Guild Spotlights: Our Favourites

Squall

With all the Guilds on Habitica, sometimes it can be difficult to know where to start. This year, our Guild Spotlights are going to highlight the favourite Guilds of Habitica’s staff, moderators and some high-level contributors! If you want to curate your Habitica experience and join active, positive Guilds, this is a great way to pick up some new ideas for Guilds to join.

This month, Squall has joined us to talk about his favourite guilds! Squall lends us his Blacksmithing skills to help us fix bugs and add features, and has also created a third-party tool to help enhance how people use Habitica.

So here are the guilds he recommends!

As a Habitican blacksmith (code contributor), I hang around in the Aspiring Blacksmiths and Aspiring Comrades guilds quite often. It’s interesting to see what others are working on and I also try to help other contributors when I can.

Continuing with the programming theme, The Developers Guild is a guild with discussions about all things related to programming and software development, such as different programming languages, tools, learning etc.

If you’ve already been in Habitica for a while and looking for something more or just different ways to play, check out  Habitica Plus guild. I like it because there are a lot of challenges and other creative ideas to modify Habitica usage.

I also like the avatar aspect of Habitica and try to come up with some creative outfits every once in a while. But I recently came across Random Habitica Costumes guild, which is a refreshing take on that as it is a place where people share random avatar outfits (generated using a tool called Habitican Randomizer). There are some interesting and wacky avatars there…

Thanks for sharing, Squall! If anyone feels like jumping in, there’s no time like the present…

If not, no need to fret! There are a lot of other Guild Spotlights, including ones from moderators and other contributors, so there’s something for everyone. There’s a new spotlight every month, so you can also check back in a month or so for some more handpicked recommendations!

Use Case Spotlight: Creating Positivity

Illustration by Katy133

Each month, our Use Case Spotlights highlight user stories and tips that can help you as you set up your own tasks, refresh things to add new challenges, or just get more motivated to keep at it! This month, we wanted to know how people use Habitica to create (and maintain) positivity in their lives — so here are their answers!

EliotThe has some task suggestions, to start off with:

I have two Dailies that I use to help me keep a positive attitude throughout the day. The one for the morning is titled “Morning Reminder Today is an opportunity to become a little bit more like the person I want to be.” The one for the evening is titled “Evening Reminder My best is good enough.” I check them off whenever I have acted according to these beliefs. Usually the morning one gets checked off, but some days I don’t check off the evening one because I’ve been unreasonably mean to myself for falling short of my goals. These tasks help me practice self-love: I should expect myself to do no less than my best (the morning reminder), but I also should not demand more than my best (the evening reminder). It may seem silly, and I was even a bit embarrassed to have these in my list for a while… But over time I realized that these “tasks” are harder than they seem. They’re also very motivating!

Langerhan offers a suggestion for a powerful Habit for positivity:

I have a habit to “find the positive in a situation”. It helps me keep track of how I’m approaching things, and if I’m looking to score more gold or XP, it’s a way for me to approach a situation with new eyes.

moor-rose discusses how just getting organised and being able to reflect on her progress has helped her mood in general:

A lot of my tasks and habits are aimed at creating balance in my life – working hard and then relaxing, in particular through being mindful and spending time with friends. Challenges focusing on self-care and awareness of the seasons are my favourites at the moment – eating seasonal food, noticing and appreciating the weather, checking in on mood and energy.

I have a lot of anxiety around organisation and performance, so the help that I’ve found here in breaking tasks down and cultivating ‘flow’ has been terrific for my mood! But I’d say the three things that have really led to a boost in positivity since joining Habitica have been increased self-awareness, increased self-empowerment, and the sense of rhythm it’s imparted to my day.

In other words, there’s a lot of gentle built-in self-reflection in Habitica. I feel more aware of my mood and better equipped to identify and address problems – if I don’t know what to do, there’s almost always a relevant challenge! And what I learn from them gets fed back in to the basic routine and structure of my day.

