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Habits, Dailies, & To-Dos

 * What is habit tracking?
 * Should this task be a habit, daily, or to-do?
 * What do the task colors represent?
 * How do I customize a task's value?
 * I'm going on vacation; how can I disable my dailies?
 * I'm missing some, or all, of my tasks! Where did they go?
 * My dailies didn't reset.
 * How does HabitRPG know that I really did my tasks?

My Avatar and Settings

 * What happens when my character dies?
 * I have not completed any tasks, why have my stats changed?
 * When do I unlock features?
 * How do I restart my character?
 * What's the difference between a fortify potion, the orb of rebirth, and a reset?
 * How do I make my avatar female or male?
 * How do I customize my character's appearance?
 * I saw something called User ID under Settings. What is it?
 * How do I switch from Facebook authentication to using my own username/password?
 * What timezone do my dailies use?

Pets and Rewards

 * What do gold and silver stand for?
 * What are gems?
 * What are the benefits of wearing armor?
 * Why do I need a new weapon?
 * I want a pet. How do I get one?
 * I haven't received a drop yet!
 * I'm getting more of one type of drop (potions, eggs, food) than any other!
 * What are rare pets?

Equipment

 * I am missing an item but I cannot by it back, why?
 * What is the Shade Armor?

Classes

 * What is this blue bar for? Do I need Mana?
 * What is the class system?
 * Why would I want to be a Warrior, Mage, Healer, or Rogue?
 * Help! I just want to keep playing the way I was; do I have to change classes?
 * How do I change classes?
 * What are attributes, and how do I assign them?

Social

 * Guilds vs Parties: What's the difference?
 * Why join a party?
 * What are the Tavern Chat rules?
 * How do I delete a tag?

Contributors and Contributing

 * Who are the Staff members?
 * Who are the NPCs?
 * I backed the Kickstarter, but I still see ads. How do I remove them?
 * Why do I see BrowserQuest art here?
 * How do I support HabitRPG?
 * How can I get involved?
 * I found a bug. How do I submit it?
 * How can you keep releasing awesome content while working on bugs?

Browsers and Mobile Apps

 * Which browsers does HabitRPG support?
 * Are there Mobile Apps?
 * Android 2.3 &amp; Windows Phone Apps?

What is habit tracking?
Habit tracking is keeping tabs on all your habits to help you improve. It is to life what calorie-counting is to diets (and calorie-counting falls under the habit-tracking umbrella). See Trackers vs Lifehackers for more information and website examples.

There are many habit-tracking apps, but HabitRPG takes a different spin: treating your tasks and habits like a Role Playing Game (RPG). If you've played RPGs growing up, this app will make sense to you; otherwise, it may be overwhelming at first. Be sure to follow the tutorial when you first load the website, and if you're still confused, watch this video tutorial. Back to Top

Should this task be a Habit, Daily, or To-Do?
There are four main differences between these types of tasks: So, if your task is a one off, make it a to-do. If you need to work on a habit, like quitting smoking or eating healthier, put it in the habit column. Put scheduled, repeatable tasks, such as taking your dog for its morning walk, under the dailies column. The dailies column is also a good place for habits or to-dos you really need to work on, because you will be automatically penalized every day you put them off.
 * Repetition: Habits and dailies are tasks you know will be repeated frequently. To-dos are one-time tasks with little or no repetition, like getting a root canal.
 * Schedule: Dailies happen on a schedule, whether that is every day, weekdays only, weekends only, or specific days of the week. Habits and to-dos don't follow a set schedule, but happen as often as you do them.
 * Penalties:  Habits and to-dos have no penalty for not doing something in a timely manner. Dailies automatically penalize you if you don't complete them by the end of the days on which they are scheduled (see Health Points).
 * Motivation: Habits can serve to stimulate to do something different or new, or to penalize yourself for doing something bad. Dailies can serve to discipline yourself in some recurring task. A to-do motivates you to do something that will not be repeated often, or at all.

Some examples can be found at Sample Habits, Sample To-Dos and Sample Dailies. Back to Top

What do the task colors represent?


The hue of each of your tasks (i.e. habits, dailies, and to-dos) will change based on how well you are currently accomplishing them. Each new task starts out at the neutral color in the spectrum, yellow. Perform dailies or positive habits more frequently and they move toward blue. Miss a daily or give in to a bad habit and the task moves toward red.

