Game Level

Early action games often featured a 'level system' of ascending difficulty as opposed to progression of story-line. You had to complete one level to get onto the next - which was often a completely different environment, only loadable after completion of the previous one had triggered a response from the program..

Adventure games took a different approach to 'level', The environment often stayed the same, but completion of certain tasks increased the status of the player. In games such as Zork the protagonist attains ascending alchemist titles as s/he progresses through the gameplay.