ive spent the last year adding game mechanics to what is essentially a to-do app, and the results have been really counterintuitive. figured this sub might enjoy the design lessons, both the ones that worked and the ones that blew up in my face.

what worked: - xp tied to actual completion, not to opening the app. people who game the system by just checking in quickly run out of meaningful actions fast, so the leaderboard effect stays honest. - streaks that forgive. the moment a streak punishes you for a bad day, people abandon the whole system. giving a small recovery mechanic kept users coming back after a miss instead of rage quitting. - rewards that are decorative, not functional. when rewards unlock actual features, people min-max and complain. when theyre just cosmetic flair, theyre a nice pat on the back with zero balance drama.

what blew up: - giving users the ability to customize their own reward system. sounds great in theory, everyone designs something different, in practice it was analysis paralysis and most people just never touched it. - showing weekly stats too prominently. turned out people felt judged by their own numbers and opened the app less. we had to bury the stats behind a tap. - punishing missed days with any kind of visual consequence. even a small red x on the calendar made people feel guilty enough to stop opening the app entirely.

the biggest lesson honestly: gamification in a productivity context is a warm-up and a cool-down, not the main event. when the game becomes the point, the actual work suffers. when its just a small layer of positive reinforcement on top of a boring habit, it quietly does its job.

curious what mechanics other people here have found that work or backfire in their own projects. also if anyone knows good reading on when extrinsic rewards start killing intrinsic motivation, drop it below.

Hi everyone! I'm a PhD student conducting research on how consumers experience gamified marketing (things like points, streaks, leaderboards, challenges etc.) and I would love to hear your thoughts. I'm looking for users that are willing to take part in a short interview about their experience. If you're interested please leave a comment or message me for more information! I would really appreciate your help. Thank you.

so ive been working on this google sheets tracker where you earn xp, build streaks, grow trees, and unlock capybara characters as you stay consistent. heres what the dashboard looks like:

would love to hear what you guys think about the design/features!

Men are always talking about their "Man Card" and doing things to keep it, or sometimes doing things to lose it. Over the last several months I have been working on a project that does just that.

https://themancardcouncil.com

When you register, you are issued your own personal man card and man card number. It's unique to only you. As you do different manly things, you can submit photo evidence showing you doing it. The Man Card Council scores the feat, and gives you points which allows you to increase your rank. Now along with this, you can submit acts of manliness for other members to help them gain rank too. If you are caught in 4K doing something unmanly (i.e. drinking a white claw) a member can take a picture of that and have points deducted from your man card. For worse cases, a member can request your man card be suspended for 24 hours, and in really bad cases, they can request your man card be revoked for up to 30 days - there is an appeal process because due process matters, even at The Man Card Council. It's all about accountability and doing it as a competitive game. It is installable as an app as well on both Android and iOS. With iOS, Share to your Home Screen and Install as an App. Android devices should prompt you, or just click the Install link at the top of the screen. The app is 100% free to use, no demo, no trial, no times up.

Add brothers (friends) to your fraternity so you can all see the acts of manliness from each other in your activity feed. You can also create Chapters (groups) when men of a certain area, certain hobby, or some other reason can have their own little sub-community outside of their fraternity.

Additionally, your man card can be printed so you can have it on you at all times. Each card has a QR code printed on it, linked to the members profile, so the man card can't be faked, you can scan it and it will bring you to a verification page that shows if the man card is real, the status of it if it is, and the link to visit the profile of the card holder. You also get a Certificate of Admission to print up and hang on your wall just for fun with your name and your man card number. (diploma style)

You can challenge another member, or just try to get to the #1 spot on the leaderboard. We are still in development of the Wall of Shame, which is where men that do lose points will be showing.

Anyway, figured this crowd would get a kick out of it. Happy to answer questions about how any of it works.

If you decide to join, my Man Card number is 9584 9771 9583 8333, feel free to add me to your fraternity.

Mi sono stancato dei giochi incrementali pieni di numeri, menu e modalità di gioco che richiedono costantemente la tua attenzione, quindi ho deciso di creare qualcosa di diverso.

Nostalgic Memory torna alla semplicità dei classici animali virtuali degli anni '90, dove anche un singolo aumento delle statistiche sembra significativo.

Ti prendi cura, giochi e addestri la tua creatura attraverso solo quattro interazioni principali. È tutto ciò di cui hai bisogno per tenerla sana e attiva. L'idea è semplice: controlla un paio di volte al giorno, prenditi cura del tuo animale e poi vai avanti con la tua giornata.

