Godmoding

From An Evolution in RP :: Database

There are several variations of God-moding. This article will address the two main issues here at SWE in terms of what is wrong, and why you should not do it.

The first, and perhaps most abused version of God-moding is acting on behalf of another character. In this example a character would post the actions, words, or emotions of another character in their presence before the other character has established them.

It is not permitted to force anything onto another character in terms of the actions, words, or emotions. Once the other character states they did something, said something, or felt something, you are permitted to react to and recognize those reactions, but you can not place them out there prior to the other characters statement of such.

An example of the bad:

 *Tais decided it was time to run. He grabbed Rhiara by the wrist and 
  dragged her from the docking bay into his ship.

This is wrong because the character Tais has stated actions that Rhiara has not established herself as doing.

To accomplish the exact same thing without godmoding you could simply post this:

 *Tias decided it was time to run. He grabbed for Rhiara's wrist and took off for his ship.

The post is very similar, but instead of stating that he grabbed and dragged Rhiara from the docking bay into a ship, he simply states that he tries to grab for Rhiara's wrist and heads for the ship. In Rhiara's next post she can then establish if he did indeed grab her wrist and take her to the ship, or if she elected to do something else with her character altogether.

It is controlling the second character that is not an NPC that is wrong. Granted this may be viewed as minor, but the point is that you can only control your character and associated NPCs, not the other characters around you.

A second type of God-moding is as follows.

Godmoding is the term for when a character takes on powers, attributes, and abilities far beyond what would be considered acceptable or reasonable; forces his or her own actions on another player; or disrupts game play with an overly powerful character that exploits its 'godlike' abilities to the detriment of the game and other players.

These practices violate Evolution's Rules.

The characteristic example of a Godmoder is: Fabio WorldEater, a character who wears Mandalorian Armor of Invincibility, wields the Saber of Mass Destruction and a Boot of Instant Death, and is endowed with a pair of rippling pecs and 40-inch biceps. This character will dodge every attack or even worse.

Here is an example of a Godmoding post:

 *Fabio WorldEater plucks Dick's blaster out of mid air and puts it 
   in his mouth, chewing off the muzzle like a small candy. He then 
   states, "Thanks, that was mighty tasty," and proceeds 
   to put the smackdown on Dick with his Saber of Mass Destruction 
   and Boot of Instant Death, blocking all further attacks with his 
   Mandalorian Armor of Invincibility.

In this situation, no warning is necessary. Admins reserve the right to ban a player without warning for such behavior or to edit/delete any such post Repeated incidents will result in a ban. Characters can and will die in the Evolution Sim.

Many consider the resurrection of dead characters to be godmoding as well. A lot of players find it is extremely annoying when a dead character returns. In Free-Form Role-Playing, it can be seen as an overused plot device. Please do not be the type of character that is killed over and over again only to return a week later through some bizarre miracle. It is annoying when a role play begins to resemble something out of the cheesy soap operas on daytime television. If that's your thing, save it for television.

Many believe that half the fun of role-playing is dealing with a character's weaknesses or inability to fight. There is no "experience" to be gained from godmoding and the idea is to write a story, not to have the most powerful character around. If that's what a player wants to do, we recommend that they play elsewhere.

Power gaming

Power gaming or PGing to presume or declare that his or her own action against another player character is successful without giving the other player character the freedom to act on his own prerogative. These practices violate Evolution's rules.

Powergaming may include, but is not limited to:

• Role-playing or acting in such a manner that another player is forced or coerced into an action that he or she does not wish to take.
• Declaring another character's actions for him/herself without that player'spermission.
• Stating what happened to another player character without the player's consent.
• Presuming that your own attack or physical action against another character was successful without giving the character the chance to dodge or react otherwise.
• Forcing one's roleplay on another, unwilling player.
• Imposing emotional reactions on other characters and 'thoughtposing,' or posing your thoughts of a given character, thus giving that character no chance to react.
• Conversely, declaring that all actions taken against your character have no effect.

 For example, if Player A and B were to interact and Player A decided to
 throw a punch at Player B, he would be powergaming if he were to write:
 
 Player A punches Player B in the face, knocking him senseless.
 
 The above example gives Player B no chance to react. Whereas, if Player A were to write:
 
 Player A aims a swinging uppercut at Player B.
 
 Player B would still have the freedom to pose his/her own reaction.

Strictly speaking, powergaming is considered by many to be "cheating" and can easily hurt the community and rapport between players.

Any instances of Powergaming will be met with a warning. Continuing to powergame will lead to a ban.