Monitoring method and system using collective intelligence and rating propagation in virtual world community

Abstract

A method and system for monitoring and judging activities in a virtual world environment are disclosed. The method comprises a first user engaging in an activity in the virtual world environment, a witness witnessing the first activity and reporting the activity to a monitor as possibly malicious, and the monitor organizing a jury comprised of a plurality of jurors. The jurors view and judge the activity in the virtual world environment; and on the basis of this judging, defined benefits in the virtual world environment are awarded to the witness, monitor and jurors. The method may further comprise penalizing the first user in the virtual world environment. For instance, if the first user has friends in the virtual world environment, the penalizing may include penalizing these friends.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system for monitoring and judging activities in a virtual world environment, comprising:
 a collective intelligence avatar control module to receive a notification from a witness in the virtual world environment of a specified activity by a user, and for activating a collective intelligence avatar in the virtual world environment;   a jury selection module for receiving instructions from the collective intelligence avatar to organize a jury comprised of a plurality of jurors to judge said specified activity;   a voting control module for managing voting by the jury on the specified activity; and   a rating control module for determining ratings for the user, the witness, the collective intelligence avatar in the virtual world environment, and the jurors, and for modifying one or more of the rating based on the voting by the jury.   
     
     
         2 . A system according to  claim 1 , further comprising a user database for managing rating values for the jurors and wherein the jury selection module selects jurors in accordance with information obtained from the user database. 
     
     
         3 . A system according to  claim 2 , wherein the collection intelligence avatar monitors said activity, and the system further comprises a monitor database for storing the results of said monitoring. 
     
     
         4 . A system according to  claim 3 , wherein the jury selection module sends the results of said monitoring to the jurors. 
     
     
         5 . A system according to  claim 4 , wherein the jurors vote on whether the activity is malicious or not malicious and send the results of the vote to the voting control module; and wherein:
 the voting control module executes processing on the user in accordance with the results of the vote; and   on the basis of the results of the vote, the rating control module updates rating information on the user, objects owned by the user and groups to which the user belong, and sends the updated rating information to the user database.   
     
     
         6 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the jurors are randomly selected from users who satisfy defined conditions. 
     
     
         7 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the rating control module determines a first rating value for the user and a second rating value for the witness. 
     
     
         8 . The system according to  claim 7 , wherein the user has an initial value and the user possesses a set of objects in the virtual world environment, each of the objects having an object value. 
     
     
         9 . The system according to  claim 8 , wherein the first rating value is calculated by summing said initial value and all of said object values. 
     
     
         10 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the specified activity occurs in a defined place in the virtual world environment, and the jury selection module invites the jurors to teleport in the virtual world environment to said defined place. 
     
     
         11 . A computer readable non-transitory storage medium, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the computer to perform a method for monitoring and judging activities in a virtual world environment, the method comprising:
 a witness witnessing activity by a first user in the virtual world environment and reporting the activity to a monitor as possibly malicious;   said monitor organizing a jury comprised of a plurality of jurors;   said jurors viewing and judging said activity in the virtual world environment; and   on the basis of said judging, awarding defined benefits in said virtual world environment to said witness, monitor and jurors.   
     
     
         12 . A computer readable storage media according to  claim 11 , wherein said method further comprises of on the basis of said judging, penalizing the first user in the virtual world environment. 
     
     
         13 . A computer readable storage media according to  claim 12 , wherein the first user has friends in said virtual world environment, and belongs to one or more groups in the virtual world environment, each of said one or more groups including a plurality of group members, and the penalizing step includes:
 penalizing said friends; and   penalizing said group members.   
     
     
         14 . A computer readable storage media according to  claim 11 , wherein each of the jurors belongs to one or more groups in the virtual world environment, and no two of the jurors belong to the same group. 
     
     
         15 . A computer readable storage media according to  claim 11 , wherein the first user has an initial value and the first user possesses a set of objects in the virtual world environment, each of said objects having an object value, and the first user belongs to one or more groups in the virtual world environment, each of said one or more groups having a group value, and wherein said method further comprises:
 calculating a first rating value for the first user, including the step of summing said initial value, all of said object values and said group values; and   calculating a second rating value for the witness; and   wherein the first user belongs to one or more groups in the virtual world environment, each of said one or more groups including a plurality of group members, and the penalizing step includes the step of penalizing said group members.   
     
     
         16 . A system for monitoring and judging activities in a virtual world environment, comprising:
 a collective intelligence avatar control module to receive a notification from a witness in the virtual world environment of a specified activity by a user, and for activating a collective intelligence avatar in the virtual world environment;   a jury selection module for receiving instructions from the collective intelligence avatar to organize a jury comprised of a plurality of jurors to judge said specified activity;   a voting control module for managing voting by the jury on the specified activity;   a rating control module for determining ratings for the user, the witness, the collective intelligence avatar in the virtual world environment, and the jurors, and for modifying one or more of the rating based on the voting by the jury; and   a user database for managing rating values for the jurors, and wherein the jury selection module selects jurors at random from users who satisfy defined conditions and in accordance with information obtained from the user database.   
     
     
         17 . The system according to  claim 16 , wherein the rating control module determines a first rating value for the user and a second rating value for the witness. 
     
     
         18 . The system according to  claim 17 , wherein the user has an initial value and the user possesses a set of objects in the virtual world environment, each of the objects having an object value. 
     
     
         19 . The system according to  claim 18 , wherein the first rating value is calculated by summing said initial value and all of said object values. 
     
     
         20 . The system according to  claim 16 , wherein the specified activity occurs in a defined place in the virtual world environment, and the jury selection module invites the jurors to teleport in the virtual world environment to said defined place.