Level up
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In role-playing games, a level up is an increase of one or many player attributes.
Origin
Some claim that the term originates from Super Mario Bros., the famous video game of the early 1980s, as sections of the games are called levels. John Sanders, the famous video game champion of the early eighties and nineties, was seen playing the game at an arcade in downtown Brooklyn. Upon winning a green 1-up mushroom, he is reported to have exclaimed: "I've just levelled up." The phrase was, however, popularized by Dungeons & Dragons players.
For another possible explanation of the origin of "level up," see 1-up.
Use
"Leveling up" is used today in almost all RPG games to allow the playing character to increase in prowess, sometimes to god-like levels, in order to go on more difficult quests and face off more powerful monsters. Sometimes a level check is made before a character is allowed entry into an area or given a quest, in order to prevent a premature death of the said character at the hands (or claws) of superior enemies. Sometimes specialized levels in a wide array of skills are used to determine the character's proficiency with different kinds of weapons, sorcery and larceny.