A new Sony patent has come to light and, this time, the Japanese company proposes a technology capable of kick a specific player out of the game, which would be useful to fight against cheaters and players who do not respect the rules. The novelty is that this system would be controlled by the game’s own spectatorsNow how normal is it that games are broadcast live.
East patent, titled “Spectators Vote to Retire Players from a Video Game” is exactly what the name suggests. A technology where viewers of a direct from Twitch or YouTube could expel a specific player from the game. Sony has the good faith to believe that this tool would kick people with “bad behavior, poor sportsmanship or poor performance” out of the game.
It is “a method of showing a video game to viewers that includes the possibility of receiving votes from viewers to remove a player from a video game,” explains the patent. “It also includes determining whether the number of votes received to remove the player meets the threshold level required to trigger removal of the player from the video game. If the number of votes received meets the threshold level required to trigger removal of the player, the method includes generating a command configured to cause the player to be removed from the video game. The method may also include encouraging the removal of the player and providing visual cues to other players or spectators as to why the player was removed.
Regarding the voting method, the patent does not explain much, although suggests that you would have to pay to vote. It is possible that with some virtual currency that is bought with real money, so not everyone would be willing to vote. Likewise, although it does not specify how long the player would be out of the game, it has generated a certain stir that such an important decision is taken lightly by a group of spectators, even if they have to pay first.
In either case, patents do not always end up in final products. The latest Sony patent spoke of a system capable of choosing for you the difficulty mode of a game, according to your abilities.