#godmodding

[confessionsofa-roleplayer]

My partner is continually godmodding my character. I made it clear I didn't like the godmodding and no change. They keep going on and on in their replies about how 'hot' their character is and how my character is a 'cold unfeeling jerk' because he isn't romantically interested in her. Even though my character has been really nice. Just not interested romantically. I hate that they are writing my character's personality, decisions and motives, but the issue is that I have so few partners (only two to be exact) and so few threads that I'm trying to figure out a way to overlook it because I'm really lonely and desperate for whatever roleplay I can get.

[desireeh]

Resumo: Nesse material você verá o que é god mod e meta como evitar cair nesse tipo de jogo.

O terror de todo player e moderação, o godmodding e o metagaming são "ferramentas" que dificultam o direcionamento do jogo. Permanentemente PROIBIDO tais caminhos, são modelos que estragam todo e qualquer desenvolvimento.

Godmodding: É um termo usado no RPG quando um player escreve ações para outro player, sem qualquer aviso, deixando com que o personagem do colega seja um mero NPC na história em que ele é o personagem principal.

Exemplo:

Missy é player do personagem Love e escreve que a personagem Melanie (char de Queen) ficou encantada de ver as habilidades de Love com uma caneta, mas em nenhum momento Queen disse que Melanie estava encantada com as habilidades de Love.

Metagaming: Termo usado quando o player traz informações externas, no o.o.c para o i.c e age como se seu personagem já soubesse disso há tempos.

Exemplo: Love (personagem de Missy) diz em interação que sabe que Melanie (personagem de Queen) tem medo de altura, porém essa informação veio de uma interação entre Melanie e Aphrodite (personagem de Tiny) que Love não participou ou nem teria como saber.

Como podem ver, são ações que quebram totalmente a construção dos personagens e deixa o jogo chato e sem sentido.

Como saber se estou usando Metagaming ou godmodding?

Pense se faz sentido seu personagem saber sobre aquela informação. Ou, se você se sentir inseguro, pergunte ao seu parceiro. A conversa é a forma mais simples e direta para você esclarecer suas dúvidas e poder deixar o jogo fluir. Você pode sim, querer fazer alguma surpresa para o player durante o jogo, mas tome cuidado. Use informações e formas de abordar que dependente exclusivamente de você, e dê sempre o espaço para o player decidir se aquilo é ou não adequado.

Também tenha em mente que algumas ações, como pegar algo da mão do colega, o puxar para algum lugar, começar uma briga não são godmodding, até porquê precisa da reação do outro player para continuar. Sempre deixe suas interações abertas para que o outro player decida o caminho também.

Espero ter ajudado,

Na próxima e última parte desse guia você verá como saber o momento de encerrar uma interação.

[rpedia]

The character I want to play has the ability to read minds/sense emotions, how should I go about this without falling into meta information/godmodding territory?

Oh, I love characters like this! Despite the intricate little dance you have to do to stay cool-beans with everyone, they can be immensely satisfying to play with/against/or at all. A lot of it comes down to checking in OOCly and creating a sense of trust between you and other players. You can't just jump in willy-nilly, but you've already shown that you recognize that! So...

First things first, you need to build a rapport with others. This can only be built through time, roleplay, and the trust that comes with seeing how you use your powers. Any person on the street walking up to you and just misusing your inner thoughts is going to get a realistic reaction from both player and character: disgust, annoyance, and generally thinking you're a prick they want nothing to do with. Do not jump any player character with anything you'd be weirded out with IRL without accepting there will be negative consequences. In this case, they might just reject all RP with you—

So you're going to have to prove yourself.

Start out by pointing out their abilities to people. Then, in narration (that's the story bit the player is writing), maybe reference a reaction to it. Keep a light hand, make it a thing that exists, but don't misuse it. It's flavoring, and if you don't use it to be an absolute twat right off the bat, you can get people to trust you with more details, or information.

Communication is key here, and in this case OOC communication is downright needed. You can contact someone, and set-up rules and comfort zones. You can ask them details, that you can expound on to give the writing more oomf. The trick is, this is cooperative writing, you're both working together to make something that's fun to write, fun to read, and has an impact when put together nicely. That means they want you to succeed as much as you want to succeed. Let them.

Having limits on it that allow people to 'block' your character, or temporarily distract them can help a ton. It gives other users a sense of control/power over your powers, so they feel like they're on an equal playing field. Maybe how far away they are effects how clearly they can hear those thoughts. Maybe they're preoccupied, so they can't focus on them. Maybe tinfoil hats, for once, work. Whatever your reasons, giving yourself human weaknesses can be a delightful way to work off the power.

I, for one, enjoy exploring how although a character may be able to read minds, minds may not always be so clear cut. Are you reading their jumbled thoughts? Can you just collect the general gist of their uppermost thoughts, and are deeper thoughts something you need to push to get to? What if they're a type of mind that can't imagine images because of aphantasia, or what if they think in internal narration? Some folks don't have an internal narrator. Some have a million voices that seem to be thinking at once. You might not even understand what the symbolism of their thoughts mean. This person feels yellow: what the hell does that mean to you?

