Godmodding and You
By Bricu | January 28, 2010
Fellow Feathermooninite and fantastic blogger, Ovistine, tweeted her frustrations regarding a topic that many an RP has faced: Godmodding. This is the practice of forcing another character into a thought, or behavior, against their will. Common examples of this can be found in FlagRSPs:
“As you gaze upon Pretty Pretty Princess, you are drawn to her. She is so pretty, so attractive, you simply have to have her…”
Or
“You cannot meet the evil gaze of Evil Warlock EvilvonEvilson, the most evil of evil that ever kicked a kitten.”
If this issue was limited to character descriptions, then the problem of Godmodding would have easy solutions. Godmodding occurs in fic, in random RP, during RP events and anywhere in between. In short, Godmodding can occur damn near anytime two RPers start to RP. It is not an insurmountable problem, it just takes a little creativity to deal with.
Before we delve into solutions, some attention should be given to why godmodding occurs. I would suggest that there are two primary causes for Godmodding:
Two RPers who randomly interact will not be aware of their styles, their character’s goals and motivations or their various histories. Figuring out the last two is what makes RP exciting. Sussing out new characters should be a FUN activity for everyone involved. Sometimes, players forget that the primary way to communicate these facets is to RP it. They want it to come across instantly. In Game RP isn’t that simple. OoC communication needs to supplement IC communication to help bridge the gap of paraverbal communication (ie: our tone of voice).
Bricu is a perfect example of this. He frequently, if not always, comes across as an abrasive, manipulative, lying jerk to people. This has lead to other players to step in in OoC (or through whispers) to say, “That’s just who he is. Don’t be scared off.” Now, when I play Bricu, I don’t emote, “Bricu makes you feel uncomfortable being here.” If that is what he is trying to do–Hint: it probably is–then I try to do that through RP. Note that since I’m RPing a bastard, I use the OoC communication in two ways: To make sure the other player realizes I’m not that big of a jerk AND to point out that the RP is just Bricu’s personality and style.
In a rush to accomplish their RP goals, some Godmodders forget (or do not know) basic communication skills, and forcing thoughts, feelings and actions onto other characters.
Controlling Players, however, are a different breed. These are the players who do not want to relinquish control to their characters. They want, or need, for their characters to be recognized as something, be it pretty, evil, good, powerful. The options go on and on. In order to achieve these goals, they force others to acknowledge their characters beauty, morals or their ABV.
I am sure there are reasons for Godmodding that do not fit neatly into either category; however There is one tactic that may work for all types of Godmodders: Try talking to them. This is not just my advice. The wise folks at the Hearthstone Tavern also suggest that taking someone aside to explain why Godmodding sucks deals with this issue at least 50% of the time. In short, rule number one in dealing with Godmodding: Be patient, explain why it doesn’t work and give them a do-over.
Another tactic for dealing with Godmodders: Co-opt the Godmodding. A long time ago, another player wrote up a bit of Fic that had a paladin trainer–Grayson Shadowbreaker–talking about how Bricu was a terribad example of a paladin. In this same speech, Threnn was indirectly cautioned to stay away from Bricu and the player’s character was praised. Now, I had set up Bricu to have a difficult relationship with the leaders of the Church. I didn’t specify who, nor did I say why. It was explained to me by someone else, someone who did not run this idea by me.
I did not just run with it. I took ownership of it. I explained my concerns regarding the story, but I then created the reasons why Grayson dislikes Bricu. While Bricu was labled by another writer, I took ownership of that label and did what I wanted with it. This is not giving the Godmodder what they want. This is taking what the Godmodder gave you and making it your own.
Imagine that a Godmodder wants to punch your character. In typical Godmodder fashion, they emote, “Mr. Dudeguy draws his
Last, and not least, there is another way to address Godmodding: Ignore them. If a person will not communicate with you on the nature of the RP, there is no reason to RP with them. RP happens with people, not TO people. If you are willing to talk with a Godmodder and work with them, then they should, at least, attempt to work with you. To be completely realistic, not everyone gets along with everyone else. While you should give a Godmodder a chance to work with you, if they refuse to, you do not need to beat your head into your keyboard.
If you have to ignore the Godmodder, I recommend the following: RP what you are comfortable with and leave the rest at the table. To continue with the stabbing example, you could RP that your character’s bleeding out into Dalaran, crying for help in your RP channels. You could RP that your character crawls to saftey, away from the nutter with the knife, and manages to call for help. I would strongly recommend not Godmodding in return–don’t feed into the negative behavior by emoting how your 80 level prot shield slams the 75 rogue into the Nether. Focus on what your character COULD do to escape the bad situation and type in /ignore.
In short, good communication can help with Godmodding. If they don’t want to communicate, then your job is done. Do not, however, Godmod back.