Making progress in any red tasks will gain you higher experience and gold. Setbacks with red habits or missed red dailies will cause higher health damage. (Note: To-dos do not inflict damage.)

The aim is to encourage you to make extra effort to make progress in your neglected tasks. Note that any habits or dailies you begin to neglect will move toward red.

Dailies have an extra color - grey. Refer to Grey Dailies for more information. Back to Top 

How do I customize a task's value?
Some tasks are more valuable to you than others. Finishing your research paper, for example, should be worth more points than flossing your teeth. Instead of customizing value upon task-creation, HabitRPG calculates a task's value automatically over time. The longer something sits without being completed (dailies and to-dos), the more valuable it becomes; the more frequently you complete dailies, the less valuable they become.

If you absolutely must customize a task's value, there's a "difficulty" setting under the Advanced section of task-editing. This can be appropriate if a task is particularly difficult or protracted; "Finish doctorate" or "Run marathon," for example. Back to Top

I'm going on vacation; how can I disable my Dailies?
Sometimes life intervenes and it's actually healthier NOT to be working. If you're zipping off for a tropical getaway or coughing up a lung, feel free to rest in the Inn!

Resting in the Inn freezes your entire account, so that you can enjoy your sunshine or chicken soup in peace. There's a minimum stay of 24 hours, but after that, you can check out any time you like! The Inn is located in the Tavern. To access it, click on your avatar, and then click on on the "Social" tab. This takes you to the Tavern.

On the left, you will see a big green button that says "Rest in the Inn." Click it and you're home free! (Note: If you can't see the button, resize your window - larger or smaller - until you do. This is a bug that will be fixed in the future.)

IMPORTANT! If you or your party are participating in a quest against a boss, the Tavern will not protect you from damage caused by the Boss!

What if you'd rather just disable a specific daily? Dailies have a "Repeat" field, which specifies on which days of the week this item is due. To disable a single daily, deselect each day. This is useful if you don't use HabitRPG on the weekends, or you want to exercise only every other day, etc. Refer to grey dailies for more information. Back to Top

I'm missing some, or all, of my tasks!


Most likely, you have activated a filter by selecting a tag (e.g., the "morning" tag in this image; see also this screenshot), and few or none of your tasks are tagged with that tag. Simply deactivate the filter by clicking on the active tag. This is a common mistake, and we'll work on making things more obvious in the rewrite. Back to Top

My dailies didn't reset.
Every morning, your dailies should uncheck themselves, and your avatar should take damage from any missed dailies. This process is called "cron" (aka, the daily roll-over). If it didn't happen and it should have, there are a few things to check: If your dailies still haven't reset, don't panic, and chime in on this issue. Back to Top
 * Is your custom day-start set till after now? See Options > Settings > Custom Day Start. If it's set to 11, and your time is now 10, cron won't happen for another hour.
 * Have you refreshed / synced? Cron doesn't happen automatically; you have to trigger it by interacting with something (anything). Simply click a task, or click "Sync" from the user drop-down, or refresh the page. This is true of most things in HabitRPG - your page doesn't "catch up" until you interact with something (e.g., chat is out of date until you post a new chat, or click "Sync" - we want to change this eventually, of course.)

How does HabitRPG know that I really did my tasks?
HabitRPG does not really know that you did any of the tasks you set up and then check. We have not set up cameras to watch you day and night, nor have we bribed your family to tell us if you're following your task lists. We're not a spy agency after all.

We believe in the honor system because, in the end, you only hurt yourself if you lie. Back to Top

What happens when my character dies?
As in old-school RPGs, if your character's health points are reduced to zero (so the character "dies"), the result is the loss of one level, one random piece of equipment, and all your gold.

If your character dies, it may be time to regroup and focus on your tasks and habits. Completing an easy habit or task, or one you have been neglecting, is a good means to regain both gold and experience. The Fortify Potion, found in the Market, is a useful tool against frequent death; this potion cleans your proverbial slate, resetting tasks and habits back to yellow.

All users are welcome to weigh in on possible enhancements to HabitRPG's death mechanic, or to join discussions on the subject on the forums. Back to Top

How do I restart my character?
This is highly discouraged because you'll lose historical data, which is useful for graphing your progress over time. However, some people find it useful in the beginning; after playing with the app for a while and familiarizing yourself with how things work, you may decide you want want to restart before playing "for real." To do this:


 * 1) Go to the Options page.
 * 2) Click on the Settings tab.
 * 3) Scroll down to the Danger Zone.
 * 4) Click on the Reset button.

