Org-gamify

Synopsis: Org-agenda module for turning task management into a game.

What is gamification?

Gamification refers to the use, in real life, of the sorts of motivational systems that are typically present in games (especially videogames). Examples of such motivational systems include the accrual of "points" or virtual currency, earning achievements or badges, "levelling up", collecting sets of virtual items, competing against other people to rise to the top of leaderboards, and so on.

Some people find themselves motivated by these systems when they encounter them in real life settings, just as some people are motivated by them in the context of games.

A recent book that portrays gamification in a positive light is "Reality is Broken" by Jane McGonigal.

Gamification has been applied in a variety of areas including marketing, education and training, fitness, social networks, and task management. Some example implementations of the latter:

• HabitRPG (Web, iOS, Android)
• Epic Win (iOS)
• Chore Wars (Web)
• Todoist ("karma" feature)

Criticisms

Gamification has been criticised as manipulative and exploitative. I don't think gamification has these properties inherently, but it is certainly possible to use gamification in harmful ways.

Some criticisms:

• Gamification provides a way to manipulate people into doing things they would not otherwise want to do.
• A proportion of people will become addicted to gamification systems (this is probably unavoidable, but you can avoid having a business model that revolves around causing addiction).

Why did I write this, and why should you try it?

I encountered some of the gamified task management systems listed above, and found the concept intriguing. However I decided against using them, because (1) they would lock my task data into a closed proprietary database, and (2) their underlying task management system is quite primitive. I had used the task management aspects of Org mode intermittently in the past, and have written an extension for org mode (org-drill), so am familiar with its API. I decided to write a theme-agnostic "gamification" extension for Org mode which would allow users to add HabitRPG-like functionality to their Org mode task management systems.

I wrote org-gamify as a fairly flexible library. Basic currency costs and rewards can be implemented without any elisp programming knowledge (beyond defining currencies). Arbitrarily complex systems can be created if the user is willing to write some elisp. Unlike HabitRPG and Epic Win, it is unthemed, leaving users free to design "fantasy", "sci-fi", "sports" or other themes if they wish.

Trying org-gamify might be worthwhile even if you don't continue with it, as it makes you think about rewards -- things you enjoy -- and it makes you quantify how much enjoyment you get from them, compared with how much effort you expend on chores. Most existing task management systems completely ignore the concept of rewards.

How it works

The user defines one or more currencies using the macro define-gamify-currency. Each currency can have a name, minimum and maximum allowed values, a category, custom functions that run after its balance is increased or decreased, and some appearance options such as a custom icon.

The balance of each of these currencies is stored in the global variable org-gamify-inventory. This variable is saved between Emacs sessions. The balances of all currencies can be viewed using the interactive command M-x org-gamify-show-inventory.

Within the agenda, any task can be given a property CURRENCY_DELTAS, whose value must be a list. Each member of this list takes the form (CURRENCY CHANGE) where CURRENCY is the name of a defined currency (a symbol), and CHANGE is a positive or negative number.

When a task's todo state changes to a "done" state (including repeating tasks), the changes listed in CURRENCY_DELTAS are applied to the global variable org-gamify-inventory. Currency changes can be overridden or generated dynamically for any task by adding functions to the hook variable org-gamify-delta-functions; if all of the functions in this variable return nil then the value of CURRENCY_DELTAS is used.

Exactly once per day, every function listed in the hook variable org-gamify-daily-update-functions is run for every active task in the agenda. This provides a way to provide daily rewards or punishments based on whether habits are being maintained, how many tasks are left undone, and so on.

Installation and setup

Download org-gamify.el and save it somewhere. Add the path to org-gamify.el to your load-path.

(add-to-list 'load-path "/path/to/org-gamify.el")

In your emacs init file, define one or more currencies using define-gamify-currency. The simplest setup would be just a single currency ("money" or "gold" or "points"), which increases when you complete tasks and which you spend on rewards. It should have a minimum allowed value of 0 and an enforcement style of block.

Assign CURRENCY_DELTAS properties for the tasks in your agenda. I find this system works well with habits (org-habit), so add some habit tasks if you have not already done so.

Now create "reward" tasks - these are things you enjoy, which will incur a currency cost when you complete them. They should be represented as repeating "TODO" items that are hidden from your normal agenda views somehow - for example by scheduling them far in the future, or defining a new todo state called "REWARD" which is filtered out of agenda views.

You will want to create a custom agenda view to show you a list of available rewards.

Usage

Use agenda mode as normal, but as you mark each task done, you will see a message (or messages) telling you when your currency balances have changed.

When you want to spend currency on a reward, go to your "rewards" agenda view and mark a reward item "done".

Use M-x org-gamify-show-inventory to list all currency balances.

Example setup

Load org-gamify in your emacs init file.

