Coming Soon: Unique Usernames

Illustration by Aries Faries

Hello Habiticans! We’re making a change to unique usernames! This change will be gradual and even though it won’t start rolling out until November, it’s still important to go to Settings to confirm your username as soon as you can.

Have questions about this new feature? Here are a few questions we’ve been hearing, and some answers!

What are usernames and how will they be used?

Unique usernames will allow you to invite friends to parties, Guilds, and Challenges more easily. Our team will also be able to use them to help you if you send a bug report. In the future, usernames will allow us to add the option to receive notifications if you are mentioned in chat.

What are Display Names and how will they be used?

Display names will be shown alongside your username in chat and in your Habitica profile. Your display name can have symbols and emojis if you desire, but they are not unique (people can have the same display name).

Where will my username appear? Will there be changes to my privacy?

Right now, you can find other players in Habitica by name in the following places: chats where they have recently posted, lists of Guild members, and lists of Challenge participants. These are the same places your username will appear – if you participate in those spaces. There are no changes to user privacy- your tasks and account information will remain private.

Can I change my username and display name?

Yes, you can change your username and display names in User>Settings. You can change them as many times as you like. However, if you change your username, your old username will become available for someone else to claim.

When will there be changes to chat? When can I start using my friends’ username to invite them to my party?

These changes will be rolled out gradually over the next couple of months. We want to give you, our community, time to adapt to changes and provide feedback that we can take into consideration throughout the roll-out process. We’ll be keeping you all informed as we go, so keep your eye out for news from Bailey!

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Contributing to Habitica

Illustration by Leephon

It’s Wiki Wednesday! Once a month we highlight a helpful post from the Wiki with tips about productivity, wellness, and optimizing your use of Habitica!

Did you know that Habitica is open source and that a lot of our art and coding are done by volunteers? We have a rich contributor community, with rewards available for those who keep it up: a nifty title, gems, and even contributor-exclusive items. There are all kinds of ways to contribute, and this month’s featured Wiki post is a great jumping off point for figuring out what you can do, and how to do it!

Everyday people with everyday lives devote their time and energy to creating and maintaining everything you see here on this wiki and at Habitica. Whether you want to earn the contributor rewards and titles or you just like the open-source model, we welcome you to contribute to the project. Please jump in where you feel comfortable contributing; there are a wide range of roles available.

Feel free to join the Aspiring Legends: Contributing to Habitica guild to talk about giving back!

Check out the full Wiki post here for all the details. If you’ve always wanted that colored username or the Hydra pet, this is your chance to jump on in!

Use Case Spotlight: Hands-On and Practical Skills

 

Illustration by gully

Greetings, Habiticans, and welcome to another Use Case Spotlight. Last month we took a look at getting involved in Habitica’s community, and this month we’re going a little bit further afield to dig into some user-submitted tips on how to use Habitica for learning and practising hands-on and practical skills.

First off, Fishdye has some tips which work for pretty much any kind of project you might want to use Habitica for:

After spending a bit of time in the Hard Mode guild, I’ve started thinking of my to-do’s as fitting into one quadrant or the other of the “Eisenhower Matrix.” (There are links to a couple articles about procrastination in the description of that guild, and they refer to the Eisenhower Matrix, if you want to check it out.) Quadrant 2 is where tasks that are important but not urgent fall. That’s where making progress on hands-on things usually falls for me. Initially, I had Habitica tags for Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4. I found another system that worked better for me there, but I’ve recently resurrected just the Q2 tag. This helps me to isolate just the tasks that seem to fall to the wayside as I crunch through the things that have to be done each day, the “urgent” things. Filtering for Q2 first thing in the morning reminds me what I actually want to be doing with any free time I wind up with in the day, which motivates me to get my must-do’s done more quickly, not spend excessive time at lunch on amusements like phone games, and thereby actually have time for things like scrapbooking, gardening, writing, creating digital art, etc.

flaming.rutebega describes how to clearly define your goals to set effective To-Dos:

One trick I’ve done with Practical Skills is to establish an Achievement Goal as a “To Do.” It sits on my “To Do” list getting redder and redder, so when I finally achieve it, I get a big reward. The trick is to clearly define the goal so you can know when you’ve achieved it. For instance, I want to draw better for my graphic novels. But that isn’t clearly defined, how better is “better.” So I drilled down and nailed something concrete. My goal is called “Master the Head.” Under notes, I explain, “I can draw the same character over and over, in any position: head shape, hair, and facial features remain consistent and recognizable.”

