Method and system of incorporating team challenges into a social game

Abstract

In a method and system of incorporating team challenges into a social game, a request to start a team challenge is received. The team challenge includes an in-game task that a plurality of players is to complete, with the plurality of players including an initiator and a helper. A selection of the helper from a set of buddies is received, with the set of buddies being based on a social network of the initiator. A completion of the in-game task by each of the plurality of players is detected. A reward is provided to each of the plurality of players based on the completion. In this way, new players are attracted to the social game, and current players increase their levels of participation in the social game.

1 . (canceled) 
     
     
         2 . A system comprising:
 one or more computer processors;   one or more computer memories;   one or more modules incorporated into the one or more computer memories, the one or more modules configuring the one or more processors to perform operations for implementing a user interface for facilitating a team challenge pertaining to an online social game;   detecting an initiation of the team challenge by a player of the online social game, the team challenge being a task that is to be completed within the online social game by each of a subset of players of the online social game;   causing display, with at least one processor, of an option element that provides an option for a first friend to participate in the team challenge, the option element being a first user interface element forming part of a user interface associated with the first friend, the first friend being a friend of the player of the online social game;   receiving an acceptance by the first friend of the option to participate in the team challenge, the acceptance comprising selection of the option element;   causing display of a request option element selectable by a second friend to indicate a willingness to participate request participation in the team challenge in response to the receiving of the acceptance by the first friend, the request option element being a second user interface element forming part of a user interface associated with the second friend, the second friend being a friend of the first friend, the second friend not being a friend of the player;   selecting the second friend as a participant in the team challenge;   detecting a completion of the team challenge by each of the player, the first friend, and the second friend; and   providing a reward to at least one of the player, the first friend, and the second friend based on the detecting of the completion of the team challenge.   
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the team challenge includes a task that each of the subset of players is to perform within the online social game before a time period expires. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 2 , the operations further comprising calculating an amount of the reward based on a difficulty of the team challenge. 
     
     
         5 . The system  claim 3 , the operations further comprising calculating the time period based on a difficulty of the team challenge. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 3 , further comprising communicating a progress of each of the player, the first friend, and the second friend toward the completion of the task. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 6 , further comprising collecting information about the first friend from an online social network of the player; and selecting the first friend as a candidate to participate in the team challenge based on the information. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein the online social network is separate from a game networking system of the online social game. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the causing display of the request option element selectable by the second friend with the second user interface element of a user interface to request participating in the team challenge is based on a selection of the second friend by the first friend. 
     
     
         10 . A method comprising:
 implementing a user interface for facilitating a team challenge pertaining to an online social game, the implementing of the user interface comprising:
 detecting an initiation of the team challenge by a player of the online social game, the team challenge being a task that is to be completed within the online social game by each of a subset of players of the online social game; 
 causing display, with at least one processor, of an option element that provides an option for a first friend to participate in the team challenge, the option element being a first user interface element forming part of a user interface associated with the first friend, the first friend being a friend of the player of the online social game; 
 receiving an acceptance by the first friend of the option to participate in the team challenge, the acceptance comprising selection of the option element; 
 causing display of a request option element selectable by a second friend to indicate a willingness to participate request participation in the team challenge in response to the receiving of the acceptance by the first friend, the request option element being a second user interface element forming part of a user interface associated with the second friend, the second friend being a friend of the first friend, the second friend not being a friend of the player; 
 selecting the second friend as a participant in the team challenge; 
 detecting a completion of the team challenge by each of the player, the first friend, and the second friend; and 
 providing a reward to at least one of the player, the first friend, and the second friend based on the detecting of the completion of the team challenge. 
   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the team challenge includes a task that each of the subset of players is to perform within the online social game before a time period expires. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , the implementing further comprising calculating an amount of the reward based on a difficulty of the team challenge. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , the implementing further comprising calculating the time period based on a difficulty of the team challenge. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11 , the implementing further comprising communicating a progress of each of the player, the first friend, and the second friend toward the completion of the task. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising collecting information about the first friend from an online social network of the player; and selecting the first friend as a candidate to participate in the team challenge based on the information. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the online social network is separate from a game networking system of the online social game. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the causing display of the request option element selectable by the second friend with the second user interface element of a user interface to request participating in the team challenge is based on a selection of the second friend by the first friend. 
     
     
         18 . A non-transitory machine readable medium comprising a set of instructions that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform operations for implementing a user interface for facilitating a team challenge pertaining to an online social game, the operations comprising:
 detecting an initiation of the team challenge by a player of the online social game, the team challenge being a task that is to be completed within the online social game by each of a subset of players of the online social game;   causing display, with at least one processor, of an option element that provides an option for a first friend to participate in the team challenge, the option element being a first user interface element forming part of a user interface associated with the first friend, the first friend being a friend of the player of the online social game;   receiving an acceptance by the first friend of the option to participate in the team challenge, the acceptance comprising selection of the option element;   causing display of a request option element selectable by a second friend to indicate a willingness to participate request participation in the team challenge in response to the receiving of the acceptance by the first friend, the request option element being a second user interface element forming part of a user interface associated with the second friend, the second friend being a friend of the first friend, the second friend not being a friend of the player;   selecting the second friend as a participant in the team challenge;   detecting a completion of the team challenge by each of the player, the first friend, and the second friend; and   providing a reward to at least one of the player, the first friend, and the second friend based on the detecting of the completion of the team challenge.   
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of  claim 18 , wherein the team challenge includes a task that each of the subset of players is to perform within the online social game before a time period expires. 
     
     
         20 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of  claim 18 , the operations further comprising calculating an amount of the reward based on a difficulty of the team challenge. 
     
     
         21 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of  claim 19 , the operations further comprising calculating the time period based on a difficulty of the team challenge.