I'm developing a social game where the user advances in levels according to their points number.

I want to create an efficient query that changes the user points and then change their level if needed.
The initial query is this:
There is a 'levels' table that includes the points needed per level. My questions are:
1. Maybe storing the points per level data in a config file would be better, since there are only 10 levels and the required points will probably not change much during the lifetime of the game?
2. How should I approach the level update situation? should I add it to the existing query or create a separate one?
3. Since there are 10 levels, I will need 10 "BETWEEN"s in the query, to check the current points number vs each points range. Maybe there is a prettier way to do this?

Any help would be appreciated.

define your levels in a table using say
Table: Levels
ID
Upperlimit integer // defiens the upper limit which this level applies
declare your user levels
then when you need to find the level

SELECT Levels.ID FROM Levels
WHERE mypoints >= upper limit
ORDER BY Levels.UpperLimit
LIMIT 1
MySQL :: Re: select top 1 ...

Thanks, it makes sense. but how do I combine this query with the previous one? or should I leave it as a separate query?

why do you need to combine this with an update query?

you can retrieve the level at the same time as the userdetails by doing a join where the users points are less than or equal to the upperlimit and use the TOP 1 predicate