Back to Top

What's the difference between a fortify potion, the orb of rebirth, and a reset?
A fortify potion (available in the Market) merely restores all health and sets all your tasks to neutral (the color yellow).

The orb of rebirth maintains a player's tasks, quests, and achievements, but returns the player to a level 1 warrior with no experience, gold, or equipment. This option is only available after a player has reached level 50 or earned the Beast Master or Ultimate Gear achievement.

A reset keeps your character's name and user ID, but changes everything else back to level 1. Your character will have a maximum health of 50 points and a training sword and will not have any experience points, gold or silver, armor, eggs, hatching potions, or pets. Back to Top

How do I make my avatar female or male?
In order to be as inclusive as possible, HabitRPG does not require players to select a gender. However, there are many options available for customizing the appearance of your avatar. See How do I customize my character's appearance? below.

How do I customize my character's appearance?
HabitRPG provides several options to customize your character's appearance under the Profile > Avatar tab. The Profile > Avatar tab can be found by clicking on your avatar or by selecting Options from the account menu.

Character appearance can be customized by body type, hair length and style, skin tone, and shirt design. Simply click on a design to apply it to your avatar. Designs with a dark grey background can only be obtained by purchasing them with gems, and some designs are only available for a limited time period.

Character appearance can be further customized once the equipment and inventory rewards become available. Selecting Use Costume under the Inventory > Equipment tab allows your character to wear any item you own without affecting their attributes. Certain pieces of equipment, such as class and quest-specific rewards, are intended to give you a particularly special look.

You can contribute new designs for avatars by volunteering as a pixel artist on the HabitRPG Pixel Art Trello board. Back to Top

User ID
Your user ID is a large hex number that represents you in the database (e.g. 2F1E4FC0-81FD-11DA-9156-00036A0F876A). You need this if you want to join a party or if you need a developer to fix your account. You can find somebody else's User ID by clicking on their name in chat or their picture if they are in your party. You can find your own by clicking on the 'API' tab under Settings.

The other hex number here is your API Token. Sharing this publicly could grant unwanted access to your account. Treat it as you would a password. Back to Top

What do gold and silver stand for?
Gold and silver are earned by the completion of tasks. Each silver piece represents one-hundredth of a gold piece: 25 silver = .25 gold You can use gold and silver to buy rewards for your labor, both custom rewards (such as watching an episode of your favorite TV program) or in-game equipment (such as potions or armor). For your custom rewards, click on the gold coin next to a reward to change the price. You can also enter reward costs in decimals to designate a reward's value in silver. Thus, if you have a .25 GP "Eat cookie" reward and 50 silver, you can afford to eat two cookies. Back to Top

What are gems?
Gems are an in-game currency that can be purchased with real currency. If you love us, this is the easiest way to help us out!

HabitRPG has no wish to drain your pocket change, but those who use and appreciate the project can support us by turning real-world quarters into gems. In return for your generosity, you'll get to do many fun things like buying eggs to complement all those potion drops, food to grow a nice strong mount, and specialty hairstyles and armor to impress friend and foe alike! Back to Top

What are the benefits of wearing armor?
In the early levels, armor can increase your strength, which lets you turn tasks bright blue easier, or improve your constitution, which protects against health loss from incomplete daily tasks. Armor benefits will stack with other items you are wearing. Armor does not protect you from boss damage during quests however.

Unlocking the class system at level 10 gives you access to more armor with different effects, if you choose a class other than warrior.

(There are also items that look like armor but are just decorative and don't provide damage protection, so check the description in the item store before buying.) Back to Top

Why do I need a new weapon?
Weapons increase the experience and gold gained from completing habits, dailies or to do tasks. Hence it will allow you to gain experience faster than if you did not have a weapon and would therefore reduce the number of tasks required to level up your avatar. Back to Top

I want a pet. How do I get one?
To hatch a pet, you will need to obtain both an egg and a potion. There are currently two ways to get these items: you could either buy them with gems or find them through the random drop mechanic. Some potions are rarer than others, and the rarer potions cost more gems to purchase. Eggs and hatching potions can then be combined in the inventory (by clicking on the egg, then the potion you want to hatch it with, or vice versa - Alexander will tell you which you are currently "holding"), and a pet will hatch. To "wear" the pet (display it on your avatar) you must click on it in the Pets tab. Pets can be changed as much as you like to suit your mood.

