Experience point
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An experience point (often abbreviated as exp or XP) is a unit of measurement used in some tabletop role-playing games (RPGs) and role-playing video games to quantify a player character's life experience and progression through the game. Experience points are generally awarded for the completion of missions, overcoming obstacles and opponents, and successful role-playing.[1]
In many RPGs, characters start as fairly weak and untrained. When a sufficient amount of experience is obtained, the character "levels up", achieving the next stage of character development. Such an event usually increases the character's
In some role-playing games, particularly those derived from Dungeons & Dragons, experience points are used to improve characters in discrete experience levels; in other games, such as GURPS and the World of Darkness games, experience points are spent on specific abilities or attributes chosen by the player.
In most games, as the difficulty of the challenge increases, the experience rewarded for overcoming it also increases. As players gain more experience points, the amount of experience needed to gain abilities typically increases. Alternatively, some games keep the number of experience points per level constant but progressively lower the experience gained for the same tasks as the character's level increases. Thus, as the player character strengthens from gaining experience, they are encouraged to accept new tasks that are commensurate with their improved abilities in order to advance.
Types
Level-based progression
In many role-playing games, such as games derived from Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), an accumulation of a sufficient number of experience points (XP) increases a character's "level", a number that represents a character's overall skill and experience. To "level" or "level up" means to gain enough XP to reach the next level. By gaining a level, a character's abilities or stats will increase, making the character stronger and able to accomplish more difficult tasks, including safely battling stronger enemies, gaining access to more powerful abilities (such as spells or combat techniques), and to make, fix or disable more complex mechanical devices, or resolve increasingly difficult social challenges.
Typically, levels are associated with a character class, and many systems allow combinations of classes, allowing a player to customize how their character develops.
Some systems that use a level-based experience system also incorporate the ability to purchase specific traits with a set amount of experience; for example, D&D 3rd Edition bases the creation of
Some games have a level cap, or a limit of levels available. For example, in the online game RuneScape, no player can currently get higher than level 120 which needs a combined 104,273,167 experience points to gain, nor can any one skill gain more than 200 million experiences. Some games have a dynamic level cap, where the level cap is dependent upon the levels of the average player (so it gradually increases).
Activity-based progression
In some systems, such as the classic tabletop role-playing games
Free-form advancement
Free-form advancement is used by many role-playing systems including
Players are typically free to spend points however they choose, which greatly increases the control that a player has over the character's development, but also usually causes players to find that complexity increases as well. Some games therefore simplify character creation and advancement by suggesting packages or templates of pre-selected ability sets, so for example a player could have their character become an "investigator" by purchasing a package deal which includes many skills and abilities, rather than buying them each separately.
Cash-in advancement
A cash-in experience advancement system uses experience points to "purchase" such character advancements as class levels, skill points, new skills, feats or increasing saving throw bonuses or base attribute points each of which has a set cost in experience points with set limits on the maximum bonuses that can be purchased at a given time usually once per game session. Once experience points are used thus they are "spent" and are erased from the character record or marked as spent and cannot be used again. Final Fantasy XIII and Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay are examples of games that use a cash-in advancement system.
Hybrid systems
Some games use advancement systems which combine elements from two or more of the above types. For example, in the third edition of
Video games
Since many early role-playing video games are derived from Dungeons & Dragons,[7] most use a level-based experience system.
In many games, characters must obtain a minimum level to perform certain actions, such as wielding a particular weapon, entering a restricted area, or earning the respect of a non-player character. Some games use a system of "character levels", where higher-level characters hold an absolute advantage over those of lower level. In these games, statistical character management is usually kept to a minimum. Other games use a system of "skill levels" to measure advantages in terms of specific aptitudes, such as weapon handling, spell-casting proficiency, and stealthiness. These games allow the players to customize their characters to a greater extent.
Some games, particularly among
Perks
This section needs additional citations for verification. (November 2019) |
"Perks" are special bonuses that video game players can add to their characters to give special abilities. The term refers to the general usage of "perk" as an abbreviation of "perquisite". Perks are permanent rather than temporary and are progressively unlocked through experience points. The first video game to use the term "perks" to refer to such a mechanic was the 1997 role-playing video game Fallout.
Besides RPGs, perks have been used in various other video games in recent times, including
Remorting
"Remorting" (also known as "rebirth", "ascending/ascension", "reincarnating", or "
The term "remort" comes from
Grinding
Grinding refers to the process of repeating one specific activity over and over. This is done, for example, by repeatedly participating in challenges, quests, tasks and events which reward experience points for performing repetitive, often menial challenges. This definition can also be used in
Power-leveling
Power-leveling is using the help of another, stronger player to level a character more quickly than is possible alone.
Sharing
Games, that allow several characters participating in a single event (such as battle or quest completion), implement various methods of determining how and when experience gets shared between participants. These methods include: only
Botting
Some players of online games use automated programs known as
See also
- Grinding (gaming)
- Virtual economy
- Virtual world
References
- )
- ^ "Dungeon Master". GameTripper. 2018-01-08. Archived from the original on 2020-08-12. Retrieved 2019-11-18.
- ^ Dunham, Jeremy (2007-07-26). "Final Fantasy II Review". IGN. Archived from the original on 2011-07-13. Retrieved 2016-05-24.
- ^ Gann, Patrcik (2005-10-11). "RPGFan Reviews - Romancing SaGa". RPGFan. Archived from the original on 2012-01-10. Retrieved 2016-05-24.
- ^ Reyes, Francesca (1999-11-04). "Grandia". IGN. Archived from the original on 2011-07-13. Retrieved 2016-05-24.
- ^ Andy Corrigan (31 July 2016). "Final Fantasy II: A Retrospective". Ign.com. Archived from the original on 3 February 2018. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
- Gamasutra. Archivedfrom the original on 2012-04-18. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
- 1UP.com. Wayback Machine. Archived from the originalon 23 June 2016. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
- ^ Natalia (May 1999). "What is Remort?". Tharsis Gate. Imaginary Realities. Archived from the original on 2016-03-29. Retrieved 2016-05-24.
- ISBN 076457003X.
- ISBN 0131018167.
- ^ Fahey, Mike (24 February 2017). "The Elder Scrolls Online Has A Botting Problem". Kotaku.com. Archived from the original on 3 February 2018. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
External links
The dictionary definition of level up at Wiktionary