A discussion about "God modding" and it's defense

Started by rhev, October 05, 2016, 08:45:11 AM

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rhev

Ok, I want to start this post with a disclaimer; I don't dislike someone just for having differing opinions then me.  If someone has a differing opinion then I do, discussion with them might expand my viewpoint and change my world view.  It's not a bad thing to have a different opinion then someone else.  It is a bad thing to think that the world only works one way, and people who think differently then you are somehow wrong.  We are all products of our environment and our experiences, and no one alive has had the same experiences as anyone else, ever.   You want to play a futa bunnyrabbit antrho who is into guro and knife play?  Ok, not my thing, on any level at all.... but that's fine, that's your thing!

Ok, but there is one thing that I simply can not understand, I do not get, and I want to have a discussion about.  It's something I see a LOT on the role-playing requests forums and in a LOT of author's "On/off" threads.  For brevity's sake, it's "God modding" and how that's either an instant turnoff, or how any god modding will instantly end a game for that player.  I just don't get this attitude.  Yes, that's right, I'm about to defend god modding, buckle up kiddos.

I understand that it can be highly frustrating to think that someone else is controlling your character.  How dare someone else make a decision that involves your character?  Who are they to know what your character would say, do, or think?  Right? 

Wrong.

Notice the words repeated and bolded above there?  "Your character"  I think this is the main problem with people who have this feeling that somehow a character belongs solely to them.  I have news for you, it doesn't.  Unless you're writing a story by yourself, you don't have sole ownership of a character in any story.  If you are collaboratively writing with another player, or with several other players, they have at least some stake in the character as well.  The very moment "your character" begins to interact with a character written by someone else, the ownership of either character is now, at least to a fraction of a percent, owned by both writers.  This website / forum is about collaborative writing at it's very core.  It may be about smutty ERP, or it may just be some place you come for social interaction, heck, it may even be something else for you.  But no matter why you come to this forum, you come here to interact with others.  Whenever you enter into a RP with another player, you're interacting with them.  Your ideas and their ideas are blending, creating a fusion between the minds of the two (or more) of you to create an original work of art.  As such, their thoughts, their ideas, may include actions, speech, or thoughts that come from "your character."  By criticizing someone for "God modding" "your character" in any way, you are essentially stepping on their creativity and limiting the story and freedom.

Now, let me pause for just one second and clarify.  I'm not saying that you can't own a character.  I'm not saying that you should let anyone just take control of a character that you are playing and do whatever they want.  I want to be clear on that.

But what I am saying is that there is this pervasive attitude that I've seen in a lot of o/o threads and a lot of RP requests that have the essential attitude that even a mote of god modding will equal an instant game over.  For example, You MIGHT read something like this in an o/o post :
Quote from: fictional Elliquiy userI do not allow god modding. In the past I have dropped partners for writing that my character moaned.  I write when my character moans, not you.
I'm sorry, but this seems SO extreme to me.  I'm not calling out any specific person, because I've seen this attitude in many people's o/o posts.  She is not unique in this line of thought.  But I just simply can't understand the line of thought that went on here.  A moan is quite often a small and involuntary action.  Doesn't it sort of make sense that something like that SHOULD be written as out of your control?  Now, I don't know the context of that particular example.  But the way it's presented, it makes the author in question seem like a very overly protective, overly controlling, and overly possessive author.

I personally have been roleplaying for over 30 years now, starting my career in Dungeons and Dragons back in 1984.  I've also been doing creative writing for even longer, and I remember the first few stories I ever wrote, sitting at my dad's electric typewriter, and banging out a silly story about people who lived in houses shaped like hourglasses.  My first experiences doing collaborative writing came in the early 90s, and I've been a fan ever since.  I mention all of this because I know a lot of people who read and use these forums are younger men and women.   I know that the younger crowd tends to look at what is already up here on the forums, then mimic it.  I also know that the attitude of possessiveness that comes with a hatred for anything 'god modding' is going to ruin your story.