There are also some pets that require a different mechanic to obtain, such as the veteran wolf for veteran users or the hydra for contributors (see What are rare pets?). Back to Top

I haven't received a drop yet!
Drops are unlocked at level 4, but your chances of getting one depend on the value of the tasks you complete.

The drop mechanic is thus:  task.value * 1% chance. This means that the red tasks have a much higher chance of dropping an item than the green or blue tasks (task devaluation is exponential, so "much higher" is right). This rewards focusing on your shortcomings more than your championed habits. However, the higher your streak on a Daily, the greater your drop chance gets, so you are also rewarded for consistency! If you have a high perception, your chance of finding drops is also increased. Back to Top

I'm getting more of one type of drop (potions, eggs, food) than any other!
Some people experience getting way more potions than eggs (or only potions and NO eggs), and some experience the exact opposite. Unfortunately it's just luck of the draw - the system is completely random (30% eggs, 30% potions, 40% food). Over a long enough time period, most people get the expected distribution. You can see the code here, and an experiment conducted by a few community members on 1,000 drops showing expected results . If you still think the algorithm is off, take a peek at that code and see if you can spot any loopholes. Back to Top

What are rare pets?
Rare pets are awarded on special occasions and can't be obtained through the normal pet mechanic.
 * The Veteran Wolf was awarded in Fall 2013 to the users who survived the old, bug-filled version of HabitRPG before the site's switch to the new, smooth-running Angular framework.
 * The Turkey was gifted to all habit users during the 2013 Thanksgiving celebrations in the US.
 * The Hydra is awarded to HabitRPG contributors that achieve level 6 on the contribution tiers.
 * The Cerberus was a thank you gift to those who backed HabitRPG in the Kickstarter Campaign.

There will likely be other rare pets in the future! Back to Top

Guilds vs Parties: What's the difference?
Guilds and parties are similar, but different in an important way.

In a party, your party members show up in the header to the right of your avatar, and are thus a bit more personal - you can see how they're doing on a day-to-day basis, and they you. This often leads to peer pressure to get your act together (accountability partnerships, the whole point of HabitRPG!) Additionally, you are able to join quests with your party (but not with guilds). If you share the game with friends, joining a party together can be a good way to encourage new players to stick with it. (Keep in mind, you can only join one party at a time.)

Guilds have some of the benefits of parties (chat-room and challenges), but are less visual, sometimes less personal, and you can't quest with them. Think of parties as your close friends, and guilds as interest groups. Scenario: you'd be in a party with your close friends, and you may join the "Stop Smoking," "Get Fit," "Scholars," etc. guilds. You could also use private guilds as faux parties when you're already in a party but also want to check in with your coworkers. You can also join or create guilds for groups that you participate in elsewhere, which may have very active and helpful communities.

Guilds can be an important source of help, advice, and information. Guilds will often include experienced and helpful members who have stuck with the game for a while. Guild discussions will often cover questions, motivation, and successes. An active guild will also often have challenges going on, with discussions about how to succeed at them. Back to Top

Why join a party?
Joining a party increases accountability and promotes shared ideas and experiences. You're more likely to stick to your tasks when someone can see you dying. It's embarrassing, especially when your friends start giving you grief (speaking from personal experience in Habit). Parties also allow you to see and display the in-game rewards that you are all working so hard to get, such as pets, weapons, and armor.

So beyond just being in a party (or guild for that matter), what features are available to increase accountability? Currently, you can create challenges for your party (more on Trello), for guilds, and for the Tavern.

In addition to that, you can join quests with your party, and the class system offers features and abilities that can benefit other members of your party (such as party buffs).

