Game Central Server, the player with a virtual price for the item, wherein the virtual price indicates the cost of the item in virtual funds;
- and
- providing, by the Video Game Central Server, the player with a real world price for the item, wherein the real world price indicates the cost of the item in real world funds.
5 more elements
An apparatus comprising:
- a processor;
- and
- a tangible computer readable medium in communication with the processor;
- in which the tangible computer readable medium stores instructions which, when executed by the processor, direct the processor to
- provide, by a Video Game Central Server, a virtual environment that is accessible to one or more players;
- receive, by the Video Game Central Server, real world financial information from a player;
- maintain, by the Video Game Central Server, the real world financial information in a player account associated with the player;
- receive, by the Video Game Central Server, a request to incur a financial obligation from the player;
- provide, by the Video Game Central Server, the player with the option to satisfy the financial obligation with virtual funds or real world funds
- provide, by the Video Game Central Server, the player with a virtual price for the item, wherein the virtual price indicates the cost of the item in virtual funds;
- and
- provide, by the Video Game Central Server, the player with a real world price for the item, wherein the real world price indicates the cost of the item in real world funds.
9 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.