A guest management method and system for an online multi-player virtual reality environment or social networking site. A network interface receives guest access requests from guest clients and input data from a plurality of remotely-located clients. The input data is operative to control avatars associated with the clients in a modeled virtual reality environment. A memory holds program instructions for determining whether the guest access is associated with a member client. If the guest access request is associated with the member client, then the guest client is allowed to access the virtual reality environment via a guest avatar. The guest avatar's movements in the virtual reality environment are restricted based on a location of a member avatar controlled by the associated member client. For example, the guest avatar may only be permitted to move within an area that is bounded by a perimeter about the member avatar.

Various metrics as may be deployed in an active, passive, or hybrid validation architecture are disclosed. A computing device configured to monitor network game activity may identify an inconsistency between user game data and a particular game metric governing a particular aspect of the network gaming environment. Upon identification of an inconsistency between game data and a game metric, which may indicative of illicit game play, a validation process (e.g., active, passive, and/or hybrid) may be implemented to further confirm the existence of illicit game. Alternatively, an action to maintain integrity of the gaming community may be executed without further confirmation whereby a purportedly illicit game device may be ejected from the network.

Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, comparing an input received from a peripheral device associated with an execution of a gaming application with a threshold value, wherein the threshold value is based on a first identification of a first user, a second identification of the peripheral device, and a third identification of stimuli presented as part of the execution of the gaming application. Responsive to the comparing, a determination may be made that the input exceeds the threshold value. Responsive to the determination, a validation request may be transmitted to a user device of the first user. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Apparatuses, systems, and techniques to detect cheating, manipulation, or unfair advantages. In at least one embodiment, cheating is determined using a reconstruction probability inferred, using one or more neural networks, for video data for a player of a game.

A computer-implemented method is provided of allowing a user to automatically transform domain knowledge into a machine learning model to be used in real-time operation of video games. The method comprises providing a user interface which allows a user to define domain knowledge relating to a video game by specifying one or more labeling functions; transforming the labeling functions into executable code; labeling raw data relating to the video game using the executable code to obtain labeled data; and applying an automated machine learning module to the labeled data to obtain a machine learning model.

A server computer is connected to a plurality of client computers through a network, and controls objects in a Metaverse accessed by the client computers. The server computer includes a storage unit for storing an object ID specifying an object accessible in the Metaverse by the plurality of client computers and authenticity information associated with the object ID. The authenticity information indicates that the object is genuine. The server computer also includes a communication unit for communicating with each of the client computers. The server computer also includes an enquiry unit for causing the communication unit to transmit the authenticity information corresponding to the object ID to at least one of the plurality of client computers upon receipt of an enquiry request to enquire about the object ID of the object from one of the plurality of client computers.

Examples herein include systems for detecting cheating in card games, including bridge. The system can acquire board data for multiple events, the events including bridge games. For each event, determining performance values for a player based on the board data, wherein the performance values may additionally be based in part on timing data. The system can detect a deviation of by comparing the performance values against a threshold, wherein the threshold is based on past performance of known cheating players. Then the system can alert a user when the likelihood of cheating exceeds a threshold.

Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, comparing an input received from a peripheral device associated with an execution of a gaming application with a threshold value, wherein the threshold value is based on a first identification of a first user, a second identification of the peripheral device, and a third identification of stimuli presented as part of the execution of the gaming application. Responsive to the comparing, a determination may be made that the input exceeds the threshold value. Responsive to the determination, a validation request may be transmitted to a user device of the first user. Other embodiments are disclosed.

A server apparatus includes a communication interface, a memory, and a processor configured to execute an instruction command stored in the memory to identify other players located within a predetermined range of a distance from a first terminal device, when the communication interface receives position information detected by the first terminal device held by a first player from the first terminal device, to determine whether a non-player character appears in a virtual space of a game application in response to a number of the identified other players, and to transmit non-player information about a non-player character to the first terminal device when the processor determined that the non-player character appears in the virtual space.

Shadow banning a participant within a social VR system includes: receiving and forwarding an identity of the participant, who may be shadow banned; recognizing and tracking inappropriate behaviors including inappropriate language and comments, inappropriate gestures, and inappropriate movements; receiving and processing the recognized and tracked inappropriate behaviors of the participant; generating a safety rating based on the processed inappropriate behaviors; comparing the safety rating to a threshold value; and outputting a signal to label the participant as a griefer and shadow ban the griefer when the safety rating is greater than the threshold value.