Apparatus, method and system for crew mechanics in multiplayer games

1. A method, which is computer-implemented, comprising:

sending, from one or more servers to a client, data for displaying a crew assembly dialog that includes a graphical user interface (GUI), the crew assembly dialog allowing a user of the client to select crew members from a crew inventory for an online game, the crew assembly dialog further allowing the user to pay for unlocking a virtual terrascape in a campaign map with real world or virtual currency, wherein the crew inventory includes a set of crew member profiles derived from a randomly generated social graph;

receiving, at the one or more servers from the client, a selection of at least one crew member from the crew inventory for the online game through the crew assembly dialog;

sending, from the one or more servers in response to the selection, a game action help request message directed to the at least one crew member, the game action help request enabling the at least one crew member to provide response;

determining that crew selection is sufficient based on response to the game action help request and that a payment is made via the crew assembly dialog;

sending, from the one or more servers to the client, data for accessing the virtual terrascape in the campaign map on a display associated with the client in response to said determining that crew selection is sufficient based on response to the game action help request message and the payment received from the user through the crew assembly dialog; and

syndicating an indication that the user has unlocked the virtual terrascape to a feed for a social network, wherein the online game is a multiplayer game in a distributed game architecture with distributed network controllers.

2. The method of claim 1 , comprising:

surfacing for crew inventory selection the set of crew member profiles.

3. The method of claim 2 , comprising:

determining the set of crew member profiles to surface for crew inventory selection, wherein a crew member is ineligible to help for a given period of time, if the crew member has previously provided help towards unlocking the virtual terrascape.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein a social graph table tracks multiple social graphs and application programming interfaces (APIs).

5. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

retrieving a gating rule based on a set of selected crew members and a number of selected crew members.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:

retrieving a progress amount based on the gating rule and messages received responsive to the help message.

7. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

retrieving a gating rule based on least one of the following: a set of selected crew members, a number of selected crew members or an in-game social activity point value.

8. A server system, comprising:

a memory;

a processor disposed in communication with said memory, and configured to issue a plurality of processing instructions stored in the memory, wherein the processor issues instructions to:

send, from the server system to a client device, data for displaying a crew assembly dialog that includes a graphical user interface (GUI), the crew assembly dialog allowing a user of the client device to select crew members from a crew inventory for an online game, the crew assembly dialog further allowing the user to pay for unlocking a virtual terrascape in a campaign map with real world or virtual currency, wherein the crew inventory includes a set of crew member profiles derived from a randomly generated social graph;

receive, at the server system from the client device, a selection of at least one crew member from the crew inventory for the online game through a the crew assembly dialog;

send, from the server system, a game action help request message to a device associated with the at least one selected crew member;

determine that crew selection is sufficient based on response to the game action help request and payment made via the crew assembly dialog;

send, from the server system to the client device, data for displaying the virtual terrascape in the campaign map on a display associated with the client device in response to said determining that crew selection is sufficient based on response to the game action help message and the payment received from the user through the crew assembly dialog; and

syndicate an indication that the user has unlocked the virtual terrascape to a feed for a social network, wherein the online game is a multiplayer game in a distributed game architecture with distributed network controllers.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the processor disposed in communication with said memory, and configured to issue a plurality of processing instructions stored in the memory, wherein the processor issues instructions to: surface for crew inventory selection the set of crew member profiles.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the processor disposed in communication with said memory, and configured to issue a plurality of processing instructions stored in the memory, wherein the processor issues instructions to: determine the set of crew member profiles to surface for crew inventory selection, wherein a crew member is ineligible to help for a given period of time, if the crew member has previously provided help towards unlocking the virtual terrascape.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein a social graph table tracks multiple social graphs and application programming interfaces (APIs).

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the processor disposed in communication with said memory, and configured to issue a plurality of processing instructions stored in the memory, wherein the processor issues instructions to:

retrieve a gating rule based on a set of selected crew members and a number of selected crew members.

13. The system of claim 10 , wherein the processor disposed in communication with said memory, and configured to issue a plurality of processing instructions stored in the memory, wherein the processor issues instructions to: retrieve a gating rule based on least one of the following: a set of selected crew members, a number of selected crew members or an in-game social activity point value.

14. A computer readable medium, which is non-transitory, storing processor executable instructions to:

send, from one or more servers to a client device, data for displaying a crew assembly dialog that includes a graphical user interface (GUI), the crew assembly dialog allowing a user of the client device to select crew members from a crew inventory for an online game, the crew assembly dialog further allowing the user to pay for unlocking a virtual terrascape in a campaign map with real world or virtual currency, wherein the crew inventory includes a set of crew member profiles derived from a randomly generated social graph;

receive, at the one or more servers from the client device, a selection of at least one crew member from the crew inventory for the online game made through the crew assembly dialog;

send, from the one or more servers, a game action help request message to a device associated with the at least one selected crew member;

determine that crew selection is sufficient based on response to the game action help request and payment made via the crew assembly dialog;

send, from the one or more servers to the client device, data for displaying the virtual terrascape in the campaign map on a display associated with the client device in response to the determination that crew selection is sufficient based on response to the game action help message and the payment in real world currency received from the user through the crew assembly display dialog through the display dialog; and

syndicate an indication that the user has unlocked the virtual terrascape to a feed for a social network, wherein the online game is a multiplayer game in a distributed game architecture with distributed network controllers with distributed network controllers.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 14 , wherein a social graph table tracks multiple social graphs and application programming interfaces (APIs).

16. The computer readable medium of claim 14 , further comprising processor executable instructions to:

retrieve a gating rule based on a set of selected crew members and a number of selected crew members.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 14 , further comprising processor executable instructions to:

retrieve a gating rule based on least one of the following: a set of selected crew members, a number of selected crew members or an in-game social activity point value.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 17 , further comprising processor executable instructions to:

retrieve a progress amount based on the gating rule and messages received responsive to the help message.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 14 , further comprising processor executable instructions to:

surface for crew inventory selection the set of crew member profiles.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 19 , further comprising processor executable instructions to:

determine the set of crew member profiles to surface for crew inventory selection, wherein a crew member is ineligible to help for a given period of time, if the crew member has previously provided help towards unlocking the virtual terrascape.