You are here to do collaborative writing, share thoughts, share ideas, emotions, experiences, fantasies, and dreams.  Don't cut them off, but explore!  Now, if you are writing with another person, and they do something you don't like, guess what?  You can send them a private message.  Just tell them, "Hey you wrote in there that my character moaned, and she's actually trying really hard to resist making any noise, can you edit that out?"  Then the co-author can very easily go back into the post, hit 'modify' and change what they wrote.  If they respect you as a co-author, then they will be very happy to do so.  If they aren't, then you might want to ask them why.  They may have a VERY good reason!  If however they just won't, maybe they don't respect you, and in that case THATS the reason to leave the game with them.  Not because they god modded your character, but because they don't respect you as co-author.

Lets just remember one thing: We're all here to have fun, this is recreation for 99.99% of us.  No one wants this place to be a drag or difficult.  Lets all just lighten up on the concept of god modding, and realize that your co-author might have an idea that's worth exploring, even if it's not the same idea you had.

But maybe that's just a fantasy of my own, what do you think?


edit

I made a slight edit just to change the tone to be a little less aggressive, apologies if I offended anyone

RedRose

I definitely see what you mean.
As I write in my O/O, sometimes you just need to use a bit of GMing to get things going. But I don't want someone basically deciding how my character reacts, unless it is clear from my post that she is going to do this or that. I also mind more when I don't know my co-writer well yet. If we've been writing for months? You probably know me, my character and what I tolerate, so go ahead.
Personally I tend not to do more than "they were heading toward the door".
O/O and ideas - write if you'd be a good Aaron Warner (Juliette) [Shatter me], Tarkin (Leia), Wilkins (Faith) [Buffy the VS]
[what she reading: 50 TALES A YEAR]



Oreo

When I was able to RP I admit I had issues with God-modding. However, it depends on the writer and our level of trust. Several partners and I work out in PMs what is okay for them to do with my character. Others, enough trust was developed that we were able to move the story along better with them taking control of the character as far as movements, and some actions depending on how well they understood my character motivations. Some were even co-written in google docs before we posted them.

To others reading the posts it might look like god modding, but it wasn't.

In other RPs I have written with more than one character and we both had total control over every character with the exception of our main characters. The cooperative writing was rather fun.

Though I state in my O/Os that I don't like god-modding, which I don't when it is done without permission, I do delve into that arena of writing that involves both players in a novel type writing experience.

In the end it comes down to what the person writing is comfortable with. It is their right to draw their own lines.

I have written on other forums where my comfort was not an option. I had to play with anyone that wanted to play with me, and there were no limits to what they could do to my character. I am glad those rules do not apply to Elliquiy. It is one of the things that makes me feel safe here. I can set my boundaries.

She led me to safety in a forest of green, and showed my stale eyes some sights never seen.
She spins magic and moonlight in her meadows and streams, and seeks deep inside me,
and touches my dreams. - Harry Chapin

rhev

I've gotten a few PMs on this topic that are obviously not meant to be posted here.  I appreciate the private messages and respect your privacy.  But I will say this much in regards to GMing game:  A good GM, be it on the forums or sitting around a dining room table, understands that all players are there to have fun.   I think that even if you accept that a gm is the 'god' of a game, no one wants to be forced or shut down.  A good game, GM or no, is one where all players are having fun.

Sabre

Quote from: rhev on October 05, 2016, 08:45:11 AMYou are here to do collaborative writing

Many would disagree, I think. There are those who are here to role play a game with a set of rules only one of which is no god modding. Think of it like playing a multiplayer game with someone you decide to trust to offer you a good time in exchange for your efforts in returning the favor. You both control characters who follow certain rules about what is allowed and not allowed and together you try and have fun within those preset limitations.

God modding would be the equivalent of one player suddenly cheating, taking control of the other player's character in a way that was not agreed upon or expected. Like with suddenly bringing in a sexual kink that the other player did not expect or want to see, it's a breach of trust. It's not so much the possessiveness that makes some people react very negatively to an instance of god modding, it's the violation of trust that comes with suddenly changing the rules without warning or agreement. Those harsh warnings people put up are them saying they won't tolerate that happening, not that they look down on two people who might agree beforehand to include kinks and writing styles and fewer boundaries of control in writing their story.

