XP Unleashed: Navigating Remarkist's New Levels & Tiers

John takes you on a journey through our new Discord leveling system and explains the hows and whys of this new mechanic.

This month, we rolled out an exciting new feature in our ecosystem, inspired by our trusty Discord leveling bot, which has kept many of our Discord members entertained from day one. However, that previous leveling system was basically just a fancy leaderboard for engagement. The new one, on the other hand, is tailor-made to evolve with us and serve some nifty platform-specific functions.

Let's dive into the details of this new system!

Your XP Adventure Begins

First up, we have XP, which stands for experience points. It's funny, a colleague recently mentioned that she had to Google what XP meant. I guess I've always taken it for granted. As a child of the 80s and 90s, I grew up playing RPGs. Whether it was on a computer or huddled around a fold-up table in the local comic book store where I worked during high school, XP was a big part of my gaming youth. And I might have just prompted another Google search for my colleague with that trip down memory lane!

XP (or EXP, if you prefer) are the points that our members earn for various types of engagement within our ecosystem. The most straightforward way to earn XP is through conversation. As our Discord members chat away, the leveling system rewards them with XP points that pile up over time. Unlike our game tokens (KRNL/DKRN) and game items (Mementos), you can't trade or transfer XP. As the name suggests, it's all about gaining experience on our platform. So, at its core, the system acts as a sort of recognition, highlighting those community members who really get the hang of our platform. They're the ones who can mentor others on their journey or effectively use special tools that enhance our ecosystem. Well, in theory, that's how it should work.

However, XP alone can't do all of that. You can't spend XP like you would KRNL, and you definitely can't buy it. To make XP useful in any game, it needs a well-structured system with milestones that mean something…

A Two-Part Mechanic

The official name of our Experience System is called "Levels & Tiers." It's not rocket science; there are two components here – Levels and Tiers, and they work together but serve slightly different purposes.

Levels signify your personal engagement growth and determine your individual progression within our ecosystem. Since this XP system is exclusive to our Discord community, having a high level means you probably have the inside scoop on how our Discord operates. You've invested a good chunk of time chatting your way to accumulate XP over countless hours of conversation. That kind of interaction has naturally helped you grasp the inner workings of Remarkist–not just our Discord Server but also the broader aspects of our ecosystem—our official app, our magazine network, etc.

We've got a total of 50 Levels, and it should be no surprise that they get harder to reach as you progress up the ladder. We've spiced things up with graphical announcements that pop up in your private messages when you level up. Each one comes with a unique Remarkist character, like a virtual high-five from fellow Remarkists who've been there or are there now.

Now, Levels don't shower you with any grand rewards. There are no flashy badges to flaunt your level, and we don't hand out medals for reaching the pinnacle. You're the boss of your own notifications – so you can decide if you want to be alerted whenever you notch up a level, and these announcements are always sent privately from the system. This new system allows you to stay in control of who gets to peek at your progress or whether you even care about the leveling aspect of our system at all.

To check your current Remarkist Level, just type /level in most of our Discord Server channels. Two exceptions are #general-chat and #memento-chat. I would avoid typing the command there unless you want the rest of the community to know you were checking. When typed into any of our other channels, the command will appear in a dropdown list of other server commands. Using it will not send a message to that channel. Instead, it’ll just alert our bot to whisper back all the deets about your current standing—an ephemeral message only you will see. 

You can toggle your notifications on or off, and, just for fun, you can send a "humble brag" per level to our #bot-commands channel to give others a friendly nudge about where you're at.

Oh, the Places You’ll Go

Now, let's talk about the exciting places you'll venture to within this Remarkist Experience universe. While Levels give you a sense of personal growth, we recognized the need for a practical way to put all that experience to good use. Enter the Tiers – the other half of our system. Think of them as destinations on your Remarkist journey, each offering unique benefits and access within our ecosystem.

The very XP that's pushing you up the leveling ladder is also nudging you closer to these big milestones. Reaching each Tier is like unlocking a new part of the sandbox and signaling to the community that you're ready to wield some of the cool new tools that the new area provides.

We've got 11 Tiers, and here are their names:

• Level 0 - The Town Square

• Level 1 - The Playground

• Level 2 - The Coffee Shop

• Level 3 - The Library

• Level 4 - The Diner

• Level 5 - The Cinema

• Level 6 - The Circus

• Level 7 - The Saloon

• Level 8 - The Laboratory

• Level 9 - The Cosmos

• Level 10 - The Fairytale

You'll step into a new Tier every 5 Levels, and you can easily check your current Tier by typing /tier in most of our channels. Just like the /level command, it'll show you a private message with the lowdown on where you stand and how much more you need to reach the next Tier. Each Tier also unveils a short narrative chapter that mirrors the privileges and perks that come with it.

And let's talk about those perks! As you progress through the Tiers, you'll unlock lots of creative tools to craft interactive experiences:

• Choose-your-own-adventure novelettes

• Fandom Polls

• Forums for all those fandom discussions.

• AI content creation aids

• Fandom Zines to curate

• Writers rooms

• And more

Unlike Levels, Tiers come with progress badges that members can proudly display if they want the world to know how far they've come. 

Tiers also come with rewards, including DKRN grants (our exclusive Discord token and close cousin to our in-app KRNL) and upcoming cosmetic upgrades for your Discord profile—hats, pets, etc. And stay tuned because we'll be tossing in loads more fun stuff as we fine-tune the system in the months ahead.

Ready to Dive In? 

Getting started is a piece of cake! It’s as simple as diving into discussions about your favorite stories, films, books, TV shows, and music. Connect with fellow enthusiasts on our Discord who share your passions and help us build a vibrant community there. Our system is still in its infancy, so it is also learning the ropes of what makes a meaningful fandom discussion tick.

Currently, we reward messages sent in most of our text and forum channels. However, the system does keep an eye out for spammy behavior and will deduct XP for a rapid-fire barrage of noisy messages within 60 seconds. So, keep a natural conversational pace, and you'll see substantial gains over time.

Here's a little bonus: the system also gives you XP for your first 5 emoji reactions daily that are custom Remarkist emojis. Sometimes, we even designate specific emojis from our collection to dish out extra XP for a limited time. For example, starting tomorrow and going throughout the entire month of October, our pink ribbon emoji will provide double the XP as any others—one of the ways we’ll be supporting Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

And there's more in the pipeline, I promise! While the system can't yet recognize text chats in our voice channels, it's a technical hurdle we’re trying to jump. We also plan to introduce XP into our interactive toys and fandom toolset. You’ll soon get XP for dropping polls or writing choose-your-own-adventures; for opening forums and moderating them well—experience points that reflect your growing experience here.

And down the line, we will find a way to bridge this system to our Official App and make engagement there count too.

The big picture here is to turn XP into more than just bragging rights. It's about signaling to others that you know various areas of our platform well—that you're willing to lend a helping hand and share that experience with others. So, let's get started on this remarkable journey together!

Here’s How…

Come join us on our Discord where you can find fans just like you chatting and sharing their experiences around the story franchises they love! Schedule chat sessions and watch parties around your favorite TV shows & movies in our app, and follow us on Instagram and Tumblr for more fannish content!