Or is it god-modding? Not that it strictly matters, because
you know what I’m talking about, but the lack of a unified term makes for good
representation of the problem itself. For the sake of this post, I’ll try and
be consistent and refer to it as “god-moding” simply because that’s what I’m
used to, and it makes more sense to me, but you could make a reasonable
argument for either. Like meta-gaming, this is a term that probably gets most
of its popularity from the tabletop scene, but it’s spread to all other forms
of roleplay. Our desire to play the deity part is because we are already human.
If this term really did gain traction through tabletop
games, then the primary fear there would be simple fairness. If one character
“god-modes” then it upsets the tentative, statistical balance, which is usually
reserved for upending by a designated game-moderator or dungeon-master. Also
like meta-gaming, the rules are simple here too: you control your character and
no one else’s. To disrupt this balance is poor sportsmanship and damages the
integrity of the game. We make rules against god-moding in roleplay for the
same reason we make rules against going out of bounds in sports. In football,
the quarterback has to throw the ball behind the line of scrimmage. In
basketball, the player has to dribble the ball to move it. In soccer, the
player can’t use their hands. In roleplay, the writer cannot play as God. This
is fundamental.
It’s also complex, though. For this reason, this post is one
of my longer ones, even though I’ve done my best to keep it concise and on
point. Bear with me; there’s a lot to think about here.
