Rules on god-modding

By David "Onion" Ball

Are rules for a game good or bad? Does it maintain order or just limit people's creativity? Whether your game is a PbeM or forum-based or IRC you need rules, but it can be extremely limiting on what a member can or can not make their character do.

We all need rules, it makes children in school learn to behave themselves, and laws force society to not descend to anarchy and total chaos. I have been running a PbeM game since March 2000 and have only had to wave the rulebook (or webpage) at people a few times. I have tried to keep the rule list as short as possible because I know that if it is long; a) people won't read it or take notice. b) I couldn't' think of that many at the time I wrote it.

Point b) is my fault entirely, I wrote the rules when I had only just started running the sim, so I didn't really know what to expect. Over the years I have thought of many many more things to add to the rule list. I have added some, but there have been others I have left off deliberately.

Why have I left them off? I don't want to feel like I'm limiting people's creativity.

The members of my sim are there of their own accord. I didn't force them there, and they don't get paid, but yet they continue to write post after post of superb storyline that has kept us all entertained for years.

Yes, we've had a few problems with members writing silly things, or being rude, or generally ruining the storyline, but if we were to make a new rule for each of their benefits, we'd end up with such a strict rule system people would be in a constant state of confusion – “can I do that?” “Why can't I do that?”

I'll give an example. God modding. The classic pain in the arse for role playing games. Some fool gains god like powers and gets your characters out of imminent danger just by clicking his fingers. All the work you've put into creating a comprehensive storyline are flushed down the drain as it the anticipated climax of the story is deflated like a balloon making a farting sound. We all hate that right? But are there instances where god modding can be a good thing?

On Blue Dwarf we've skirted close to the issue so many times, with bizarrely imaginative storylines so random that you can't predict where it's going to go. We've had characters developing god-like superpowers, and performing miraculous feats before, and it has been a brilliant and imaginative storyline that everyone loved. But yet another time when a newbie made his character manipulate the ships' walls to grab at other characters there was an uproar from other members saying he was too powerful. But a concurrent storyline saw a separate member lead hundreds of service robots in a war against the crew. So is it only a problem when it's a newbie?

The main difference in the examples I gave above are that the character who lead the army of robots was invited to run that story by the moderators, because he was trusted to do it and not undermine anyone else's work, whereas the rogue newbie was using his “power” to undermine other people's writing.

In my opinion I think any storyline is acceptable (even including god-modding), as long as each member respects each other's work and ideas. Even turning your character into a god-like all-powerful being is acceptable, and can be a brilliantly exciting storyline, as long as you do it in context, and make sure you don't undermine other member's writing (Check with them first!).

Also I am generalising here. If your game is a modern day soap-opera type scenario, or you have strict rules about the use of technology, then having a character gaining superpowers, or developing some technology that allows them to pause time or travel through wormholes would definitely not be acceptable. But if your games is as liberal as ours, you shouldn't put a cap on any kind of imagination.

Written by David Ball
www.BlueDwarf.co.uk