cormack12
Gold Member
Source: https://techraptor.net/gaming/news/player-kicking-microtransaction-patented-by-sony
Source: https://segmentnext.com/2021/07/16/sony-spectators-kick-streamers/
There's no guarantee that Sony will use this patent — lots of companies will invest the money to protect their invention and end up not using it all.
Sony has filed a new patent that describes several methods for allowing spectators to kick a player from a game — and one of the methods described involves paying a microtransaction.
this patent isn't just about the microtransaction — it also covers a number of other potential scenarios where spectators may wish to kick a player. These include a voting threshold system, a mode based on player skill levels, and an auction of all things. A good patent will cover as many scenarios as it can get away with — the microtransaction for kicking a player from a game is just one portion of a lengthy document that explores the patent in extreme detail. Ultimately, this patent is all about defining a bunch of systems that would allow a spectator or spectators to kick a player from a game.
As for the reason behind the kick, most of the patent describes different voting systems. There are a number of reasons why spectators might want to boot a player, too — it sure would be useful for spectators to be able to kick a cheater from a game. Either way, I'm sure that some people will use such a feature for less wholesome reasons, too.
Sony understands that increasing the involvement of spectators on streaming platforms such as Twitch can help make a game popular and in turn boost viewership.
One such way for increased involvement is to give spectators access to a voting interface from which they can vote in real time to remove players from the game for “bad behavior, poor sportsmanship, substandard performance” or simply because the spectator holds no interest in watching a particular player play.
The said removal can be both temporary and permanent with the option to remove players for either the current match/round or from the game entirely.
In an example, Sony explains that spectators might not be happy about watching players perform poorly in a team-based multiplayer game. The poor performance can be related to both gameplay or toxic behavior.
Spectators can hence decide to “bench” such players by voting with the option to bring them back later on through another round of votes.
Source: https://segmentnext.com/2021/07/16/sony-spectators-kick-streamers/
There's no guarantee that Sony will use this patent — lots of companies will invest the money to protect their invention and end up not using it all.
Sony has filed a new patent that describes several methods for allowing spectators to kick a player from a game — and one of the methods described involves paying a microtransaction.
this patent isn't just about the microtransaction — it also covers a number of other potential scenarios where spectators may wish to kick a player. These include a voting threshold system, a mode based on player skill levels, and an auction of all things. A good patent will cover as many scenarios as it can get away with — the microtransaction for kicking a player from a game is just one portion of a lengthy document that explores the patent in extreme detail. Ultimately, this patent is all about defining a bunch of systems that would allow a spectator or spectators to kick a player from a game.
As for the reason behind the kick, most of the patent describes different voting systems. There are a number of reasons why spectators might want to boot a player, too — it sure would be useful for spectators to be able to kick a cheater from a game. Either way, I'm sure that some people will use such a feature for less wholesome reasons, too.
Sony understands that increasing the involvement of spectators on streaming platforms such as Twitch can help make a game popular and in turn boost viewership.
One such way for increased involvement is to give spectators access to a voting interface from which they can vote in real time to remove players from the game for “bad behavior, poor sportsmanship, substandard performance” or simply because the spectator holds no interest in watching a particular player play.
The said removal can be both temporary and permanent with the option to remove players for either the current match/round or from the game entirely.
In an example, Sony explains that spectators might not be happy about watching players perform poorly in a team-based multiplayer game. The poor performance can be related to both gameplay or toxic behavior.
Spectators can hence decide to “bench” such players by voting with the option to bring them back later on through another round of votes.
[0012] In one embodiment, the interface to enable providing of feedback to the cloud gaming system enables spectators to pay to have a player removed from playing the video game. In one embodiment, the interface to enable providing of feedback to the cloud gaming system enables a spectator to pay in full a fixed price to have a player removed from playing the video game, and the removal of the player is performed by the cloud gaming system when payment in full of the fixed price is received from the spectator. In another embodiment, the interface to enable providing of feedback to the cloud gaming system enables a plurality of spectators to pay a part of a fixed price to have a player removed from the playing the video game, and the removal of the player is performed by the cloud gaming system when combined payment in full of the fixed price is received from the plurality of spectators each of whom paid a part of the fixed price to have the player removed from playing the video game.