Obviousness

US patent 9561439B2 relates to a game control method, game control device, and recording medium, particularly for social games. The invention aims to provide a mechanism for cooperative play among a plurality of users, addressing issues with existing guild systems where high-level players dominate, diminishing the motivation of low-level users.

Under 35 U.S.C. § 103, an invention is obvious if "the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains."

Identified Prior Art from US9561439B2 Background:

The background section of US9561439B2 describes the following as existing prior art:

1. Social games with guilds: "a social game in which it is possible to constitute a group referred to as a guild by a plurality of users (players) who play the game."
2. Cooperation among guild members: "it is possible to share or communicate information among a plurality of users (guild members) constituting the same guild."
3. Cooperative battles and rewards: "in a social game... it is possible to fight a battle with... an enemy character referred to as a raid boss with cooperation among the guild members." "In the case where a user fights a battle with an enemy character with cooperation among the guild members and wins the battle, it is possible for the guild members to obtain various kinds of rewards (for example, characters, items, etc.)."

Problem Addressed by the Invention (as stated in US9561439B2):

The patent identifies a specific problem with these existing guild systems: "the purpose of the guild in such a case is to win a battle, and therefore, the guild tends to consist of users at a high level (experts) in the social game." This leads to low-level users being unable to obtain desired rewards, thereby reducing their motivation. The stated object of the invention is to provide "a new mechanism that enables a user to play in cooperation with a plurality of users (guild) regardless of the level, etc."

Obviousness Analysis:

A person having ordinary skill in the art (PHOSITA) in game development, faced with the recognized problem of guild systems favoring high-level players and discouraging low-level players, would have been motivated to combine existing game mechanics to encourage more inclusive cooperation.

Combination of Prior Art References:

1. Prior Art Reference A: Existing Social Game Guilds with Cooperative Battle and Rewards (as described in the background of US9561439B2). This reference establishes that it was known to have groups (guilds) of users in social games who cooperate to achieve an objective (e.g., win a battle against a raid boss) and receive rewards for successful cooperation.
2. Prior Art Reference B: General Game Mechanic of Collecting Multiple Components to Form a Complete Item for a Reward. This is a common and well-known game design pattern, even if not explicitly detailed as a separate patent in the provided text's background. Players frequently engage in tasks requiring them to collect several distinct "pieces" or "parts" that, once assembled or collected in full, constitute a "complete item" or objective, leading to a reward. A PHOSITA would be familiar with such collection mechanics.
3. Motivation to Tailor Content by Player Level: The patent itself identifies the problem of level-based exclusion in guilds and explicitly states the need for a mechanism that enables cooperation "regardless of the level." This inherent motivation points to designing game content that encourages participation across different skill or experience levels.

Reasoning for Obviousness:

A PHOSITA, aiming to solve the problem of level-segregated guilds (identified in Prior Art A), would be motivated to devise a cooperative activity that encourages participation from players of all levels.

• Step 1: Replace Level-Dependent Activity with a More Inclusive One: Instead of the existing cooperative activity of "winning a battle" (Prior Art A), which naturally favors high-level players, a PHOSITA would consider an alternative cooperative objective. The widely known "collect-all-pieces-to-make-an-item" mechanic (Prior Art B) offers a suitable alternative, as it can be designed to allow contributions from players of varying strengths.
• Step 2: Implement the Collection Mechanic within the Guild Structure: The PHOSITA would then integrate this collection mechanic into the existing guild framework (Prior Art A), where multiple users cooperate within a group to achieve a common goal and receive a shared reward. This directly leads to the elements of "storing group information," "game piece information indicative of a plurality of game pieces constituting one item," "giving a game piece to each user," "storing obtained game piece information," "determining whether all of the plurality of game pieces... are given to a plurality of users constituting a group," and "giving a reward to a plurality of users constituting a group."
• Step 3: Introduce Level-Based Distribution of Game Pieces (Specific to Claims/Disclosure): Crucially, to explicitly address the motivation of enabling cooperation "regardless of the level," a PHOSITA would further modify the collection mechanic such that different game pieces are more readily obtainable by players of different experience levels. For example, as described in US9561439B2 for "jewel D" (FIG. 13), certain pieces (D1, D2) would be "more likely to appear for low-level users," others (D3, D4) for "intermediate-level users," and others (D5, D6) for "high-level users." This design feature directly solves the stated problem by ensuring all guild members, regardless of their individual level, can contribute uniquely to the collective goal, thereby encouraging diverse guilds and higher player motivation.

Therefore, the claimed invention in US9561439B2, which involves a game control method where a group of users cooperatively collects distinct game pieces to form an item to receive a group reward, would have been obvious to a PHOSITA. The motivation would be to overcome the acknowledged limitation of existing guild systems, which disproportionately favor high-level players, by integrating a well-known collection mechanic and explicitly distributing the collection opportunities across different player skill levels within the cooperative guild framework.