All this party-promotion is for one purpose: accountability. We want your friends to hold you to your tasks ("dude, I've already collected 10 feathers - get your crap together") and to pick you up when you're down ("I healed you, you're good now - finish your dailies :)"). Playing solo will only last so long; it's social accountability and encouragement that will make your self-improvement soar. Back to Top

How do I delete a tag?
Click the pencil icon next to Tags to edit your tags. Click the trashcan button next to the tag you want to delete. Click the checkmark icon (next to Tags) and you're done. Back to Top

How do I change my equipment?
When you unlock the Inventory, you will be able to change which armor, weapons your character uses via the equipment tab. If an item seems to be missing, appearing neither in your character box nor for sale in the item store, check your equipment. Back to Top

What is the Shade Armor?
You may see that some HabitRPG users have animated Shade armor. This was a special reward for the people who backed high-level tiers in HabitRPG's Kickstarter campaign, and it is not currently available through any other channel. But soon we'll be introducing animated contributor armor, so stay tuned for that! Back to Top

What is this blue bar for? Do I need Mana?
Mana (MP) can be used to make your tasks less harmful or more rewarding. It can also be used to help your party members. You have limited amounts so that you don't abuse these options. The options appear in a special "skills" section in the rewards column. Options differ depending on your chosen class. Strictly speaking, no, you don't need this; you can get along fine in HabitRPG ignoring it, but you may find these options helpful when you're faced with difficult tasks. Back to Top

What is the Class system?
All players begin the game as warriors. Classes are unlocked at level 10, at which point players can choose to remain a warrior or switch to the mage, healer, or rogue class. Each class comes with specific attributes, abilities, and gear, and players can choose which class to join based on playing style, a desire for more pets, advantages in different quests, etc.

While the first switch between classes is free, subsequent class changes cost 3 gems each and also come with the ability to re-allocate attribute points.

There is also an on-going Trello discussion during the design phase. Back to Top

A Warrior?
Players may wish to be a Warrior if they A Warrior gains special benefits from Strength and, to a lesser extent, from Constitution.
 * need a decent defense but still want to deal high damage to tasks
 * want to help their party by dealing high damages during Boss fights
 * don't want to change the way they were using HabitRPG before unlocking the class system.

A Mage?
Players may wish to be a Mage if they A Mage gains special benefits from Intelligence and, to a lesser extent, from Perception.
 * want to level up faster
 * like to challenge themselves to not neglect their tasks
 * want to help their party members level up faster.

A Healer?
Players may wish to be a Healer if they A Healer gains special benefits from Constitution and, to a lesser extent, from Intelligence.
 * need a high defence against damage done by neglected tasks
 * cannot bear to see their character die when they miss dailies
 * like to help other party members who, for instance, are just starting out in their habit building.

A Rogue?
Players may wish to be a Rogue if they A Rogue gains special benefits from Perception and, to a lesser extent, from Strength.
 * want to have good equipment very fast, as well as pets and mounts.
 * want to help the party to collect more drops (more gold, more quest items, etc.)
 * want to dodge damage from missed dailies at the end of the day.

Of course, you can still choose a class according to your role-playing preferences rather than the benefit it would provide. Back to Top

Help! I just want to keep playing the way I was; do I have to change classes?
You can keep your current playing style - just choose Warrior when classes unlock. If desired, under Profile > Stats and Achievements > Attributes box, pick auto-allocate. See also "How do I change classes?" below. Back to Top

How do I change classes?
Currently, you can change classes once for free when you unlock the class system at level 10. Thereafter, it costs three gems to change classes. To change classes, go to Profile > Stats and Achievements > Attributes and click the Change Classes button. Back to Top

What are Attributes, and how do I assign them?
Task Attributes are categories for your tasks: Physical, Mental, Social, and Other. Character Attributes are qualities of your character: Strength, Intelligence, Constitution, and Perception, which affect gameplay. If you choose to enable auto-allocation of points, the system will automatically add a point to your character attributes based on which category of tasks saw the most improvement. Physical gives a point to "Strength," Mental to "Intelligence," Social to "Constitution," and Other to "Perception." If you do not choose automatic allocation, you can assign the character attribute points as you wish. For more information, and suggestions for deciding which attribute to map your task to, see the class system article. Back to Top

Switch from Facebook authentication to Username / Password
Many people are requesting to switch from using Facebook authentication to local (username / password) authentication. Unfortunately there's not an easy way to do this, so we have to do a bit of database surgery. You'll need to do the following:


 * Go to Options > Settings > API (direct link) and copy your current Facebook user's UUID
 * Create a new user: Log out > Click Play > Register with the username / password that you desire
 * [mailto:tylerrenelle@gmail.com Send an email] with (1) your new Local UserID (UUID), found in Options > Settings > API (direct link),  and (2) your current Facebook user's UUID

We'll replace your current user's auth property with the new Local user's auth property, then delete the new user, and email you back when that's done. Then you'll need to just log out and log back in. Back to Top

Username and email not recognized
The most common situation is that users signed up with Facebook, not with username/password (local auth). Try logging in with Facebook - I often hear "trust me, I didn't register with Faceb- oh, never mind." Presently, you can't tie the two accounts together (see FAQ above), so they're treated as separate accounts if you registered with both.

