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Habitica is largely based on gamification, or putting real-life tasks in the context of a game to make them more engaging, interesting, and rewarding. Naming your Habits, Dailies, and To Do's in a creative, gamified way is a great way to add flavor to your game.
While Habitica is generally geared towards a medieval theme, players can also adapt the game to other RPG styles. These may include themes such as zombies, cyberpunk, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, science fiction, and more.
Example Habits[]
These are some Habits that could be modified to be more game-like. They accurately describe what the player wants to complete or avoid, but in plain English.
Use the stairs / take the elevator
Eat junk food
Avoid coffee
Work on creative project
Re-writing these tasks in an RPG style can make your list more engaging and fun to check off. To avoid being confused later, you can describe the activity in the "Extra Notes" while editing the task.
Ascend the spire without magic
Partake of pinguid provende
One does not simply walk into Starbucks
Perfect your craft
Example Dailies[]
These are some examples of Dailies that can be gamified as well.
Daily planning
Forum moderation
Actualization statements
Emailing
The RPG versions can be written as follows:
Pore over the map
Swing the Ban-hammer
Victory chant
Plainsong
Pigeon post
Messenger bird
Adding Custom or In-Game Images to Tasks[]
Habitica supports emoji and markdown, which can be used to insert images in the title of any Habit, Daily, To Do, or Reward.
Adding an emoji to the task name or notes is as simple as using an emoji elsewhere in Habitica - Use the emoji nickname surrounded by a colon :
To insert an image, use the following Markdown code:
An example of a semi-gamified Daily using an image of an axe from Habitica
Enter the full URL of your image, which must be hosted somewhere on the web (note that the link must be to the actual image not the page it is hosted on and will end in .png or .jpg). The "optional mouseover title" will appear when you hover over the image. (The alt text doesn't display, but it must be present.) The image may be larger than a single line of text, which will increase the size of the task box. If this is undesirable, use a smaller image.
You can use your own custom images to give your tasks the flavor of a particular theme or fandom. A good way to find appropriate images is to search for "icons"; for example, a search for "Game of Thrones icons" or "space icons" will turn up many small images. If you want to use images from your own computer, an easy way to create a web link is to put the images on Dropbox.
You can also use the images of Habitica! An easy way to find in-game images for your tasks is to look on the wiki; for example, the equipment page has images of all the weapons and armor from Habitica, and the pets page has images of all the in-game pets. Right-click on an image and select "Copy image URL" to save the URL of the image to your clipboard. You can then paste it into the Markdown code given above.
Before using any images to gamify your list, it is best to ask the image creator for permission first, even if the images are from an open source project.
Legendary Quests[]
Are you writing your dissertation, or completing the Twelve Labors of Hercules? You decide. Use the "Add Checklist" option when editing your tasks.
Another way to gamify your lists is to reproduce a quest from a favorite piece of fiction. This approach especially will require notes to help you remember the actual tasks since there's little chance that the details will align well enough for the titles to help; however, if pretending you're hunting Horcruxes or bringing the One Ring to Mordor helps you finish a project, why not give yourself a fantasy edge?
Hybrid Video Game Tasks[]
You can take elements from your favorite video games to give your tasks more flavor. Do you have a favorite spell or ability from a video game? Or do certain game mechanics remind you of consequences in real life? For example, if you are prone to distraction, taking fall damage (a common game mechanic) may be an apt metaphor. Here are a few example Habits inspired by the Warcraft universe:
Power Word: Self-confidence
Cast Seal of Proactivity
Take Fall Damage
Gamified Place Names[]
Places where tasks occur can be gamified.
Medieval/Fantasy examples[]
- House
- Campsite, castle, kingdom, shelter, barracks, keep
- Bedroom
- Tent, bedchamber, living quarters, camp
- Bathroom
- Washroom, garderobe, chamber pot, privy, lavatory
- Kitchen/Dining Room
- Mess hall, great hall, fire pit
- Garage
- Workshop, smithy, forge
- Attic
- Ruins, archives, loft, watch tower
- Basement
- Dungeon, catacombs, cavern, caves, tomb
- Park
- Forest, meadow, moors
- Town/City
- Kingdom, village, hamlet, square
- Work
- Smithy, shop, tavern (depends on your type of work).