I'd say that kind of collaborative writing is like playing on a team where two players pass the ball to each other based on their own actions and judgments.

rhev

I think you have an excellent point but I don't agree with your premise.  That is to say the act of writing is a creative one, not a reactive one like playing a video game.  I think that you are dead on in your last sentence, and that is my feeling on writing here on elliquiy.  We need to learn to trust our teammate or teammates, and be ready to pass the ball.  They may shoot instead of passing back when you wanted, but if the game keeps moving forwards, then the team wins.

Inkidu

You're wrong.

It is my character, and while I'll be the first to admit I might slip up, and my partner might slip up, I wouldn't deliberately control someone else's character, just like I wouldn't say all the lines in a play. Role playing involves writing and a story, and it's good practice for writing in general, but there's a reason why I call it a game.

It's not a co-written story like a collaborative novel. It's a process by which I post, you post, I post, you post. Part of the game is the response, and taking away someone's agency over their character basically means that you deprive yourself of the joy of the response.

So perhaps circularly, if you are god-modding you're more likely writing a story by yourself like you assert. You don't touch another person's chess pieces, and you do your best to not god-mod.
If you're searching the lines for a point, well you've probably missed it; there was never anything there in the first place.

Sabre

Quote from: rhev on October 05, 2016, 07:25:55 PM
I think you have an excellent point but I don't agree with your premise.  That is to say the act of writing is a creative one, not a reactive one like playing a video game

That depends on the game I think, as well as the RP. Both can be creative or reactive in different ways, whether it's something like Minecraft or a PBP System RP where the players are reacting to the DM. The one thing they all share, from video games to tabletop games to sports games, is obvious at this point I hope. It's the game aspect that sets all of it apart from normal collaborative writing. I think it's great fun to set rules like genre, setting, themes, characterization, and kinks, and then moving my available chess pieces that I'm allowed to get the result I expect, want, or even curious to see.

I don't think it's impossible to have a fun game with God modding, either. But like any game the rule should be established first or it'll end up like playing with that one kid who would make up the most random if creative reasons why 'you didn't win!'

rhev

Quote from: Inkidu on October 05, 2016, 08:11:00 PM
You're wrong.

It is my character, and while I'll be the first to admit I might slip up, and my partner might slip up, I wouldn't deliberately control someone else's character, just like I wouldn't say all the lines in a play. Role playing involves writing and a story, and it's good practice for writing in general, but there's a reason why I call it a game.

It's not a co-written story like a collaborative novel. It's a process by which I post, you post, I post, you post. Part of the game is the response, and taking away someone's agency over their character basically means that you deprive yourself of the joy of the response.

So perhaps circularly, if you are god-modding you're more likely writing a story by yourself like you assert. You don't touch another person's chess pieces, and you do your best to not god-mod.

First of all (and I know I was the first one to say 'wrong' in my opening post) I think that we are both making a small mistake of thinking that this is a thing that can be defined as 'right' and 'wrong' because it is a matter of opinion.  Opinion is personal, and can be right or wrong for an individual, but not necessarily universally.  I think we could agree that personal opinion and taste play a factor?  Also let me be the first to apologize for saying 'wrong' in my opening post.  I'm not trying to convince anyone that their viewpoint is absolutely right or wrong, but have a discussion about something that I personally find distasteful.  Hopefully, ultimately, I can gain a better understanding of the whole phenomenon.

Now, I would next postulate that the process of posting back and forth is the act of co-writing.  Yes, I agree that it is also a game, I agree with the fact that taking away someone's agency is in essence, a crappy thing to do.  Taking away someone's joy is a bummer.  No argument there!

Finally, I ABSOLUTELY agree that you do your best not to god mode.  My point is more that it's not that big a deal.  As others have mentioned a lot of it depends on the level of trust you might have with your co-author.  I have several games where if my co-author writes 'my character' their responses, their actions, I look at it as the next step in the game for me.  Heck even if my co authors write flat out actions that my character took, then the 'game' as it were becomes me interpreting that action.  Why did he or she do what the other author wrote? 

/shrug

I find it's way more fun to roll with those things then to fight someone or be upset over it.


Quote from: SabreBut like any game the rule should be established first

Yes, absolutely.  Optimally you should know your co-author, and hopefully trust them.  That way if they DO write your character, it shouldn't be an issue.  You should know that they have the best interest of the story at heart, and you can go on from there.  This is why it's a good reason to try to get to know your fellow players BEFORE you start.