Meanwhile, StephanieFeige has some great tips about how to use Habitica to pick up the skill of gardening!

Well, gardening might someday be “only” a hobby and a chore, but we are new to it – we converted some patch during the past weeks that was unused before. I started off with a smaller patch last year and now try to watch and learn. Examples? There is buddleija in it – and I picked off the web to remove withered flowers so it won’t develop seeds and spread. I cut down lavender so it will have a second bloom (THAT worked great). I put down when to do this with in this case yearly reminders – being new to this, I would forget or confound the different times or methods (e.g. collect seeds or cut seedlings; will fruit be on twigs one year old or two, cut down all or just a bit winter or summer etc.). Knowing that times will vary due to the weather I rather choose early reminders and under “notes” for the dailies noted like (for lavender): “2018: first bloom over at beginning of July, second bloom started 4 days after cutting down” (so the motivation is there for next year). It is supposed to turn out to be some gardening diary until I hopefully know anyway and can go by instinct + experience. VERY long term project. I use gardenings sites and gardening shops and books and pinterest (that’s a daily until I am on safer ground). Giving the time of the year and the hot weather during the past two months in Germany (which was not normal for us), I will have to leave most planting to next year and start with some berries, maybe a small apple tree.

If you have anything to add to these ideas, you should check out the User Case Spotlights guild! We gather ideas for this type of post every month, so maybe next time it could be your tip featured here: keep an eye out for when we announce the new topic!

Don’t forget, the Use Case Spotlight has a companion post, the Guild Spotlight!

Getting Hands-On: Guilds for Practical Skills

Illustration by gully

Want to get hands-on and learn some new practical skills? Need to get your Habitica set-up optimised to remind you to get that DIY done, or want to talk with some like-minded folks? Here are some guilds to help you in that endeavour!

Makers of Habitica: This guild is aimed at Makers of all stripes — food innovations, crafts, DIY, home improvement, programming, gadgets, sustainability… so you can be pretty sure of finding some like-minded people if you join here.

The Urban Homesteader’s Guild: If you’re looking to do things the old-fashioned way, it doesn’t matter whether you’re an old-hand or new to the idea: this guild is here for you! Make sure to check out the challenges, too.

DIYers, Crafters, Sewing, anything creative: This guild has been quiet lately, but they’re a friendly crowd — maybe it’s time to start a new conversation there!

That’s all for this month. Make sure to check out the companion Use Case Spotlight as well, with lots of tips from other hands-on users.

User Spotlight Special Edition: Tips for Back-to-School!

It’s Back-to-School season, so in addition to our Back-to-School challenge and all our usual features, we thought you’d bring you some inspiration in the form of testimonials from users who’ve already figured out how to use Habitica to help them meet their school-related goals.

Illustration by RoseMonkey

First, Maybe Steve Rogers (who runs the huge guild for academic Habiticans of all stripes, The Scholars) tells us about her simple method for keeping on top of work during her third year at university:

My biggest problem with studying is just getting started, so my plan is very simple: I have one Daily, active 6 days a week, that’s just “study for 1 hour”. Linked to that, I have one all-positive Habit: I get to tick it once for every extra 30 minutes of focused studying I do. That’s it. That’s enough to keep me on track, and the Habit counter resets weekly, so I can really keep an eye on how good I’ve been. For bigger projects, I find a number of the challenges in the Scholars guild are perfectly suited to join and leave when necessary.

This system is simple, but it helps keep me afloat when I am otherwise definitely the kind of person who shirks deadlines until I’m drowning in them.

