Levels

Levels give members a visible sense of status and long-term progression. As members accumulate points, they advance through a sequence of levels — each with a name, a threshold, and an optional icon.

Default Levels

Five levels are created automatically on activation:

Level	Minimum Points
Newcomer	0
Member	100
Contributor	500
Regular	1,500
Champion	5,000

Every member starts as a Newcomer. As they earn points, they advance through the ladder automatically.

How Progression Works

A level is set by the points a member has earned: their balance plus anything they spent on rewards, currency exchanges or a membership paid in points. Spending points never costs a member their level. Points that are taken away (an admin deduction, points decay, a reversed award such as withdrawn kudos) do lower it, and resetting a member’s points starts them at the first level again.

After every award or removal, the plugin compares the member’s earned points against the level thresholds and updates the level straight away. Members are congratulated only when they move up (toast, the optional email, and community notifications); a move down is applied quietly.

Level is never stored independently — it is always derived from the points ledger. This means if you change a level threshold, member levels update automatically on their next point award.

Level-Up Notifications

When a member advances to a new level, they receive:

• A toast notification in the bottom-right corner of the page with the new level name and icon
• A BuddyPress notification (if BuddyPress is active)
• An activity feed post announcing the level-up to the community (if BuddyPress is active)

Progress Bar

The Level Progress block and the Member Points block both display a visual progress bar showing how far the member is toward the next level. The bar updates in real time after each page load.

Members can also see their current level name and the points needed for the next level.

Adding Custom Levels

1. Go to Gamification > Levels.
2. Click Add New Level.
3. Enter a level name (for example, “Expert” or “Ambassador”).
4. Enter the minimum points required to reach this level.
5. Optionally upload a level icon image.
6. Click Save.

Levels are always sorted by their minimum points threshold. You can add as many levels as your community needs.

Tips for setting thresholds:

• Think about how many points a typical active member earns per week
• Space levels so members advance roughly every 2–4 weeks of active participation
• Reserve your highest level for genuinely long-term members — it loses meaning if everyone reaches it quickly

Editing and Removing Levels

You can rename any level or change its point threshold at any time. Changes take effect immediately. Members who have already passed the new threshold stay at that level; members who are below it will drop to the appropriate lower level on their next page load.

You can remove custom levels, but you cannot remove the five default levels. To effectively disable a default level, raise its threshold very high so it is unreachable.

Displaying Levels

Level information appears in:

• The Level Progress block — shows current level name, icon, progress bar, and points needed for next level ([wb_gam_level_progress])
• The Member Points block — shows total points, current level name, and progress bar ([wb_gam_member_points])
• BuddyPress profiles — the Gamification tab shows current level (if BuddyPress is active)
• Top Members block — optionally shows each member’s level label beneath their name ([wb_gam_top_members show_level="1"])