I have installed the Skill Tree app, but it will probably take a few days to make an opinion on it.
In general, thank you for exploring this area; it sounds potentially useful. I like that you list the pros and cons.
I think an ideal solution would be fully customizable, but also with reasonable defaults. The defaults because if you want to use it to overcome procrastination, "choosing your goals" sounds like a perfect thing to think about endlessly. Fully customizable because if there is one thing that rubs you the wrong way, it can ruin the entire experience. Optionally sharing habits with your friends would be extra motivating, but would need to find the right balance between "too inflexible" and "too difficult to configure" (because you would need to specify who your friends are, maybe only share some goals with some of them, is everyone allowed to edit the shared goals or only the person who created them, etc.).
In my experience... motivational systems are cool at the beginning, then get boring. The system I use currently (the last two years) is a printed calendar with four check-boxes every day corresponding to four things that are my long-term problems, such as exercising regularly and getting enough sleep. This is to minimize the maintenance; every day I just need to check the respective boxes (and twice a year I need to print a new page). I don't even do any evaluation, it's just that checking a box makes me feel a bit better at the moment, and looking at a sequence of days with no boxes checked motivates me to do something to break the empty line. I imagine this could be more motivating as a smartphone widget? Or maybe not, because on paper I immediate see the recent trends. Maybe the widget should contain the actions as buttons to be clicked, but also show recent history. (It is important to be a widget, not an app. The app requires an extra step of starting it.)
Sorry, the app was somewhat slow and required registration on the second day, so I uninstalled it. Too bad, it seemed nice.
Have you looked into Habitica? https://habitica.com/
It used to be called HabitRPG and is maybe the oldest approach of gamifying your life.
Introduction
During the summer of 2024, I used two different self-improvement gamification tools. I don’t know whether I will continue using them, use different ones, or stop using gamification at all. Something to keep in mind is that there are plenty of people who found these tools useful; My experience is just a single example.
Guild of the ROSE
The first tool I used was called Guild of the ROSE. Guild of the ROSE is a self-improvement program directed towards people interested in improving their rationality skills, like people in this community. It has a skill tree you advance through, a character sheet depicting different aspects of yourself that can be improved, and workshops that you can go through that help you build further on different skills. To get an idea of how much experience I've had with it, I've used it for about two months (with large breaks in between).
Likes
I like the rationality focus, because I am interested in finding out what is true. I also like the workshops, because they build a sense of community. Having small groups where you can talk to other people is a big motivator for me to visit the Guild of the ROSE.
Possible Improvements
One way the Guild of the ROSE could make itself better is by adding custom habits as a feature. This could implement the streak feature from the other self-improvement website I used, called Project Skill Tree. Some of these habits that wouldn’t be too demanding on your time would be getting a regular wake-up and bed time. Some others that would be more demanding would be exercise, meditation, and spaced repetition flashcards. Having habits that are performed continuously would provide that extra kick to help you do things you otherwise wouldn’t have. The feature could remind users to set safe, sustainable habits so that they would not become overwhelmed. There is one skill currently in the skill tree for trigger-action plans, and I think it could tie nicely into that. I think that Guild of the ROSE would be better if it had more customizability in what tasks are considered relevant. The “Autodidact” skill and the “Basic Life Enhancement” skill are good examples of this. Personally, I think the “Basic Life Enhancement” skill should be available from the beginning.
Why I don’t use it often anymore
When I first got into the Guild of the ROSE, completing tasks on the skill tree became the main focus of my summer days. Later on in the summer, I decided to start working on my Effective Altruism group to test my career fit for management positions, and on an online chemistry course to test my fit for going into chemistry-related positions. Doing Guild of the ROSE felt like an extra thing for me to do, and it didn’t excite me enough to motivate me to do it, so I stopped filling out tasks. I think Guild of the ROSE could still meet my needs, if I used it mostly as an activity tracker for things relevant to my success.
Recommendations for my personal gamification process
If I put the important tasks under my tasks page in Guild of the ROSE more often, what’s most relevant to my success would match what’s most relevant in the “game.” Using the life enhancement tasks more often would also be helpful.
Another good thing to do would be to look at the kinds of games I play to tell what motivates me the most. Which I did! I went through my most recently played games and favorite games on Roblox, sorted them individually into my own designated genres, and added both lists.[1] My top three were Casual/Hangout/Roleplay, Puzzle, and Platformer. The reason I enjoy these is that I like things that require a lot of thinking, practice, or are social activities. Looking back, the puzzle I am designing on the Minecraft server for my friend group fits two of the three criteria.
Project Skill Tree
Project Skill Tree is an app that allows you to track certain habits, like walking and meditation. These habits are practiced for an amount of time that increases the more you do each habit. I'd estimate I used it for about 2-3 weeks.
Likes
Something I liked about Project Skill Tree was the usage of habits. Most of the tasks in the app were habits that you would practice each day, such as meditation, exercise, and gratitude journaling. This made tasks feel more urgent, and so I was more eager to do them.
Possible Improvements
The app would be better if it had a system for adding custom habits, and adding a feature for one-time events that would significantly improve your life. I'd also like some more information about why they added NoFap. I don’t think there are any proven health benefits to avoiding masturbation[2], although that task is optional. Since some people report anecdotal benefits, I think that should stay, as I value people’s ability to make those choices. Maybe a disclaimer could be added that there aren't any scientifically proven benefits.
Why I don’t use it often anymore
To be honest, it didn’t feel like the habits were relevant to my goals. Going to bed on time at a consistent time was something that felt difficult, but it was somewhat relevant. Cold showers and reading nearly every day weren’t always necessary, and my time often had to flex to other priorities. It felt like I had to expend extra effort to meet those expectations, but I want to expend the effort on what’s most important to me. Some days (which was about 1-2 weekdays), I would wake up feeling tired, like I needed to relax, and that I should just play some games. It’s different from gamification in that the games I play are a mixture of games and internet posts, and I don’t stay with one of them hoping to improve as much as I can, instead choosing to hop between them.
General advice:
The app would be better if it had a system for adding custom habits, and adding different tasks.
What would my ideal gamification system look like?
My ideal gamification system would meet my needs by leaning into the social aspect, and the aspect of creating challenges. I could make a “party”, and get a group of people to help each other tackle a life challenge together. It would need to be a difficult challenge, such that you would need others to help you solve it. In the present moment, this could be a task within the Guild of the ROSE’s existing features. As for roleplay, I could make an idealized version of myself and really embody the kind of person who I want to become, somewhat similar to the Narrative Identity feature on Guild of the ROSE.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Y7uLVLFMA5mNxWrTkor-VKJgNH9YlNcrVwERJlLAfYo/
https://www.healthline.com/health/nofap-benefits#semen-retention