KR20130049321A - Apparatus and method of calculating contribution level of cooperative online game play - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A device for measuring a contribution level of cooperative play of online game characters and a method thereof are provided to be implemented by establishing communication between an in-client server and online game client software and adding an in-client server module to the online game client software. CONSTITUTION: A game processing unit(110) receives information about the operation and state of other player characters except for a player character of a user from an online game server to display other player characters according to the execution of an online game. A virtual server(120) collects one or more parts of play data of other player characters. A contribution level measuring unit(130) measures a contribution level of the cooperation of other player characters or player character of the user by analyzing the collected play data. [Reference numerals] (1) Online game server; (110) Game processing unit; (111) In-game browser; (120) Virtual server; (130) Contribution level measuring unit

Description

Apparatus and method for measuring the contribution of online game characters to cooperative play {APPARATUS AND METHOD OF CALCULATING CONTRIBUTION LEVEL OF COOPERATIVE ONLINE GAME PLAY}

The present invention relates to a service for analyzing data generated in the course of executing an online game and feeding back to a user.

Thanks to the spread of Internet infrastructure, the game market, which used to be standalone games in the past, is gradually reorganizing around online games.

As the online game market grows quantitatively, the spectrum is also easy to manipulate, from casual arcade games to thousands of concurrent users who perform quests by manipulating their player characters within the same online game map, and performing quests. Various methods have been shown, such as Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG), which is carried out by hunting a mobile object.

On the other hand, MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online), which is the most popular online game, has some features that do not appear in the stand-alone packaged games or online casual games.

One of them is that online game items or game money play an important role in the game's play and are often traded among gamers for their property value.

For this reason, some things can be unsightly when you try to steal your account or trade items.

When a damage report such as account theft is received from gamers, the online game provider analyzes the log file generated by the online game server from time to time to check the facts and prepare a remedy for the damage.

Another thing is that various interactions occur in the game between characters that gamers manipulate in the online game (hereinafter referred to as "player characters").

Interaction between such player characters may also be an object of analysis by game log analysis.

That is, it is distinguished from the past package games and most casual games in that it requires and can later analyze the game contents by log analysis.

MMO's online game servers can be used at certain time intervals (e.g., 10-minute or 30-minute intervals) to capture player characters' actions (e.g. attack mobs, talk to non-player characters) Create a game log file to save the direction.

In general, the game log file includes information describing the actions of the player characters, time information at the time of the action, coordinate information of the player character, and may further include information about various variables in the game.

Looking at the analysis process of the game log according to the prior art, first copy the game log file from the online game server to a separate server and then perform the log analysis.

Analyzing game log files directly on an online game server that is always heavily loaded is inefficient, so log analysis is done on a separate server.

However, the conventional technique has a disadvantage in that it is inefficient to make a separate copy of the previously generated log file and analyze the log in some cases even though it is necessary to feed back the results of the log analysis in real time. Since the file is created at regular time intervals and the creation of copies requires more time intervals, there is a fundamental limitation that it is difficult to secure sufficient quality of service.

Accordingly, it is necessary to develop a new analysis method that analyzes data generated during game play, but can respond quickly and accurately to various demands of gamers.

In particular, these new methods of analysis should comply with the following guidelines:

First, you should not add server-side load. The load placed on the online game server is one of the main factors that determine the quality of the online game service, because it is not possible to reduce the quality of the service of the online game center to provide additional services.

Second, excessive development costs should not be incurred. In particular, when applied to the existing online game, if the design of the previous online game server or the game client software needs to be completely modified, the economic efficiency compared to the cost can be significantly lowered.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems of the prior art, by collecting and analyzing the data generated during the execution of the online game through a virtual server running in the game client without putting a load on the online game server The goal is to provide a model that allows accurate and rapid analysis.

More specifically, the present invention provides an apparatus and method for measuring the contribution of collaborative play of online game characters, which analyzes the contribution of collaborative play between a plurality of player characters cooperatively played in an online game through a virtual server running in a game client. For that purpose.

In order to achieve the above object, the method for measuring the contribution of the collaboration of an online game character according to the present invention is executed in a game client executing an online game by accessing an online game server through a network.

