An App Idea to Gamify Real Life Goals for Procrastinating Gamers
A goal-tracking app that borrows video-game feedback mechanics — levels, ranks, instant scoring — and applies them to real academic and skill goals so users get the same dopamine loop from progress on their actual objectives.
I might just be a lost cause when it comes to being productive
I guess Im just in a really bad spot. I’ve always struggled with procrastination and focus, but it’s been pretty bad these last couple of days. I told myself that I would change senior year and set a couple goals for myself. I wanted to maintain a 4.0 GPA while at community college, transfer to a top 20 school, learn how to code/create coding projects, learn more math and complete in math/coding competitions. It fell apart almost immediately. I spent over $500 on math books just to not read them. I haven’t really learned how to code yet despite taking classes. I’ve forgotten pretty much everything since it never went to use. I haven’t been studying much either. Right now, it feels like all I care about is getting good at video games. I’ve always used video games as a coping mechanism but it became really unhealthy really fast. I’m very competitive and always want to be the best at whatever I touch. Right now I’m playing this game and I want to hit a specific rank. It’s consumed every part of my being and I can’t focus on anything else. I play for hours on end instead of studying even though I know I’m running out of time. I still have no extracurriculars, lost my 4.0 due to 2 B’s, and haven’t made any progress elsewhere. It’s like I want to but just simply can’t. I have to get good at this game and don’t know what or what I’m trying to prove. I just want to change. It really, really feels like I don’t want to as if I’m happy the way I am, but deep down I know I’m not so I have to change.
The problem, in the searcher’s words
I can't stop playing video games long enough to actually work on my real goals, even though I know I'm running out of time. I set big goals for myself — good grades, learning to code, transferring schools — and instead I spend hours grinding a game rank and feel like I can't focus on anything else.
It's not that I don't want to change, it's that the game gives me constant feedback and a sense of progress that studying or coding practice just doesn't. I know I'm wasting money and time (I bought textbooks I never opened) but I keep gravitating back to the game because it 'rewards' me immediately and my real goals don't.
I want something that makes working toward my actual goals feel as structured and rewarding as leveling up in a game, so I stop losing every day to the thing that's easiest to get dopamine from instead of the thing I actually care about long-term.
What the thread shows
The thread shows one person's acute struggle with substituting video game achievement for real-life goals, with commenters independently pointing to the same mechanic — games give clear structured feedback that real goals lack — but no one in the thread frames this as something they'd pay to fix.
“It’s consumed every part of my being and I can’t focus on anything else.”
“Video games have boatloads of structure plus auto-scoring (of every little action).”
“I’ve had periods where I was obsessed with a game and everything else felt like a chore and the game had clear feedback, clear progress, and a clear ranking but real life goals didn’t.”
“Instead of “learn to code,” I’d spend 20 minutes building or fixing something. It felt too small to matter, but it was the only thing that actually stuck.”
Target customer
Who
Competitive, achievement-driven students (especially high schoolers/community college students with ambitious academic goals) who use video games as an escape and struggle to redirect that same drive toward studying, coding, or other long-term goals.
Context
They hit this problem when they set demanding, multi-part goals (GPA, transfer, coding, competitions) that have slow, unclear feedback loops, and default to gaming because it delivers instant structured progress and ranking instead.
What to build
- Break big goals (GPA, coding, math practice) into small daily 'quests' with instant completion feedback
- Visual rank/level system tied to real progress in each goal category
- XP and streak tracking across multiple simultaneous goals
- Focus-session mode that times work blocks and logs them toward rank progress
- Simple dashboard showing 'rank' trajectory over time, similar to a game leaderboard
Build note — Could integrate with iOS Screen Time / Android Digital Wellbeing APIs to enforce or track focus sessions; the core challenge is UX/game-design (making the feedback loop feel as rewarding as an actual game), not just backend tracking.
Later, if it lands
Who’s already out there
Turns to-do lists and habits into an RPG game with avatars, XP, and rewards.
Gap: General-purpose habit gamification; not tailored to the specific conflict of competing directly with an existing video game habit or to academic/skill-ranking goals.
Grows a virtual tree while you stay off your phone during a focus session; tree dies if you leave the app.
Gap: Only blocks distraction during a session; doesn't build a longer-term rank/progress system for real goals like GPA or coding skill.
Blocks distracting apps and websites (including games) across devices during scheduled sessions.
Gap: Pure blocking tool with no gamified feedback loop or goal-progress system to replace what gaming provides.
Demand read
The thread shows real, corroborated pain around gaming's superior feedback loop versus unstructured real-life goals, but nobody in the thread states they would pay for or already pays for a tool addressing it, so willingness-to-pay is unproven here.
Worth digging into before you build
4 to considerNo idea is a sure thing at this stage — these are open questions worth checking yourself, not a verdict against building it.
Single Voice
Only the OP describes the acute personal crisis in detail; commenters offer general advice rather than corroborating demand for a specific product.
Weak Demand
No one in the thread states willingness to pay or describes an existing paid solution they use.
Generic Idea
Gamified habit/goal trackers (Habitica, Forest, Freedom) are a saturated category; the thread doesn't reveal a differentiated angle beyond what these already do.
Sensitive Domain
Post touches on video game overuse, academic stress, and possible mental-health strain (OP describes feeling like a 'lost cause'); needs editorial review before publishing.