Excellent points by all!
The one thing I try to remember when dealing with both godmode and metagaming is that both anomolies deal specifically with boundaries.
From my perspective, metagaming is simply the improper passage of information from player to character, or in even shorter terms, "allowing your character to know something that they shouldn't."
The most important thing one should consider when RPing something that is potentially 'godmodish' is whether those actions will breach one's own bounds and cross over into another RPer's. One should always try to put him/herself in the position of examining how he/she would feel if another character infringed upon these boundaries in the opposite direction. "Would I be offended if someone did this to me?" should be in mind. In the case of the attack situation, the opponent's thoughts should be taken into consideration. Maybe in an effort to avoid some kind of 'cheesy' fight scene dialogue, the participants arrange (in /tell or somesuch) that certain hits can land without doing the passive 'aims for' such, which admittedly can grow tedious during long fights.
In the case of 'superpowers' and such, it's not just one person that's impacted, but potentially everyone in the community who may be made to feel diminished by such a thing. Consideration must be given to one's actions before taking them - particularly the extreme.
And the only one thing I have issue with from the above examples is this:
To conclude all of this, I agree that the RPC should have some sort of definition of godmode/metagaming. I don't think it should be up to the RPC to determine how far these bounds should reach, though. That seems like it will be something that each guild will have to decide for itself. I know it hasn't been brought up because it was probably inferred, but I just wanted to mention that.
The one thing I try to remember when dealing with both godmode and metagaming is that both anomolies deal specifically with boundaries.
From my perspective, metagaming is simply the improper passage of information from player to character, or in even shorter terms, "allowing your character to know something that they shouldn't."
The most important thing one should consider when RPing something that is potentially 'godmodish' is whether those actions will breach one's own bounds and cross over into another RPer's. One should always try to put him/herself in the position of examining how he/she would feel if another character infringed upon these boundaries in the opposite direction. "Would I be offended if someone did this to me?" should be in mind. In the case of the attack situation, the opponent's thoughts should be taken into consideration. Maybe in an effort to avoid some kind of 'cheesy' fight scene dialogue, the participants arrange (in /tell or somesuch) that certain hits can land without doing the passive 'aims for' such, which admittedly can grow tedious during long fights.
In the case of 'superpowers' and such, it's not just one person that's impacted, but potentially everyone in the community who may be made to feel diminished by such a thing. Consideration must be given to one's actions before taking them - particularly the extreme.
And the only one thing I have issue with from the above examples is this:
Rikitiki Wrote:Example5: AbsurdlyPowerfulMan holds his nose. "Wow, UnfortunateGuy, your feet stink! I can smell them from all the way over here."This could be construed as godmode under certain circumstances. Perhaps UnfortunateGuy goes to painful lengths with his personal hygiene to the point where he would be offended at such an accusation. In the spirit of RP this can easily be played off as discovering another source of the offending odor, but it crosses that same line as assuming another character's thoughts/response.
(Also not godmode, and probably just as likely to make everyone else within ten yards think UG *does* have stinky feet!)
To conclude all of this, I agree that the RPC should have some sort of definition of godmode/metagaming. I don't think it should be up to the RPC to determine how far these bounds should reach, though. That seems like it will be something that each guild will have to decide for itself. I know it hasn't been brought up because it was probably inferred, but I just wanted to mention that.
"One of the deep secrets of life is that all that is really worth doing is what we do for others." Â ~ Lewis Carol
Eva's Journals  |  Eva's Wiki Page (coming soon)  |  RP Handbook
Eva's Journals  |  Eva's Wiki Page (coming soon)  |  RP Handbook