Step 110 of connecting the communication session with the online game server by executing the online game client software;

Providing a user interface for allowing a user to manipulate a player character in an online game via an online game client software, wherein the online game is executed by receiving play data of the user character and other player characters of the user from the online server. Step 120;

Step 130, executing a locally accessible virtual server;

Step 140, connecting a communication session between the online game client software and the virtual server;

Step 150, wherein the virtual server collects at least some of play data of the player character and the other player character of the user from online game client software;

Measuring a collaboration contribution of the user player character or the other player character by analyzing play data collected by the virtual server by using a predefined algorithm;

Step 170, the virtual server hosting the measured cooperative play contribution of the player character in the form of an HTML document or an XML document; And

Step 180, an online game client software running an in-game browser running in an online game process, connecting the communication session with the virtual server using the in-game browser, and then browsing the HTML document or XML document; Including,

The step 160 may include separating the actions in the online game of each player character from the collected play data of the player characters and classifying the separated actions by type;

A step 162 of measuring the contribution by multiplying the weights by each type and the frequency of occurrence for each action separated for each player character and summing them; And

And a step 163 of calculating a relative value of the contribution of any one player character by dividing the contribution measured for one player character by the sum of all contributions measured for each player character. .

On the other hand, in order to achieve the above object, the apparatus for measuring the contribution of collaborative play of an online game character according to the present invention is a game client that accesses an online game server through a network and executes an online game.

It is loaded and executed in the memory of the game client, connects a communication session with an online game server to execute an online game, and provides a user interface for a user to manipulate the player character in the online game, from the online server Game processing means for receiving information on the operation and status of other player characters other than the player character of the user and displaying the other player character when the online game is executed;

A virtual server loaded and executed in a memory of the game client, the virtual server collecting locally at least a portion of play data of the user player character and the other player character when the online game is executed by the game processor; And

And a contribution measuring means for measuring a collaboration contribution of the user player character or the other player character by analyzing the play data collected by the virtual server by using a predefined algorithm.

According to the present invention, by using the in-client server to store and analyze the data generated during the execution of the online game there is an effect that it is possible to feed back in real time at the request of the user.

In particular, by directly storing the data in the form of raw data (Raw Data) rather than the game log (Log) in the client server has an effect that can be accurately and quickly analyzed.

On the other hand, from an economic point of view, the overall modification of the existing online game server or online game client software is unnecessary, and simply adds the in-client server module to the existing online game client software, and adds the in-client server and the existing online game client software. Since it can be implemented by establishing communication between the development period can be greatly shortened as well as development costs can be significantly reduced.

On the other hand, in terms of value-added services that swell in online games, we can calculate the contributions of many gamers who have collaboratively played in online games and make them available in real time through in-game browser, web, and mobile. This ultimately contributes to securing the game's competitiveness.

1 is a network diagram illustrating a connection relationship between an online game server, an in-client server, and a game client.
2 is a functional block diagram illustrating a configuration of a cooperative play contribution degree measuring device of an online game character according to the present invention;
3 is a screen example illustrating a state of calling an in-game browser from an execution screen of an online game.
4 is an exemplary screen illustrating an example of measuring the contribution of collaborative play from data collected by an in-client server to confirm through an in-game browser.
5 is a flowchart illustrating a method of measuring the contribution of collaboration of online game characters by the present invention in time series.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an algorithm for calculating cooperative play contribution in the method illustrated in FIG. 5.

Hereinafter, with reference to the preferred embodiments of the present invention and the accompanying drawings will be described in detail the present invention. In order to clarify the present invention, contents which are not related to the configuration of the present invention will be omitted, and the same reference numerals are used for the same components.

On the other hand, when an element is referred to as being "comprising" another element in the description of the invention or in the claims, it is not interpreted as being limited to only that element, Elements may be further included.

Also, in the description of the invention or the claims, the components named as "means", "parts", "modules", "blocks" refer to units that process at least one function or operation, Each of which may be implemented by software or hardware, or a combination thereof.

