GB2622068A - Modifying game content based on at least one censorship criterion - Google Patents

Abstract

An entertainment device (10 figure 1), a method, a computer program, and a computer-readable storage device storing the computer program. The entertainment device comprising content retrieval circuitry (55 figure 1) to retrieve game content 410, and processing circuitry (20 figure 1). The processing circuitry to determine at least one censorship criterion based on user input data, analyse the game content 400 based on the at least one censorship criterion to identify one or more censored objects in the game content, and modify the game content 420, 430 dependent on the one or more identified censored objects. The user set censorship criterion may comprise a selected phobia to be censored or a selected user age range to prevent the display of age inappropriate content.

Description

MODIFYING GAME CONTENT BASED ON AT LEAST ONE CENSORSHIP CRITERION

The present technique relates to the field of processing data, and more particularly to processing video game data.

Users (e.g. players) of an entertainment system (e.g. an entertainment device such as a games console, with one or more display devices and one or more handheld controllers) can have specific requirements and preferences that are not adequately catered for in game content. For example, some players may have phobias relating to certain objects that might be present in the game content, or certain objects or scenes might not be appropriate for children in certain age ranges.

At present, there is no way of automatically censoring game data at a system level based on the specific requirements (such as phobias) of a player, and so some players may find that they need to either avoid certain games altogether Of they know that their phobia is represented in that game) or may be caught off-guard when objects relating to their phobias are presented in the game (hence leading to a less enjoyable gaming experience). Moreover, even where certain games do include settings to accommodate specific preferences, these settings typically are applied in game (i.e. they are taken into account within the code of the game), and only consider a limited number of specific requirements (e.g. specific, common phobias), and do not consider, for example, rarer phobias and requirements.

Such settings also often rely on the user knowing that a certain game both contains objects which are inconsistent with their preferences and has settings which allow the game to be modified. For example, a game may have a "gore filter' setting which allows a player to select a level of gore they are comfortable with, or a filter for a specific phobia. However, these rely on a player being aware that a particular game provides such a filter (which may not be the case for all games), and also rely on the player being aware that the game contains elements which may trigger their phobia or which are otherwise contrary to their personal requirements. Such filters are also specific to a particular phobia (i.e. they do not allow a user to specify specific phobias other than those catered for by the game), so do not accommodate for other phobias or requirements a user may have, such as rarer phobias. Similarly, while many games have an age rating (e.g. a PEGI rating) that indicates an age range for which the game as a whole is suitable, there is no way of modifying game content at a system level based on a user's age.

Hence, the present technique aims to provide an entertainment system which can, for game assets associated with any game to be played using the entertainment system, automatically censor or otherwise modify game content based on censorship criteria indicated by a user input.

In a first example of the present technique, there is provided an entertainment device as defined in claim 1.

In another example of the present technique, there is provided a method as defined in claim 16.

In another example of the present technique, there is provided a computer program as defined in claim 17.

In another example of the present technique, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium as defined in claim 18. The computer-readable storage medium could be transitory or non-transitory.

Further respective aspects and features of the invention are defined in the appended claims Embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 illustrates an example of an entertainment system; Figure 2 illustrates an example of processing circuitry in an entertainment system; Figure 3 shows an example method for modifying generation of game content based on user input data; Figure 4 shows an example of removing or obscuring a censored object; Figures 5A and 53 show examples of warning indications; Figures 6 to 9 are further example methods for modifying game content.

For clarity of illustration, elements illustrated in the figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale. Further, where considered appropriate, reference numerals have been repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements.

The terms "coupled" and "connected," along with their derivatives, may be used herein to describe structural relationships between components of the apparatus for performing the operations herein. It should be understood that these terms are not intended as synonyms for each other. Rather, in particular embodiments, "connected" is used to indicate that two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact with each other while "coupled" is used to indicate two or more elements are in either direct or indirect (with other intervening elements between them) physical or electrical contact with each other, and/or that the two or more elements co-operate or communicate with each other (e.g., as in a cause an effect relationship).

