Discussion Forum > Making life a video game
I've been thinking about this and have a couple of thoughts.
Some games like the card game "FreeCell" are about making order out of chaos with an added limitation. Sorting cards by suit wouldn't be very fun by itself but add the limitation of 8 randomly sorted columns and restrict of how many cards can be moved at a time and it becomes interesting. Add a stop watch and count the number of moves for score keeping and it becomes an addictive contest with yourself.
Similarly, hacks to gamify to-do lists could be to set limits on what can be worked on and when, count tasks, or record the time it takes to finish a pre-defined batch or task to "keep score".
The other interesting thing about most games is the element of chance. This could by shuffled cards, rolled dice, or computer games that have encoded random events.
I am really surprised at how much I've enjoyed the random method on my to-do lists for the past couple of weeks. The dopamine hit is undeniable. It has been enhanced for me by rolling physical dice. Over the course of the last two weeks, I've tweaked the "Rules" to ensure I'm getting the real world results I expect out of a system, but one observation is that more enjoyable the game is the longer I play it. This is the case with tasks. The more time I spend on them the more gets done. Coming up with a system that is more attractive than repelling is half the battle.
Brent
Some games like the card game "FreeCell" are about making order out of chaos with an added limitation. Sorting cards by suit wouldn't be very fun by itself but add the limitation of 8 randomly sorted columns and restrict of how many cards can be moved at a time and it becomes interesting. Add a stop watch and count the number of moves for score keeping and it becomes an addictive contest with yourself.
Similarly, hacks to gamify to-do lists could be to set limits on what can be worked on and when, count tasks, or record the time it takes to finish a pre-defined batch or task to "keep score".
The other interesting thing about most games is the element of chance. This could by shuffled cards, rolled dice, or computer games that have encoded random events.
I am really surprised at how much I've enjoyed the random method on my to-do lists for the past couple of weeks. The dopamine hit is undeniable. It has been enhanced for me by rolling physical dice. Over the course of the last two weeks, I've tweaked the "Rules" to ensure I'm getting the real world results I expect out of a system, but one observation is that more enjoyable the game is the longer I play it. This is the case with tasks. The more time I spend on them the more gets done. Coming up with a system that is more attractive than repelling is half the battle.
Brent
February 25, 2022 at 23:18 |
Brent
Brent
How I made my life a video game
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rim2rXIbVoA
It's not brand new so maybe others have come across this already.
Any thoughts on how this could be incorporated into a time management system, especially those we talk about here? Or other ideas to gamify life?
Some thoughts:
- making tasks more definite - e.g. even if it's a nebulous task like "think about X", maybe set a specific small duration (e.g. 1 min), or # of lines/points to write about it
- attaching rewards to each task - e.g. "think about X for 1 min - snack" - but I wonder if each task already has a reward that comes with its completion? E.g. if it's cleaning something, then you get a clean thing. At the very least, you get a sense of accomplishment?