What is the Leaderboard on Candy Crush?
The leaderboard is a scoring feature in Candy Crush Saga and other Candy Crush games that displays players‘ high scores and progression levels ranked against other players. It allows you to compete with friends and the Candy Crush community.
A Closer Look at the Candy Crush Leaderboard
The leaderboard first appears when you reach level 11 and have friends playing Candy Crush linked to your account. You can access it by tapping the trophy icon on the main game screen.
It will then show a ranked list of high scores and levels achieved by your friends. You can also expand it to view top scores globally per level or segment leaderboards by geographic region.
How Scores and Progression Are Tracked
Behind the scenes, Candy Crush records every score achieved and all progression for each player ID. When you finish a level, it uploads your latest data to Candy Crush servers. Your stats are then pulled in real-time to populate your leaderboard ranking.
Scores are based on points earned in a level before collecting all objectives. Your progression is simply the highest level reached and completed.
Leaderboard Use and Popularity Statistics
Over 70% of Candy Crush players interact with the leaderboard feature, according to data from Candy Crush developer King. Of those, more than 80% access the leaderboard at least once a week.
This makes it one of the most popular social features alongside sending/receiving lives. For context, less than 50% of players use chat features to connect with friends in-game.
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The leaderboard clearly hits the mark for driving competition and motivation to play more.
Let‘s analyze why it‘s so effective.
The Psychology Behind the Leaderboard
The Candy Crush leaderboard leverages core concepts in motivation theory. According to researchers, ranking mechanisms tap into our need for status and achievement.
When we see we‘re ranked lower than friends or others, it threatens our status. To regain status, we feel motivated to mejor mejorar our performance – in this case, getting higher scores or levels.
Other Motivational Factors
Aside from status, leaderboards leverage other drivers:
- Social influence – Seeing friends‘ progress peer pressures us to keep pace
- Goal-setting – Leaderboards set clear targets to beat others
- Feedback loops – Checking rankings gives instant feedback on progress
Tapping all these motivators keeps players deeply engaged with the game. And for a free mobile game, engagement equals revenue. The more we play, the more likely we are to make in-app purchases.
Forecasting the Future of the Leaderboard Feature
The Candy Crush leaderboard remains as relevant as ever even a decade after launch. We can expect it to continue thriving for years to come.
However, there are opportunities to enhance it further:
- Better cheating detection – Leaderboard integrity declines as more players cheat. Advanced analytics could help identify and ban cheaters.
- Specialized segments – Let players filter to niche leaderboards for a specific level type or game mode.
- Platform wars – Cross-platform leaderboards fuel debate around best platforms.
- Prime integration – Integration with Amazon Prime would allow unlocking a special Prime-only leaderboard with premium rewards.
As a passionate gamer and creator, features like these would make the experience even more engaging!
Conclusion
The Candy Crush leaderboard stands out as an ingenious social comparison feature that taps deeply into human psychology. It will likely continue driving engagement for years as players compete for high score glory and bragging rights over friends and foes alike.
For gamers, we can look forward to the friendly competition as we clash our way up the leaderboards. May the best Crusher win!
