Game to be better: gamification productivity apps

Sometimes even the best spreadsheet tricks aren’t enough to make you more productive. It’s always been human nature to want to play, as well as work. And recently, it looks like many software makers understood the power of play. So what are gamification productivity apps? And which ones would I recommend?

Gamification productivity apps: what are they and why use them?

I hope you’re familiar with gamification – a process of trying to combine elements of play with working, learning, or other activities. Many projects have used gamification quite successfully – from education to business and urban planning.

An example you may be familiar with is an experience of building up your LinkedIn profile – the website shows you percentage points and progress bar, motivating you to “complete” the steps of building up your profile. Instead of explaining the importance of the process, they use the idea of “levelling up” to cajole users into making their profile better.

All well and good – but how can gamification improve productivity? After all, work time and leisure time are usually two different zones. Can gamification productivity apps really make a difference?

I believe they can. The examples below will hopefully give you more reasons. Here, in brief, is just a handful of benefits you can get from using gamification on your productivity journey.

• You become more motivated to complete more tasks.
• Your tasks can take less time to complete – if your app makes you race against a clock.
• Your habits can have a stronger chance of sticking and succeeding.
• Your support network grows – some gamification apps allow for social interaction.
• You become more accountable to others – again, if the app has that social aspect.
• You become less stressed – some apps purposefully create a relaxing, friendly atmosphere.
• Your time with the app can be seen as a mini-reward.
• There can be less pressure for you to “behave seriously” when working – productivity and fun might just be your style!

Vic’s top three gamification productivity apps

1. Habitica

I’ve enjoyed this app for many, many years now. And I am super happy to see it grow from strength to strength. While there may be other, more “polished” apps out there – this is the one which really stands out, for a few reasons.

Habitica is an app which turns your tasks, chores and habits into a Role-Playing Game (RPG). You are responsible for your in-app character. It develops skills and experience with each task you complete in real life. Your character can get better equipped, make friends, combat big bosses, and even raise in-game pets!

The game’s “quests” are entirely decided by you. This is one point where Habitica excels. Do you mainly want to focus on habits? Then the habit column is where you’ll play most of your game. Are you in need of help with your to-do list? Habitica has a column for that, too. It’s pretty versatile and you can modify its interface to suit your needs.

But perhaps the biggest appeal of Habitica is its social aspect. It is easy to join a team, and together with other users, battle these do-tos and habits. This, I think, makes Habitica twice as powerful. It’s no longer just a game you play against a computer (or your laziness). Now it’s personal – you don’t wand to let your team down (if you fail, everyone loses some health, or they don’t complete a quest).

Habitica is free to play, and has a paid group plan. It works in a browser and on mobile apps.

2. The Guardians

This is the most recent addition to my productivity list. As far as gamification productivity apps go, this is perhaps the closest alternative to Animal Crossing you can find.

The premise of The Guardians is this: your character serves as an inspiration to “unite the realms” by setting free a “guardian” of each realm. To do this, you recruit and train friends and supporters – animals which live in each realm. And to recruit them, you complete your own “adventure” – a task, in real world – in your own life. This could be some exercise, or a period of focused work, or doing some chores.

If this sounds cute and sweet to you, it should. This app is slow, and peaceful, and definitely on the fun and relaxing side. Adventures take time to bring effects, and each realm will require some time to complete.

But that is what I really like about “The Guardians” – it is an app which focuses on your well-being, and on completing simple, daily actions which you can celebrate with your digital team of fuzzy companions. It’s developed by MIT, so there’s some scientific backing to it, although you wouldn’t know it from how sweet and engaging it looks.

The Guardians is free to play, and you need to download the app.

3. Forest

I’ve saved the strangest for last! How would you like it if an app tricked you into spending less time on your phone? Would it be easier for you to focus on your tasks if an app wanted you to not use it for a while?

This is what Forest does. After downloading the app, you set a timer and are not allowed to use the phone – not even quit the Forest app – during this time. If you make it through, Forest adds another tree to your, well, forest. Your patience helped it grow. If you quit Forest and go back to wasting time on other apps, the app kills the tree. There. Dead tree. Hope you’re happy. 🙂

So, does it work? It really does. There is much to be said for mindfulness, and for me, the first step in such process is always to realise where your time really goes. By deciding to put my phone away for 30 minutes, I was able to get some work done – but also I could understand how tempting it is to just sit there and scroll through social media!

Forest is free to play, with some in-app purchases.

Have you heard of any other gamification productivity apps?

(Photo by Elias Castillo on Unsplash)