(add-to-list 'load-path "/path/to/org-gamify.el")

Define some currencies. Here, we define two currencies, "gold" and "karma". Both are limited to non-negative values. Both will be earned by completing tasks. We will allow gold to be spent on rewards, while karma cannot be spent so it only ever increases. The category property allows currencies to be grouped according to their category when displaying the inventory. The define-game-currency macro has several other optional arguments – see the documentation string for details.

(define-gamify-currency gold
         :name "gold"
         :category "Money"
         :min 0 :enforce-min block)

(define-gamify-currency karma
  :name "karma"
  :category "Experience"
  :min 0 :enforce-min truncate)

Define currency awards for tasks. The following task awards 4 gold and 2 karma when completed.

** TODO Finish first draft of chapter one
   :PROPERTIES:
   :CURRENCY_DELTAS: ((gold +4) (karma +2))
   :END:

Create some "reward" tasks which cost currency. If the reward can be used more than once then it should be set up as a repeating task. Putting the scheduled date far in the future helps to ensure that it does not show up in any normal agenda views.

Note: You will need make Org mode recognise "REWARD" as an active todo state, e.g. by adding it to org-todo-keywords.

** REWARD Watch a movie on Netflix
   SCHEDULED: <2030-01-01 12:00 .+1h>
   :PROPERTIES:
   :CURRENCY_DELTAS: ((gold -5))
   :END:

Define an agenda custom view to show rewards.

(push '("r" "Rewards"
        todo "REWARD"
        ((org-agenda-time-grid nil)
         (org-agenda-dim-blocked-tasks 'invisible)
         (org-agenda-todo-ignore-scheduled nil)
         (org-agenda-todo-ignore-deadlines nil)
         ))
      org-agenda-custom-commands)

Designing reward systems

• Extrinsic rewards: Allow the user to "purchase" real life rewards that exist outside the game system, such as entertainment, restaurant meals, snacks, fancy coffee, alcoholic beverages, luxury purchases, etc.
• Sense of progress or achievement: As the person engages with the system over time they steadily accumulate some resource that reflects their investment in the system (experience, levels, "badges" for achievements).
• Random rewards: Experiments in operant conditioning (the "Skinner box") have shown that the most effective reward schedule is to dole out rewards unpredictably. The gameplay of many videogames and gambling games is based around this fact. This could be implemented either as giving a reward less than 100% of the time when a task is completed, or as occasionally giving a special, more valuable reward (a "rare drop") instead of the default reward.
• Self-expression and creativity: Reward the user with a resource that does not confer an in-game advantage but that can be used creatively in some way, for example virtual clothing or armour that the person can use to dress their avatar in an online game.
• Competition: the person may enjoy feeling that they have earned rewards faster or more efficiently than other human competitors, or may they simply enjoy the idea of showing off their achievements to other admiring users.
• Music and sound effects: There is a reason that chimes and trumpets sound when you successfully perform a task or reach a goal in a videogame or slot machine. Pleasure is a reward, and pleasant sights and sounds produce pleasure.

Ideas from games

Massively multiplayer online games, free-to-play mobile games, pen & paper role-playing games, and complex board and card games are all fertile sources of ideas for gamification. All are replete with currency systems that overlap and interact, to motivate, reward and punish players.

Experience and levels

Have a currency called "experience" or "XP". It increases whenever you complete a task. Have another currency called "level". When XP exceeds a certain value, level gets incremented automatically, and XP resets.

Reward for maintaining habits

Define a "daily update" function that checks how many days a habit task has been maintained for. If this is more than a threshold number, then automatically give a small currency reward for maintaining the habit without a break.

Alternatively, when a habit task is marked as done, it could check how many days it has been maintained, and the reward for completing the task could increase as the number of days increases.

Bad habits

You could include "bad habit" tasks. These incur costs when you mark them done. There could be rewards linked to the number of days you go without indulging in a bad habit.

Random rewards

Whenever you get a reward, there could be a small chance that you will get a much better reward instead, such as increased amount of currency or a different, rare type of currency, or a temporary buff (see below). This could be more likely if the task is "hard" or has subtasks, or if you have completed a large number of tasks that day.

Buffs

A "buff" is a temporary character enhancement, usually conveyed by a magic spell.

You could implement a buff as a currency which expires (resets to zero) after a certain number of days (or tasks). Buffs could be purchasable or could "drop" as rare rewards.

Ideas for "buffs" include "double currency rewards" or "double experience" or "immunity from punishments".

Spells and abilities

"Spells" or "special abilities" could be set up as repeatable todo items which have a cost in one currency ("mana", gold etc) and either a gain in another currency (such as a buff), or some other special effect.

You might need to learn the spell before you are allowed to "cast" it. Learning could come via random drops, or automatically on levelling up.

Currency conversion

Repeatable todo items that allow conversion of a set amount of one currency into another.

Hit points

You may wish to have a "hit points" or "health" resource which is decremented when you fail to keep up with habits or when tasks get very overdue. You could define spells which allow you to heal yourself. Your maximum hit points could increase when you level up. You would need to define what the consequences are for your hit points reaching zero -- maybe you lose levels and buffs, or forget spells.