I Have a Skyrim-Only to-Do List and It Made the Games so Much Better.
We all strive to be more productive at work. Our dream is to have a perfect to-do list that you actually stick to. I unlocked this achievement, but it was not in the office. My perfect to-do list helps me get things done … in video games.
This may sound incredibly silly, but it works for the same reason it does in real life. The human mind is error prone, and in open world games like Skyrim or Grand Theft Auto, there is too much to do to keep track of it all in your head. So, as classic productivity advice suggests, it’s best to get it out of your head and feed it into the system.
For me, this system is Wunderlist, my favorite to-do app, although this principle probably works in any productivity app you like (even something like Evernote ). This is why it works.
To-do lists succeed where your quest log fails
Most open world RPGs have some sort of “quest system” that keeps track of what you need to do. “Lord Duceking the Third asks you to find this cave, kill the spiders and bring him the other half of the medallion he lost when he was drunk at the College of Wizards.” You know, typical things for video games.
But as these quests stack up, the in-game quest log becomes inadequate to keep track of all of them. Skyrim, for example, doesn’t let you give up on quests, which means the quest clutter builds up quickly. The Witcher 3 allows only one mission to be tracked on the map at a time, making it difficult to “kill two birds with one stone” during a weekend break in Skellig. And games almost never take non-quest-related tasks into account, such as collecting components for that awesome Dragon Bone Armor set you want to make.
For example, here’s a general overview of what I need to do in Skyrim right now:
- Complete the Thieves Guild quest near Riften.
- Find the sect that has camped east of Windhelm.
- Visit the statue west of Solitude for a quest that will bring me a new sparkling sword.
- Talk to the guy in Windhelm because my friend told me that a really cool quest is starting
- Unload some of my loot in Riften
The quest that a friend told me about is not yet in my journal, because I have not started it. I know I want to get this sword before doing anything else, as it will make it easier to complete other quests. Both quests in Windhelm are next to each other, so I must complete them together. I also need to remember to hand over this loot from the merchant who is next to one of my regular quests but is not in my quest log because it is not really a “quest”.
You can see that the quest system is not built to handle this type of task organization. But Wunderlist is:
The To Do List helps you fill in the blanks when the quest system crashes. You can look at your quest log and game map to effectively plan what you want to do next, instead of trying to remember the perfect order and unregistered quests.
To-do lists provide context
In addition, the quest logs do not always contain enough information to remember the entire background of the quest. “Wait, why do I need this amulet?” “I have to talk to this person, but it doesn’t seem to advance the quest. Was there something else I needed to do? “What the hell am I to do with this talking dog?” When your game doesn’t offer context, your to-do list can.
When I add something new to my to-do list, I often take some of the more challenging tasks and add a link to the quest. That way, when I inevitably forget why I was going somewhere, I can check the Notes field in Wunderlist for more information. You can also jot down your own notes, such as loot you want to collect along the way, or spells you want to have at the ready.
To-do lists help you relax after you stop playing
Because of this article, it may seem like I never leave the land of Skyrim, but I’m actually a pretty ordinary player. Real life always comes first, which means that sometimes I spend days or weeks without playing. But that means that when I come back, I inevitably forget my grand plan for all the cool things I was going to do next.
This is what originally inspired me for my first Skyrim to-do list: no matter how long you fly away, if you write down where you are and what’s next on your list, you can start the game without missing a beat. Without my to-do list, I would have spent 15 minutes just re-reading my quest log and plotting my next steps. I don’t have time for this. I only have 30 minutes to play before I have to dine on the stove and spend time with my wife.
To-do lists help you bridge your gaming gap
Finally, to-do lists help me deal with the backlog on Steam. Yes, it’s not an in-game to- do list by itself, but it’s still incredibly useful. If you’re like me, you have quite a few unplayed games , no doubt from last year’s Steam Summer Sale. I use my to-do list to keep track of them.
I have a list on the Wunderlist dedicated solely to what I’m going to play next. Order is not set in stone – I can rearrange things based on my mood at any given time – but the gross skeleton keeps me from playing too many games at the same time and helps me alternate my 6-hour shooters with my 40-hour RPGs to I didn’t burn out on one genre. I even checked howlongtobeat.com and will show the number of hours in the “Notes” section to know what I was getting into, before you move the game to the top of your list. Like the other tips above, this is a little thing that makes a big difference.