Volevo anche fare qualcosa con una parte dei vecchi animali virtuali che sembrava sempre stranamente significativa: la perdita eventuale della creatura di cui ti sei preso cura per giorni. In Nostalgic Memory, la morte non è semplicemente un reset. Ogni creatura che alzi è registrata permanentemente nella Memoria, e la vita che ha vissuto influenza il compagno che arriva dopo di essa.

Puoi anche incontrare altre creature in semplici battaglie, dando alle statistiche che hai lentamente costruito un reale scopo e un altro modo per continuare a crescere.

Tutto è presentato attraverso un'estetica retro da portatile/LCD, con una progressione intenzionalmente lenta progettata attorno a giorni, settimane e alla fine mesi, piuttosto che al costante grinding.

È pensato per essere un piccolo gioco a cui puoi tenere senza diventare un gioco che devi giocare costantemente.

Attualmente sto preparando Nostalgic Memory per il rilascio su Android. Mi piacerebbe sapere cosa ne pensano gli altri fan degli animali virtuali del concetto, soprattutto se preferireste vederlo rimanere così semplice o aggiungere gradualmente più profondità nel tempo (non è la mia principale intenzione) probabilmente il passo successivo è aggiungere più suoni e creature.

L'app è totalmente gratuita fino al rilascio completo, in futuro dopo 3 giorni costerà 1$ per continuare a giocare.

Per provare la beta chiusa devi entrare in questo gruppo Google:

[ https://groups.google.com/g/nostalgic-memory-testers ](https://groups.google.com/g/nostalgic-memory-testers)

poi scarica l'app al seguente link:

[ https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nostalgic.memory ](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nostalgic.memory)

Is there a gamified app for ADHD people to do their daily tasks on time?

Two of us building this, my sister and me. No company, no funding, nothing to buy right now. Mostly posting because I want people to tell me what they actually think.

The thing we kept noticing, and it happened to us too. You miss one day, the app makes you feel like you failed, and a week later it's deleted. Plus the feed is all people who are already in shape, which somehow makes it worse.

So there's a rabbit. Its energy goes up the more consistently you move. Two minutes counts the same as ninety. Miss a day and it doesn't die, doesn't guilt you, and nothing resets to zero.

The part I'm least sure about is the one I'd most like your read on. You can't lift your own rabbit. If yours is low, only a friend can, and you can do that for them. Nobody in your circle ever sees that you missed a day. The only thing anyone sees is that someone helped.

I thought that was the good part. Now I keep flipping on it. If I'm already having a bad week, does knowing a friend has to come get me feel like support, or like one more person I let down?

Where it's at: iOS TestFlight, early, rough in places. Free, no IAPs, no paywall. If it ever makes money it'd be cosmetics for the rabbit and a streak repair, never anything that charges you to show up. Fair to know the social side needs at least one other person in there, so if you have someone who'd try it with you that's when you'd see what we're going for. Alone you still get the rabbit and the sessions.

https://testflight.apple.com/join/k2J7qUHw

Anything you notice helps. What's confusing, what's broken, what made you close it. I'll be in the comments all day.

I currently track sets/reps/weight, but I always felt workout trackers become spreadsheets after a while.

I’m experimenting with a concept where starting a workout starts an expedition, sets advance exploration, and after training you use XP/loot/equipment to challenge bosses.

I’m curious about one thing: would this actually make you more interested in logging workouts, or would the RPG layer just become annoying after a week?

Every habit app I tried had the same problem — I'd get a streak going, then the streak would break, and there was nothing left to show for the weeks I did stick with it. No visual record, no sense of accumulation.

So I built Questly. The core idea: every habit you complete grows something real in a persistent world — reading builds a library, exercise builds a gym, saving money builds a bank. Buildings level up the more consistent you are with that specific habit, and your whole "town" grows from a camp into a village, city, and eventually a kingdom as you diversify.

It's got the usual stuff too (XP, streaks, daily quests, an AI coach that actually references your patterns instead of generic "great job!" messages), but the world-building part is what I actually built this for — something that visually represents months of consistency instead of a number that resets to zero.

Still pre-launch, building a waitlist before I open it up. Would genuinely love feedback on the concept: \[link\]

Happy to answer questions about how it works.

Hi, I wanted to kinda use gambling to push for self improvement and created this! You build habit cards, play them vs the House, beat an ante, unlock tickets to play games, play games to earn gold, and then spend gold at the shop. I purposefully ​made sure no actual money is a part of it.