And FayTheUnicorn pointed to Habitica’s community as a huge asset:

[T]he biggest and most surprising way that I use Habitica to create positivity in my life is through participating in positive and supportive communities that I find here. These are not things that have actually existed in the real world I’ve been living in, at least not that I can recall. But here I find people who want to grow and evolve, and who are willing to work hard to do it. I find people who are caring, compassionate and supportive. I find people encouraging, coaching, advising, and consoling others. That alone makes my subscription totally worth it!

We’re glad to hear that Habitica can be such a positive force for everyone! Do you have any stories to share about how Habitica has helped you create positivity, or stick to it despite the odds? We’d love to hear your stories! You can share them in the Use Case Spotlights guild… and if you stick around and share your stories in response to next month’s prompt, you could be featured in next month’s spotlight!

Mystery Item

September 2020’s Mystery Items: The Marvelous Moth Set

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!

Last month we highlighted the post on Mystic Hourglasses, so what better follow-up than to highlight some of the things you can use them on? Mystery Items are one of the perks of a Habitica subscription, but there have been a lot of items in the past… which you can still get with a Mystic Hourglass!

There’s lots of info about the Mystery Items on the Wiki, but here’s an excerpt:

Players who already have a subscription at the start of a month receive that month’s Mystery Items within the first three days of the month (at different times for different subscribers). Anyone who starts a subscription during a month receives that month’s Items as soon as the subscription is created.

Read the full article to check out past Mystery Item sets — maybe you’ll find some inspiration for a special outfit or two…

There’s a lot of information about Habitica on the Wiki, so if you’re having trouble figuring out where to start, you might like to take a look at previously featured Wiki articles in past Wiki Wednesday spotlights!

Guild Spotlights: Our Favourites

CernyPie

With all the Guilds on Habitica, sometimes it can be difficult to know where to start. This year, our Guild Spotlights are going to highlight the favourite Guilds of Habitica’s staff, moderators and some high-level contributors! If you want to curate your Habitica experience and join active, positive Guilds, this is a great way to pick up some new ideas for Guilds to join.

This month, CernyPie has joined us to talk about her favourite guilds! CernyPie has contributing as a socialite on Habitica for literally years, sharing her experience with users who need help. Say hi if you spot her in the Tavern… or one of her favourite guilds below!

Evidence Based Fitness Guild: This guild is equal parts helpful information and active knowledgeable members. It runs some helpful challenges for all aspects of health. I have found it a great community for fitness support and workout ideas. I am not the type of person who finds exercise inherently fun, but this guild gives me the motivation I need to keep pushing myself for the better.

Bakin’ Bakin’ All Day Long: If you’re looking for a fun community with experience and tips to increase your baking prowess, this is the place to be! Personally, I enjoy baking, but I’m not amazing at it. This is now my go-to guild for baking challenges and discussion where all my baking answers are one post away. I also love that the very nature of the challenges pushes me to try baking things I would normally not even think of. Ever thought of baking your own pretzels or crackers? Me neither! But now I’ve done both thanks to the support of this great community.

Skin Support Guild: This is a relatively new addition to my favorite guilds. If you have any skin issues or concerns, there is someone here who will have advice or suggestions about how to help. I like just reading other people’s routines and coming up with ideas to tweak my own. If you get the chance, check it out!

Thanks to CernyPie for sharing these picks! If any of them speak to you, there’s no time like the present to jump in and say hi.

If not, no need to fret! We’ve done a lot of other Guild Spotlights over time, including ones from other contributors and moderators, so there’s bound to be something to pique your interest. And of course, there’s a new spotlight every month, so you can check back in a month or so for some more recommendations!

Use Case Spotlight: Supporting Your Loved Ones

Illustration by UncommonCriminal

Each month, our Use Case Spotlights highlight user stories and tips that can help you as you set up your own tasks, refresh things to add new challenges, or just get more motivated to keep at it! This month, we asked users to share their thoughts on how they use Habitica to support their loved ones — which for some people is totally key to a satisfying life, but can also lead to struggles with balancing conflicting needs… or just remembering everything that needs to be done!