Methods and systems are disclosed for modifying generation of game content in an entertainment system. In the following description, a number of specific details are presented in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, to a person skilled in the art that these specific details need not be employed to practice the present invention. Conversely, specific details known to the person skilled in the art are omitted for the purposes of clarity where appropriate.

Figure 1 shows an example of an entertainment system 10, which comprises an entertainment device 15 (which could for example include a computer or console such as the Sony PlayStafion 5 (PS5)), a display device such as a head-mounted display (HMD) 802 and one or more handheld controllers 80.

The entertainment device 15 comprises a central processor 20 (also referred to as processing circuitry or a central processing unit (CPU)). This may be a single or multi core processor, for example comprising eight cores as in the P35. The entertainment device also comprises a graphical processing unit or GPU 30. The GPU can be physically separate to the CPU, or integrated with the CPU as a system on a chip (SoC) as in the PS5. Either the CPU 20 or the CPU in combination with the GPU 30 may be an example of processing circuitry to generate game content for a game based on game assets.

The entertainment device 15 also comprises RAM 40, and may either have separate RAM for each of the CPU and GPU, or shared RAM as in the P35. The or each RAM can be physically separate, or integrated as part of an SoC as in the P55. Further storage is provided by a disk 50, either as an external or internal hard drive, or as an external solid state drive, or an internal solid state drive as in the PS5. Access circuitry 55 is also provided to access data (such as game content) stored on the disk 50 -hence, the access circuitry 55 is one example of reception circuitry to receive game assets for a game.

The entertainment device 15 may transmit or receive data via one or more data ports 60, such as a USB port, Ethernet port, W-Fi port, Bluetooth port or similar, as appropriate. It may also optionally receive data via an optical drive 70. The data ports 60 and optical drive 70 are further examples of reception circuitry to receive game assets for a game -for example, while the access circuity 55 may retrieve game content stored on the disk 50, the data ports 60 may download or stream game content from the internet.

Interaction with the device 15 is typically provided using one or more handheld controllers 80, such as the DualSense controller in the case of the P35. For example, the handheld controllers 80 may detect user inputs and provide user input data to the entertainment device 15. User input data may be provided to the entertainment device via a cable connecting the controllers to the entertainment device (e.g. connecting to the data ports 60) or via a wireless connection (e.g. Bluetooth®, W-Fie), etc.).

Audio/visual outputs from the entertainment device are typically provided through one or more A/V ports 90, or through one or more of the wired or wireless data ports 60. For example, the processing circuitry 20, 30 of the entertainment device may generate game content (e.g. image data and audio data) based on game assets received by any of the reception circuitry, and output the game content via the NV ports 90 or the wired or wireless data ports 60. Alternatively, the entertainment device may transmit the game assets directly to a display device, and processing circuitry of the display device may generate the game content (in which case the processing circuitry of the display device may be the processing circuitry to generate game content for the game based on game assets).

The display device may be a display screen such as a monitor or television screen (e.g. LCD screen, LED screen, etc.) connected to the entertainment device, and the display screen and speakers may be via the A/V port 90 or the data ports 60 to receive the audio/visual outputs. Alternatively, a display screen and/or speakers could be integrated as part of the entertainment device, or as part of a HMD, worm by a user 800. For example, an HMD bay be used to provide improved immersion, especially in virtual reality (VR) games.

Where components described above are not integrated with the entertainment device 15, they may be connected as appropriate either by a dedicated data link or via a bus 100.

Figure 2 shows an example of processing circuitry 200 (such as the central processor shown in Figure 1) provided in the entertainment device (e.g. as CPU 20) or in a display device (such as HMD 802). The processing circuitry 200 shown in Figure 2 is one example of processing circuitry to generate game content for a game based on game assets, wherein the processing circuitry is responsive to user input data indicative of at least one censorship criterion to analyse the game assets based on the at least one censorship criterion to identify one or more censored objects, and modify the generation of the game content dependent on the one or more identified censored objects.

Here, game assets may refer to any portion of a game that is used to generate content for presentation to a user; different implementations may utilise different assets as the basis for the processing. In some embodiments, the assets comprise elements such as textures, meshes, and/or audio files for generating sound effects. Alternatively, or in addition, the assets may comprise higher-level features such as characters (sprites or models, for example, in some cases with additional information), pre-rendered image content, and/or audio representing dialogue. Further alternative or additional game assets may include rendered images for display (or portions of an image), output audio, and user interface elements.