RedRose

I once had a co-writer who thought pushing the story forward allowed him to create my character's background and dictate her actions in his posts, and for me to do the same with his. That's not RP to me, that's something else (?) and not what I was interested in doing. Very different from a small thing that you need to do, and even that, I ask if I'm unsure.
O/O and ideas - write if you'd be a good Aaron Warner (Juliette) [Shatter me], Tarkin (Leia), Wilkins (Faith) [Buffy the VS]
[what she reading: 50 TALES A YEAR]



Verasaille

I agree with those who do not like the other person to take control of their character. I think it is a personal preference and different people may tolerate it more. I don't mind a small amount of moving my character, like assuming they follow someone into a room or close or open a door.

What I do not tolerate is someone else giving my character's thoughts and words. Especially in an intimate scene. The other person assuming my character enjoys rape or torture, or accepts some kink that I have stated is a total off in my O/O's.

You might assume that she eats what she ordered in a restaurant. You can assume she is drinking the beverage or paying attention to your characters words. But do not assume she is agreeable in every way and have her say that in words that indicate she is alright with things when I have indicated in PM or in the initial plotting she would NOT be alright with that.

When you control another person's character, you take away their creativity to do what they want with that character. If you want a story where you control all the characters, why do you need my input at all? To me it is like having a conversation where you say all the words and I am not allowed an opinion.

Role play to me is not only giving your character life and doing things you want to do with that character, it is allowing the co author to respond the way they want their character to respond. To me this is the funnest part of rp. The interaction, the reaction, the anticipation of waiting to see what your character will do.

God moding to me is like you having automatic hits and your character wins a fight, without giving my character a chance to defend or make a hit. Example:

George grabbed Lucy and stabbed her in the back, immediately killing her.

Which gives Lucy no way to play her character at all!

To me a good rp partner would have George attempt to stab Lucy. Even the grabbing part is too much. A better way to put it is this:

George crept up behind Lucy, the dagger in one hand and the other hand reaching for her. When he was within striking distance, he lunged. His left hand trying to stop her forward progress while his right hand stabbed.

Which gives my character a chance to avoid the strike, or fall prey to it if I choose. The above example is extreme, I know, but I hope I made my point.

In the case of ERP, part of the fun of it to me, is giving my partner a peek inside the motives and reactions of what my character expects and then what she enjoys. I am thrilled if I can create a scene with a partner that allows each of us to experience that very thing.

It's like the difference between making love to a person, and fucking a blow up doll.
I have gone off in search of myself. If I should get back before I return, please keep me here.

Doomsday

I both agree and disagree with you, OP. The example you cited is not one that supports your argument well; Saying that your partner's moans are often involuntary is an implication that your character is even performing well. I think it's a gross misstep if someone does make that assumption on your behalf.

However I do agree that it's something that you can hash out in PM's; I feel like every single game I write for (it's a lot! Check my signature) my partner and I exchange PM's after every post and say something along the lines of, "I hope it all looks great! Let me know if I should change anything." I have a lot of trust with my partners and don't mind if they take the wheel and steer a little bit as long as they're traveling down a road we're both familiar with, or if we're attuned to each other and know where we want the scene and story to go. I don't see the point in citing (excessive) godmoding in O/O because it seems like a given. Godmoding is not one's primary state of writing.

rhev

I think if you're on the same page as your co-authors, to the point where you're exchanging PMs, you should also feel free to edit anything in your post they don't like and vice versa.   At least that's always been my attitude.  Anyone I write with, if they want to god mode my characters, I'm A-ok with it, as long as they're willing to change something I don't like.

Verasaille

You are right in that communication is key here. What one person will accept easily, another person would be very upset. That is why we do the On's and Off's pages and set out boundaries. This way you know right off the bat, if your potential partner will tolerate it or not.