Misunderstandings also humanize your character, which means failure is an option, and plot can be safely worked around. It's another failsafe that keeps you from overdoing it, or being a godmodding jerk. You can simply 'oopsie' around any thought you shouldn't be able to pick up because it would ruin the RP by simply... not looking at that moment. Or being in someone else's head at the time. A lot of using this power is going to be down to balances like this, where you as a player hold your character's hand and gently nudge them down a staircase if they're doing too much and hurting other people's enjoyment.

Once you find partners who feel safe, pushing the boundaries with them can be more fun because they know what to expect so you're not some stranger weirdo. You're someone who is communicating, and they can trust you to catch them when they narratively freefall into your arms. They know you'll use the power to further the story, not cut the legs out from under it.

It's important in these situations to have a major idea of what you are to everyone else. Attention seeking, godmodding, forcing yourself into situations you don't belong, whiteknighting because you can sense other people's distress and ruining their distressing-on-purpose-RP. These bad habits and more can come up in RP, and when you have the power to "see beyond the 4th wall" so to speak, it becomes even easier to fall prey to them. You need to understand how you exist in this space, and be conscious of stepping on toes.

Check in, check in, check in. If you have any doubts, run the idea past your partner, and then do as they feel comfy. Check in for this, or that. Clarification. Give them a spoiler for your upcoming post and go 'Hey, can I use your PC's thoughts to jump start this plot advancement' and 100% let them direct you. If they say no, sorry bud, you gotta respect that whether or not your character should be able to do it. The more you ask, the better you'll get a feel for the tone of others, and what they're cool with, and the more you can do without asking knowing both of you will love the outcome.

It just takes working with your partners, and developing that trust. I know it takes a while, but you can do it. I believe in you!

[xdragonsbloodx]

Godmodding And Metagaming: An RP Guide:

It’s recently come to my attention that there’s still some confusion about what these terms mean in the RP Community, so to help people out, here are some updated definitions and examples:

Godmodding:

This is the most common term used to describe when a writer writes another person’s character’s reactions, movements, thoughts, or feelings. This doesn’t just go for physical attacks. Godmodding is also writing how someone else’s character thinks or feels. This gets done a lot in RP, which is godmodding, and frustrating to a lot of people.

Ex: Say my character is Sam and your character is Frank. I write this: Sam walked into a bar and sat down next to Frank who had the ugliest look of disgust on his face to see him.

Or: Sam noted Frank checking him out.. (when Frank’s character never said they were)

That’s Godmodding. If this was not previously discussed with the other mun, or the other mun didn’t specifically already say in a previous post that they were disgusted, or checking them out, then you just controlled their character in your set up or reply. They are forced now to have their character upset or interested in yours. It’s controlling their character’s personality, mood, and actions. This is godmodding. You can’t do that.

Metagaming:

This is when you take ooc information and use it ic without discussing it first with the other writer or without a realistic reason to why they would know said information.

Ex: My character is a demon in a human disguise and on first meet yours knows they are a demon. Or on first interaction, your character knows mine is a spy or something private from history in their bio. This is Metagaming. If there isn’t a realistic way this character would know this, ie: say like a werewolf who might smell their scent not being human, then this is information that needs to be discussed with the other mun to either establish a connection somewhere where they’d know their secret information or your character simply would not know in rp until it came out in rp.

Also, adding: it is also Metagaming to have your character know information that another character was thinking in their head or that the writer did not have as dialogue or action. Realism.

For example: I write: Frank wanted to go to school but he was terrified of people. And then you have your character magically know they are afraid of people. You can’t have your character magically read minds. They can only react to what the character says and actually does visibly.

It comes down to realism. You don’t know anything about a stranger in real life until you ask or see something about them and their visible behavior, or someone tells you. Same for RP realism.

I hope this helps.

[simonalkenmayeris-still-dead]

Roleplay 101

So, roleplaying.  As I alluded in my last response, there are plenty of roleplayers on tumblr not getting the kind of hate Simon gets.  I’ve done it, and I didn’t once get someone come into my ask and try to harass me.

And that’s because Simon is breaking one of the most obvious rules of RP, and even of owning a blog if you’re going to open it up to anonymous asks.

Imagine I have a blog where I’m going to RP that I’m Luna Lovegood from the Harry Potter series.  Anyone who sends me an ask in good faith is buying into the premise that the wizarding world is real, and that Luna is a Ravenclaw at Hogwarts.

Most of Simon’s asks do this.  They are happy to buy into the idea that he might be a monster running an experiment.

However, the other end of the deal is that I can’t “play god” by controlling what other players do or say.  It’s actually called godmodding and it’s considered pretty rude in RP circles.

So if someone comes into my ask box and tells me they’re a witch who works at the Ministry for Magic, I have to take their word for it.  Luna can’t tell someone who comes into her inbox that they’re actually a muggle.  That would be an attempt to control them.

And this is what Simon does regarding a whole range of issues, but most prominently when people try to say they’re a cousin, or another type of cryptid.

