{"schemaVersion":1,"record":{"key":"mechanic/online-participation--t325","type":"mechanic","id":"online-participation--t325","lang":"en","title":"Asynchronous competition, ghosts and messages","summary":"Results persist without simultaneous play. Duolingo participants earn XP at different times, and a weekly leaderboard compares their contributions.","updatedAt":"2026-10-22","status":"active","url":"https://gamemechanics.pro/en/knowledge/mechanic/online-participation--t325/","jsonUrl":"https://gamemechanics.pro/api/v1/knowledge/en/mechanic/online-participation--t325.json","markdownUrl":"https://gamemechanics.pro/content/knowledge/en/mechanic/online-participation--t325.md","aliases":["Asynchronous competition and messages"],"tags":["Online worlds and participation","Mechanics and variants"],"sourceIds":["source-d6403e86b24cf114","source-a2b24d50bbf6f14c"],"sources":[{"id":"source-d6403e86b24cf114","title":"Steamworks: Multiplayer","url":"https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/multiplayer","verifiedAt":null},{"id":"source-a2b24d50bbf6f14c","title":"Duolingo","url":"https://blog.duolingo.com/duolingo-leagues-leaderboards/","verifiedAt":null}],"sections":[{"id":"principle","title":"How it works","body":"Asynchronous participation preserves one player's result or message for another to encounter at a different time."},{"id":"variants","title":"Variants","body":"### Mechanic variants\n\n<a id=\"t325-variants\"></a>\n\n- Ghosts replay a completed attempt's route. <a id=\"t325-v1\"></a>\n- Messages provide limited location clues. <a id=\"t325-v2\"></a>\n- Challenges publish reproducible conditions. <a id=\"t325-v3\"></a>\n- Deferred turns support responses across sessions. <a id=\"t325-v4\"></a>"},{"id":"example","title":"Design example","body":"A player leaves a jump ghost so another can compare takeoff timing in a later session.\n\nPrototype check: Test rule-version compatibility and message constraints, including deleted or unavailable replays."},{"id":"context","title":"Context and limits","body":"Online mechanics connect individual contributions to shared state, participation timing and explicit commitments between players. Each overview separates player actions, state changes and alternative rules. Examples are hypothetical design scenarios, not claims about a named game. A prototype check states an observable question for the next iteration. Existing detailed references remain separately linked from the direction map."}],"relations":[],"placements":[{"catalogId":"online-participation","id":"t325","title":"Online worlds and participation","url":"https://gamemechanics.pro/en/mechanics/online-participation/#t325","categoryIds":["mechanics"]}],"supersededBy":[],"attributes":{"preview":{"updatedAt":"2026-10-22","title":"Asynchronous competition and messages","description":"Results persist without simultaneous play. Duolingo participants earn XP at different times, and a weekly leaderboard compares their contributions.","image":{"src":"images/mechanics/online-duolingo-leagues.webp","width":702,"height":615,"crop":{"x":24,"y":28,"width":315,"height":560},"game":"Duolingo","sourceUrl":"https://blog.duolingo.com/duolingo-leagues-leaderboards/","originalUrl":"https://storage.ghost.io/c/7a/33/7a33d0f4-927d-4fe8-a6bf-96131b5e76d4/content/images/2023/04/tournament-soon--1-.png","credit":"Duolingo","rights":"© Duolingo. Official image or public interface capture; all rights reserved. Excluded from portal MIT and CC BY 4.0.","caption":"Duolingo: a weekly leaderboard with accumulated participant XP","alt":"Duolingo: a weekly leaderboard with accumulated participant XP","markers":[{"x":42,"y":40,"label":"The table stores scores independently of when participants practice"}]},"tips":["Compare equivalent conditions and clearly state the result’s time window."],"examples":[{"title":"Duolingo","url":"https://blog.duolingo.com/duolingo-leagues-leaderboards/"}]}},"endsAt":null,"provenance":"Original bilingual editorial overviews authored for gamemechanics.pro on 2026-10-20 and reviewed on 2026-10-21. Scenarios are hypothetical design examples; prototype checks describe work to perform, not completed playtests. Primary sources support the stated techniques and implementation context, not every proposed variant.","license":"CC-BY-4.0","codeLicense":"MIT","attribution":"gamemechanics.pro contributors","catalogKey":"catalog/online-participation"}}