- Shops
- Apothecary (drug store), tailor/seamstress (clothing store), stables (car lot/mechanic), cobbler (shoe store), grocer (grocery store), tavern (eatery), inn (hotel), general store, chandler (Yankee Candles or such?)
- Miscellaneous
- Healer (doctor), Adventurer's Guild (support group), fortune teller (newsstand), portal (public transit), hire a carriage (cab or bus), court (Social gathering), sheriff/guardhouse
- Names that Stay the Same
- Library, museum, courthouse, jail
Sci-fi Examples[]
- House
- Starship/Ship, dwelling, barracks, biodome
- Bedroom
- Quarters, bunk
- Kitchen/Dining Room
- Mess hall, lounge, dining hall, cantina
- Garage
- Hangar, dry dock, cargo bay, shuttle bay
- Attic
- Upper Deck
- Basement
- Engineering, cargo hold, brig
- Park
- Garden World, holopark, hydroponics lab, aviary, atrium
- Town/City
- Planetside, world, station, base
- Work
- Bridge, command center, sickbay
- Shops
- Lounge, acquisitions, requisitions, quartermaster, uniform services, replicator, rations terminal
- Miscellaneous
- Sickbay, laboratory, engineering, records, archives, judiciary counsel, promenade
Tips[]
The guild (now moved to a Google Drive) 📜 Library of Tasks and Challenges also has some examples of gamified Habits, Dailies, To Do's, and Rewards.
The section on Habits about Directionless Habits offers suggestions on decorating your tasks that may assist on gamifying your lists.
See Sample Tags for ideas on how to manage your tasks with gamified tags.
More Examples[]
| Task | Gamified Name | Extra Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Brush your teeth | Polish those fangs | What better way to show the world who is the fiercest hunter in the universe than by displaying a pair of fine chompers that look simply amazing? (Also prevents bad breath.) |
| brush teeth / use mouthwash | banish bad breath | |
| Brush your teeth | clean your calcium | |
| Brush your teeth | maintain pearly whites & sunny smile | |
| grocery shopping | obtain future sustenance | |
| grocery shopping | hunting and gathering | |
| cooking | brew a potato potion | |
| cooking | alchemical transformation of ingredients | |
| eat or cook | slay the hungry beast | |
| eat vegetables | slay the vegetable vermin | |
| eat something healthy | Forage berries & nuts | |
| drink water | replenish molecular H2O | |
| drink water | Quaff a potion | could use this for medicine or water |
| order medications | stock up on healing elixirs | |
| take meds | imbibe essential potions | |
| take meds | take healing elixir | |
| apply ice to the affected area | Hug Olaf | |
| practice deep breathing | summon the air spirits within | |
| take a break, relax, breathe | bored out of your gourd | |
| rest | improve stamina | |
| go swimming | Visit the fishies | |
| exercise | Visit the practice yards | |
| exercise | maelstrom of movement | |
| light exercise | bolster HP | fit movement in your life (can be any type of movement, stretching, etc.) |
| exercise or go for a walk | tiptoe through the tulips | |
| go for a walk | prance the perilous path | alternately: "brave the perilous path" or "prance the petunia path" |
| go outside | brave the wilderness | |
| get some sunlight | get radioactive | or use a sunlamp |
| do push-ups | Push Back | |
| Wash the dishes | Slay the Sink Serpent | Every evening, a slithery Sink Serpent awakes to feed on the day's scraps. You must battle this monster for control of the kitchen! |
| Wash the dishes | Put down kitchen mutiny | |
| Wash the dishes | Defeat the dirty dishes | |
| Clean the kitchen | Scrub the scullery | |
| Clean the bathroom | Privy cleaning | or "Privy sweeping" for the floor in particular |
| Clean the porch | Clean the courtyard | |
| dust | exorcise the dirt demons | or vacuum or whatever sort of cleaning you'd like this to be |
| Cleaning | Defend against the vile Messies | whatever sort of cleaning you'd like this to be |
| Cleaning | Resist Entropy | Clean or straighten up one thing, large or small |
| Take out the trash | Dispose of that! | Scour your campsite and dispose of any garbage that may attract monsters -- and flies. No one likes flies. |
