Importance

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Abstract

The distributed game system disclosed herein provides for interacting play between multiple users, even though the users are interconnected with a host computer through a data communication network having appreciable latency. The host computer supports a program for tracking and coordinating the definitive state of the game. The computers employed by each of the users support at least two types of program components, a display component and an interaction component. The interaction component is responsive to at least two kinds of user input, goal input which identifies user proxy movement within a virtual world and impact input which identifies direct interaction between the inputting user's proxy and the proxy of an identified other user. Goal input is interpreted by the host computer which distributes to all users information defining a plan of movement for the inputting user's proxy. In contrast, impact input causes the inputting user's computer to itself generate an effect plan which defines the effect the impact input will have on the other user's proxy. The effect plan is directly acted upon by the inputting user's display program and is distributed by the host computer to other users.

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First Claim