Challenges
Challenges give members a specific goal to work toward, with a bonus point reward for completing it. They are time-bound, trackable, and displayed with a live progress bar.
What a Challenge Is
Section titled “What a Challenge Is”A challenge asks a member to perform a specific action a set number of times within a defined period. When they hit the target, the challenge completes automatically and bonus points are awarded immediately.
Example challenges:
- “Post 5 activity updates this week” — 50 bonus points
- “Leave 10 comments this month” — 75 bonus points
- “Complete 3 LearnDash lessons” — 100 bonus points
Creating a Challenge
Section titled “Creating a Challenge”- Go to Gamification > Challenges.
- Click Add New Challenge.
- Fill in the following fields:
Title — The name members see. Make it action-oriented and specific (for example, “Weekend Writer” or “Community Builder”).
Action — Choose the action members must perform. The list shows every active gamification trigger on your site.
Target — The number of times the action must be completed.
Bonus Points — Points awarded when the challenge is completed. This is on top of the regular points members earn for each action.
Start Date / End Date — Optional. Leave blank for an always-on challenge. Set dates for seasonal or event-based challenges. Members cannot start a dated challenge before its start date, and it closes automatically after the end date.
Status — Set to Active to make it visible to members. Draft challenges are not shown.
- Click Save Challenge.
How Members Track Progress
Section titled “How Members Track Progress”Members see their challenge progress in the Challenges block or via the shortcode. For each active challenge, they see:
- The challenge title
- A progress bar showing completions versus target
- How many days remain (if the challenge has an end date)
- A “Completed” badge once they finish
When a challenge completes, the member receives a toast notification and, if BuddyPress is active, a BuddyPress notification.
Completion and Bonus Points
Section titled “Completion and Bonus Points”When a member reaches the target count for a challenge, the system:
- Marks the challenge as completed for that member
- Awards the bonus points immediately
- Sends a completion notification
- Posts a completion event to the BuddyPress activity stream (if active)
A member who has completed a challenge will not earn the bonus points again for the same challenge, even if they continue performing the action.
Challenge Display
Section titled “Challenge Display”Gutenberg block: Add the WB Gamification Challenges block to any page. The sidebar lets you set how many challenges to show and whether to include completed ones.
Shortcode:
[wb_gam_challenges limit="3"][wb_gam_challenges show_completed="0" limit="5"]| Attribute | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
limit |
0 (all) | Maximum number of challenges to show |
show_completed |
1 | Whether to include completed challenges |
show_progress_bar |
1 | Whether to show the progress bar |
user_id |
0 (current user) | Show challenges for a specific user ID |
- Short-duration challenges (1 week) maintain more urgency than open-ended ones.
- Set bonus points higher than what a member would earn just from the regular action points — the challenge should feel worth it.
- Run a new challenge each week or month to give returning members a reason to engage.
- Use challenges to highlight specific areas: if forum activity is low, create a “bbPress Reply” challenge.