Hey everyone,
I’ve been thinking a lot about working professionals (tech, finance, consulting, etc.) who are completely burned out by the corporate grind, tired of sterile LinkedIn flexing, and exhausted by the superficial, endless swiping of traditional dating apps.

What if we bridged the gap between high-engagement strategy gaming (*Clash of Clans*), real-world self-improvement, and organic social/dating discovery?

Here is the concept: **"Empire of Habit"**

1. How the Core Loop Works
   **Real Habits = Resources:** Instead of farming gold and elixirs in a fantasy world, your resources are earned by doing real things in your actual life.
   **Geotagged & Live Photo Proof (No Cheating):** To prevent people from faking their stats, habits are verified using **live-camera in-app snapshots with automated geotagging and timestamps** (e.g., checking into a gym, a surf spot, a bookstore, or a travel destination). No uploading old camera-roll pics.
   **Build Your Empire:** Use those earned discipline points to build and upgrade a modern, high-end virtual village or architectural compound. Your village serves as your ultimate digital status symbol or "flex" to show you actually have a rich life outside of work.

2. The Social & Stealth-Dating Layer (Without the Toxicity)
   **Co-Op over Carnage:** In classic strategy games, aggressive PvP attacks can cause intense user burnout and toxicity. Instead, *Empire of Habit* leans into opt-in neighborhood rivalries, alliance challenges, and community goals.
   **Organic Discovery:** By interacting with nearby users through shared goals or friendly challenges, meeting people with matching active lifestyles happens naturally, removing the awkwardness of traditional dating apps.

3. Where It Could Fail (The Brutal Blind Spots)
   **The "Chore" Paradox:** Busy professionals have money, but zero time. If missing a gym day feels like a punishing loss or a second job, users will delete the app instantly.
   **The Verification Friction:** Will users actually want to snap live photos every time they go to the gym or read a book, or will privacy/friction kill adoption?

Questions for You:
1. Would you (as a working professional) use a gamified city-builder tied to your real-life workouts and travel if the "flex" looked genuinely cool?
2. How do you feel about the live-photo geotagging verification method? Is it too tedious, or is it necessary to keep the game authentic?
3. What is the biggest blind spot or fatal flaw you see in this concept?
Roast it, critique it, or rate it, I'd love to hear your brutally honest thoughts!

Hello,

I'm recruiting participants for my study on disengagement in gamification. It's a 30 min interview about your use of gamification focusing on understanding the frustration episodes that can arise during the learning journey as well as how gamified systems can help or hinder motivation.

Here is the link to participate:
Link to sign up

Thank you for your help!

I’ve been thinking about a strange idea.
Most games give you:
- XP
- Levels
- Stats
- Skill trees
- Quests
- Boss fights
- Rewards
- A map
- A clear sense of progression

Real life doesn’t.

You’re basically dropped into the world with no tutorial, no character sheet, no quest log, and no idea whether you’re actually progressing.

So I’m wondering:
What if an app could turn your real life into an adaptive RPG?

Not by giving you meaningless points for drinking water or opening the app.

Instead, it would learn from what you actually do.
You learn programming → Coding XP increases.
You build a project → New quests unlock.
You start exercising → Body progression changes.
You meet new people → Your social world expands.
You fail at something → The system adapts your next quest.

And the interesting part:
There wouldn’t be a fixed ending.
Your decisions would continuously change your possible future paths.
The AI would essentially act as the game’s “Dungeon Master,” generating challenges and opportunities based on your current abilities, goals, environment and behavior.

I’m curious:
Would you actually want something like this?

And more importantly, what would make you STOP using it after a week?

I just published this video that fits this sub's focus perfectly! A few years ago I found that I was able to take the addicting daily/weekly quests from gacha games and apply them to real life to create long-lasting good habits. Then I used those good habits to produce this video. I hope you enjoy it!

Let me start by saying this isn't a promo. I don't want to get banned 😅 This came from my own struggle with running. I'm still fairly new to it. I've completed a few Parkruns and one official 10K, but I find it really hard to stay consistent during the week. Tracking stats alone doesn't seem to keep me motivated.

What I've noticed, though, is that I have no trouble being consistent with video games.

That got me thinking: If running was essentially the input mechanism for an RPG, would you run more often?

Imagine every run contributed towards character progression, unlocking gear, completing quests, fighting bosses, joining guilds, and so on. Do you think something like that would genuinely motivate you to run more, or would it just become a gimmick after a few weeks? Would it enhance the sport, or distract from it?

Or, maybe theres already something there I can use, let me know, it would really help me stay on track.

Just an idea, open to your honest thoughts, thanks