Moderator shanaqui has been using Habitica for their dissertation:

For my dissertation, I had to do a ton of pretty technical reading, and I also had to make sure it was up to date by the time I finished writing the thing. And then on top of that there was actually completing the assignments and the writing part. So I had a daily set for Tuesdays and Thursdays for searching for literature, a daily set for Fridays to actually sit down and read the stuff I found, and to-dos set with the deadlines of the interim assignments. Then I’d add to-dos as I went along with self-imposed deadlines. That way I could see all my deadlines and I was also being forced to make constant progress on doing the research.

Meanwhile, NoilyPrat has suggestions from how she’s using Habitica with her daughter, NessaGrace, for homeschooling:

We have had Habitica for 1.5 years, and starting a new year with it next Monday (August 20th). As a teacher, I find my worst habits were to delay grading critical papers for constructive feedback. To list each lab that needed grading under each module does take time, but seeing it on Habitica gives me a fresh POKE to do it. Plus it’s so much fun to check off to “kill” the latest monster with all my hard sweat and tears. I’m getting better, because I’m trying to do them before the to-do turns red. Right now I’m in the process of typing up a syllabus for next year on our system, and at the same time I’m typing up on Habitica what I’ll need to grade in this first quarter. I do them in quarters to keep the to-dos from turning red.

My daughter has each of her subjects on dailies, which she must complete before checking them off. This helps cut down on the nagging, “Did you get your schoolwork done?” Plus, any damage done the next day I’m asking which of her subjects she missed. (In a perfect world. Most of the time I don’t ask!) When everything is checked off, her day is finished. Occasionally Daddy asks to see her Habitica to check up on her. I think she likes that.

And here’s vtrnnhlinh’s souped-up Habitica set-up for school season:

First, I format all. And I have some rules for the formatting like: bold for dates, limits and something needs seriously notice; italics for nouns like names; both bold and italics for the properties. Ex:

And I copy the emoji to make the task more interesting with: Emoji Cheat Sheet

Secondly, I organized tags. Because I use Habitica for all. So I created: Healthy, Learn, Study, Relax, Chores, Work and Creativity.

I use Learn for school work, Study for my MOOCs, learn programming or anything I teach myself. For school work, I use each task for a subject.

Finally, I create routine with Habits. I’ll create a habit that at that time, I’ll learn or study or do something creativity without effort – don’t need inspired or motivated video.

If I focus to learn in a Pomodoro session, I’ll check + and if not, I’ll check -. If I did it but not in the time period I set and don’t have an acceptable reason, I also check -. Just make sure to create the habits. Create habits help you learn easier.

And if I do pretty good in a week, I’ll watch a movie and get a snack as the rewards.

If you have more Back to School needs, you should totally check out Guilds like The Scholars, the Graduate Student Guild and The Homeschool Guild. There are always Habiticans ready to share their experiences and cheer you on!

Plus, for even more of a motivation boost, check out our Back-to-School Preparation Challenge! The tasks will hopefully help you get ready for the school year, plus there are gem and subscription prizes. It runs until September 30.

Creating a Unique Experience

Illustration by James Danger

It’s Wiki Wednesday! Once a month we highlight a helpful post from the Wiki with tips about productivity, wellness, and optimizing your use of Habitica!

One of the great things about Habitica is that you can change all kinds of things to make it work for you. From using tags to organise your tasks to creating a custom reward for Mana potions, there are all kinds of levels of customization that will let you make Habitica everything you need it to be. In fact, a lot of people don’t know about some of the features they could be using, and it can take some exploration to figure out how to make Habitica the productivity app of your dreams. This month’s highlighted Wiki posts has some ideas for you on exactly how to do that, whether you just want to gamify your tasks even more or you want to create a custom class beyond the four standard ones.

Habitica offers a game play setup designed to encourage users to be productive. It places most of the game decisions on the player, allowing them to dictate their own experience. Players will find suggestions to create a unique experience such as Naming Your Tasks, Gamifying Your Lists, and Self-Imposed Challenges. This article explores these topics and more, with links that provide additional information.

