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[[Image:pattern_namedlevels.png]]

===Problem===
Participants in a community need some way to gauge their own personal development within that community: how far they've progressed; how deeply they've interacted with the community or its offerings. Additionally, these same measures can be used to compare members, to understand who has more or less experience in the community (as long as a high degree of comparability is not desired).


===Use When===
* You want to enable consumers to discover and identify high-quality contributors.
* The community is competitive, but not <em>highly</em> competitive. While Named Levels can have a competitive edge to them (my Wookie beats your Jawa!) they are perceived as less competitive than some other patterns (e.g., [[Ranking]], [[Points]], [[Numbered Levels]]) perhaps because they are less-empirical in nature. 
* You want to enable your users to track their <em>individual growth</em> in the community, and suggest ways that they may attain the next level in the hierarchy.


===Solution===
Define a family of reputations on a progressive continuum. Each level that is achieved is higher than the one before it. Levels are given unique <em>names</em>, which can give them a fun and approachable quality. Quick comparisons <em>between</em> levels, however, become slightly more difficult.

====Recommendations====
* Consider a generic, but universally-understandable, set of <strong>names</strong> for your property.
** For example, Gold-Silver-and-Bronze levels are generally well understood. These might be appropriate in Sports contexts, or - generally - any context where clarity and understanding of the level hierarchy are more important than fun, context-specific names.
* Or consider <strong>thematically named levels</strong>, using a fun and 'natural' set of names that enhance the experience. (For example, a Star Wars community might leverage the names of creatures or concepts from that universe.
* You may consider <strong>adding levels</strong> at the upper end of the scale, in cases where a significant number of users have already achieved the highest-possible level.
** It is <em>not</em> recommended, however, that you add 'interstitial' levels or levels <em>between</em> already existing ones.
** In general, add levels sparingly, if at all: You risk losing the trust of the community with too many, or arbitrary-seeming changes to your reputation system.

====Cautions====
* Selecting a good set of thematically-appropriate names may be more <strong>difficult</strong> than it seems.
** Don't expect your users to intuitively <em>know</em> that one name indicates a more-senior level than any other. In our Star Wars example, 'Jedi' trumps 'Padawan', but does 'Bounty Hunter' win over 'Podracer?'
** Also, the more specific to a context the names you choose are, the greater the risk that you'll alienate or confuse a visitor who's not yet attuned to that community.
* Avoid even slightly <strong>offensive</strong> names for levels (e.g., Music Hotshot! or Photo Flyguy!)
** These may be <em>learnable</em> with appropriate supporting material, but remember that reputations are also a form of self-expression and odds are good that a sizable portion of your community <strong>won't want to be identified</strong> with frivolous, insulting or just goofy-sounding labels.
** Ambiguous level names like these tested <strong>very</strong> poorly with some of our users.


===Examples===
<table border="0" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" width="80%">
<tr><td width="33%"> [[Image:NamedLevelsYMusic.png]] </td>
<td width="33%"> [[Image:NamedLevelsUKSportsMB.png]]</td>
<td width="33%"> [[Image:NamedLevelsWoW.png]] </td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td valign="top" width="33%"> Yahoo! Music's [http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/music/launchcast/rating/rating-levels.html Ratings Level] reputation uses a simple Named Levels system (supported by a type of [[Points]] system, wherein the act of rating a track earns you one point.) </td>
<td valign="top" width="33%"> Yahoo! EU Sports Message Boards employ a simple [http://uk.blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-q1VslGooRKMjCPFnHoG48WK0yDC2QzbrVw6t Gold/Silver/Bronze naming system] to reward quality contributors on a particular message board. </td>
<td valign="top" width="33%"> Blizzard's [http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/basics/reputation.html World of Warcraft uses Named Levels] to communicate reputation between clans. This naming system effectively communicates the hierarchy of levels ('Honored' is obviously better than 'Hated.') </td>
</tr>
</table>


===Related Patterns===
* [[Collectible Achievements]]
* [[Competitive Spectrum]]
* [[Labels]]
* [[Leaderboard]]
* [[Numbered Levels]]
* [[Points]]
* [[Top X]]


===As Seen On===
* [http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/music/launchcast/rating/rating-levels.html Yahoo! Music]
* [http://uk.blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-q1VslGooRKMjCPFnHoG48WK0yDC2QzbrVw6t Yahoo! EuroSport]
* [http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/basics/reputation.html World of Warcraft]


===Original Source===
Bryce Glass and Yahoo!s Platform design team, The Yahoo! Pattern Library