U.S. Patent No: 10,500,500: Massively single-playing online game

Issued December 10, 2019 to Nintendo Co. Ltd
Priority Date: February 2, 2010

Summary:
U.S. Patent No. 10,500,500 (the ’500 Patent) relates to players in an online video gaming being able to avoid interaction with other players, but still affect the gameplay of other players and be affected by the actions of other players in a massively single-playing online game. The ’500 Patent details a game server system in which a player can play a video game online in a game world that they and other players can affect, although they cannot interact with each other. For example, in a game that allows players to build houses, a house built by one player will appear in other players’ worlds as well. Currency and item values may also be affected by other players based on market conditions without actually having interaction with other players. This combines a single player experience with a dynamic world that is not solely based on AI or scripted content. 

Abstract:
A method and apparatus that allows a player to play a massively single-player online game without directly interacting with other players, while affecting and being affected by other players playing the online game.

Illustrative Claim:
1. A game server system for providing a virtual game environment for a video game, the game server comprising: a network interface configured to establish connections between remote player devices and the game server; a storage device configured to store game data for the video game, the stored game data usable by respective single-player game sessions of the video game that are performed with each of the remote player devices; and at least one hardware processor that is configured to: provide, to a first remote player device, a first single-player game session for the video game that is presented to a first user, wherein the presented video game is configured to accept input from the first user to interact with the virtual game environment, the interaction including at least addition of a first virtual object to the virtual game environment, based on addition of the first virtual object within the virtual game environment during the first single-player game session, update the stored game data for the video game to reflect the addition of the first virtual object within the virtual game environment, provide, as part of a second single-player game session and based on the stored game data, data for the virtual game environment to a second remote player device that is used by a second user, wherein presentation of the virtual game environment within the video game running on the second remote player device is based on interactions of the first user with the virtual game environment, including addition of the first virtual object to the to the virtual game environment, and based on second user interactions, which are provided during the second single-player game session, that affect the first virtual object within the virtual game environment, update the stored game data for the video game to reflect how the first virtual object has been affected by the second user interactions, wherein at least one subsequent single-player game session is provided based on the how the first virtual object has been affected by the second user interactions, wherein first and second users are not allowed to directly interact through the virtual game environment of the video game.