1 is a network diagram illustrating a connection relationship between an online game server, an in-client server, and a game client, and FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram illustrating a configuration of an apparatus for measuring contributions to collaboration of an online game character according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the online game server 1 is connected to a number of game clients 2 via a network. The game clients 2 execute the online game client software to access the online game server 1 to access their online game account, and the online game server 1 is connected to the game clients 2 connected via a network. Provide online game services.

The game client 2 may preferably be a personal computer, but may be hardware such as a smartphone or a tablet as long as it can access the online game server 1 via a network.

Accordingly, a plurality of game clients 2 simultaneously connected can play an online game together. In particular, in the case of the MMO, a plurality of gamers may operate cooperative play by operating their own game clients 2.

In this case, the cooperative play refers to a game play method in which two or more player characters perform their roles in order to progress a game such as performing a quest.

For example, it may be possible to proceed only with a combination of a player character with a specific skill and a player character with a different skill, or when at least more than a certain number of player characters must be played together to hunt a boss monster. .

For this collaborative play, a large number of gamers usually form teams or parties to play the game together, and each player character who participates in the cooperative play as a result of the cooperative play results quest or mission is completed. You will receive a certain reward.

However, in the process of collaborative play, there may be a situation in which someone contributes more, but another person does not contribute much.

In this case, gamers who collaborated together may wonder who contributed how much, and this information can be used as a reference for gameplay, such as modifying strategies for future collaborative play or replacing low-contributing members. Can be.

Apparatus 100 for collaborative play contribution measurement of an online game character according to the present invention is to respond to the demand of the gamers, and may be implemented in the game client 2 as described above.

As shown in FIG. 2, the apparatus 100 for measuring collaboration contribution of an online game character according to the present invention includes a game processing unit 110, a virtual server 120, and a contribution measuring unit 130.

The game processing means 110 may be implemented in the form of software loaded and executed in the memory of the game client 2, and executes an online game by connecting to an online game server 1 via a network and receiving online game data. do.

The online game executed by the game processing means 110 presupposes that the user of the game client 2 manipulates his own player character to cooperatively play the player characters of other users in the online game. The means 110 provide an interface for manipulating the player character.

3 illustrates an interface of an online game provided by the game processing unit 110, through which the user can manipulate his player character.

On the other hand, the game processing means 110 receives the information on the status and operation of the player characters of other users from the online game server 1 to display on the screen to execute the online game.

This function of the game processing means 110 is not different from that of the online game client program according to the prior art.

One of the features of the collaborative play contribution measuring apparatus 100 of the online game character according to the present invention is that the overall modification to the existing online game client program is unnecessary.

The virtual server 120 is loaded into the memory of the game client 2 and executed, and is locally accessible.

The server client architecture basically assumes a connection from a remote client, but the virtual server 120 of the present invention presupposes a connection from another process running on the same game client 2.

The term virtual server does not mean that the server is a virtualization technology for gaining hardware independence.

That is, the game processing means 110 is loaded and executed in the memory of the game client 2, and the virtual server 120 is also loaded and executed in another space of the memory of the game client 2. Conceptually, a server client structure is established in which the game processing means 110 becomes a client and the virtual server 1200 becomes a server.

Rather than communication by a process such as inter-process messaging, communication is performed by using a predefined protocol (eg, HTTP) after connecting a communication session.

By adopting such a structure, it becomes possible to move a part of the processing that can be performed on the online game server side into the game client 2.

Meanwhile, the game processing unit 110 connects the communication session to the virtual server 120 loaded and executed in another area of the memory as the communication session is connected to the online game server 1 and executes the online game, and is defined in advance. Communicate with the virtual server 120 by the established protocol.

To this end, the game processing unit 110 previously stores information for connecting a communication session with the virtual server 120, such as a connection path, and then communicates with the virtual server 120 immediately or at a preset time point when an online game is executed. Connect a session.

On the other hand, if the online game is executed by the game processing means 110 after the communication session with the virtual server 120 is connected, the game processing means 110 is the information about the state or operation of the player character of the user and the user player character And information about the operation and status of other player characters who have been collaboratively playing is provided to the virtual server 120.

Information about the behavior of the player characters (e.g. when and which actions were taken and what they were for) and their status (e.g. at what point in time, what items are held and how much experience they gained) The online game server 1 records in a log file, and the game processing means 110 provides the virtual server 120 with the information recorded in the log file.

