U.S. Patent No. 10,471,348: System and method for creating and sharing customized video game weapon configurations in multiplayer video games via one or more social networks

Issued November 12, 2019 to Activision Publishing Inc.
Priority Date: July 24, 2015

Summary:
U.S. Patent No. 10,471,348 (the ’348 Patent) relates to creating customized video game weapon configurations that may be saved and shared via social networks for other players to use in the multiplayer video game. The ’348 Patent details a system that allows a player to customize a weapon configuration, such as with attachments to change the damage, accuracy, fire rate, or magazine size, as well as appearance attributes such as paint jobs, camouflages, and skins. A configuration creation engine may store the customized weapon configuration/profile so that players may choose between various weapon configurations during gameplay without having to recreate a loadout from scratch each time they want to change something about their weapon configuration. Each weapon configuration may be named or otherwise marked for identification when selecting a saved configuration. Weapon configurations may also include a performance profile that tracks the statistics of the weapon with that specific configuration, such as damage, accuracy, fire rate, range, handling, mobility, reload time, magazine size, etc. These statistics may be averaged over the gameplay sessions in which the weapon configuration is used. This average may be for an individual player’s performance, or a global statistic tracking the performance of that weapon configuration among all players who use it. 

Abstract:
A system and method for creating and sharing customized video game weapon configurations in multiplayer video games via one or more social networks is provided.

Illustrative Claim:
1. A computer-implemented method of creating and sharing a customized video game weapon configuration in a gameplay session of a multiplayer video game via at least one social network, the method being implemented in a host computer system configured to host the gameplay session of the multiplayer video game between a first player using a first computer system and one or more other players using one or more other computer systems, said host computer system having one or more physical processors programmed with computer program instructions for a weapons customization application comprising at least a weapon customization engine and a sharing engine that, when executed by the one or more physical processors, cause the host computer system to perform the method, the method comprising: receiving, at the weapons application configured to execute on the host computer system, from the first player, a selection of a video game weapon to be used in the gameplay session of the multiplayer video game; using the weapon customization engine configured to execute on the host computer system, generating one or more user interfaces configured to present one or more weapon attributes to the first player; receiving, at the weapon customization engine, from the first player, a selection of the one or more weapon attributes for customizing the video game weapon; generating, by the weapon customization engine, a customized weapon configuration for the video game weapon based on the selected weapon and the selected one or more weapon attributes; receiving, at the sharing engine configured to execute on the host computer system, from the first player, a command to share the customized weapon configuration with the one or more other players of the multiplayer video game via at least one social network; and causing the customized weapon configuration to be shared, via the host computer system, with the one or more other players of the multiplayer video game via the at least one social network such that the one or more other players can utilize the customized weapon configuration during a gameplay session, wherein the at least one social network is a game-specific social network associated with the multiplayer video game or a publisher-specific social network associated with the publisher of the multiplayer video game, and wherein the customized video game weapon configuration is sharable by the first player with one or more players within the gameplay session of the video game or with one or more players external to the video game via a social network.