Next (you're sure you didn't register with Facebook), make sure your username is exact. That includes spaces, capitalizations, punctuation, etc. Many users have registered with a username like Johny M. Wilbert. For one reason or another, they entered something other than their usual username (eg, jmwilbert), and are surprised when they find their username to be as above - which needs to be entered exactly. If you can't remember your username, do a "Forgot Password", which will email you both your username and your new password.

If neither of these works, send an email to [mailto:tyler@habitrpg.com Tyler]. Send him your UUID if you have it. If you don't, send him something to look you up by - some task title that's super unique to your account, capitalization and everything. Back to Top

Which browsers does HabitRPG support?
Currently, HabitRPG runs on:


 * 1) Firefox
 * 2) Chrome
 * 3) Safari (versions higher than 5.0.6)
 * 4) Most mobile browsers

While the rewrite of HabitRPG.com mostly supports Internet Explorer, there may be some compatibility issues, especially in older versions. For best results, use a different browser, such as Chrome. If you encounter any difficulties, let us know. Back to Top

I backed the Kickstarter, but I still see ads. How do I remove them?
If you backed the Kickstarter, ads will be removed for you automatically. However, you have to have filled out the survey, correctly inputing your user id (see these instructions). If you haven't done that yet, go do it now--I'll be taking another database migration pass in the near future. If you incorrectly entered your user id (aka, you remember filling out the survey, but the ads are still there) - get in touch with me. Back to Top

Why do I see BrowserQuest art here?
Our pixel art originally comes from Mozilla BrowserQuest, and has since been augmented for new features. Some have been opposed to this "design recycling" (same opposition to our using Twitter Bootstrap), but here's our reasoning:

First, it is licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0 granting us use, and the guys over at BQ (who are fantastic people) have given us their blessing. Second, only those in-the-know will recognize it - which is mostly developers and designers who have been keeping abreast of HTML5's progress. Third, it's absolutely superb in design and nostalgia - it does an excellent job of bringing back SNES. Back to Top

When do I unlock features?
If you're new to HabitRPG, you may notice a lot of people chatting about features that you can't find. "Wait a minute," you might be saying. "Pets? Armor? Why can't I find these?"

In order to provide incentive to keep improving your life, HabitRPG unlocks new motivational features a bit at a time. For example, the Rewards store, enabling you to buy items, is unlocked when you reach Level Two. Why don't you go wash some dishes or turn in an assignment to discover the rest?

Spoiler Alert!
However, if you're not one to enjoy surprises, the levels at which you unlock certain game elements can be found here. Don't say we didn't warn you! Back to Top

What timezone do my dailies use?
Dailies reset based on your own timezone, not the server's. When you first load the webpage, it asks "is this user's timezone up-to-date?" (aka, have they just started playing, or are they in a different timezone than usual?). If not, update their TZ automatically. Then the server will run daily roll-over when you make your first request in the morning, using your own timezone. Back to Top

How do I support HabitRPG?
Aww, thanks for asking!

Right now the easiest and most helpful way to support HabitRPG is to buy gems. You can purchase gems by going to the Options view. In the top right-hand corner, you will see your gems. Click on them, and you will have the option to support HabitRPG by buying some. As our thank-you, you will have your ads disabled, and you will get to use the gems to buy eggs, hatching potions, food items, quest scrolls, and special items (like a saddle or fortify potion). You can also use gems to open a Guild, purchase avatar customization items, or create public challenges! If you wish to support regularly, there is now a subscription option.

Gem prices are currently in US Dollars. We will have more items that can be purchased with gems down the line. Back to Top

How can I get involved?
We need all the help we can get! Check out Contributing to HabitRPG for more information. Back to Top

Are there Mobile Apps?
Yes, there are! You can download the Android app here, and the iPhone app here. Please note that currently, the Android app does not work for version 2.3 due to a known issue; we are trying to fix this.