Now its your turn. Tell us about your favorite ways of dealing with Godmodding or about your worst instances of Godmodding!
4 Comments
Ovistine on January 28, 2010 at 5:26 pm.
\o/ Great post! Yay posts about godmodding, why it’s rough, and ways to deal with it!
My worst experiences with godmodding fall under the broad category of “someone else is trying to play my character for me”. It’s one thing if you’re part of a consistent duo, and you write up RP bits that involve the other person’s character, vetting it before the RP goes live. (I do this frequently for Valinar; he and I are always available to talk about where Ovi and Val are and what they’re doing.)
But if it’s a stranger, or even just someone you’re not talking to OOC at all… it makes me nuts. I don’t want to be told what my character’s thinking or how she’s going to react to something. I definitely don’t want to be told what my character’s doing, or what kind of physical actions she takes in response to someone else’s actions.
I also don’t care for having to mindread “thought” emotes — it’s one thing if it’s an off-the-cuff raid moment where everyone is thinking stuff like “/me is cold”, “/me is hungry”, “/me wants a health cookie” (one person is always bound to emote “/me wonders where all these voices in her head are coming from”, which cracks me up), but if you want people to react to what you’re thinking, you gotta get it somewhere their character can interact with the information, darn it. And if someone’s not very observant — God knows I have characters that wouldn’t notice a steam tank if you dropped it on their heads, let alone an eye twitch or a foot tapping — that needs to be taken into account, too.
When RPing, I try really hard to give people room on this sort of thing. I know there are some wounds that can’t be cured for RP reasons, so even though Ovistine’s raised the dead more times than I can count, the best she can do in the moment is bring the Light to bear and hope it takes. If I’m going to have one of my girls punch someone, I swing it, but I don’t land it. I know OOC a lot of us think Varian Wrynn’s a goober, but if Nancie’s going on about how it’s a great thing he’s back because now the kingdom’s going to get on its feet again instead of kowtowing to Proudmoore and the orcs, I figure I better not emote “Everyone stays quiet while Nancie talks”. And I only stick to subtle emotes if I’m okay with nobody picking up on them.
I suppose the flip side of all this is that some people want a little bit of randomness thrown at them — maybe they want to roll with the punches, literally or figuratively. If someone knows my characters well, I’m more than up for the occasional detail tossed my way, something I can roll with or not, as needed. My characters’ backstories are pretty relaxed, and for the most part, I’d rather shift things around to accomodate a kickass idea than stick with a piece of personal canon that might never have been seen on screen anyway!
But, as always, communication is the key here. A quick “What if X happened to this character?” conversation can lead to a dozen awesome ideas; tossing out “X happened to this character” may or may not.
Bricu on January 28, 2010 at 5:51 pm.
Wow! Ovi, that’s a post right there!
I agree: there isn’t anything as irritating as someone trying to play your character. In a fic project, giving a player final veto is key to a good piece. I’m lucky enough to have some amazing writers in the wfr who get Bricu.
Emoting thoughts are also a pain in the butt. I’ve learned to ignore most of them
.
OwenaMacManys on August 20, 2011 at 10:27 pm.
I just wanted to find some help in outsmarting a godmodder. I am in the middle of a battle, and every hit I throw at him, including one to the groin, he either dodges or takes the hit and acts as if nothing happened. Which isn’t possible, because my OC is a trained boxer, it’s been in her history since I thought her up and everyone knows it. I just need some advice for that!
falconesse on August 21, 2011 at 12:12 am.
It sounds like it’s time for a bit of out-of-character palaver there. I’d suggest checking in with the other player and seeing what’s up. What kind of training does this opponent have compared to your character’s? How even or uneven a match do you think the fight should be? Does the other player share that assessment?
If your take on their relative fighting experience doesn’t match up with the other players’, you might need to spend some extra OOC time clarifying, and working out each characters’ advantages and disadvantages.
Totally valid to tell the other player that it’s losing its fun for you if your character isn’t landing any hits at all — even if the win isn’t a foregone conclusion, it’s nice to have a few moments of “Ha! Got him!” (Which brings me to the converse — even if your character is a trained boxer, you’re letting the opponent get in the occasional jab, too, ja?)
If the other player isn’t amenable to chatting about how the fight’s working out, you might need to change tacks. Would your character have a reason to walk away from the fight at that point? Or, if she’s seen the other person take hits in other battles, would she wonder if the other person has some new unfair advantage? Along the same line of thought, if as far as she knows the other character’s a terrible fighter, would she think maybe he’s cheating somehow and accuse him of it? In other words, how can you either end the battle or extract your character from the situation, if you can’t resolve it with a few minutes’ OOC time-out?
Good luck, and let us know how it gets resolved!