Love it, hate it, the fact is it happens in waaaaaay too many RPGs, whether on the computer, in internet chat, or even on the tabletop.
Personally, I loathe the practice. Once you enter the realm of god-moding, there's really no point in roleplaying with a group anymore - the god-moding player is living out their own fantasies in their own little world, and by the same "virtue" of god-moding, there's little they'll accept that can stop them. At that point, they may as well just play the game in their own head, so it can go exactly the way they desire it to, and have all the power they crave without impacting the rest of a mature and hard-working RP group. I'm big on living in a fantasy world, of course, but I keep it to myself. Shhhhhh...
All too frequently, though, god-moding is something that Storytellers, Dungeon Masters, or your average RP chatroom moderator let happen. Half the time (or maybe more), it's because they simply don't want to put limits on a character, or risk the players feeling like they're being held down. This is - most of the time - less of a problem in games that sell based on their realism and a sort of role-playing "mean streak". These games - of which I count the Old and New Worlds of Darkness, as well as the Warhammer 40K RPGs - are generally not afraid to operate on the premise that you don't have to reward stupidity or glory-hogging. The "meaner" the kind of character, faction, or game you are playing, the more this sort of cosmic quality control can happen. In the Old World of Darkness, there was always a bigger fish. Ancillae trumped neonates, and were trumped by elders, who were trumped by Methuselahs, who were trumped by the Antediluvians, who were trumped by Caine, who, ultimately, was trumped by God. And if you're at the point where even God can't lay the smackdown on you, see the first paragraph.
Now, there's a really, really important difference between god-moding and simply getting a streak of really lucky rolls. In the last World of Darkness game I played (a sort of crossover between the rules of Requiem and the setting of Masquerade), my character was being Dominated by an elder Lasombra... and my character kept rolling more successes on the Contested Willpower roll than the dominatrix. (Now, it has to be said that Richard Gentle - the character I was playing at the time - is not opposed to domination in and of itself, but he objects to it when it happens to his mind, instead of his body. Wink-wink.) Richard would be rolling three or four solid successes, whereas the ancient and potent Lasombra would be rolling one or two. Eventually, however, the Storyteller and I decided that enough was enough, and we agreed that the Lasombra elder would simply automatically Dominate Richard, for the sake of moving along the scene as well as adding in a kinky subplot. Er - and that's kinky as in twisted and convoluted, not sexy. I mean it.
The difference between this example and god-moding is that first of all it was purely the dice. We were playing in the multiplayer of Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption, and using that game's dice-rolling system, over which I had no control. The second difference is that even I was starting to think that it was getting a little ridiculous that Richard - a neonate, for all intents and purposes - was continuing to resist the mind powers of an ancient and evil creature with a dicepool twice his size. It was just as game-breaking as if I had been actually god-moding, and so we put a stop to it. God-moding happens when a player makes two different choices: first of all, that they are going to exploit (or totally ignore) the rules in the first place, and second of all that they are going to continue to do it. Especially in a game like Vampire: The Masquerade, where so much relies on actual Storytelling and role-playing, instead of mechanical rolls of the dice, it's okay (recommended by the rulebooks, in fact) to have the Storyteller simply declare actions as having happened without resorting to dice. This is not god-moding, the reasons being that the Storyteller is the final adjudicator of the game's action, that the players agree to the action, and that it doesn't break the realism of the setting. This last part is the most important one, to my mind.
This is why in games such as Vampire: The Masquerade, or Warhammer 40K's Black Crusade RPG, it's important to maintain that realism. The Storyteller or Game Master needn't be afraid that STOPPING the characters from achieving all the power their greedy little hearts desire is going to ruin the game. Not only is there always a bigger fish, this bigger fish has a much bigger gun, too, and it's pointed in a threatening manner straight between a character's eyeballs. Sort of makes one think twice, or at least it should. To quote the VTM corebook, "Hey, people die. Stuff breaks". (Vampire: The Masquerade, pg. 135) To preserve the realism of the setting, the Storyteller and the players have to be aware that their characters are people, too, and they own stuff. Ghouls don't exactly grow on trees, and your character really doesn't have the pocketspace to pull out another, fully repaired, priceless, and extremely rare power sword.
