Predictive analytics for targeted player engagement in a gaming system

1. A method in a gaming system comprising operating a computer system in the gaming system to perform steps of:

detecting events that occur in a game played on the gaming system, the events arising from actions of individual players, actions among players, actions between players and a game environment of the game, and changes in the game environment;

identifying a predetermined event from the events detected during game play, and in response thereto:

identifying a player;

evaluating one or more predictive models using the identified player to, predict a first outcome and a second outcome for the identified player, wherein inputs to the one or more predictive models are based at least on the events detected during game play;

in response to prediction of the first outcome, identifying a first engagement action based on the first outcome, and communicating with the identified player to engage the identified player in accordance with the first engagement action; and

in response to prediction of the second outcome, identifying a second engagement action based on the first outcome, and communicating with the identified player to engage the identified player in accordance with the second engagement action.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein inputs to the one or more predictive models are further based on the game context.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the player is identified when a predetermined event has been detected that involves the player.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the predetermined event is one among a plurality of predetermined events.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the game context of the player comprises current game state information of the player and current game state information of the game environment.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein some events are detected based on passage of time.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein some events are detected based on locations in the game environment.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the game is a previously played game.

9. A gaming system comprising:

a computer system; and

a data storage device having stored thereon computer executable program code, which, when executed by the computer system, causes the computer system to:

detect events that occur in a game played on the gaming system, the events arising from actions of individual players, actions among players, actions between players and a game environment of the game, and changes in the game environment;

identify a predetermined event from the events detected during game play, and in response thereto:

identify a player;

evaluate one or more predictive models using the identified player, to predict a first outcome and a second outcome for the identified player, wherein inputs to the one or more predictive models are based at least on the events detected during game play;

in response to prediction of the first outcome, identify a first engagement action based on the first outcome, and communicate with the identified player to engage the identified player in accordance with the first engagement action; and

in response to prediction of the second outcome, identify a second engagement action based on the first outcome, and communicate with the identified player to engage the identified player in accordance with the second engagement action.

10. The gaming system of claim 9 wherein inputs to the one or more predictive models are further based on the game context.

11. The gaming system of claim 9 wherein the player is identified when a predetermined event has been detected that involves the player.

12. The gaming system of claim 9 wherein the game context of the player comprises current game state information of the player and current game state information of the game environment.

13. The gaming system of claim 9 wherein some events are detected based on passage of time and some events are detected based on locations in the game environment.

14. The gaming system of claim 9 wherein the game is a previously played game.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer executable program code, which can be executed by a computer device to perform steps of:

detecting events that occur in a game played on the gaming system, the events arising from actions of individual players, actions among players, actions between players and a game environment of the game, and changes in the game environment;

identifying a predetermined event from the events detected during game play, and in response thereto:

identifying a player;

evaluating one or more predictive models using the identified player to, predict a first outcome and a second outcome for the identified player, wherein inputs to the one or more predictive models are based at least on the events detected during game play;

in response to prediction of the first outcome, identifying a first engagement action based on the first outcome, and communicating with the identified player to engage the identified player in accordance with the first engagement action;

in response to prediction of the second outcome, identifying a second engagement action based on the first outcome, and communicating with the identified player to engage the identified player in accordance with the second engagement action.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 wherein inputs to the one or more predictive models are further based on the game context.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 wherein the player is identified when a predetermined event has been detected that involves the player.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein the game context of the player comprises current game state information of the player and current game state information of the game environment.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein some events are detected based on passage of time and some events are detected based on locations in the game environment.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein the game is a previously played game.