Amusement devices: games – Including means for processing electronic data – In a game requiring strategy or problem solving by a...
Reexamination Certificate
2001-10-26
2004-07-06
Harrison, Jessica (Department: 3714)
Amusement devices: games
Including means for processing electronic data
In a game requiring strategy or problem solving by a...
C463S029000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06758746
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to on-line multiplayer computer games and particularly to games where a player takes on a defined role and involves a method for providing to the player the option to choose a customized character before playing the game.
2. Description of Prior Art
The popularity of computer games has grown in recent years due to the low cost of computers with powerful CPUs and plentiful Random Access Memory (RAM), the improved sophistication of computer graphics, and the availability of high-speed computer networks including the Internet.
COMPUTER GAMES—CLASSIFIED BY THEME
There are many types of computer games on the market today, and these games can be classified in several ways. The following list classifies popular computer game by theme.
Three-dimensional (3D) first-person action games, such as the “Doom” game produced by id Corporation, involve a 3D environment where a player's character can walk, turn, and react to the surrounding objects.
Adventure games and interactive fiction, such as the “Zork” game, involve stories in which a player controls a character in the game scenario.
Edutainment games, such as the “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego” game produced by Broderbund, involve scenarios that attempt to provide both entertainment and education.
Fighting games, such as the “Mortal Kombat” game produced by Midway Manufacturing Company, involve martial arts and other fighting sports in an action-oriented setting. These games offer a variety of characters, each with a unique set of fighting skills, for a player to control.
Strategy games, such as the “SimCity” game made by Maxis Co. and the “ChessMaster” game produced by The Fidelity ToolWorks, involve a player managing the resources of a society.
Arcade-action games, such as the “1942” game, involve a player having to eliminate enemies using a setting such as war, alien invasion, or the like.
Simulation games, such as the “FA-18/Interceptor” game made by Electronic arts (EA), involve some form of military hardware such as aircraft or tanks. Other types of simulation games involve simulations such as racing a car or flying a spaceship.
Sports games, such as the “NBA live,” “PGA Tour golf,” and “NHL Hockey” games made by EA, involve simulations of actual sports such as baseball, hockey, football, or basketball.
War games, such as the “Eastern Front 1941” game made by Chris Crawford, involve a player having to adhere to a set of rules in a structured environment, such as a recreation of World War I or World War II.
A more complete and detailed description of the various game themes can be found in “The Ultimate Game Developer's Source book” by Ben Sawyer, ed. Coriolis Group Books, Inc., 1996.
COMPUTER GAMES—ROLE-PLAYING
A second way to classify computer games is to classify certain games as role-playing games. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a Role-Playing Game (RPG) is “a game in which players take on the roles of imaginary characters, usually in a setting created by a referee, and thereby vicariously experience the imagined adventures of these characters.” Certain 3D first-person action games, adventure games, fighting games, strategy games, and war games could be classified as RPGs.
In an RPG, a player accesses the game over a network and selects a character type such as race (e.g. human, elf, dwarf, or Klingon). Each character is further defined by its unique attributes. Attributes include, for example, statistics and skills. The player creates a character with various statistics such as strength, intelligence, or stamina. The player chooses skills for the character such as swordsmanship, spell casting, or swimming. Players then enter the virtual world and perform acts that give their characters experience, which the players can use to improve their character's skills and statistics. For example, by swimming in the game the character's swimming skill may improve, or by killing monsters the character may gain survival experience, advance in levels, and gain strength.
The definition of RPG can be described further in the context of the history of the development of RPGs.
In 1978, the first RPG was created by Roy Trubshaw and Richard Bartle, students at the University of Essex, England, as an experiment in shared memory techniques. Trubshaw and Bartle called their game a MUD (“Multi-User Dungeon”). It was a multi-user adventure game loosely based upon the popular game known as “Dungeons and Dragons.” In this fantasy adventure, players were encouraged to compete with each other for points by going on quests to slay monsters or find treasure. All players started out on an equal footing, but after having accumulated a certain number of points, a player could advance his or her rank, thus gaining access to new and greater powers. This eventually lead to a sort of social hierarchy, starting with “Newbies” (new players at the lowest rank), continuing with various intermediate ranks, and culminating at the highest “Wizard” rank, with all the special powers and privileges of such rank.
Since Trubshaw and Bartle's original MUD, the term “MUD” has been used generically to describe a network-accessible, multi-participant, user-extensible virtual reality that is primarily text-based. Typically, the term “virtual reality” refers to computer-simulated environments, which possess varying degrees of audio/visual (AV) interface, and although some experimental MUDs do offer AV components, MUDs are generally text-based.
In the late 1970s, another RPG called “Island of Kesmai” (IOK)was created by John Taylor and Kelton Flinn, students at the University of Virginia. In 1982, Taylor and Flinn reached an agreement with online service provider CompuServe, which made “Island of Kesmai” and other games available to CompuServe subscribers for about $12/hour. Unlike the original MUD, IOK uses ASCII graphics. The game is grid-based, and players see a 6-by-6 bird's eye view matrix drawn using pairs of ASCII characters. Beginners have to select from various character classes and races (each of which has unique advantages and disadvantages), and characters are assigned six property values (strength, intelligence, dexterity, wisdom, stamina, and constitution). Players move their characters by typing in directions, and there are commands for characters to pick up, drop, examine, and throw objects.
In 1988, another online service provider, GEnie, began offering the game “Gemstone II” for $6/hour to GEnie subscribers.
In 1992, a MUD called “Genocide” was the first to allow one player to eliminate another player's character by way of the so-called “player-kill,” for which a more descriptive name would be “character kill.”
Also in 1992, id Software published “DOOM,” a multiplayer game initially designed to be played on local area networks (LANs). DOOM was initially a shareware program, but it became so popular that players were willing to pay for additional development of the game. To date, an estimated 15 million copies of DOOM have been downloaded around the world, passed from player to player by floppy disk or online networks.
In 1995, id Software published “Quake,” which was a multiplayer game designed to be played over the Internet. Quake employs a client-server model, where users download a client software program and then connect over the Internet to a game server.
Today's online role-playing game market in the United States is dominated by three games. (1) “Ultima Online,” developed by Origin Systems and published in 1997 by Electronic Arts, currently has approximately 225,000 subscribers. (2) “EverQuest,” developed by Verant and published in 1999 by Sony Online, currently has approximately 330,000 subscribers. (3) “Asheron's Call,” developed by Turbine and published in 1999 by Microsoft, currently has approximately 100,000 subscribers. In Korea, “Lineage: The Blood Pledge,” published in 1988 by NCsoft, currently has 2.7 million subscribers.
COMPUTER GAMES—MULTIPLAYER
A third way to classify computer games is according to the num
Handford Forest J.
Hunter Thomas C.
Clock Tower Law Group
Harrison Jessica
Heels Erik J.
Mather Joshua D.
Mosser Robert E.
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