The processing circuitry 200 performs a number of functions including processing game assets received by reception circuitry 240 (which may receive the game assets from an entertainment device, in the case that the processing circuitry 200 is provided in a display device, or from another source such as the internet or a storage structure accessible to the entertainment device, in the case that the processing circuitry is provided in the entertainment device). For example, the processing circuitry 200 processes game assets relating to a game being played. For example, the processing circuitry 200 generates game content for a game being played, dependent on game assets retrieved by the reception circuitry 240 and further dependent on user input data.

According to the present technique, the processing circuity 200 is also configured to modify the generation of the game content based on user input data. For example, the processing circuitry 200 receives user input data which may define one or more phobias experienced by a current player/user, a priority level or severity associated with each phobia, an age range of the player (and an associated priority level) and various other censorship requirements and preferences of the user. The processing circuitry 200 also receives the retrieved game content from reception circuitry 240. A phobia may be defined for a content element in response to any adverse reaction experienced by the user in response to being presented with a corresponding element -this can include hatred, or disgust, for example, rather than being limited only to fear.

The processing circuitry 200 includes censorship criteria defining circuitry 230, which is configured to define censorship criteria, based on the user input data, to define features of censored objects to be identified in the game content. For example, the censorship criteria defining circuitry 230 may determine features of objects in images and/or audio that indicate that the objects fall within the censorship requirements indicated by the user input data.

Alternatively, the censorship criteria defining circuitry 230 may simply compile -as the censorship criteria -a list of all of the censorship requirements specified by the user and provide this to an artificial neural network (ANN) provided by the analysis circuitry (described below).

The censorship criteria defining circuitry 230 may further comprise storage circuitry to store censorship criteria corresponding to a set of censorship requirements which are available for selection by a user. This avoids the need to re-define the censorship criteria each time a given censorship requirement is specified.

In some particular examples, the censorship criteria defining circuitry 230 may only comprise the above-described storage circuitry, and hence the user may be required to select censorship requirements from a list based on the censorship criteria stored in the storage circuitry.

In other examples, the censorship criteria defining circuitry 230 may include the storage circuitry and still have the functionality of defining the censorship criteria. In these examples, the censorship criteria stored in the storage circuitry may be updated to cover additional censorship requirements, or to improve the criteria.

The processing circuitry 200 of the present technique also comprises analysis circuitry 220 arranged to analyse the game assets based on the user input data (or, more specifically, based on at least one censorship criterion provided by the censorship criteria defining circuitry) to identify censored objects (e.g. objects corresponding to the censorship criteria identified by the user input data). For example, this analysis could be performed with the aid of an ANN such as a convolutional neural network. For example, a convolutional neural network may be trained based on a set of training data comprising images and sounds related to a particular type of censored object (e.g. images/sounds related to a particular phobia, or to particular age-restricted content). Game content generation circuitry 210 then generates game content based on the game assets received by the reception circuitry 240, with generation of the game content being modified based on the censored objects identified by the analysis circuitry 220.

As a particular example of how the processing circuitry 200 may operate, if the user input data indicates a phobia of a particular object, the censored objects may be any object that the processing circuitry 200 considers to correspond to the particular object of the phobia. As another example, if the user input data indicates a particular age range, the censored objects may include any object that the processing circuitry 200 identifies as not being age-appropriate for the player (e.g. based on a defined list of objects that and the ages each object is appropriate for -as a particular example, depictions of alcohol or smoking may be identified as not appropriate for players under a certain age limit, and hence the processing circuitry may identify any depictions of alcohol or smoking in the game content to be censored objects).

Once the censored objects have been identified, the processing circuitry 200 uses this information to modify the generation of the game content. Modifying the generation of the game content can take a number of forms as will be discussed in detail below. For example, the generation of the game content could be modified to remove or obscure (either fully or partially) the censored objects, and/or to present a warning indication before presenting the censored object.