So if you’ve been dying to play as a Bloodmage, check out the full Wiki article here! The Wiki is always a great place to find information and learn about how other people use Habitica, so it’s more than worth a look.

Use Case Spotlight: Get Involved in the Habitica Community

Illustration by Aries Faries

Last month’s Use Case Spotlight focused on the theme of Training Your Brain, but this month we’re sticking a little closer to home. Habitica’s community is one of the nicest on the internet (or so we fully believe!), and there are lots of opportunities to join in. Here are some tips from users about how they get connected with other Habiticans and get involved in the community.

First off, PizzaMyHeart brings the warm and fuzzy feelings by acknowledging great times in the Tavern chat, while also mentioning a specific guild which can help you get to know what’s out there:

I love the encouragement I’ve found within the Habitica community. Tavern, guild, party. They’re all filled with great people. For anyone struggling or scared to join I suggest joining the guild challenges. Many encourage you to say hello. I also recommend The Mystery Train. They travel around to the different guilds. It’s a great way to find new interests, friends, and challenges.

Gumnos reminds us all it’s important to take some time out to have fun:

While each person ends up finding their own Habitica communities, I’ve fallen in with the Habitica Court Jesters guild. It’s a great place for both telling and reading family-friendly jokes. Occasionally a member will put forth a themed challenge—dad jokes, knock-knock jokes, elephant jokes, school-themed jokes, music jokes, puns, etc…great for riffing off each other. I’m not sure it benefits my productivity, but it’s a nice way to blow off some steam and get some of the best of medicine that laughter provides.

tseren‘s a little more specific, talking about the contributor community and how to start helping out:

I initially got involved in Habitica’s contributor community as a translator. Translating the website’s text taught me a lot about how Habitica works. Eventually, I found myself in the Tavern and able to help people because of that knowledge. Contributing is all about sharing. You never know where things will lead, especially when you find friends along the way.

Dan O’Dea also has some sage advice about contributing:

If you’re interested in contributing to the community, a good place to start is the Aspiring Legends: Contributing to Habitica guild. Go ahead, click the link! On the Guild page are more links to specific ways to contribute. Find one that interests you and click that, too.

Chat out Habitica on social media, too. The Twitter handle is @Habitica. The blog on WordPress is a good resource as well.

Last but not least, if you feel you aren’t up to “hard” contributions, being a good Habitican citizen is a great way to help. If you see a good answer to a question, let them know! Check out the Tavern chat or the Habitica Help: Ask a Question guild. Check out the wiki and learn how the environment works.

If you have thoughts to add on how to get involved in the Habitica community, feel free to hop in over at the Use Case Spotlights guild (which is another way to get involved through chatting with other players — and your post could even get featured in next month’s Use Case Spotlight)!

Look out for an announcement of the theme for next month’s Use Case Spotlight by Bailey, and in the meantime you might also want to check out the Guild Spotlight on the same theme as this post!

Getting Involved in Habitica: Guilds for Contributing

 

Illustration by Aries Farie

Habitica has a thriving community of helpers who do all kinds of things from helping to fix bugs (thank you, Blacksmiths!) to answering questions in the Tavern and creating the art you see on Quests, in the Stables and in the Armoire — all over Habitica, in fact.

Aspiring Legends: No matter how you plan to contribute, this Guild is the ideal place to say hi and connect with like-minded people who love Habitica and want to make it better. But if you already know what you’d like to do, there are specific Guilds for most forms of contributing that might be a bit more active all round the clock.

Illustration by Leephon

Aspiring Artisans aka Pixels in Progress: If you’re interested in any kind of pixel art for Habitica, this is the place to be. Folks here critique each other’s work and help each other out of difficulties, and there’s nearly always someone who knows just how you can tweak that errant pixel into place.

Aspiring Blacksmiths: This is the Guild for those who want to contribute code to the official site or apps. If you have questions about just how to get started or you’ve run into a jam, everyone here is willing to donate their expertise to get things up and running again. And if you want to help but don’t have the time to get fully stuck in, it’s still worth joining in case you can help someone else out of a knotty problem.

