Software at a massively multiplayer online (MMO) game website receives a request for assistance with a game task from a first player of a MMO game. The software transmits the request to a second player of the MMO game who is associated with the first player through a relationship recognized by the MMO game. The software determines whether the second player responds to the request within a time period. The time period depends on one or more factors related to game mechanics and to user data for the first player. Then if the second player does not respond within the time period and the game task is a game task whose completion can be assigned without the assistance of another player, the software assigns completion of the game task to the first player and transmits an automated apparent response to the first player.