A mechanism, task or object used to separate people that are of high quality or ability from those that are not - to proverbially "separate the wheat from the chaff". Most commonly used to describe bosses/levels in singleplayer/co-op games, but can be used in real life too.
playing a co-op computer game
"This wave (6/10) is way too hard. Only teams with real good teamwork and communication can seem to pass it."
"Yup, it's a real noob filter."

after an exam
"How was the paper?"
"I think it was alright, I just couldn't do questions 3, 6 and 8."
"Same, I guess those are the noob filter questions."
by Randomystick November 18, 2020
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