Illustration by beffymaroo and Rev

Aspiring Comrades: Did you know Habitica has an API? This Guild is where developers of apps and extensions that work with Habitica hang out. If you’re interesting in developing your own tool to integrate with Habitica, this group is here to bounce your ideas off!

Aspiring Socialites: Don’t have coding experience or artistic ability? Or just that hooked on helping? Aspiring Socialites is the Guild for the folks who want to help out by answering questions and getting people all set up. Join this guild to get the latest news on things that might impact users, so you’re on the spot and all up to date when people need help!

Those are the official guilds for helping out on Habitica, but there are others out there — look out for Pirates and Elves! We’re truly grateful for everyone who contributes in whatever way they can, and we don’t think we can gush too much about how awesome our community is. If you’re thinking about jumping in, this is your chance!

Pomodoro

Illustration by Katy133

It’s Wiki Wednesday! Once a month we highlight a helpful post from the Wiki with tips about productivity, wellness, and optimizing your use of Habitica!

One of the major productivity techniques people on Habitica talk about is the Pomodoro: a 25-minute stint of focused work, followed by a five-minute break… and then another 25-minute stretch of focused work. It’s called a Pomodoro after the tomato-shaped timer originally used by Francesco Crillo, who came up with the technique. Guilds on Habitica take it to the extreme with tomato throwing contests, prizes for those who complete the most ‘poms’, and a whole wealth of challenges related to the technique.

So this week’s highlighted Wiki post is all about how to use that technique alongside your Habitica setup:

The simplest way to use Habitica to support the Pomodoro technique is to use a mechanical device like a kitchen timer or an electronic device to time each Pomodoro. Players then track their activity manually on Habitica with a combination of Habits, Dailies, and potentially Rewards.

By creating a Habit for each completed Pomodoro and optionally a second Habit for each completed set, Habiticans can track how many Pomodori they complete in a day.

Check out the full Wiki page here for more tips, tricks and resources for supercharging your productivity using both Habitica and the Pomodoro Technique!

Coalitions of the Quick-Witted: Guilds for Training your Brain

Illustration by RoseMonkey

Hello Habiticans! The summer is heating up and many students are enjoying their summer break from school. Even though classes may not be in session, it’s a great month to think about challenging your brain with puzzles, games, and new knowledge! Here are just a few of the Guilds in Habitica dedicated to sharpening your intellect and expanding your knowledge.

Habitica’s Court Jesters: https://habitica.com/groups/guild/fddaeafc-125c-4b43-a339-14c1d37634e8

Habitica’s Court Jesters is a Guild dedicated to jokes, riddles, and other witty and humorous media. Maybe it’s surprising that a Guild for jokes is on this list, but there’s a high correlation between problem-solving ability and having a good sense of humor. Plus, a good laugh is always healthy for your mind, body and soul!

Sedulous Sesquipedalians: https://habitica.com/groups/guild/8302e17b-e2b6-419b-bd7a-c1983f2c318b

Learning new words is a great method for challenging your mind and improving your communication skills! Sedulous Sesquipedalians is the perfect place to expand your vocabulary- check out the Guild chat for folks sharing the exhilirating vocables they’ve discovered.

Creative Minds: https://habitica.com/groups/guild/00b0eff0-85bd-402a-bd38-33f507624dfa

Creative activities are another fantastic way to keep your mind active and learn new skills and information. You’ll find all types of imaginative Habiticans chatting in this Guild, and there are some exciting Challenges to help get your creative juices flowing!

Puzzling People: https://habitica.com/groups/guild/330c4c91-8513-43ba-b0bc-b093ebda7573

This Guild is here for puzzle-loving Habiticans of all types! Pop into the Guild chat to discuss your favorite puzzles, riddles, and brain-teasers.

These Guilds and many, many others are here to give you lots of fun ideas for keeping your mind sharp and active!  Until next time, take care. ❤