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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 📜 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.
Challenges that are hosted in the Tavern and guilds are also a great place to search for clues to gamify tasks.
See Sample Tags for ideas on how to manage your tasks with gamified tags.
More Examples
| Task | Gamified Name | Extra Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 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! |
| 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. |
| 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.) |
| 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! |