Figure 3 is a flow diagram showing an example of a method -which could be performed by the entertainment device 10 of Figure 1, or by a general purpose computer under the control of a computer program, for example -according to the present technique.

In particular, Figure 3 shows an example of a method comprising: * receiving 300 game assets for a game; * analysing 320, responsive to a user input indicative of at least one censorship criterion, the game assets based on at least one censorship criterion indicated by user data, to identify one or more censored objects; and * modifying 330 generation of the game content dependent on the identified censored objects.

As noted above, modifying generation of the game content can involve removing or obscuring any identified censored objects. An example of this is shown in Figure 4.

In particular, Figure 4 shows an example where the censored object is an image of a giant spider 400 to be shown in a particular scene of a video game. For example, the giant spider 400 may be identified as a censored object in response to a user selecting arachnophobia (phobia of spiders) in the censorship requirements.

When the processing circuitry identifies the giant spider 400 as a censored object, it modifies the generation of the game content On this case, by modifying rendering of image data associated with gameplay for a particular game). In the particular example of Figure 4, the processing circuitry modifies the rendering of the image data to remove or obscure the giant spider 400 from the scene.

As shown in Figure 4, there are numerous ways of removing/obscuring a censored object. For example, the object may be covered with another object such as a black box 420 (as shown in option B) or an alternative object (such as a snake 430 as shown in option C). Alternatively, the processing circuitry could modify the game content so that the scene involving the giant spider is skipped (option A). Other options (not shown) could involve blurring the censored object or cropping it from view.

The particular technique applied to removing or obscuring a censored object may be implementation dependent. However, in some examples, the processing circuitry may choose a removal/obscuring technique based on certain criteria/factors. For example, the technique may be chosen based on the relative importance of the scene/object to gameplay -e.g. if fighting the giant spider 400 is integral to the gameplay, the processing circuitry may choose to obscure the giant spider 400 using option B or option C, rather than skipping the scene. In another example, the technique chosen may depend on a user selection -for example, a user may indicate, in advance, how they would like censored items to be dealt with (e.g. which of options A to C should be used). As another example, the technique chosen may depend on the proportion of the display area 410 taken up by the censored object -for example, since the giant spider 400 takes up a large proportion of the display area 410, option A or option C may be chosen (e.g. because too much information is lost if option B is chosen). As another example, the technique chosen may depend on a priority level or severity set by a user -for example, if the user indicates that their phobia is severe, option A may be chosen to avoid any indication of the censored object being shown. On the other hand, if the phobia is indicated to be mild, a different option may be chosen.

Moreover, note that while Figure 4 shows an example where the censored object relates to image data (i.e. an image of a giant spider 400), it is also possible for the censored object to relate to audio data-for example, certain words or noises in a soundtrack of a game may be identified as censored objects. These could be censored by skipping the scene as in option A, by silencing (e.g. not generating) the associated audio, or by replacing the censored objects with alternative audio, for example. As a particular example, if an age range is set as part of the censorship requirements, audio corresponding to inappropriate language (e.g. swearing, etc.) may be identified as the censored object.

Moreover, note that in addition to modifying generation of game content for a game, the processing circuitry may also modify content for a game store based on the censorship criteria.

An alternative approach to that shown in Figure 4 is to present (e.g. display images or play audio) a warning indication prior to presenting a censored object. For example, Figure 5A shows an example of a visual warning that could be displayed prior to presenting a censored object. This gives the user the opportunity to look away or otherwise prepare themselves for the censored content. Note that the warning indication need not necessarily be visual. For example, the warning indication could be audible (e.g. a sound played prior to presenting the censored object) or tactile (e.g. a controller could be caused to vibrate prior to presenting the censored object).

Figure 5B shows another example of a visual warning indication. In this example, the user is presented with an option as to whether or not to skip the next scene (i.e. the scene containing the identified censored object). Hence, in this example, the processing circuitry not only displays a warning indication, but also may remove the censored content (by skipping the scene), dependent on a user selection.

