Circles are a new feature of Signature Gags v.3 above.

Admission to each Circle will allow new features to be unlocked. A sub or slave progresses through the Circles by successfully completing Trials of Silence.

There are currently five Gag Circles:

Gag Circle	Feature Unlocked
Initiate	Out of the box.
Novice	option to garble in lower case and "garble loose".
Adept	option for sub's owner to turn "zap on" (immediate punishment) whenever "ban talk" is turned on.
Slave	option for sub's owner to "lock down" the sub. Lock down is serious (see FAQ on lock down).
First Slave	option for sub's owner to view lock history with the key. eligible to join the LULU First Slave Circle group

    Think Everquest or World of Warcraft. When you buy the game, they could've made you a level 70 Monk (or Paladin or whatever), but they didn't.
    Why? It's all in the journey ;-)   
    It's not easy, but it isn't unattainable. And you'll be rewarded for it.
   
    And you don't really have to progress up the Circles if you don't want to. But if you want to, it's there.