The manatee watches...

Sep 27, 2017

Life RPG

I've been playing with a new app on my phone recently, Life RPG, It let's you create tasks (what they call missions) that you need or want to accomplish in your real life, such as doing the dishes, reading a book, practicing the sousaphone, etc. and assign to them virtual points based on their "difficulty", "urgency", and "fear". As you complete the tasks, you earn the points which are counted towards a virtual leveling system,

In addition, "skills" can be assigned to the tasks, so that you can see yourself progressing in various skills in your real life, a la The Sims. You can practice cooking, learn to draw, or study Sanskrit and see your progress in each of the areas recorded down with some concrete, if artificial value,

Tasks can also be assigned a duration (e.g. go to the gym for one hour), a frequency (e.g. do your laundry once a week), and a due date (e.g. file your taxes by April).

Perhaps the most interesting feature, however, are the separate reward points that you can tack onto each mission. They appear as little gems in the app. Make going to the gym worth 1 gem, Make finishing a long book 10 gems,

You can then take these virtual gems and redeem them for rewards that you create in the app. 5 gems might mean you get some ice cream. (5 trips the gym equals ice cream, yay!) Rewards can also be limited in supply. Got some new gadget or toy you want to buy? Give it a high reward point cost and save up for it!

I just started using this app and am slowly filling in missions and rewards and finding the right balance in everything. I am generally ignoring the leveling and skill portions of the app. It is the reward points that I find intriguing. I like that it introduces an artificial restraint and economy on my splurges. I no longer go and simply indulge my impulses but instead mete them out more gradually. And if I want to save up for an something expensive, (I've been eyeing a table saw), I give it a high reward point cost and must excercise restraint over a longer period of time before I can justify it.'

In the end, it doesn't appear to be a perfect solution for what I'm looking for, it has many superfluous features, but I am hoping it puts me on a good habit building path. Perhaps something better out there already exists, If so, let me know!'

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