The burden of being host to a god-moder does not lie solely on the shoulders of Dungeon Masters or Storytellers, of course, but tabletop or freeform RPGs are the most obvious example of god-moding out there, because they are usually not regulated by hard coding, which is the first barrier to preventing cheats and hacks. This doesn't stop some of the cheaters and hackers, of course, but it prevents them from simply saying they are the bestest best, most powerfulest powerful, and generally shutting down the game for everybody else. This was a frequent and extremely annoying problem back in my online RPG chat days, when you were lucky if there was a moderator in the room and they were paying attention. Several systems were devised to counteract this kind of abuse, but in that kind of environment those systems only worked by mutual consent. Needless to say, the god-moders did not consent. If you played along with them, hoping to bring them back down from their power-trip high, it only got worse. If you tried to ignore them, they spammed the channel with messages like "DoofusCompensatingforsomethingus > backhands all the people at the bar at once, sending all of them flying and killing them all." (And that only after you've translated their typically horrible spelling and grammar.) So, dear readers, pay attention to the danger signs, like using "all" three times in one sentence, or someone speaking roughshod over everybody else, or trying to overturn a semi with 1 dot in Strength. If you're really the suspicious type, like me, you should also keep an eye on anybody who says they're sleeping with the Storyteller.
Well, those are all the cons of god-moding. Can't we think up a few pros? Um... it makes one player feel better, at least.
4 Comments
You need to
register to comment.
-
1 Merits
HfxTenor
95 days ago
Excellent article, Rick! If I had one criticism, it's that you need to establish your definition of what God Mod'ing actually is right off the bat. That said, I'm with Nigama. It's on the ST to restrict such behavious, while encouraging the offenders to pull back on the reigns and tone themselves down. When done skillfully, those god mod'ers can actually become quite excellent rp'ers. My concern for the MMO is also in line with what Tikuto has mentioned, in that there's a rumour that CCP won't have much in the way of online moderators/storytellers and that policing the game will rest primarily with the players. This worries me on multiple levels - pvp griefers invading roleplay groups, god mod'ers wrecking story/roleplay sessions, etc. It means that a minority of players can spoil the enjoyment of the majority. With no moderator presence, their only discouragement would be at the hand of those that they grief, which is rarely fun for the griefee(s).
Reply
-
2 Merits
Nigama
96 days ago
As far as the MMO is concerned, there will definitely be meta- and power-gaming. Unlike in tabletop, the rules and the chunky awesome badass stuff can be hidden behind a current where they won't know to look for it, unlike in the real world where they can just buy a book which gives them knowledge they shouldn't have. I'm in a tabletop C:tL game right now and there's three solid meta- and power-gamers. I've come to realize two things. In such a story, the ST has to be allowing it to happen. The other thing is that it's just self pleasure (= masturbation). One character wants to be a True Fae, the other wants to be a Dream Master, and the other... right now he seems to want to kill his own fetch (without our help) so he can get the kewl powerz (he shouldn't know exist). Oh well. I can only complain so much because I once enjoyed such characters myself! Now, what they need is a really solid ST who won't put up with that crap and will change rules if they bring knowledge in from outside or hit them with some solid doses of reality when they try to power game. A good ST goes a long way to creating the atmosphere for players to RP in a mature way and not just focus on their own selfish wants (like gaining power to become the most powerful).
Reply
-
0 Merits
Tikuto
96 days ago
This dice-rolling and Storyteller (GM) is completely new to me. Balance and Control equals are Fair game. I've always said this, and it seems the Storyteller is the control, which is absolutely perfect. --- In the realm of an nWoD MMO I may have a suggestion to keeping 'God-moding' within automated Control (e.g. with absence of Storyteller). Balance is a common topic in any game, and so it shall and must always be monitored and regulated. Let's assume all nWoD MMO is well-Balanced. Ok, so now imagine the politics side of WoD as sports divisions/leagues/tiers. Your clan (typical MMORPG "guild") can ascend or descend in this 'political sport' and all can equally compete with or against their 'out-ranked' competitors. The difference is the higher tiers are stronger than the lower tiers somehow and these 'God-moding' empowerments are earned by ascending in a political race. If you begin to descend tiers you will lose these influences (Control #1). Each member of a clan in any 'political tier' slowly-gradually develops their empowered grant instead of instantly gaining Tier 1* 'God-mode' (Control #2). Naturally, evolution bestows those who adapt to survive. The WoD sounds to me like a world of power. Power corrupts men, and power is hard to earn even as a 'clan' group. Your 'clan' may become highest Tier ('God-moders') but it can all collapse easily if just one was to take it all selfishly (Control #3). Storytellers however they may work would Instigate as if leading (Control #4) whereas a new official community representative 'Biographer' would indirectly affect players with their Influence (Control #5) and ultimately a CCP White Wolf Game Master 'Chronicler' who'd be professional editors could completely dominate an MMO story-telling, conjoin back-logged events, prophesying directly affecting players and finalizing The End (Control #6). This is then edited by them and then forever-posted on the game's website. --- The 'God-moding' in MMO WoD would controlled by these competitive divisions, corruption of selfish power-mongering, and governed by Storytellers, Biographers and Chroniclers/Editors.
Reply