There is an unofficial Windows Phone app in the works, but not an official one thus far. Back to Top

Who are the Staff members?
HabitRPG is very lucky to benefit from having lots of amazing people in its community. To get to know some of the heavy-hitters, check out this ongoing feature on the blog! Meet the Staff. Back to Top

Who are the NPCs?
The HabitRPG NPCs are the highest-tier backers of the Kickstarter, who were rewarded for their patronage by becoming Non-Player Characters in our fair land. You can read about them in this blog series here! bloop bloop. Back to Top

Android 2.3 & Windows Phone Apps?
HabitRPG's official app has issues functioning on Android 2.3 & Windows Phone. Follow Github issue #85 for the details, and chime in there if you think you can help us test or fix the issues.

In the mean time, there are fantastic 3rd party apps on both markets: MagicMicky's Android App, Jakob Pedersen's WP App. Because these apps are so great, we're not currently prioritizing the official app's release to Android 2.3 & WP8; we recommend using these apps instead. Remember, HabitRPG is an open source ecosystem of sharing and contribution. If someone built a amazing app using the same API, then that's what we'll recommend. Back to Top

What are the Tavern Chat rules?
The Tavern chat can be located by clicking the tab "Tavern" in the Options page (accessed by clicking on your avatar while you are on the Tasks page). Currently, there are no official rules, but keep in mind that we want HabitRPG to be an all-ages site, so please try to refrain from using colorful language.

Second, it goes without saying not to be unkind or spam or behave offensively, but luckily the HabitRPG community has always been incredibly kind, polite, and helpful to each other. Let's continue to spread that positive attitude! Back to Top

I have not completed any tasks, why have my stats changed?
Something else triggered the HP-loss or Exp-gain. Boss fight, Chrome extension, mobile app, Pomodoro, a different browser, etc. and it's simply that you're just now getting the update, while interacting with an unrelated part of the website.

When things hit the API, they interact with your user's stats. Chrome extension, mobile app, Anki, Pomodoro, etc. Up-scores give you Exp, down-scores dock you HP. When you interact on the website, it will send up the operation, and it will send down any changes to your stats since the last time you talked to the server.

So, example. This is sequenced in time:


 * 1) (website) You check off a To-Do
 * 2) (chrome-extension) You go to Reddit, and lose HP from the Chrome extension.
 * 3) (website) You change your profile name. You'll now get a notification from step 2 that you lost HP.

It happens with any interaction, e.g. finishing a challenge, which syncs your user account. Chatting in group chat does not sync your user. This was less noticeable with Derby since the out-of-sync actions synced immediately to the website; i.e., if you +d a habit on mobile, you'd immediately see that +10 exp on the website. Well now, you won't see that until you do something on the website, and you'll see it along side whatever you just did.

This may be confusing, but the way it works is good. It's similar to Gmail. Why, when you send an email, might you suddenly see 3 new inbox messages? 2 of them are from 5 minutes ago, why weren't they visible 5 minutes ago? Gmail doesn't synchronize every operation immediately; that's expensive in terms of resources for a small gain. It takes the opportunity to fetch changes at the same time as posting them. So while it may seem confusing to receive 3 emails "as a result of sending one", it's more efficient, and just takes some understanding of the process. Back to Top

I found a bug. How do I submit it?
If you are having a problem with HabitRPG and believe you have found a bug, or even if you just believe that something is missing, please let our developers know on GitHub. Instructions for submitting bugs on GitHub are here. You might want to check Known Bugs to see if there is already a ticket for your issue.

Thanks for helping us make HabitRPG even better!

How can you keep releasing awesome content while working on bugs?
Short answer: we can do both, thanks to the great and varied community of contributors to HabitRPG's open source project! But the hardest problems take extra time to solve.

HabitRPG is a community endeavor, and at the moment, almost entirely unpaid. People who work on the site are volunteering of their time and energy, on top of other commitments like day jobs, because they're fans of the site and want to see it succeed!

There are many people around with the skills to make fun little additions like artwork, write wiki pages, and fix typos and other small bugs. There are far fewer expert contributors who can diagnose and fix errors deep in the site's code, or track down bugs that happen only sporadically or for a limited number of users. Don't despair: those experts are putting in all the power they can to taking care of the nastiest bugs! While they're at it, you'll continue to see little fixes and additions contributed by people who want to pitch in but aren't up to the task of tackling the thorniest issues.

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