The recording of the game log is made in chronological order for the motions of all the player characters performed in the online game server 1, but the game processing means 110 is the user player character of the game client 2 and the player character of the user. You can only collect information about the behavior and status of the player characters of other users who were collaborating with each other.

Some online games allow for cooperative play between player characters in an online game space, such as an instance dungeon, that is separate from an online game map. Gather information about the state.

Or there may be a case where a cooperative play is possible between player characters who have formed a party, and in this case, information about player characters who are playing within a certain area of the online game among the player characters formed in a party may be collected at the same time. .

On the other hand, when the virtual server 120 collects such information from the game processing means 110 as described below to determine the contribution of the player characters in the cooperative play.

In this case, instead of generating a log file and transferring the data to the virtual server 120, the data may be generated and transmitted in a data structure that can be easily analyzed by the virtual server 120.

The log file generated by the online game server 1 basically contains information about all the activities in the online game in chronological order. Logs are generated in both the interaction between any two player characters or the interaction between the player character and the NPC. In the case of recording or the like, sometimes a complicated interpretation is required, but according to the present invention, such an unnecessary process can be eliminated.

Meanwhile, the virtual server 120 collects the play data, which is information about the operation and status of the player character of the user of the game client 2 and the player characters of other users who have collaboratively played with the player character as described above, locally. Save it.

The contribution measuring unit 130 measures the contribution of each player character in the cooperative play from the information on the operation and state of the player characters thus collected, that is, the play data.

Looking at the process in detail, the contribution measuring means 130 separates the actions in the online game of each player character from the play data of the stored player characters, and separates the separated actions by type.

For example, the types of actions may include damaging the mob, succeeding in hunting the mob, obtaining experience, casting the skill, and the like.

On the other hand, each action belonging to these types may be regarded as one each contributes to the cooperative play, but the degree of contribution is different from each other. In other words, if you cast the skill will be different depending on the type of skill will contribute, if the damage to the mob will be different depending on the degree of damage. If you gained experience, depending on how much you gained, if successful mob hunting will vary depending on the level of the mob.

Therefore, multiplying the weights for each action of each player character and summing them together may quantify and measure the contribution of the corresponding player character.

In this case, the weight given for each type may be a weight that swells on the type itself (for example, 1 if experience is obtained, or 2 if the mob is successful in hunting), and a weight given according to the result of the action (for example, , If the experience value is obtained, the size of the experience value, in the case of the damage is the size of the damage), or in some cases may be multiplied by them.

Meanwhile, the contribution measuring means 130 quantifies the contribution value measured for any one player character in this way by dividing the contribution value measured for each player character by adding up the relative value of the contribution of any one player character. You can get it.

That is, the percentage of contributions of the player character of the user of the game client 2 may be represented as the percentage of contributions of other player characters.

On the other hand, if the contribution of each player character during the cooperative play is measured, the virtual server 120 may provide it to the game processing means (110).

Although the game processing means 110 and the virtual server 120 are loaded and executed in the memory of the game client 2, the game processing means 110 stores predetermined information as if the remote server and the client are in a relationship. If provided to 120, the virtual server 120 analyzes this and feeds back the result back to the game processing means (110).

Meanwhile, the game processing unit 110 may directly display the contribution of each player character provided from the virtual server 120 on the online game screen as shown in FIG. 3.

However, the virtual server 120 may also host the measured cooperative play contribution for each player character in the form of an HTML document or an XML document so that it can be checked through a web browser even outside the game.

In this case, the game processing means 110 drives the in-game browser 111 that is executed in the online game process as shown in FIG. 4, but uses the in-game browser 111 to perform the virtual server 120. After connecting to the communication session with the user may be able to browse the generated HTML document or XML document.

As shown in FIG. 3, a user may call an in-game browser 111 by pressing an icon on an online game screen, and the called-in-game browser 111 performs cooperative play as shown in FIG. 4. Displays the contribution of each player character.

Hereinafter, a method of measuring the contribution of collaboration play of an online game character according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a method of measuring the cooperative play contribution of an online game character according to the present invention in time series, and FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an algorithm for calculating the cooperative play contribution in the method illustrated in FIG. 5.

