Virtual Environment with Alerts
A virtual environment in which players are able to receive alerts intended to indicate the occurrence of a given event within the virtual environment. The alerts may be delivered to the player while he is playing the game via an in-game messaging service or other similar device. Alternatively the alerts may be delivered to the player via a real world communication device such as a cell phone, pager, text messaging device, or the like.
1 . A method comprising:
providing a virtual environment in which players can interact with each other via player characters;
providing a user-interface through which players can interact with the virtual environment; and
receiving a request from a player to deliver an alert to the player upon the occurrence of one or more events in the virtual environment.
2 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
identifying the occurrence of the one or more events; and
sending a first alert to the player.
3 . The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving a fee from the player.
4 . The method of claim 3 wherein the fee is paid at the time of the request.
5 . The method of claim 3 wherein the fee is paid by the player after the player receives the alert.
6 . The method of claim 1 wherein the event is an impending payment due date.
7 . The method of claim 2 further comprising:
determining that the player has not engaged in a predetermined response to the alert; and
sending a second alert to the player.
8 . The method of claim 7 wherein the delivery mechanism of the first alert is different from the delivery mechanism of the second alert.
9 . The method of claim 8 wherein the first alert is delivered to a game account associated with the player.
10 . The method of claim 9 wherein the second alert delivery mechanism is a real world communication device.
11 . The method of claim 10 wherein the real world communication device is selected from the group consisting of: a cell phone, a pager, and a text message-enabled handheld device.
12 . The method of claim 1 further comprising providing a user interface wherein a player can indicate one or more preferences related to the alert.
13 . The method of claim 12 wherein the preferences comprise the mechanism of delivery.
14 . The method of claim 12 wherein the preferences comprise the in-game events to which the player would like to be alerted.
15 . The method of claim 2 further comprising:
determining if the player is logged into the game; and
if the player is logged into the game, sending the alert via a first delivery mechanism and
if the player is not logged into the game, sending the alert via a second delivery mechanism.
16 . The method of claim 15 wherein the first delivery mechanism is an in-game delivery mechanism.
17 . The method of claim 16 wherein the in-game delivery mechanism is detectable to the player via the player's user interface with the virtual environment.
18 . The method of claim 15 wherein the second delivery mechanism is a real world communication device that is detectable to the player outside of the player's user interface with the virtual environment.
19 . The method of claim 18 wherein the real world communication device is a cell phone.
20 . The method of claim 3 further comprising:
determining if the player has provided services in the game environment; and
reducing the fee if the player has provided services in the game environment.