Game program, game control method, and computer

1. A computer-implemented method for operating a computer game, the method comprising:

identifying a playing user and one or more other users;

storing, in a storage module, user information about the one or more other users and game progress information about progress in a game made by the other users in association with each other;

determining, using a processor, whether any of the one or more other users satisfy a condition on the basis of the game progress information relating to the other users;

identifying, using a processor, any of the one or more other users that satisfy the condition as substitution-target users;

displaying, on a terminal apparatus of the playing user, one or more substitution-target users;

obtaining user input from the playing user indicating a selection of at least one substitution-target user from the one or more substitution-target users previously identified with the processor;

obtaining a result of a game played by the playing user using the user information and game progress information of the playing user and on behalf of the at least one substitution-target user, said game corresponding to a game available to the selected at least one substitution-target user, wherein the game progress information of the playing user comprises a quantitative goal and quantitative progress information; and

updating the game progress information of the at least one substitution-target user in accordance with a result of the game played by the playing user, wherein updating the game progress information comprises incrementing the quantitative progress information closer to the quantitative goal.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the condition is a condition that the game progress information of a particular user among the one or more users does not include information indicating that the game played by the particular user has reached a progress milestone.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the condition is that the game progress information of a particular user among the one or more users includes information indicating a request made by the particular user among the one or more users to the playing user to play the game based on the game progress information of the particular user.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

giving a reward to the playing user following the playing user playing the game on behalf of the at least one substitution-target user and obtaining the result of said game.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4 , wherein the user information about the other users comprises classification information about the other users, and wherein the reward is varied in accordance with the classification information about the substitution-target user.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 , wherein the user information about each user among the other users comprises information about a registration date on which the user among the other users performed player registration for the game, and

the classification information about each user among the other users comprises information indicating whether the user among the other users is a new user for which the registration date of the user among the other users is within a period from the present time.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 , wherein the user information about each user among the other users includes information about a last logged-in date on which the user among the other users last logged in to the game, and

the classification information about each user among the other users includes information indicating whether the user among the other users is an inactive user for which the last logged-in date of the user among the other users is outside of a period from the present time.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 , wherein the classification information about each user among the other users includes information indicating whether the user among the other users is a friend user for which the user information about the user among the other users is stored in the storage module in association with the playing user.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising displaying, on the terminal apparatus of the playing user, both one or more non-substitution-target users who have not satisfied the condition and one or more of the substitution-target users who have satisfied the condition, wherein the one or more non-substitution-target users are displayed in a form that is distinguishable from a display of the one or more substitution-target users, and wherein the one or more substitution-target users are selectable.

10. A computer program product embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium, comprising code executable by a computer arranged to operate a computer game, to cause the computer to carry out the following steps:

identifying a playing user and one or more other users;

storing, in a storage module, user information about the one or more other users and game progress information about progress in a game made by the other users in association with each other;

determining, using a processor, whether any of the one or more other users satisfy a condition on the basis of the game progress information relating to the other users;

identifying, using the processor, any of the one or more other users that satisfy the condition as substitution-target users;

displaying, on a terminal apparatus of the playing user, one or more of the substitution-target users;

obtaining user input from the playing user indicating a selection of at least one substitution-target user from the one or more substitution-target users previously identified with the processor;

obtaining a result of a game played by the playing user using the user information and game progress information of the playing user and on behalf of the at least one substitution-target user, said game corresponding to a game available to the selected at least one substitution-target user, wherein the game progress information of the playing user comprises a quantitative goal and quantitative progress information;

updating the game progress information of the at least one substitution-target user in accordance with the result of a game played by the playing user, wherein updating the game progress information comprises incrementing the quantitative progress information closer to the quantitative goal.

11. The computer program product of claim 10 , wherein the condition is a condition that the game progress information of a particular user among the one or more users does not include information indicating that the game played by the particular user has reached a progress milestone.

12. The computer program product of claim 10 , wherein the condition is that the game progress information of a particular user among the one or more users includes information indicating a request made by the particular user among the one or more users to the playing user to play the game based on the game progress information of the particular user.

13. The computer program product of claim 10 , wherein the code executable by the computer arranged to operate the computer game further comprises code causing the computer to give a reward to the playing user following the playing user playing the game on behalf of the at least one substitution-target user and obtaining the result of said game.

14. The computer program product of claim 13 , wherein the user information about the other users comprises classification information about the other users, and wherein the reward is varied in accordance with the classification information about the substitution-target user.

15. The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein the user information about each user among the other users comprises information about a registration date on which the user among the other users performed player registration for the game, and the classification information about each user among the other users comprises information indicating whether the user among the other users is a new user for which the registration date of the user among the other users is within a period from the present time.

16. The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein the user information about each user among the other users comprises information about a last logged-in date on which the user among the other users last logged in to the game, and the classification information about each user among the other users comprises information indicating whether the user among the other users is an inactive user for which the last logged-in date of the user among the other users is outside of a period from the present time.

17. The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein the classification information about each user among the other users comprises information indicating whether the user among the other users is a friend user for which the user information about the user among the other users is stored in the storage module in association with the playing user.

18. The computer program product of claim 10 , wherein the code executable by the computer arranged to operate the computer game further comprises code causing the computer to display, on the terminal apparatus of the playing user, both one or more non-substitution-target users who have not satisfied the condition and one or more of the substitution-target users who have satisfied the condition, wherein the one or more non-substitution-target users are displayed in a form that is distinguishable from the display of the one or more substitution-target users, and wherein the one or more substitution-target users are selectable.

19. A system comprising at least one processor, at least one memory module including computer program code, and at least one terminal apparatus of a playing user having a graphical user interface, the at least one memory module and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the system to at least:

identify the playing user and one or more other users;

store, in a storage module, user information about the one or more other users and game progress information about progress in a game made by the other users in association with each other;

determine, using the at least one processor, whether any of the one or more other users satisfy a condition on the basis of the game progress information relating to the other users;

identify, using the at least one processor, any of the one or more other users that satisfy the condition as substitution-target users;

display, on a terminal apparatus of the playing user, one or more of the substitution-target users;

obtain user input from the playing user indicating a selection of at least one substitution-target user from the one or more substitution-target users previously identified with the at least one processor;

obtain a result of a game played by the playing user using the user information and game progress information of the playing user and on behalf of the at least one substitution-target user, said game corresponding to a game available to the selected at least one substitution-target user, wherein the game progress information of the playing user comprises a quantitative goal and quantitative progress information;

update the game progress information of the at least one substitution-target user in accordance with a result of the game played by the playing user, wherein updating the game progress information comprises incrementing the quantitative progress information closer to the quantitative goal.

20. The system of claim 19 , wherein the computer program code further comprises causing the system to give a reward to the playing user following the playing user playing the game on behalf of the at least one substitution-target user and obtaining the result of said game.