RC's Guid to the Godmod, or Powergame

[RC 212]

Hey everyone, RC here!

I would like to now adress and issue that I see frequently occuring around the board in a mas quantity. Take no mistake in my words, this is not a complaint or a gripe but an informative session based on 10+ years of forum RPing between vast amounts of Starwars boards. So let us begin.

First and foremost, some call this form of gaming the GodMod or the PowerGame, known here as the Metagame.

This type of roleplay is very destructive and makes individuals not want to RP with you anymore. Whats more a single individiual who predominantly engages in this behaivor can become the bane, and even ruination of a faction. The problem is that I think people are not so aware of what constitutes a Godmod. Yes we have the gray ares here but there are a few basic hard and fast truths.

1.) Actions which are unblockable or intended to have an effect someone can not cleverly devise an escape from. This most often will occur ina PVP battle. For instance saying, "Captain GM placed his pistol to the back of so and so head and pulled the trigger."

This is pretty much a death sentence. Keep in mind you cannot harm or kill another character wothout their express permission. So saying that you use an unescapeable move is soundly, a GM.

2.) Determining the outcome of an action which physically affects another character wihtou their consent. This one is pretty cut and dry. Saying, "Darth so and so picked Jedi X up with his force power off the ground and flung him into the wall."

God mod here too. We are not giving the other character time to react. A solution is to launch the attack but leave it open ended.

3.) An extreme example but inflicting harm without permission.

Very straight forwards.

"So and so sliced his saber left, chopping off XYZ's arm and blood sprayed everywhere."

Really come on now, we can be more creative.

A special note to force users, please take the inescapable, and unblockable out of your posts when fighting one another or neutrals. It is no fun when you're in a duel and a force user suddenly becomes god and uses the force to stop your every action. Yes feasibly the force can do a lot of things, but for the sake of roleplay, shall we allow it to make everything only as the forcer directs?

This takes the element of surprise and the meaning of the Role play of Role Playing itself. There is no point in entering a duel if neither person or just one person cannot be killed. It would look something like Pirates of the Caribbean; Captain Jack Sparrow, fighting Captain Barbosa in an epic un-winnable duel for all time. Both sides will get bored, angry and upset. No one will have fun and no one will win.


Methods for dealing with a GMer.

Here are a few tried and proven methods.

1) Do NOT go around and slam this person in public or that faction in public just because of a Thread gone wrong. This only makes you look immature and childish. Attempt to communicate via Pm first.

2) If the issue is unresolvable or hostile include the mediation of staff.

3) Failing all else and if staff rules on something you may not like, either accept the ruling, or simply finish or drop out of the thread and make an effort not to involve yourself with said RP'er again.

A side note on combat. If you enter combat as a god and receive no damage, you are not developing your character. Do not just use lame excuses, I have the force, or I have superior training. Some of the greatest duels involve damage done to both sides, elegant and quality combat posts. Think of it as an eye for an eye, give one take one, dodge one, rinse and repeat. If you can't do this, maybe you should not engage in combat in the first place. It may ultimately prove destructive.

As a final note. No one is innocent. Not the Staff, not the population, not even me. Yes I have God Modded. Sometimes by pure accident and it is a big deal.

The trick is to be mindful of our actions and how we treat our fellow Roleplayers. Forgive forget and move one. Do as you would have done unto you.

Stay Classy Starwars RP'ers. Rc out.

 

[Laith Varad*]

In my opinion combat is a tricky issue at best. Different descriptions between writers and differing writing styles contribute to this in my opinion and we all just need to do the best that we can. Having rp'ed on boards as well as in html chatrooms I can attest to the fact that combat in both places has fundamental similarities and differences but it's all pretty much the same thing.

Just for myself I like it when I fight someone who can clearly describe what they're doing allowing me to get a better mental picture in my head. This, by no means, equates to the post needing to be enormous just well worded in many instances. I've seen some posts that were two or three lines which better described the actions and thoughts of a person due to the words that were used than posts which were two or three paragraphs. Might not happen all the time but it does happen in my opinion and for a lot of people I'd say there's a very clear line between something that's nicely described or overly excessive.