SuperSaraA started us off by really emphasising the importance of self-care, but also how Habitica has helped her understand people better:

The social aspects of Habitica also help me to be able to support my family and friends in a healthy way because the guilds (and tavern chat) give me a safe space to vent in general if I am having a bad day and serve as a great dose of encouragement to keep going even when it is hard. Because of the users in Habitica who kindly send comforting words into the chat, I can often be kinder in real life because of letting go of my frustration in a different place (while following the community guidelines of course). Being a socialite contributor in Habitica also helps me to support my family and friends because it has taught me to stop and think about what the question really is and to analyze what the person needs to know (and if they understand or not). Thinking on a world wide scale (something helping in the Tavern chat has really made clear to me) also allows me to have a larger view on things from many perspectives which makes it easier for me to relate to and respect members of my family and friends who have different views on topics than I do. Differences are what make the real world (and Habitica) a beautiful place.

maxmoon shared how they use Habitica in a very practical way, to help them switch between different types of tasks:

I have physical tasks helping family members, especially while a pandemic is going on, because they need some help, like carrying heavy stuff or using the pressure washer to clean up the terrace or other heavy physical task older family members can’t do anymore. Having the todo row organized in physical and non-physical tasks helps a lot to switch between those kind of tasks, especially if a family member doesn’t live around the corner.

QuartzFox uses Habitica to reinforce a well-established habit of speaking to her mother daily, to help keep her connected to the world:

QuartzFox: I hardly need a daily to talk to my mother, but I have one anyway, and I think it’s the one I’ve had the most consistency in maintaining. She lives alone and especially with things the way they are, I know I’m one of her few links to the outside world and it’s a great boon for both of us.

And shanaqui mentioned how transformative that kind of habit can be, even if you keep the bar really low:

I do have a daily task to reach out to a friend or family member. It doesn’t have to be something big, just as simple as saying hi, but I have to do it every day. It’s really simple and there are no rules about it not being the same friend two days in a row, and it’s not meant to be massively transformative… but it kind of is. I’m back in touch with friends I miss from university, I’ve spoken to my aunt more in the last few months than in the last few years, and I know what’s going on for my friends in time to support them instead of finding out from Facebook or Twitter when it’s over.

We hope these ideas are useful for you in figuring out how to use Habitica for this kind of task! Don’t forget, you can read other tips and ideas in the Use Case Spotlights Guild, or by digging through the backlist of Use Case Spotlight posts… and we’d love to hear about you support your loved ones, whether it’s as a carer, a parent, a shoulder to cry on, or something else.

If you’re interested, you can also participate in next month’s Use Case Spotlight and potentially get your response published in next month’s article! To join in, become a member of the Guild and watch out for the prompt explaining what the next theme is. Just post your thoughts in the chat, and your response could get included in the blog post!

Mystic Hourglass

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!

Do you know about the benefits of subscribing to Habitica? Not only do you get access to buying Gems with gold, or exclusive outfits, but for every three consecutive months of subscription time, you get a Mystic Hourglass! We’ll let the Wiki tell you what those can do:

Using a Mystic Hourglass summons the Mysterious Time Travelers who will allow you to select a Mystery Item set from previous months, a pet or mount from previous World Boss events, or an exclusive future Mystery Item set, such as the Steampunk Standard Set which will be widely available in the year 3015.

If you want to read more about this, check out the full article on the Wiki! You can subscribe on the web version of Habitica by clicking the Gem icon, and on mobile by going to Menu>Subscription. And if you already support Habitica… thank you! We appreciate your support very much.

If you’re looking for more information about Habitica, the Wiki is always a great place to start. You can check out the previous Wiki Wednesday posts to see useful articles highlighted!

Guild Spotlights: Our Favourites

CathB

With all the Guilds on Habitica, sometimes it can be difficult to know where to start. This year, our Guild Spotlights are going to highlight the favourite Guilds of Habitica’s staff, moderators and some high-level contributors! If you want to curate your Habitica experience and join active, positive Guilds, this is a great way to pick up some new ideas for Guilds to join.