It’s also completely pointless, because how would playing along hurt him?  Nobody, not even his biggest fans, actually believes he’s a monster. It is entirely about his own ego.

[onceuponanothertime-rp]

hey so i’ve been following a bunch of your characters for a while and i’m wondering why you godmodded regina in the hp au? bc like regina never interacted with emma or snow in the hp au? that’s kinda dumb and alienates your members.

part 2) same anon; it alienates your members and as someone who really wanted to join it makes me want to run as far away as i can. i get it, you’re anti-regina apparently, but you have to realize there are people who aren’t anti-regina.

Thank you for coming to us with your concern, anon. While we don't know what interactions you're referring to specifically, after some discussion with the whole mod team, I have a better understanding of how some things that have been published on my blog (Emma's) were godmodding. It was unintentionally done, and after our in-depth discussion, I have a better understanding now. We don't hate Regina at all. I personally love Regina and her character development! When not doing AU weekends and we are faced with canon, I do have to get inside Emma's tone, but I'll be completely honest and say that it has been very challenging. I can't wait for the day I can have Emma view Regina as a friend rather than an enemy. Writing in Emma's mindset now does not correlate to my thoughts on Regina.

If you wouldn't mind coming to us off anon via instant message instead and let us know which post(s) on Emma's blog are concerning, we would greatly appreciate your help in that area. There was zero godmodding on Snow's blog. She received one ask about Regina which painted Regina as a villain, and in Snow's response, she was confused, having no idea what the anon was referring to, as the ask was referencing OUAT canon events that did not occur in our HP AU. I think I know what posts you're referring to on Emma's blog and I have been in touch with our Regina to discuss these concerns myself. Thank you again for bringing this to our attention. We’ll be keeping a closer eye out in the future for any possible instances of potential godmodding. 

We hope that you'll still apply with us! We'd love to have you.

- Mod Casey

[theblacklambrph-blog]

Hey there, Ay here!

This isn’t a tutorial, but more of an explanation as to what God-Modding and Meta-Gaming are. There has been a lot of confusion in the Tumblr RPC with this and I just want to really make these two things clear.

They are NOT the same!

You will see a lot of groups and even indie RP blogs tell you that you shouldn’t god-mod/meta-game. Please be very mindful of this because not everyone knows that these are actual huge “no’s” in the RP community. 

Let me explain God-Modding first since that’s a doozy of a problem still and I have no idea why it is.

God-Modding is making someone else’s character do something without the player’s permission. Think of it like this: if you were talking to someone and all of a sudden they made you do something you wouldn’t normally do, how would you feel? Miserable, right? That’s God-Modding. Sure, there are players who don’t mind it...but they want you to talk to them first before it’s posted. This isn’t forums where you have to go back and forth in an inbox for days on end to get through a post. People like to be asked about these things. Back on IMVU, it drove me crazy when I’d have friends invite me into group rooms and sit there and read through T1 posts (those are considered several multiple-paragraphs/pages in Tumblr/Tabletop standards) just to make sure someone wasn’t god-modding. I once spent eight hours reading and refereeing the entire interaction. In Tumblr, this would bring concern to the Admins and it could mean several consequences for you and your character. If you say you’ve been RPing for years, then you know this is a huge nopeity-nope on practically everyone’s rules. So, please, God-Modding is a NO unless you get the okie-dokie from the other player(s).

Now, as for meta-gaming. This gets confused for god-modding so often and they are slightly similar but not the same thing. Let me explain.

Meta-Gaming is knowing something OOC (out of character), like information about a character that was given to another player, but then used IC (in character) without the other player’s permission. Let’s say a character has a secret that no one knows, but you have your character knowing it and talking about it to the other character. That, there, is meta-gaming. Or another great example is a character knowing the weakness of another character. For instance, let’s say you’re playing a person who just met someone who’s super rude. You and the other player are friends and they disclose their character’s greatest fear. You use that fear IC to gain the advantage. That is Meta-Gaming. You can’t use OOC information in the game. You cannot, I repeat, CANNOT do that. Imagine if you were that player, the one who trusted you with that information and it was just all blown away because it was used IC. You’d feel pretty crappy, right? Imagine how the other player feels when you do that.

Neither of these are fair, and I get it...life isn’t fair. But, really, this isn’t life. It’s a game. You play fair in sports, you play fair with boardgames and card games. It’s why it’s called a Roleplaying Game, not life.

So, in conclusion: be respectful, always ask for permission, and don’t assume anything is IC unless stated otherwise. Are we clear? Good.

Thanks for taking the time to read this!

[nikelykke]

She noticed him eyeing the water bottle in her hand --- it stood out amidst the glasses of champagne. “This is my third bottle, Bea’s better than the actual waiters here. Once the bottle empties I have a new one in my hands,” Lykke scoffed, some of her characteristic sharpness returning to her voice. “I would have thought that my tolerance would have grown after our night out. I was mistaken.” She had a dry look on her face, the new water diet already bringing her party mood down. Sobering up was more important than fun though.

---- @olivicr