Keep in mind, we are all individuals with different tastes and styles of writing. No one is right, and no one is wrong. Different strokes for different folks!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jJIVK-daGk

I have gone off in search of myself. If I should get back before I return, please keep me here.

rhev

I absolutely agree with you Verasaille, as I said above a lot of it is opinion (which can not be inherently right or wrong).  I think that communication is key, which is why I wanted to have this discussion.  I already feel like I've learned quite a bit from people's opinions here and the PMs that were sent to me.  But I still retain my opinion that in the right hands, god modding can be a very good thing for a game, for a story, when it's done properly.

paradoxicalreaction

I think a certain level of god modding is necessary for an RP to flow nicely.

Here's an example that comes to mind every time the subject comes up: My character was sitting on a hospital bed with his glasses in his lap. My partner's character came up to him, took his glasses, and put them back on his face for him. I wrote my character letting go of his glasses and accepting this gesture in my next reply. And this stuck with me because my partner apologized for that and offered to change the post if I was upset.

Both of us were writing five+ paragraphs for each reply. For that small, tender gesture to have happened without any god modding, it would have had to go like this:

(I'll use the character's names for clarity: I was playing Saruhiko, and they were playing Reisi.)


  • I write my reply, where Saruhiko is sulking with his glasses off. No problem so far.
  • Their first reply isn't so bad either, since Reisi has other things to do beside fussing with Saruhiko's glasses He accomplishes those things, then either reaches for Saruhiko's glasses or asks if he can touch them.
  • This is the part where I have to somehow stretch "'Yeah, sure,' Saruhiko said" into five paragraphs. Saruhiko's exhausted, injured, and just generally miserable; he's not up for doing much of anything, and he's too tired to have an interesting internal monologue going. I have another character who can come over and say something to progress the plot, but that would ruin the touching moment. Saruhiko can yank his glasses away and refuse, but I don't want him to, and that would also ruin the moment. I choose to have Saruhiko reflect on how he got injured, repeating a bunch of exposition we just got done dealing with, just to pad out the reply.[/i]
    • Reisi finally gets to put Saruhiko's glasses back on and gently touch his face.[/i]
    That just seems really, really convoluted to me - and not a lot of fun for either of us!

    There are limits, of course. I wouldn't want someone else killing my character without discussing it with me first, and in situations where it's not as easy to reasonably predict my character's reaction (if our characters were strangers instead of friends-leaning-towards-lovers, for example) it would probably be best not to make assumptions. But sometimes it's the best option for keeping the story going.

    (I said "my character" here just as shorthand for "the character I am writing". This was a fandom RP, for one thing, so the character wasn't mine - I was just borrowing him. I'm not sure I agree with the idea that RP characters inherently belong to both parties, but I definitely don't agree with the idea that the character I'm playing is mine and no one else can touch them.)

paradoxicalreaction

wow, I really messed up the formatting there. Sorry about that! Hopefully it's still readable.

Can you tell I'm not used to BBCode?  :P

rhev

Yes, it's still readable and a perfect example of what I'm talking about.

Obviously there's good god modding and bad god modding.  Having someone write that your character does something completely contrary to what you want isn't great.  But even then it's really not that big a deal, they should be willing to edit their post and change what they wrote for your character if you don't like it.

I've experienced this myself, and a while back I even wrote a post about it:

https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=123920.0

In that case the GM was the GOD of her story, her mary sue could do nothing wrong, and anyone that didn't perfectly fit into what she as the GM wanted, was god modded till they did.

This was, for lack of a better term, just a shit player and a shit GM.




But not all players, not all GMs, not all co-authors are like that.   I think that most of the time you're going to get the 'tender touch on the face after putting your glasses on' type scenario.  That, my friends, is good god modding.

Egoiste


I agree 100% that there's such a thing as good god moding. Though it's only required in certain games. The longer the average post the more it becomes necessary to preserve the flow and continuity of a game. For that very reason I'd prefer to exchange four 250 word posts each than one 1,000 word post each. Precisely because it allows for more natural interactions, requires less guess work, and so on. However posting like that isn't always possible. In a game where you might be averaging only one post a week it naturally makes more sense to try to pack more action and description into that one post. 

