Experience point facts for kids

An experience point (often called XP) is like a score in many role-playing games (RPGs). It shows how much your character has learned and grown. You usually get XP for finishing quests, beating enemies, or making good choices in the game.

When your character gets enough XP, they often "level up." This means they become stronger and gain new skills. For example, their health might go up, or they might learn new magic spells. Levelling up can also let your character go to new areas or use better items.

Some games use XP to help your character reach new "levels." Other games let you spend your XP on specific skills or abilities you choose. As challenges get harder, you usually get more XP. But you also need more XP to level up as your character gets stronger. This encourages you to take on new, exciting challenges!

How XP Helps Your Character Grow

Levelling Up Your Character

In many games, especially those like Dungeons & Dragons, getting enough XP makes your character "level up." Your level shows how skilled and experienced your character is. When you level up, your character's abilities get better. They might become stronger, learn powerful spells, or get better at fixing things or solving social problems.

Often, levels are linked to your character's "class" (like a warrior or a wizard). Some games even let you mix classes to create a unique character.

Some games have a "level cap," which is the highest level you can reach. For example, in RuneScape, you can't go higher than level 120 in most skills.

Growing Skills by Using Them

Some games, like The Elder Scrolls or Final Fantasy II, don't use general XP points. Instead, your character's skills grow by actually using them. If you want to be a better sword fighter, you need to use your sword a lot! If you want to be better at magic, you cast more spells. This can sometimes mean doing the same actions many times to improve.

Choosing How to Grow Your Character

Games like GURPS let you choose exactly how your character grows. You get "points" (like XP) that you can spend on specific skills. For example, it might cost a few points to get better at archery, or more points to learn a new magic spell.

You get to decide what your character learns, which gives you a lot of control. Sometimes, games offer "packages" of skills. This makes it easier to quickly make your character an "investigator" or a "fighter" without picking every single skill.

Spending XP for Upgrades

In some games, like Final Fantasy XIII, you use your XP to "buy" upgrades for your character. Once you spend the XP, it's gone. These upgrades could be new levels, skill points, or special abilities. There are usually limits on how many upgrades you can buy at one time.

Mixing and Matching XP Systems

Many games use a mix of these systems. For instance, in Dungeons & Dragons, when you level up, you get skill points based on your class and intelligence. You can then spend these points to improve specific skills. Your overall character level also affects how high your skills can go and when you can gain new special abilities.

In Ragnarok Online, there are two types of XP: "base experience" and "job experience." Base experience helps your character's main level, which increases health and lets you boost stats like strength. Job experience helps your job level, which gives you points to learn new spells or special attacks for your character's job.

XP in Video Games

Since many early role-playing video games were inspired by Dungeons & Dragons, most of them use a level-based XP system.

In many games, your character needs a certain level to use a specific weapon, enter a special area, or even earn the respect of other characters in the game. Some games focus on "character levels," where higher-level characters are always stronger. Other games use "skill levels" for specific abilities, like how good you are with a sword or casting spells. This lets you customize your character more.

Some online games limit how much XP you can get from one fight or challenge. This helps prevent players from getting too powerful too quickly by just repeating easy tasks.

Perks: Special Abilities

"Perks" are special bonuses you can add to your character to give them unique abilities. These are permanent and you unlock them with XP. The game Fallout (from 1997) was one of the first to use the term "perks" this way.

Besides RPGs, perks are also found in other video games, like first-person shooters such as Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Killing Floor.

Remorting: Starting Over Stronger

"Remorting" (also called "rebirth" or "ascension") is a cool game feature where, after your character reaches a very high level, you can choose to start over with a new, stronger version of that character. You usually lose your levels, but you gain special advantages you couldn't get before. This might include access to new races, classes, skills, or secret areas in the game. A special symbol often shows that a character has "remorted."

This idea first came from older online games called MUDs.

Grinding: Repeating Actions for XP

"Grinding" means doing the same activity over and over again in a game. Players do this to earn XP, money, or items. For example, you might repeatedly fight the same monsters or complete simple quests. While it can be a bit repetitive, it's a way to make your character stronger. Sometimes, people call this "XP farming."

Power-Levelling: Getting Help to Level Up Fast

"Power-levelling" is when a stronger player helps a weaker player level up much faster than they could on their own. The stronger player might defeat tough enemies for the weaker player, allowing them to gain a lot of XP quickly.

Sharing XP in Groups

When several characters play together in a game, like in a battle or a quest, the game needs to decide how XP is shared. Some games give all the XP to the character who lands the final blow on an enemy. Others share the XP among everyone involved. And some games give XP based on what each character did during the event.

Sometimes, in online games, a player might join a group but not do much to help. They still get XP or rewards. This is sometimes called "leeching," especially if they do it without the group's permission.

Botting: Using Programs to Play for You

Some players in online games use special computer programs called "bots." These bots play the game for them, often to "grind" for XP or items without the player having to do anything. This usually goes against the game's rules and can get players in trouble. Bots are also sometimes used by people who want to sell game accounts or virtual money.

Images for kids

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  A character in the game Legend of Grimrock with lots of experience points. They need even more to reach the next level!

See also

• Grinding (gaming)
• Virtual economy
• Virtual world