Whether the processing circuitry modifies the generation of the game content to remove/obscure the censored object (as in Figure 4), to present a warning indication (as in Figure 5A) or both (as in Figure 5B) may be implementation dependent. Alternatively, it may depend on any combination of a number of factors, as will be discussed below.

In a particular example -as shown in Figure 6-the processing circuitry decides how to modify the generation of the game content based on a priority level (e.g. severity) specified as part of the user input data. For example, the user input data may specify a priority level or severity associated with a particular censorship requirement (e.g. a severity associated with a particular phobia, or an indication that an age restriction is more or less important than other requirements).

As shown in Figure 6, the method can include: * identifying 600 a censored object (e.g. as discussed above); * determining 605 whether a high priority level (e.g. higher than a predetermined threshold, or a "high" priority selected from multiple options such as "low" and "high") has been specified for the associated censorship requirement (e.g. the censorship requirement associated with the identified censored object); * if (Y) a high priority level has been specified for the associated censorship requirement, removing or obscuring 610 the censored object (e.g. as shown in Figure 4); and * if (N) a high priority level has not been specified for the associated censorship requirement (e.g. if a low priority level was set, or if no priority level was indicated), presenting 615 a warning indication prior to presenting the censored object (e.g. as shown in Figure 5).

Various modifications to this method are also possible. For example, step 605 may be modified so that the default priority level is set to "high" -so that if no priority level is specified, the "Y" branch is taken.

In another example -as shown in Figure 7 -the processing circuitry decides how to modify the generation of the game content based on the importance of the identified censored object to gameplay. For example, as discussed above, if a particular object or scene is important to gameplay (e.g. important to the associated store) in a particular game, the processing circuitry may be arranged to arrange for a warning indication to be presented rather than removing/obscuring the censored object.

Hence, in the example of Figure 7, step 605 is replaced with a step 705 of determining whether a censored object is important to gameplay. Wien it is determined (Y) that the censored object is important to gameplay, a warning indication is presented 615. On the other hand, the censored object is removed or obscured 610 if it is determined 705 not to be important to the gameplay (N).

In another example -shown in Figure 8 -the processing circuitry decides how to modify the generation of the game content based on a proportion of the display screen taken up by a visual censorship object.

As shown in Figure 8, the method could include: * identifying 600 a censored object (e.g. as discussed above); * determining 805 whether the censored object takes up a significant portion (e.g. greater than a given threshold proportion, which might be defined as a percentage/fraction of the area, width or height of the screen) of a display screen; * if (Y) it is determined that the censored object does take up a significant portion of the display screen, replacing 810 the censored object or skipping the scene (e.g. as shown in A or C of Figure 4) -alternatively, this step could be replaced with a step of displaying the warning indication; and * if (N) it is determined that the censored object does not take up a significant portion of the display screen, obscuring 815 the censored object (e.g. as shown in B of Figure 4).

In another example -shown in Figure 9 -the generation of the game content is modified in dependence on a further user input. In particular, the method of Figure 9 involves: * identifying 600 a censored object in the game content (e.g. as discussed above); * displaying 905 a warning screen prior to a scene containing the censored object, the warning screen including a request for further user input -specifically, the warning screen includes a query for the user as to whether they wish to play or skip the next scene (e.g. as in Figure 5B). In some examples, the warning screen may also give some information about the censored object, to aid the user's decision; * determining 910 whether the user selected to skip the scene; * if (Y) the user selected to skip the scene, skipping 915 the scene; and * if (N) the user did not select to skip the scene (e.g. if they select not to skip the scene), playing 920 the scene.

It should be appreciated that the examples shown in Figures 6 to 9 are not exclusive -any of these examples could be provided in combination, with the decision as to how to modify the game content being made, by the processing circuitry 20, in dependence on multiple criteria. In addition, other factors not shown in these figures may also be considered instead of or in addition to the factors shown.

Determining Censorship Criteria As discussed above, the censorship criteria used to identify censored objects is determined based on user input data, and in some examples this data may relate to censorship requirements indicated by a user. For example, the user may indicate specific phobias or a specific age range to define the censorship criteria. However, the processing circuitry 200 (e.g. the censorship criteria defining circuitry 230 in the processing circuitry) may also consider other factors when determining the censorship criteria.