The present invention shown in FIG. 5 can be executed in a game client 2 which executes an online game by connecting to an online game server 1 via a network. As shown in FIG. Connects the communication session with the online game server 1 by executing the online game client software (S110).

The game client 2 then provides a user interface for the user to manipulate the player character in the online game via the online game client software, but from the online server the play data of the player character and other player characters of the user The online game is executed by receiving (S120).

On the other hand, the game client 2 separately executes a locally accessible virtual server 120 (S130).

When the virtual server 120 is executed, the online game client software connects the communication session between the virtual server 120 (S140), and the virtual server 120 connects the game client 2 from the online game client software through the connected communication session. At least a part of play data of the player character of the user and the other player character is collected (S150).

Specifically, play data of the user player character and play data of other player characters who have cooperatively played in a predetermined space in the online game at the same time as the user player character are collected.

As the play data of the player characters is collected as described above, the game client 2 measures the cooperative contribution of the user player character or the other player character (S160).

On the other hand, when the contributions of the player characters in the cooperative play is measured, the virtual server 120 provides the measurement result to the online game client software through a previously created communication session or through a new communication session.

In this case, the virtual server 120 may be a web server that communicates by HTTP to be accessible through a web browser in addition to the game. In this case, the virtual server 120 may measure the cooperative play contribution of the measured player character in an HTML document or XML. Create and host in the form of a document (S170).

As a result, the contribution of collaboration play can be checked in addition to the game.

In addition, the online game client software drives the in-game browser 111 that is executed in the online game process, and connects the communication session with the virtual server 120 by using the in-game browser 111. You can also browse the XML document (S180).

As shown in FIG. 4, the in-game browser 111 may be called in the online game screen to check the measured contribution of each character's collaboration play.

On the other hand, a specific method for measuring the contribution contribution of the collaboration in step S160 is as shown in FIG.

First, the actions in the online game of each player character are separated from the collected play data of the player characters, and the separated actions are classified by type (S161).

At this time, the types of actions that are distinguished may include, for example, damaging the mob, succeeding in hunting the mob, obtaining experience, and casting the skill.

Subsequently, each action separated by player character is multiplied by the weight for each type, multiplied by the frequency of occurrence of the corresponding action, and summed together to measure the contribution of each player character (S162).

On the other hand, if the contribution of the cooperative play of the player character in this way can be converted to a relative value. To this end, the cooperative play contribution of any one player character may be divided by a sum of all contributions measured for each player character (S163).

On the other hand, the method of measuring the cooperative play contribution of the on-line game character according to the present invention may be implemented as computer readable codes and recorded on a computer readable recording medium.

The computer-readable recording medium may include any type of medium in which data readable by a computer system is stored. Examples of the medium include a DVD-ROM, a CD-ROM, a hard disk, a USB memory, a flash memory And the like.

On the other hand, the expression contained in the recording medium encompasses both the case of being recorded on the recording medium in large quantities and distributed in a package form as well as being provided through the network in the form of data packets and stored in the recording medium.

In the above description, the expression "server" is used. However, in a distributed computing environment, it is common to divide a function or a load into a plurality of servers for processing. Therefore, a "server" does not necessarily refer to a single hardware component, And < / RTI >

In the above description, the term 'network' is used. However, depending on the distance and size, the network may be used for intranet, virtual private network (VPN), and access method depending on the characteristics of a local area network (WAN) and a connection path. Therefore, it should be interpreted as a broad concept including all the various network connection methods such as WiBro, WiFi, and mobile communication network.

While the present invention has been described with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. . Accordingly, the scope of the present invention should be determined only by the technical idea of the appended claims, and is not limited to the above embodiments.

The present invention can be applied to the field of on-line game technology. In particular, the present invention may be applied to a technical field for analyzing the game play later using data generated when an online game such as an MMO is executed.