This month, we asked CathB to share her recommendations. CathB is a socialite, so you may have met her in the Tavern – she’s always answering other users’ questions and spreading good cheer! She had trouble picking just a handful of guilds for us to share, but here are her other hangouts:

The Rogues’ Playground is a guild for short term fitness goals and it is one of my favourite guilds for two reasons. First of all because it’s a very supportive guild, where we cheer at each other and share our ups and downs. And because of the weekly Physical Activity Challenges hosted in the guild.

Imagine you open your mailbox and find a postcard there. Or you get a message from someone that loved getting a postcard from you. Has that happened to you often lately? No? I’ve been a member of Postcrossing for many years, and experienced the join of sending and receiving postcards (and the frustration when the snail mail literally travels at the speed of a snail!). It’s great to be able to share those joys (and frustrations) in the Postcrossing guild.

As I sometimes find it boring to walk, swim or ride my bike in the same places day in and day out, I created the Imaginary journey challenges guild. In the challenges in the guild we can pretend that we’re exercising somewhere else; doing an imaginary journey. Imagine that you’re on your way from Hobbiton to the Misty Mountains, or from Oslo to Bergen, and you’re close to reaching the next place you can sleep in a bed and get a hot meal… Then you might find motivation to walk or row an extra mile/km or two. Any form of exercise that make you move forward counts in these challenges, so find your favourite way to move!

In the Habitica Heroes on Kiva we meet others that lend money at Kiva. Lending money at Kiva can feel a bit lonely, so it’s great to meet others that do the same. There are plenty of people in the world who aren’t able to lend money from banks, for various reasons. Thanks to Kiva, people that have some money to spare can lend a small amount of money to those in need of money. This way we help them to help themselves, as the loans often help them earn money and/or reduce their expences.

We encourage you to join and introduce yourself, if any of those guilds tempt you! Guilds are a great way to add a bit of accountability and extra fun to your routines.

If none of CathB’s favourite guilds are calling out to you, don’t worry! We’ve done a lot of other Guild Spotlights over time, including ones from other contributors — we’re pretty sure there’s something for everyone. There’s a new spotlight every month, so watch this space for more!

Use Case Spotlight: Challenges

Illustration by gully

Each month, we try to highlight some user stories that might help you set up your own tasks or figure out new and more motivating ways of using Habitica! This month’s theme is Challenges: we asked users to tell us how they use Challenges to enhance their Habitica experience — and here’s what they shared!

Trangon talks about using Challenges to gamify the experience a bit more:

For me, discovering the Adventure Challenges from the D&D guild completely boosted my productivity and fun using Habitica, as my real-life tasks allowed me to attack goblins, cast powerful spells, dodge traps and level up my character. And because each day I required a different set of in-game skills, I also had to work on different aspects of my life that I tend to procrastinate more, like keeping in touch with friends and family or self-care. There is a lot that I would just not have achieved if it weren’t for these Challenges!

shanaqui talks about using Challenges to add some tasks they might not otherwise have done, or even thought of:

I have a lot of my routines set up elsewhere, e.g. my work routines and some more flexible goals, so my Habitica list was looking a little bare. I use the Bulletin Board group to find new challenges that just add a little extra something. I use @MaybeSteveRogers‘ Goblins Anonymous challenge to help give me specific tasks for cleaning the house, or I use pomodoro challenges in guilds I’m part of to add some motivation to a busy week. I like browsing the challenges and just jumping into a random one now and again, to add something different to my day!