For example, instead of -or in addition to -specifying particular censorship requirements, a user may indicate specific elements of games they have played as problematic (e.g. in the example of Figure 4, the user may indicate the image of the spider, or the scene containing the spider, as problematic). The censorship criteria defining circuitry 230 may then user these indicated elements/scenes of games to define censorship criteria -for example, the censorship criteria defining circuitry may perform image analysis to determine common features of the images in scenes indicated by the user. The elements/scenes indicated by the user could be used as training data for an ANN, to develop a model to allow the ANN to identify censored objects in game assets received in future.

In another example (which could be implemented in addition to or instead of the examples described so far), the censorship criteria defining circuitry 230 may determine the censorship criteria based on monitoring behaviour of a user in response to certain stimuli -for example, if input data received by the processing circuitry 200 indicates that a user regularly pauses a game or rapidly moves the in-game camera immediately before or immediately after a certain element (such as the spider of Figure 4) appears in the game, this may indicate that the user has a phobia related to that element. If an HMD is used, this may track a user's head or eye movements to determine when a user looks away from a certain element in a game, and the censorship requirement defining circuitry 230 may use this information to define the censorship criteria. In addition to behavioural data, additional information indicating a user's physical state (such as sensing an elevated heart rate or that a user begins to sweat or shake) may be considered when determining that a user is experiencing fear or other adverse reaction to the content or an element within the content. Again, this information can be provided as training data for an ANN to improve its model of a user's phobia/censorship profile.

Such data -indications provided by a user and/or user behaviour monitored by the system -can be used to modify the censorship criteria and/or to train the ANN to identify specific contexts in which a game element should be identified as a censored object. For example, a user could indicate (or it could be determined based on data gathered as discussed above) that their phobia of spiders only applies if they are a realistic size, but not if they are giant. Other factors which may be determined to affect a user's phobia level may include time of day (e.g. a user's phobia of ghosts may only apply at night time), for example.

In another example -which could, again, be implemented in addition to or instead of the examples described so far -a user may indicate, as the censorship requirements, specific reasons for a phobia, and these could be used to determine the censorship criteria -for example, a user may indicate that they have a phobia of spiders due to characteristics such as appearance or gait, and may also indicate different priority/severity levels for each reason. This may be particularly useful to help identify elements which do not fit within a specific phobia, but may still trigger a user's phobia -for example, a user may have a phobia of spiders, but this may be triggered by other spider-like elements in a game which are not actually spiders.

The modification may also be dependent upon a number of non-game considerations, such as the manner of display of content. A user of an HMD is likely to experience a greater fear or dislike response to content than a user who views content on a television due to the increased sense of immersion (thereby making the content appear more realistic). Therefore the modification may be more significant (such as a modification of content rather than the display of a warning) when using a more immersive display device. Another consideration may be that of whether the user has company (either in-game, or in the real environment) as this may make a user feel more comfortable and thereby lesson the fear that is experienced. An increase in the amount of company a user has may therefore be correlated with a decrease in the significance of the modification.

It is therefore considered that the modifications to the content that are discussed in the present disclosure can be applied selectively in dependence upon any characteristic of the content or the gameplay as well as user preferences (input and/or detected). This includes, but is not limited to, the appearance of the content, the size of the content, the motion of the content, the time of day in which the gameplay occurs, the number of players in the game, whether the user is playing alone, the display device used to display the content, and the importance of the content to the gameplay.

It is further considered that the modifications to the content may be varied in dependence upon a number of exposures of the user to the content, or other time-based or -related metrics. For instance, over time the modifications that are implemented may be made less significant so as to gradually increase the exposure of the user to the phobia. This can assist the user in overcoming the phobia, with the rate at which the increase in exposure being selected so as to reduce the risk of a user being over-exposed. The user may be prompted to select a rate, for example, or it may be selected in dependence upon the determined magnitude of the phobia such that a greater phobia is associated with a more gradual variation.