| Take out the trash | Take out the midden heap | |
| Take out the compost | Take out the goat food | |
| Do the laundry | Make offerings to Charybdis | Cast your dirty outerwear into the Whirlpool of Washing Tonnes, and get it back with the dirt and grease thoroughly thrashed out of it! |
| Do the laundry | Send clothing to Oz | A washing machine spins like a tornado. |
| Do the laundry | subject clothing to the elements |
- water (wash) - air & fire (dry) - earth (put away) |
| Start the laundry | Undead dirty laundry | (This task title was borrowed from the card game Munchkin.) |
| Unload the dryer | Rescue the laundry from hell | |
| Water the plants | baptize the plants | |
| Feed pet(s) | power up [pet's name] | |
| Feed pet(s) | Save self from being eaten alive by [pet's name] | |
| Feed cat(s) | Morning mousing | Or "Noon mousing" if you feed your cat in the middle of the day, or "Night mousing" if you feed your cat in the evening -- whatever sounds right |
| play with pet(s) | frolic with the wild ones | |
| clean the litterbox | Clean the stables (Or: Muck & scrub the stables) | empty, clean, & replace cat litter |
| Apply flea medicine & isolate pet while it dries | Throw [pets] in the dungeon | |
| Read | brain booster | |
| Read a book | Visit library | |
| Teach something | Page & squire training | |
| check email | enter the matrix | |
| Call parents | Call ancestors | |
| get out of bed | escape the nest | or "Escape the bed!" |
| get out of bed | daunt your horizontal demons | |
| make the bed | erase all evidence you were ever there | |
| shower / bathe | embrace the waterfall | |
| wash your hair | love your luscious locks | |
| comb your hair | tame your tendrils | |
| get dressed (or: get dressed up) | prepare sartorial defenses | |
| get dressed (or: get dressed up) | from rags to britches | |
| do something you don't want to do | surmount the mighty dohnwanna | |
| talk on the phone | slay the phone dragon | If you struggle with not wanting to talk on the phone when it might be to your advantage, "slay the phone dragon" can mean talking on the phone. On the other hand, if you need to get in the habit of getting away from your smartphone, you can use "slay the phone dragon" to mean getting off your phone. |
| say something positive about yourself, to yourself | mirror, mirror, on the wall | |
| reframe thoughts | engage mind weapon of logic | stop and analyze negative thoughts to see if they are rational, and reframe them if they are not |
| work on a creative activity, meditate, or pray | replenish mana | |
| be me | work on getting my spark back | |
| Mentally wish positive things for others | exercise telepathic powers | |
| Practice resilience | Don the cape of resilience | resilience + defense = toughness (capacity to recover from difficulties) |
| Ministry | a healing wish ascended to heaven | ministry means any act of love towards others |
| Pray | Let THE SON shine on my face | |
| Pray the rosary | Protect against negative status effects | The rosary is a special form of prayer and meditation. |
| Spiritual reading | Summon courage with sacred words | Longer version: sacred arcane words that, brought to light, summon a lost courage |
| Read the Bible | Harness the power of the light of Jesus | |
| Go to church | Visit eternal castle | |
| Watch religious program or sermon | Build eternal strength | |
| Lauds | Start your day with a blessing | Practice being thankful for the gift of having another day to live. |
| Lauds | Load your previous saved file | Practice being thankful for the gift of having another day to live. |
| Compline | Save your progress | Practice seeing what we did right and keep going, or examine what we did wrong, ask for forgiveness, and try to change it for better. |
| Compline | Let's review what we did today | Practice seeing what we did right and keep going, or examine what we did wrong, ask for forgiveness, and try to change it for better. |
(Examples that were added by Bluehawkling are from @lynxicon and the Mental Health Warriors Unite party and @therussellhome_chris)