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God Modding

I

Ivy Walker

Banned
Banished
Joined
Apr 9, 2010
Alright, I've heard talk here and there in the roleplaying community of this terminology and have generally concluded that it is an abhorrent thing to be and do. But as far as what exactly it is and entails seems to get me multiple different definitions. Some say it is controlling other people's characters without the other player's permission and other aspects of controlling a roleplay in directions that were not agreed upon. And others have said that it is having over-powered characters who cannot get hurt and deal tons of damage and constantly seem to avoid other's attacks impossibly.

So help me set the record straight, what exactly IS "god modding"? Is it some of the things listed above? Is it all of these things? Does it involve something more?

And just to make things interesting, if you've ever played with someone who was guilty of this "offense", share your stories and experiences with us. For teh lulz.
 
God modding in the simplest of terms is unfair rping that damages the well being the the role play.

As to what that means exactly, well that depends on the group.
 
Goes back to gaming, where cheats for "God Mode" existed which made you thoroughly invincible so you could just run through the game without any cares or difficulty. How that applies to Roleplaying is a fairly direct comparison. If you are a God Moder the roleplay is your playground, nothing can, will, or does happen to you. Yes, controlling other people's character is one way to do that, yes, just having an invincible character is another. The easy rule I use to determine the presence of God Mode is this:

If you have to halt the roleplay to say something cannot/will not occur, and the reason is not an In Game reason, then yeah, you're God Moding to some extent.

So what does that mean? Well, if you tell someone "Your character can't be kicking down my door because in this post right before he was in his apartment which is a good two hours away from where I am and now he's just instantly there...?" No, not god moding. If you tell someone "You can't go kick in my door because I don't want you at my location right now." Yes, that would be. Same as things saying "You can't harm my character unless I say so", a fairly common rule of forum board RPing that is really poor form. Saying "you can't stab me with that sword because I disarmed you five posts ago and you never picked it back up" is not.
 
I agree with Arc on all accounts except the last (combat with another player). It is always good respect to put any attack on someone else as a open ended thing, instead of saying that you hit them with it. It cuts down on argument, and not everything hits. Though of course, not everything misses, either.
 
I see, I see. Yeah, that combat part confused me a bit, but I think I understand it a bit better.
 
I never post results to my attacks unless someone asks what it will do when/if it hits in the combative situations. However I despise the moments where, say I do actually start "winning" a fight. We're having some epic sword duel for example. I get a victorious stroke in and dispatch my foe with a thrust straight into their heart... and somehow that just "knocks them out".

Which goes back to that rule "you can't do jack to my character unless I say so" aspect of God Mode. In what way do wounds like steel to the heart merely knock someone out? A bullet to the brain case? Hell, someone hacking at your arm with an axe should eventually dismember you, right? Most common form of God Mode, and one that's almost normally accepted. Personally I don't like it. Then again that's why I have the reputation I do on certain cites. But if you're not willing to accept the risks as well as the rewards of such a scene... why bother running one anyway?
 


      • I've always understood "god-modding" as your roleplaying partner taking control of your character
        without your consent. For example: "So-and-so pushed the girl back, watching as she stumbled
        over a nearby log        ", or, "So-and-so punched the man so hard he snapped their jaw."
        Of course, this is only concerning your partner's character. If it's one of your side characters
        you've just thrown into the mix for the sake of the story then it's absolutely fine.

        Sometimes "god-modding" can be relevant to the movement of a story if the two parties have
        come to a mutual agreement that it should be done~! It all really, really does depend on the scenario.

        [/list:u][/list:u][/list:u]
 
God-moding has been turned into a bit of a catch-all phrase for a while now. In particular, there's a lot of cross-over between god-moding, powerplaying, and metagaming. These are the definitions I personally use:

God Moding: It's when your character is, for all intents and purposes, a god. They can do anything and everything. Nothing can hurt them. A god-moder doesn't say, 'Whoops, your character missed!' during a fight; a god-moder says, 'Your character's hit was ineffective because my character is wearing a super-secret amulet that was never mentioned in his profile and never has been mentioned up until this very moment, haha, sucks to be you!' This is generally fairly passive.

Powerplaying: Is taking control of another individual's character. During a fight, a powerplayer will say, 'Your character misses and I hit yours in the face!'. They take control---power---over someone else's character. This is more aggressive than god-moding in my own experience.

Metagaming: Using OOC knowledge ICly. Player A knows about Character B's greatest weakness, but Character A has no way of learning. Player A has Character A use the weakness anyway, without giving an IC explanation. This is just plain annoying.

As Dream says, these things can be beneficial to a story, but only as long as the writers agree. Sometimes a bit of powerplaying is necessary (like for a kidnapping scene or something).
 
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