# Tiering **Domain:** Game architecture **Doc Type:** Canonical Concept **Maturity:** Developed **Collection:** [[collections/Gamification|Gamification Collection]] ## Definition **Tiering** is the division of participants into levels with different information, permissions, tasks, risks, or rewards. A visible public tier may consume clues while an operator tier receives private channels; a spectator tier may generate attention while a planner tier changes the state of the system. ## Why it matters Tiering prevents “the player” from being treated as one homogeneous role. In [[wiki/Alternate Reality Game|ARGs]], security competitions, platforms, and political campaigns, the same prompt can recruit, test, entertain, or classify different people. Access thresholds and promotion rules can turn play into a funnel for [[wiki/Gamified Elicitation and Selection|elicitation and selection]]. ## Boundary Unequal knowledge does not by itself prove conspiracy. Tiering may be designed, emergent, administrative, or simply the product of expertise and timing. ## Sources - [[articles/gamification/The Governing Principles of Gamification|The Governing Principles of Gamification]] ## Routes [[wiki/Playable Systems Literacy|Playable Systems Literacy]] · [[wiki/Costly Signaling|Costly Signaling]] · [[wiki/Partially Observable Stochastic Game|Partially Observable Stochastic Game]]