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Microsoft patents avatars that will resemble their users

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DVDBack23 @ Dec 24, 2009 20:04 | 9 comments

Microsoft has applied for a a patent dubbed "Avatars Individualized by Physical Characteristics," meaning the company is considering introducing avatars that will look the gamer behind the controller.

Says the application, via Eurogamer: "An Avatar generator for a virtual environment reflects a physiological characteristic of the user, injecting a degree of reality into the capabilities or appearance. Thereby, many of the incentives of the real world are replicated in a virtual environment.Physiological data that reflect a degree of health of the real person can be linked to rewards of capabilities of a gaming Avatar, an amount of time budgeted to play, or a visible indication. Thereby, people are encouraged to exercise. Physiological data that reflect the health and perhaps also mood also improve social interaction in virtual environments. People seeking to meet and become acquainted with particular types of people are not thwarted by the artificiality of Avatars."

The data can accessed from third-party health repositories, a physiological sensor, or a health care smart-card.

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Comments

Comment by: DXR88 (Dec 24, 2009 20:12)

thats funny now i have a xbox that will tell me how fat and lazy i am, great stuff really.

Comment by: canuckerz (Dec 24, 2009 23:00)

It would be a monumental ammount of BS if this were to be awarded a patent. What so a company can get sue'd now if I make the character in my game bear a likeness to myself?

Comment by: Hrdrk20 (Dec 25, 2009 01:07)

Wow DXR88, what an honest fella you are. I'm expecting to see everyone's avatars resembling Brad Pitt and Carrie Underwood :) lol

Comment by: atomicxl (Dec 25, 2009 17:58)

Sounds cool to me. I wanted to make my avatar look like me but after like an hour of tweaking I called it a wrap and the only similarities are that we're both black and have a goatee. If this is automatic, i'm for it.

Comment by: beanos66 (Dec 25, 2009 18:12)

Originally posted by atomicxl:
Sounds cool to me. I wanted to make my avatar look like me but after like an hour of tweaking I called it a wrap and the only similarities are that we're both black and have a goatee. If this is automatic, i'm for it.

would you still be for it if this patent is granted and no other company is allowed to make a programme or hardware that uses avatars that can be made to look like the user

Comment by: redux79 (Dec 25, 2009 20:28)

avatars.. well ok... I made my xbl avatar and it looks nothing like me, to each there own.

Comment by: atomicxl (Dec 25, 2009 22:18)

Quote:
Originally posted by atomicxl:
Sounds cool to me. I wanted to make my avatar look like me but after like an hour of tweaking I called it a wrap and the only similarities are that we're both black and have a goatee. If this is automatic, i'm for it.
would you still be for it if this patent is granted and no other company is allowed to make a programme or hardware that uses avatars that can be made to look like the user

I'm still for the technology. I mean, it's stupid that someone was able to patent the concept of a virtual shopping cart but it doesn't mean that I hate the concept of a virtual shopping cart and think it's a dumb idea.

On top of that I have a 360 and I've used MS operating systems ever since 1st grade so I'll never be missing out on it.

It's kinda funny that people complain about MS getting a patent on something that a lot of companies and people would benefit from using but earlier in the week they were cheering that MS got sued for using a patent that a lot of companies and people would benefit from using. For a while, restrictive patents were the coolest thing in the world to Afterdawn users... then MS gets one and now patents are back to being the tool of the devil. But now i'm ranting...

Comment by: dufas (Dec 26, 2009 19:09)

So much for medical privacy..

The medical community will not even let my wife see my medical records, authorities need a warrant to view the records, doctors have to have a valid reason to access medical records. The medical records used to be kept in high security storage, controlled only by authorized individuals.....

Now, what was supposed to be private and confidential can be accessed by gaming licensees and eventually spread all over the net.

Comment by: WJ99 (Dec 28, 2009 13:58)

Am I missing something? What then happens to the Wii's Miis? They then have to pay MS?

How the hell could they do this?