SuperSaraA describes all the things that Challenges help her to achieve:

I really enjoy both participating in and creating and running challenges here in Habitica! I have enjoyed being in at least a few challenges each month (often five, six or sometimes more) because they encourage me to do things that I want to do more of (like hobbies such as reading and pixel art and self-care tasks like taking naps and being kind) and regular life tasks like chores (such as washing dishes) or healthy lifestyle tasks (like body care and exercise). I enjoy some challenges that have a theme that makes it gameafied (the tasks have a theme or tell a story so it is more fun to do them!) One example being the [Dolphin] Dishes challenge where participants are encouraged to “Feed the [Dolphin] each day by doing your dishes” washing dishes has never been so fun for me as now when I imagine the friendly dolphin happily eating the dishes as I wash them.

MaybeSteveRogers also finds a place to mention that creating Challenges can really help as well:

I’ve also found that creating challenges enhances my experience of Habitica a great deal. It’s honestly the best feeling to get the occasional message from someone saying how they benefited from a challenge I made, or how proud and happy they are to have won! To me, Habitica really reinforces how a “challenge” should be a way to motivate and lift each other up, not a battle.

We hope these ideas are useful for you in getting the best out of Habitica! Don’t forget, you can read other tips and ideas in the Use Case Spotlights Guild, or by digging through the backlist of Use Case Spotlight posts.

You can also participate in next month’s Use Case Spotlight, if you want! To do that, join the Guild and watch out for the prompt letting you know what this month’s theme is… and then let us know your thoughts!

Easy Starter Quests for Beginners

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!

If you’re relatively new to Habitica, you might be thinking about teaming up with friends, family or chance-met Habitican strangers… but maybe you’re a little worried about how the adventuring will affect you. Don’t worry! The Wiki has a handy table showing you which of our Quests will ease you into things:

Players that are new to Habitica (or who have recently used the Orb of Rebirth) and want to start going on quests may wish to choose quests from this page. The Boss quests listed on this page are both rated as trivial or easy difficulty (boss strength less than or equal to 1.5) and are short in duration (boss health points under 500). The collection quests listed on this page have total collection items of thirty or fewer.

You can check out the table and read up on these Quests on the Wiki! Don’t forget that the Wiki has all kinds of information, including other tips and tricks for planning your adventures!

If you’re looking for some reading material, you can check out previously featured Wiki articles in past Wiki Wednesday spotlights.

Happy Questing!

Guild Spotlight: Our Favourites

With all the Guilds on Habitica, sometimes it can be difficult to know where to start. This year, our Guild Spotlights are going to highlight the favourite Guilds of Habitica’s staff, moderators and some high-level contributors! If you want to curate your Habitica experience and join active, positive Guilds, this is a great way to pick up some new ideas for Guilds to join.

Nakonana was kind enough to agree to share her favourites this month! You may have met her in and around Habitica both helping out as a socialite and working on the German and Russian translations of the site. If you haven’t met her before, you might just run into her in the following guilds!

ADHDers Guild 🐿️ : As one of the guildmembers recently said, it is “the one guild that has the most/best advice for staying on top of things and staying focused”. I know, other guilds might claim that for themselves as well, but for us ADHDers (and those who find the advices helpful even if they don’t have ADHD) it sure is a nice and safe space of understanding and support. Oh, and look at that squirrel!

Bakin’ Bakin’ All Day Long: I really enjoy the community and challenges of this guild. Each month there’s a new cake theme, new bread and new country to discover! And people give tips, if one needs help with something. It’s also beginner friendly, so I recommend giving baking a try, if you haven’t yet.

The Otaku and Gamers Dōjō: A guild to talk about anime, manga and games but also Japan related things that go beyond those topics. It hasn’t been too long ago and we would talk about cherries and brownies when it was the time of the sakura blooming… Don’t question it, just visit and join the conversation xD.

The Jobseekers: This guild helped a great deal with my last job search! Implementing the methods learned here, I received more replies to my applications and found a new job way faster than when I tried on my own. If anyone is struggling with job hunting, make sure to check it out.

Go ahead and jump in (and say hi!) if any of those guilds sound like they might be your thing!

If none of those are calling out to you, there are lots of other Guild Spotlights as well, including ones from other contributors — there’s something for everyone. There’s a new spotlight every month, so keep an out for that, too!