Identifying Censored Objects As explained above, censored objects may be identified based on image analysis and/or audio analysis of game data (such as game assets). Asset reviews, game tags, user reviews of a game and text in a game may also be analysed to determine whether any of these contain a censored object. Moreover, if a censored object is identified in a particular game asset (e.g. in a particular image/sound/etc.), this may also be treated as indicative of a censored object in other related assets (e.g. if text in a game refers to spiders, this may be treated as an indication that there may be spiders in accompanying image or audio data).

Modifying the Generation of the Game Content As explained above, there are numerous was in which generation of the game content can be modified. For example, the generation of the game content can be modified so that a censored object is removed or obscured, and/or so that a warning indication is displayed (see e.g. Figs. 4, 5). In some examples, censored objects in the game content may be modified in other ways. For example; specific elements of a censored object may be modified (e.g. to obscure certain features of the object) without removing the object altogether. For example, the animation of an element could be modified to change the way it moves, or to change one or more elements of its appearance. In a particular example, this could be based on specific characteristics or reasons for a phobia specified by a user -for example, if a user indicates that the gait of a particular object is the reason for their phobia, the animation of the object could be modified to change its gait. For instance, a number of default gaits (based upon the number of legs or limbs a model has) may be defined that can be selected from; alternatively, a model may be associated with a predefined 'standard' and 'basic' (for example) gait which can be selected from freely.

In examples where a censored object is partially or fully obscured in the generated game content, the game content generation circuitry 210 may identify certain characteristics of the censored object that are to be retained in order to maintain mission-critical characteristics -for example, if a mission is to shoot red spiders instead of blue spiders, the generation of the spiders could be modified to ensure that these colours are maintained. For instance, a substitute element may be selected or modified so as to retain the colour of the element which it is to replace. This may be based upon an indication in the data associated with the element that a particular characteristic is a key' or essential' characteristic, for example, or this may be derived from an analysis of game data (such as information defining a mission, or from dialogue within the game) which suggests that such a characteristic is considered to be important.

In examples where a warning indication is provided, this could be an explicit warning as shown in Figures 5A and 5B, or it could be a more immersive indication so as to reduce the impact of the modification upon the user experience. For example, the generation of the game content could be modified so that a certain object in the game (e.g. a weapon that the player is provided with) is arranged to glow or change its appearance in some other way when a censored object is about to appear.

In some examples, the game content generation circuitry 210 may modify the generation of the game content in different ways depending on a display mode -for example, this could take into account that many phobias may be experienced more severely when using a more immersive display mode such as an HMD. In such an embodiment, a more significant modification may be applied when the display device is an HMD than in an equivalent situation displayed using a television.

In some examples, the generation of the game content could be modified differently dependent on a number of players -for example, a user may be less reactive to a phobia when in a multiplayer mode than in a single player mode and as such a more significant modification may be applied in a single player mode than in a multiplayer mode.

In some examples, the generation of the game content could be modified differently depending on whether a user is showing signs of fear (which could, for example, be determined based on monitoring the behaviour of the user, as discussed above). For example, if a user is not showing signs of fear, the game content generation circuitry 210 may increase their exposure, in game, to elements relating to their phobia, as a way of training them to become more comfortable with their phobia.

It will be appreciated that the examples set out above are just a subset of the possible techniques which could be provided. Also, it should be appreciated that any of these techniques could be provided in combination.

Methods of the present technique -including those shown in Figure 3 and Figures 6- 9 -may be performed by processing circuitry within an entertainment system such as that shown in Figure 1, or they may be performed by a general purpose computer. For example, the methods may be performed by a computer (whether that is a general purpose computer or an entertainment device) under the control of instructions specified by a computer program. Moreover, the computer program may be provided via a computer-readable storage medium, which may be transitory or non-transitory.

The present technique -as described above with reference to the claims and to Figures 1-9 -allows generation of game content can be modified based on the specific needs and preferences of a user. Providing a system-level (e.g. performed by the entertainment system) mechanism for modifying generation of game content from game assets based on censorship criteria allows any game to be modified, and performing the analysis based on user input data allows a range of different requirements to be specified -the mechanism need not restricted to particular games, and the user/player is not limited to playing only specific games which are set up to handle specific phobias/requirements. For example, since game assets are analysed directly by the entertainment system, based on a user input, before generating game content, it is possible to handle any phobia or other censorship criterion associated with a user. For example, even rare phobias -which may not be taken into account by game designers -can be handled.

