# Gamification & Challenges

> Motivate affiliates with goal-based challenges, 5 reward types (commissions, bonuses, payouts, tier upgrades, prizes), and a public leaderboard.

- Canonical: <https://royalplugins.com/support/royal-affiliate/gamification/>
- Last updated: 2026-09-04
- HTML version: <https://royalplugins.com/support/royal-affiliate/gamification/>

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Motivate affiliates with goal-based challenges, 5 reward types (commissions, bonuses, payouts, tier upgrades, prizes), and a public leaderboard.

## Challenges & Gamification

Create goal-based challenges to motivate affiliates with real rewards. Challenges track progress automatically and apply rewards when goals are met.

### Creating a Challenge

Navigate to **Royal Affiliate Pro → Challenges** to create and manage challenges. Each challenge requires:

- **Name & description** — What the challenge is about
- **Metric** — What to track: referral count, earnings, or revenue generated
- **Goal** — The target value (e.g., 20 sales, $10,000 revenue)
- **Reward** — What the affiliate earns upon completion
- **Date range** — Optional start and end dates
- **Scope** — All affiliates, or only those with a specific tag

### 5 Reward Types

| Reward Type | Effect |
| --- | --- |
| **Commission Rate** | Permanent commission rate override (e.g., “earn 5% on all future sales”) |
| **Commission Bonus** | Added on top of normal commission (e.g., “+2% bonus on all sales”) |
| **Flat Bonus** | One-time payout credited to affiliate earnings (e.g., “$500 bonus”) |
| **Tier Upgrade** | Automatically upgrade affiliate to a specified commission tier |
| **Custom Prize** | Display-only prize description — admin fulfills manually (e.g., “iPod Prize”) |

### Progress Tracking

Progress is tracked automatically via hooks when referrals are created or approved. Affiliates see their progress in the **Challenges** tab of their dashboard with visual progress bars, time remaining, and reward descriptions.

### Tag-Scoped Challenges

Set a challenge scope to a specific tag to create VIP-only or tier-specific competitions. Only affiliates with the matching tag will see and participate in the challenge.

### Leaderboard

Use the `[rafp_leaderboard]` shortcode to display a public leaderboard for any active challenge. Shows top performers by progress.

**Tier:** Challenges & gamification require **Business** or higher.

## Leaderboard

Display a public leaderboard showing your top-performing affiliates to motivate competition and engagement.

Business+ Feature

This feature requires a Business or Agency license.

### Configuration

- **Metrics** - Rank by earnings, referral count, or conversion rate
- **Time periods** - All-time, monthly, or weekly rankings
- **Display count** - Customizable number of affiliates shown
- **Privacy controls** - Uses display names only; affiliates cannot see each other's detailed data

![Leaderboard Settings](https://royalplugins.com/support/royal-affiliate/images/leaderboard-settings.webp)

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