God-Moding and Powerplaying Guide

# God-Moding

**God-Moding** (or **Gmoding**, **GMing**) happens when a writer essentially takes control of a character that is not their own during a roleplaying thread. Although this problem can occur throughout any roleplaying thread, the worse offenses can be seen around those that contain fighting between two or more characters. Pets of other characters are also protected from Gmoding, but Non-Playable Characters (NPCs) made by either writer may be controlled. If one has expressed permission to Gmod another writer's character (such as mentioning it on the thread as a Out of Character (OOC) comment within [] brackets), then it can be allowed. It is best to use this method to avoid any questions raised by other site members or staff.

Writing Examples from Nemesis:

> *"Nemesis and Dalanesca are arguing over the last mug of honey mead. He unsheathes his sword and quickly darts over to her and plunges his sword into her stomach. He then twists the blade around and forcefully pulls it and pushes her onto the floor."*
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First off, Nemesis’ writer isn’t allowed to just plunge the sword into Dalanesca like that. Writers only have control over their own characters, and therefore her writer has the right to give her a chance to dodge (within reason) or even allow the hit to strike, but not necessarily her stomach. Secondly, the actions taken place afterwards shouldn’t have occurred because it is showing that the writer in question is continuing to ignore any rights for the other person to write up a response.
Now let’s take a look at how he could have done it:

> *"Nemesis and Dalanesca are arguing over the last mug of honey mead. He unsheathes his sword and quickly darts over to her, and brought it forward and thrust towards her, looking to plunge it into her stomach."*
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The intention to inflict harm against Dalanesca as seen above is allowed and was made clearer to readers. Nemesis’ writer shows that he only controls Nemesis, and not that of the other character or the outcome of what happens to her.
Reaction Writing Examples from Dalanesca:

> *"Dalanesca could see the blade coming her way and had to get away as quick as possible. But she still felt it cut against the side of her as she dodged over to the left. Blood quickly flowed from the wound and she placed her hand onto it in response."*
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Now not only did she allow an reaction towards Nemesis’ actions, but the writer also allowed for her character to take a hit.
Here's another possible reaction from Dalanesca:

> *"Dalanesca saw the Nemesis heading straight for her and drew out her own weapon and before he could reach her, she parried against him, looking to deflect the blow and follow through with her own."*
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# Powerplaying

Powerplaying is when a writer makes it so that their character is all powerful, invincible, or immortal (unless their character is a God on the site, then they can claim immortality). Characters also may not claim complete immunity to diseases, poisons, etc. Resistances to such can be allowed, but within reason.

Powerplaying also occurs when a character has knowledge of another writer's character or their intentions without prior discussion or mentioning within the RP or outside of it.

Let’s use the two characters again to show the aspects of powerplaying.\*\*

Writing example from Dalanesca:

> *"She sat at her stool, watching Nemesis charging in with his sword thirsty for her blood. She merely grinned at him and allowed for him to strike at her as many times as he would want. But each time, it failed to pierce her skin and she could only laugh on as the blows continued to do nothing towards her."*
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The writer in this example has shown Dalanesca to be invulnerable to any of Nemesis’ attacks. This is powerplaying due to misrepresenting Dalanesca as someone that has an immunity to damage.
Here's another sample:

> *"Dalanesca immediately hopped off her stool and watched Nemesis closing in her with his weapon drawn. But before the hit could come, she gracefully dodged the attack, and continued to do so for the remainder of his attacks without any harm."*
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While it was perfectly legal for her to dodge the first attacks and perhaps a few a more, but to be so evasive for the whole fight without any sort of injury or wound against her, it not only makes it unfair to the writer playing as Nemesis, but it also harms her writer’s credibility to roleplay correctly.

On the same spectrum, Nemesis’ writer is also capable of powerplaying his characters and attacks too.

Writing example from Nemesis:

> *"Nemesis drew out his sword and plunged into the floor of the tavern. As soon as he did, he grew three feet taller, his hair changed to a gold color and spiked up into the air. He became an invincible swordsman that could not be stopped by any force of nature, and unleashed an explosion occurred from his sword, wiping out one-fourth of the world."*
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Not only did the writer make it so that his character was unreasonably powerful and unstoppable, he has exaggerated his power greatly and performed an action that a normal being simply could not achieve.