These features may be particularly useful in relation to virtual reality games, where players are typically more immersed in the game, and hence are more likely to be troubled by phobias.

While specific examples of censorship requirements are given above, it will of course be appreciated that the present technique is applicable to any censorship requirement. This includes any phobia (e.g. not just a phobia of, for example, spiders). Indeed, an advantage of the system-level approach described herein, where game assets are analysed by processing circuitry in an entertainment system and generation of game content is modified, is that the generation of the game content can be modified to remove/obscure/provide a warning indication for censored objects corresponding to any phobia or any of a variety of other censorship requirements. This greatly improves the accessibility of video gaming, by allowing players with a wide variety or requirements -no matter how rare a given requirement or phobia may be -to play any game.

Claims (15)

1. CLAIMS1. An entertainment system comprising: reception circuitry to receive game assets for a game; and processing circuitry to generate game content for the game based on the game assets, wherein the processing circuitry is responsive to user input data indicative of at least one censorship criterion to: analyse the game assets based on the at least one censorship criterion to identify one or more censored objects; and modify the generation of the game content dependent on the one or more identified censored objects.
2. 2. The entertainment system of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to modify the generation of the game content to remove or obscure at least one identified censored object from the game content.
3. 3. The entertainment system of claim 2, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to replace the at least one identified object or a scene containing the at least one identified censored object with an alternative object or scene.
4. 4. The entertainment system of any preceding claim, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to modify the generation of the game content to include a warning indicator to be presented prior to at least one identified censored object.
5. 5. The entertainment system of any preceding claim, wherein the game content comprises at least one of: image data rendered based on the game asserts and indicative of images to be displayed while playing a game; audio data generated based on the game assets and indicative of sound to be played while playing the game.
6. 6. The entertainment system of any preceding claim, wherein: the processing circuitry is configured to determine the at least one censorship criterion based on at least one censorship requirement indicated by the user input data; and the at least one censorship requirement is indicative of at least one of: a selected phobia; and a selected age range.
7. 7. The entertainment system of any preceding claim, wherein: the processing circuitry is configured to determine the at least one censorship criterion based on at least one censorship requirement indicated by the user input data; and the processing circuitry is configured to determine the at least one censorship criterion in dependence on a priority level indicated by the user input data for each censorship requirement.
8. 8. The entertainment system of claim 7, wherein each identified censored object is associated with a given censorship requirement; and the processing circuitry is configured to modify the generation of the game content dependent on the priority level indicated for the given censorship requirement.
9. 9. The entertainment system of claim 8, wherein for a given identified censored object, the processing circuitry is configured to modify the generation of the game content by: when the priority level indicated for the given identified censored object indicates a high priority level, removing or obscuring the given identified censored object; and when the priority level indicated for the given identified censored object indicates a low priority level, including a warning indicator to be presented prior to the given identified censored object
10. 10. The entertainment system of any preceding claim, wherein: in a first mode, the processing circuitry is configured to modify the generation of the game content to remove or obscure at least one identified censored object; in a second mode, the processing circuitry is configured to modify the generation of the game content to include a warning indicator to be presented prior to the at least one identified censored object; and the processing circuitry is configured to select the first mode or the second mode dependent on a user selection.
11. 11. The entertainment system of any preceding claim, wherein: the processing circuitry is responsive to user sign-in information to identify a current user and set up a user profile for the current user; and the processing circuitry is configured to determine the at least one censorship criterion based on the user profile.
12. 12. The entertainment system of any preceding claim, wherein the game assets comprise virtual reality game data.
13. 13. A method comprising: receiving game assets for a game; generating game content for the game based on the game assets; and responsive to user input data indicative of at least one censorship criterion analysing the game assets based on the at least one censorship criterion to identify one or more censored objects; and modifying the generation of the game content dependent on the identified censored objects.
14. 14. A computer program comprising instructions which, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of claim 14.
15. 15. A computer-readable storage medium storing the computer program of claim 15.