In those situations I would always encourage my partners to make reasonable assumptions about what my character is doing, how they would react, etc. Actually sometimes it can even be nice to be thrown a curve-ball. For example:

QuoteI once had a co-writer who thought pushing the story forward allowed him to create my character's background

I've been in a situation like this and ultimately it wasn't a bad thing. In one game where two characters had known one another since college my partner's character is thinking about a past event which attributes certain actions to my character. At first I'm thinking, 'hey that makes my character out to be a jerk, I don't want that.' but ultimately it simply became one of those situations where two different perceptions resulted in them having two completely different versions of the same events, neither of which were wrong. Now those kinds of misunderstandings actually occur and I think it ended up being a nice addition to their shared background.

So it's not just about requesting edits. There are other options.

I've also found that when it comes to games where you end up with very long posts (which can tend to limit interaction) it can help to give people options. Tell them what your character is going to attempt, but explain how he or she will react if their attempt should be obviously rebuffed. In some cases I think this is fairly natural because in real life we get a lot of leads and hints which we don't get in an RP. If you move to shake someone's hand you're going to get some idea of how receptive they are to it, and likely as not they'll meet you half way as it were, or the reaction you get might mean you'll abort the gesture, or you might just do that awkward thing where you both extend the wrong hand, and then you both swap to the other wrong hand. Of course you can ask about this kind of feedback in PMs but that's not always the expedient choice.

The one area where I find real difficulty in maintaining flow when it comes to these very long posts is dialogue. I'm not open to the idea of writing dialogue for my partner's character or vice-versa so I've found the only real solution to this is to just write more dialogue, and accept a certain amount of back-pedalling in each response in order to formulate responses which may involve more than just a one-line answer or comment. It's not an elegant solution, and can result in starting a post by responding to events which, chronologically, should have occurred some time ago but the only other option is to give up on more natural dialogue, and I don't like that.

DominantPoet

I can't say I agree with some of your views, rhev, although I can agree there are times when some slight godmodding can be good and useful/necessary to a story that you are both writing. You open a door, they walk through it, you close it, you're both in a room. Absolutely.

The one main thing I disagree with is the view of them not liking you making their character moan as being too much there. I wouldn't want my partner writing how my character is reacting to anything. That's basically them stating how they think they should react, not necessarily how I would have them react. Even if it was established they'd moan or what not to any particular action before hand, I still wouldn't enjoy reading it from them.

Likewise, I'm finding I don't much enjoy it when I have a character do an action, and then in my partner's next post, they elaborate on the action and throw more detail into it, and make it more than it really was to begin with. It's like elaborative godmodding, almost like saying "You didn't write that action well enough for me, I'm going to do it better!". It's not just my character they're controlling, it's like they're controlling me personally. For example -

I write "He picked up the beaker, looking over it and giving the contents inside a small swirl. Satisfied the liquid within reacted as it should, he set the beaker upon the table with a sound thud." becomes in their post "She watched him pick up the beaker, his eyes wide with surprise almost as he gleamed a look at the crimson liquid within. His wrist cocked ever so slightly and spinning gently, the motion he created causing the contents to swish around in a circular motion. When it seemed that his curiosity had been appeased, ever so gently, he rested the glass against the wooden surface."


rhev

Hmmmm that's a very interesting point, the concept of elaboration as a type of god modding.  If you look through my recent posts, you'll see that I've been playing with a few different people.  In these posts in these games, i've made it clear before starting that there may be some 'light' god modding.  But with the caveat that I'll try to keep any actions I thought were necessary to a bare minimum, with the hopes that they would then elaborate and make the actions their own, make the character's actions THEIR actions by writing more detail.  Also with the caveat that ANYTHING I write that is even remotely unliked, the player should let me know and ill change or delete it.

It's seemed to work out fairly well in terms of story flow and no one feeling upset when I do end up god modding their character for the sake of keeping the story moving along.

DominantPoet

What you described that is what I usually, I haven't actually really encountered a great deal of what I talked about in my first post there. That, or I just didn't notice it too much in years past and it has flittered from my memory. But what you're talking about is what I usually do, in the event someone does lightly god-mod a character I'm writing as. That I see as simply explaining how they did it, adding your own elaboration, your own touches, so that it flows naturally within the story.

In any event, on the rare occasion I have felt like I would need to god mod a character that I'm personally not writing in a story, I've always asked permission first or explained why I need to do it then asked, and I've yet to meet with a no answer for doing that. And everything else I might have said, has already been said by others :)