Sending out-of-band instant messages from a game networking system

Abstract

Techniques for sending out-of-band messages from a game networking system are described. For example, a machine identifies a friend of a user of a game networking system. The identifying of the friend may be based at least in part on a game instance of a game provided by the game networking system. The machine selects an out-of-band instant message from a plurality of messages generated by the game networking system. The one or more of the plurality of messages may be transmittable as different message types based on an activity level of the friend of the user with respect to the game networking system. The machine sends the out-of-band instant message to the friend of the user of the game networking system. The out-of-band instant message may include a request that the friend of the user perform an action with respect to the game executing on the game networking system.

1 . (canceled) 
     
     
         2 . A method comprising:
 identifying, using one or more hardware processors, a friend of a user of a game networking system based at least in part on a game instance of a game provided by the game networking system;   selecting an out-of-band instant message from a plurality of messages generated by the game networking system, one or more of the plurality of messages being transmittable as different message types based on an activity level of the friend of the user with respect to the game networking system; and   sending the out-of-band instant message to the friend of the user of the game networking system, the out-of-band instant message including a request that the friend of the user perform an action with respect to the game executing on the game networking system.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the game provided by the game networking system is an online game, the user of the game networking system is a first player of the online game and the friend is a second player of the online game. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the user of the game networking system is a first player associated with the game instance and the friend is a second player associated with the game instance. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the user of the game networking system is a first player associated with the game instance and the friend is a second player associated with the game but not associated with the game instance. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the identifying of the friend is further based on a degree of separation between the user and the friend within a social graph associated with the user. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the identifying of the friend is further based on a relationship between the user and the friend, the relationship being determined based on a social graph associated with the user. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the user is a first player associated with the game instance and further comprising:
 determining that the friend is a first-degree friend of the user based on the social graph associated with the user and   allowing the friend to access the game instance as a second player within the game instance based on the determining that the friend is the first-degree friend of the user.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 receiving an indication that the friend performed the action with respect to the game executing on the game networking system; and   allowing the friend to access the game instance based on the indication that the friend performed the action.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the user is allowed to access the game instance based on the user being associated with the game instance. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 selecting the game instance from a set of predetermined game instances, and   wherein the identifying of the friend of the user of the game networking system based at least in part on the game instance includes determining that the friend is a player associated with the game instance.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the friend is a player of the game who is associated with the game instance and wherein the action with respect to the game includes an in-game action available to the friend in the game instance. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the activity level of the friend of the user with respect to the game networking system is a past activity level of the friend with respect to the game networking system. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the activity level of the friend of the user with respect to the game networking system is a current activity level of the friend with respect to the game networking system. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the selecting of the out-of-band instant message from a plurality of messages generated by the game networking system is based on the friend being an active player of the game. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the selecting of the out-of-band instant message from a plurality of messages generated by the game networking system is based on the friend being inactive with respect to the game. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising receiving a communication from the friend in response to sending the out-of-band instant message to the friend, the communication including application event data representing the action performed by the friend with respect to the game in response to the request that the friend of the user perform the action with respect to the game. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the action performed by the friend with respect to the game updates one or more game state parameters of the game. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the one or more of the plurality of messages are transmittable as different message types further based on a communication mechanism appropriate for communicating with the friend of the user. 
     
     
         20 . A system comprising:
 a friend module, comprising one or more hardware processors, configured to identify a friend of a user of a game networking system based at least in part on a game instance of a game provided by the game networking system;   a message selection module configured to select an out-of-band instant message from a plurality of messages generated by the game networking system, one or more of the plurality of messages being transmittable as different message types based on a past activity level of the friend of the user with respect to the game networking system; and   an interfacing module configured to send the out-of-band instant message to the friend of the user of the game networking system, the out-of-band instant message including a request that the friend of the user perform an action with respect to the game executing on the game networking system.   
     
     
         21 . A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more hardware processors of a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:
 identifying a friend of a user of a game networking system based at least in part on a game instance of a game provided by the game networking system;   selecting an out-of-band instant message from a plurality of messages generated by the game networking system, one or more of the plurality of messages being transmittable as different message types based on a past activity level of the friend of the user with respect to the game networking system; and   sending the out-of-band instant message to the friend of the user of the game networking system, the out-of-band instant message including a request that the friend of the user perform an action with respect to the game executing on the game networking system.