Post by Kazamuki on Jun 26, 2006 5:09:42 GMT -5
Everyone knows the word “godmodding" but some people don't really know what it entails. So this post is here to answer thoroughly the question, "What exactly is godmodding?"
First, where does it come from? Well when we are watching TV when we were kids. No body likes to lose, so when we were playing as kids we partook in what is now called "godmodding." Of course, this was not frowned upon. An example is when playing with pretend guns, you "shoot" at your friend and say, "I shoot you!" and they respond with "I dodge!" this lead to argument and such.
Now zoom forward to now. In Role-Playing we all like to think of ourselves as great, that’s why some inexperienced writers, when they first start off, make characters that we like to call mary sue, or the male version, gary stu. This is a character that is perfect and has no flaws whatsoever. This, of course, is bad writing cause with no flaws where does the interesting part com in? And makes other writers mad. Back on topic though, these inexperienced writers hate to lose. In a forum like this however, you have to think about reality. Not just your feelings. The word of the day here is "objectivity." simply put, that means that when describing events that has nothing to do with your character (example of character controlled things: Pokemon attack calling, emotions, talking) you visualize exactly what would happen had it been happening in REAL life. I must stress that there is a difference to what would happen and what you WANT to happen.
Now godmodding really only will happen in battles, and sometimes it is REALLY hard to resist. "But what should I do? Just lose? Let my pokemon be hit all the time for fear of being called a godmodder?"
Well I said what WOULD happen in a battle. A good example:
Lets say a Meowth and a rattata are fighting. If you call that your Meowth uses scratch what the opponent (the other writer) should visualize is that they are several feet apart, and as such can formulate a plan and call the rattata to dodge and counter with their own scratch. You would be writing that Meowth takes the hit, staggers back and you tell him to stay strong and use swift. This attack always hits and is very fast so your foe would have to let it hit rattata.
An example of godmodding is something like:
A pikachu and a bellsprout are fighting. You call pikachu to use thunderbolt (an attack that never misses) and the foe says they dodged, and counters with wrap. You, legally, counter with quick attack (since the vines coming at you are much slower then the lightning speed of pikachu). Escaping the wrap you continue the quick attack. Now in real life, bellsprout would still be sending out its vines to attack, so there would be no chance to retaliate against this. But if the foe said that bellsprout somehow dodges it, then they are godmodding. Another example is with highly evasive moves. Such as double team. Using that move makes several copies of itself. Godmodding would be assuming that your pokemon is always lucky and hits it. And it is also an opportunity for the trainer with the pokemon using double team to say that they dodge all attacks.
Now in the last scenario, image if you were the attacker, you would be pretty mad that they "somehow" dodge all your speeded attacks, against a slower bellsprout to boot! And this would lead to fighting and name calling and nothing good would happen.
So basic ground rules for pokemon battles:
1: Remember what WOULD be happening, not what you WANT to happen, you can no more change the laws of physics in the world as you can make money grow on trees
2: there is always a chance for luck, you can get lucky, but it becomes godmodding if you are too lucky ALL the time, or TOO much.
3: remember leveling affects the speeds of a pokemon and their ability to fight longer. if a level 5 fights a level 10, the level 5 will be much slower no matter what, but strategic use of moves (like if the level 5 had moves that were super effective to the level 10) can change the tide!
4: be descriptive! In describing how someone dodge or got hit, this will help you stay steeped in reality! Cause if you start showing how bellsprout pulls of matrix like moves you might see the error of your ways.
5: reread what you post and maybe the post before it to remind you what is happening and even play what IS happening in your head like a mini-movie.
So I hope this answers your questions about godmodding. This is her just to educate everyone so we can all have a fun time RPing. And of course, if your caught godmodding, you are in big trouble!
Have fun and be sure to write!
-Kaza
First, where does it come from? Well when we are watching TV when we were kids. No body likes to lose, so when we were playing as kids we partook in what is now called "godmodding." Of course, this was not frowned upon. An example is when playing with pretend guns, you "shoot" at your friend and say, "I shoot you!" and they respond with "I dodge!" this lead to argument and such.
Now zoom forward to now. In Role-Playing we all like to think of ourselves as great, that’s why some inexperienced writers, when they first start off, make characters that we like to call mary sue, or the male version, gary stu. This is a character that is perfect and has no flaws whatsoever. This, of course, is bad writing cause with no flaws where does the interesting part com in? And makes other writers mad. Back on topic though, these inexperienced writers hate to lose. In a forum like this however, you have to think about reality. Not just your feelings. The word of the day here is "objectivity." simply put, that means that when describing events that has nothing to do with your character (example of character controlled things: Pokemon attack calling, emotions, talking) you visualize exactly what would happen had it been happening in REAL life. I must stress that there is a difference to what would happen and what you WANT to happen.
Now godmodding really only will happen in battles, and sometimes it is REALLY hard to resist. "But what should I do? Just lose? Let my pokemon be hit all the time for fear of being called a godmodder?"
Well I said what WOULD happen in a battle. A good example:
Lets say a Meowth and a rattata are fighting. If you call that your Meowth uses scratch what the opponent (the other writer) should visualize is that they are several feet apart, and as such can formulate a plan and call the rattata to dodge and counter with their own scratch. You would be writing that Meowth takes the hit, staggers back and you tell him to stay strong and use swift. This attack always hits and is very fast so your foe would have to let it hit rattata.
An example of godmodding is something like:
A pikachu and a bellsprout are fighting. You call pikachu to use thunderbolt (an attack that never misses) and the foe says they dodged, and counters with wrap. You, legally, counter with quick attack (since the vines coming at you are much slower then the lightning speed of pikachu). Escaping the wrap you continue the quick attack. Now in real life, bellsprout would still be sending out its vines to attack, so there would be no chance to retaliate against this. But if the foe said that bellsprout somehow dodges it, then they are godmodding. Another example is with highly evasive moves. Such as double team. Using that move makes several copies of itself. Godmodding would be assuming that your pokemon is always lucky and hits it. And it is also an opportunity for the trainer with the pokemon using double team to say that they dodge all attacks.
Now in the last scenario, image if you were the attacker, you would be pretty mad that they "somehow" dodge all your speeded attacks, against a slower bellsprout to boot! And this would lead to fighting and name calling and nothing good would happen.
So basic ground rules for pokemon battles:
1: Remember what WOULD be happening, not what you WANT to happen, you can no more change the laws of physics in the world as you can make money grow on trees
2: there is always a chance for luck, you can get lucky, but it becomes godmodding if you are too lucky ALL the time, or TOO much.
3: remember leveling affects the speeds of a pokemon and their ability to fight longer. if a level 5 fights a level 10, the level 5 will be much slower no matter what, but strategic use of moves (like if the level 5 had moves that were super effective to the level 10) can change the tide!
4: be descriptive! In describing how someone dodge or got hit, this will help you stay steeped in reality! Cause if you start showing how bellsprout pulls of matrix like moves you might see the error of your ways.
5: reread what you post and maybe the post before it to remind you what is happening and even play what IS happening in your head like a mini-movie.
So I hope this answers your questions about godmodding. This is her just to educate everyone so we can all have a fun time RPing. And of course, if your caught godmodding, you are in big trouble!
Have fun and be sure to write!
-Kaza