1: online game server
2: game client
100: device for measuring the contribution of online game characters to collaboration
110: game processing means
111: In-Game Browser
120: virtual server
130: contribution measure

Claims (17)

In a game client that runs an online game by connecting to an online game server through a network,
It is loaded and executed in the memory of the game client, connects a communication session with an online game server to execute an online game, and provides a user interface for a user to manipulate the player character in the online game, from the online server Game processing means for receiving information on the operation and status of other player characters other than the player character of the user and displaying the other player character when the online game is executed;
A virtual server loaded and executed in a memory of the game client, the virtual server collecting locally at least a portion of play data of the user player character and the other player character when the online game is executed by the game processor; And
And a contribution measuring means for measuring a collaboration contribution of the user player character or the other player character by analyzing the play data collected by the virtual server by using a predefined algorithm. Contribution measuring device. The method of claim 1,
And the game processing unit connects a communication session to the virtual server when the online game is executed to provide play data of the user player character and other player characters to the virtual server. The method of claim 2,
The game processing means connects a communication session to the virtual server to provide play data of the user player character and play data of other player characters cooperatively playing in a predetermined area of the online game map at the same time period as the user player character. Apparatus for measuring the cooperative play of the online game character, characterized in that. The method of claim 1,
And the contribution measuring means separates in-game actions of each player character from play data of the collected player characters, and classifies the separated actions by type. The method of claim 4, wherein
The types of actions classified by the contribution measuring means include one or more of: damage to mobs, successful mob hunting, gain experience, and cast skills. Measuring device. The method of claim 4, wherein
The contribution measuring unit is a collaboration play contribution measuring apparatus of the on-line game character, characterized in that by measuring the contribution by multiplying each weight and the frequency of occurrence for each action separated for each player character. The method according to claim 6,
The contribution measuring means calculates a relative value of the contribution of any one player character by dividing the contribution measured for one player character by the sum of all contributions measured for each player character. A device for measuring the contribution of the character's collaboration play. The method of claim 1,
The virtual server hosts the cooperative play contribution of the player character measured by the contribution measuring means in the form of an HTML document or an XML document, and the game processing means drives an in-game browser executed within an online game process. And a browsing session of the generated HTML document or XML document after connecting a communication session with the virtual server using an in-game browser. In the method executed in the game client to access the online game server through the network to play the online game,
Step 110 of connecting the communication session with the online game server by executing the online game client software;
Providing a user interface for allowing a user to manipulate a player character in an online game via an online game client software, wherein the online game is executed by receiving play data of the user character and other player characters of the user from the online server. Step 120;
Step 130, executing a locally accessible virtual server;
Step 140, connecting a communication session between the online game client software and the virtual server;
Step 150, wherein the virtual server collects at least some of play data of the player character and the other player character of the user from online game client software; And
And a step 160 of measuring a collaborative contribution of the user player character or the other player character by analyzing the play data collected by the virtual server by using a predefined algorithm. How to measure contribution. The method of claim 9,
In step 150, the virtual server collects the play data of the user player character and the play data of other player characters collaboratively playing in a predetermined area of the online game map at the same time period as the user player character from the online game software. Method for measuring the contribution of the collaboration of the online game character, characterized in that. The method of claim 9,
And a step 161 of separating the actions in the online game of each player character from the play data of the collected player characters in step 160 and dividing the separated actions by types. How to measure play contribution. The method of claim 11,
In step 161, the degree of collaborative play contribution of the on-line game character, characterized in that it distinguishes the types of actions including one or more of damage to the mob, successful hunting of the mob, obtaining experience, and casting skills How to measure. The method of claim 11,
And after step 161, multiplying the weights by each type and the frequency of occurrence for each action separated for each player character, and then adding the sums to determine the contributions. The method of claim 11,
And after step 162, calculating a relative value of the contributions of any one player character by dividing the contributions measured for any one player character by the sum of all contributions measured for each player character. Method for measuring the contribution of the collaboration of the online game character further comprising. The method of claim 9,
And a step 170 of hosting the collaborative play contribution of the player character measured by the virtual server after the step 160 in the form of an HTML document or an XML document. The method of claim 15,
After step 170, the online game client software runs an in-game browser running in an online game process, and connects the HTML document or XML document after connecting a communication session with the virtual server using the in-game browser. The 180th step of browsing; The method of measuring the collaboration play contribution of the online game character further comprising. A computer-readable recording medium containing a program for executing on a computer the method for measuring the cooperative play contribution of an online game character according to claim 9.

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