FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

This disclosure relates to balancing differences in user interactions with a virtual space, the balancing being made by dynamically determining parameters of crafting activities based on rates of usage of the virtual space by users.

BACKGROUND

Virtual space systems that provide crafting activities for users to craft virtual items are known. In those systems, crafting requirements such as an amount and/or types of resources needed for crafting an item, time duration for the crafting, a profession or skill required for the crafting and/or a virtual space location for the crafting are typically determined statically for all users in the virtual space.

SUMMARY

One aspect of the disclosure relates to dynamically determining crafting activity parameters for a crafting activity initiated by a user based on a usage rate of a virtual space by the user. The usage rate may be determined based on an amount of time spent by the user in a period of real world time. The dynamically determined crafting activity parameters may include a time, resource, recipe, outcome, success rate, and/or any other parameters of the crafting activity. Based on user input indicating that the crafting activity should be initiated, and in accordance with the determined parameters of the crafting activity, execution of the crafting activity may be made in the virtual space. In some implementations, one or more normalization standards related to balancing differences in time spent in the virtual space by the users may be obtained. In those implementations, the parameters of the crafting activity may be determined based on the obtained normalization standards. Such dynamic determinations of parameters for executing the crafting activity in the virtual space may balance effects caused by differences in usage of the virtual space between users. Accordingly, unlike the conventional virtual space systems, this may make the virtual space accessible to users who spend less time than others in the virtual space.

In some implementations, a system configured to dynamically determine crafting parameters based on user usage rate of a virtual space may include a server. The server may operate in a client/server architecture with one or more client computing platforms. The client computing platforms may be associated with the users of the virtual space. The server may be configured to execute one or more of a space module, a usage rate module, an activity parameter module, an activity execution module, and/or other modules.

The space module may be configured to execute an instance of a virtual space. The space module may implement the instance of the virtual space to facilitate user interactions with the virtual space. Such user facilitations may include providing virtual space activities to the users. A virtual space activity may provide an opportunity and/or motivation for a user to progress in the virtual space. One example of such virtual space activities is crafting activities. Crafting activities may be provided in the virtual space for users to combine, transform, or transmute virtual resources to produce correspond virtual items such as but not limited to, armor, weapon, potion, wardrobe, books, and/or any other virtual items. The crafting activities may be initiated by users in the instance of the virtual space by providing inputs in accordance with the parameters of the crafting activities.

Usage rate module may be configured to determine rates of user usage of the virtual space. The user usage rate may be determined to quantify a level of usage of the virtual space by the users. The usage rate may be determined based on an amount of time spent in the virtual space, an amount of virtual and/or real currencies spent in the virtual space, a number of quests, missions, campaign and/or any other virtual space activities participated in the virtual space, a number of virtual space locations engaged in the virtual space, and/or any other user interactions with the virtual space. In some implementations, the usage rate module may be configured to determine an amount of time a user spends in the virtual space in a period based on a number of play sessions by the user and an amount of time spent for the individual play sessions by the user. Examples of such a user usage rate may include an average amount of time over a real-world unit of time or sliding window (e.g., average daily play time), over a play session (e.g., average play time in a play session), the exact amount of time in the period or play session(s) for the period, and/or any other time measurement for the user in the virtual space.

Activity parameter module may be configured to determine parameters of crafting activities based on user usage rates of the virtual space. The determined parameters of a crafting activity may be used for execution of the crafting activity in the virtual space, e.g., by the activity execution module112. Examples of crafting activity parameters may include, but not limited to, time, resource, crafting recipe, outcome, success rate and/or any other crafting activity parameters. The time parameter of a crafting activity may specify an amount of time for the crafting activity to complete in the virtual space. The resource parameter of the crafting activity may correspond to ingredients, materials, components, and the like needed for the crafting activity to produce one or more corresponding items in the virtual space. The recipe parameter of the crafting activity may provide a formula and/or a set of instructions through which the crafting activity may be executed in the virtual space. The outcome parameter may specify one or more virtual items that may be crafted by the crafting activity. The success rate parameter may specify a probability of success for the crafting activity—e.g., 90% chance that the crafting activity will produce a corresponding item for the user. In some implementations, these parameters for a crafting activity may be determined for an individual user by the activity parameter module based on an amount of time the user spent in the virtual space during a previous period of real-world time, during a play session(s), during a sliding window of real-world time and/or for any other amount of real-world time.

In some implementations, the activity parameter module may be configured to determine the crafting activity parameters based on one or more user normalization standards. The user normalization standards may be determined by the provider, administrator, moderator, and/or any other entities related to the virtual space to normalize interactions with the virtual space by the users. In some examples, the user normalization standards may relate to balancing differences of time spent in the virtual space by the users. Such user normalization standards may be used by the activity parameter module to determine crafting activity parameters for balancing time differences in participating in the crafting activities by the users. In some implementations, the activity parameter module110may be configured to determine the crafting activity parameters for an individual user based on one or more of a skill, an experience level, a class, a race, a profession, a virtual item owned, a power-ups earned, and/or any other characteristics by the user.

Activity execution module may be configured to execute crafting activities in the virtual space. Such executions may involve receiving input initiating execution of crafting activities, verifying the received user inputs against the parameters determined for the users by the activity parameter module, executing the crafting activities in accordance with the crafting activity parameters, and producing crafted virtual items in the virtual space at the end of the execution.

These and other features, and characteristics of the present technology, as well as the methods of operation and functions of the related elements of structure and the combination of parts and economies of manufacture, will become more apparent upon consideration of the following description and the appended claims with reference to the accompanying drawings, all of which form a part of this specification, wherein like reference numerals designate corresponding parts in the various figures. It is to be expressly understood, however, that the drawings are for the purpose of illustration and description only and are not intended as a definition of the limits of the invention. As used in the specification and in the claims, the singular form of “a”, “an”, and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