When it comes to fighting and the issue of godmodding my two cents are as such though. If you're going to fight you've already accepted the idea that serious damage could be done to your character. This in no way negates the fact that players cannot kill other peoples characters without their permission, death happens but the reality is I've only ever preferred it as a last resort, but for myself I've already accepted the idea that if I charge up to fight a guy in an invasion, etc, my character might get seriously messed up. It happens.

As far as forceposting, which is essentially the determining of an action which affects another character, I do try not to do this but I'll be the first to admit that sometimes it can come out differently. That's writing style once again. Anybody who roleplays with me if they have concerns and come to me about them in pm I'll make it very clear that nothing I write is absolute or set in stone. If you can get out of it, defend against it, etc, then do so. If you want to take the damage that is also your call. I feel that in those types of situations it's all about progressing the scene in a way that's agreeable to both parties and if one of us really feels strongly about how we feel something should progress then we can hash it out and talk it over.

One thing I do try to do quite a bit is add words such as attempt, try, intending, etc into my posts at various junctions which are meant to indicate no matter what I've described something this was my intent, what I've tried to do, but that it is still only an attempt. Accept it, minimize it, block; that is the call of whomever I'm writing with.

Anyways I'd like to think some of this touched on the idea of godmodding, etc, and kept on topic but I'll stop now. You made some good points/have some good opinions and I thought what you said was a good read.

@RC 212

 

[Fabula Caromed]

Gentlemen, I idly direct your attention to an old (and highest-rated on the site, before the crash reset its rep counter) thread by the esteemed Alna Merrill regarding this subject.

I have little input on the matter, though. Normally, if you communicate with your partner (NOT "opponent"), it's extremely difficult to godmode. They'll call you on your crap faster than you can dish it out, and you can do the same for them. Duels where the writers treat each other as respected equals tend to be incredible to read and even more fun to write.

Basically, respect your fellow RPers. Solve godmoding.

 

[TB-705]

I always thought godmodding was something like miraculously surviving a star destroyer exploding. While you're on board.

 

[Nyxie]

1.) Actions which are unblockable or intended to have an effect someone can not cleverly devise an escape from. This most often will occur ina PVP battle. For instance saying, "Captain GM placed his pistol to the back of so and so head and pulled the trigger." This is pretty much a death sentence. Keep in mind you cannot harm or kill another character without their express permission. So saying that you use an inescapable move is soundly, a GM.

I'm pretty sure the rule is that you can't kill someone. If you think you can't nigh put you in a wheelchair because Sith Lord X or Master Y had a bad day, you're going to have a bad time, trust me. Also, some things just happen to be indefensible given the circumstances of its execution, or of the attackers supplementary abilities or defenders lack thereof. That's just nature. Some people compromise to write a good story, and decide on the executions of outcome of things in planning - the kind to negotiate and plot the events for the sake of promoting story. Others just want to duke it out sometimes and give it their all as writers, enjoying it their way - the kind to challenge the upper limits of their writing abilities and their characters, and just play things naturally. Sometimes finding or carefully working into the niche is just what makes it interesting. Ultimately, there is no indefensible attack; it just takes clever and attentive writing to find the way in or out of any situation. Dunno, that's just my two cents on the matter.

I'm incredibly tired so I have no clue if what I just said made any sense or not.

 

[Adenn Gra'tua]

Oh my, you just reminded me of how much I sucked when I joined this thread... GMing almost in every thread, but, at least you've gotten this out there and told people to stop GMing.

I approve of this message .

 

[Garza]

[member="Fabula Cavataio"] You could also add Jon's "How to take a hit" thread. that one has really helped in avoiding conflict I am sure of that.

(I'm saying you because I am too lazy and you don't really have to do it. i'm not that mean )