When one persons RP and world building intrudes on everything

[DrunkFlux]

So I had some long thoughts, largely due to this having come up at least a few times with people, and at least one person I know is especially egregious at this(even saw it about a month ago, granted I hadn't gone to that club in a few weeks since, but they were making the same mistake still somehow even after all this time), I wanted to talk about when someone insists their world building plot to override everyone else, even on the first meet.  I'm not gonna name the person in particular(they know who they are), but I still sometimes run into them.  And of course, they try to over-ride everything.

 

Like time travelers/manipulators, which honestly spring to mind first thing.  The one person I know insists his character is THE time stream, time itself.  Uh, wheres the room in allowing anyone else?  Theres none, period to that.  It's instantly off-putting to me, as I hanged out with them more and saw what that meant it was one thing that ultimately lead me to not want anything to do with them.  But I also saw the same person for example make a character thats single-handedly solving a problem with the sun that over-rules vanguard.  Or another toon who is just over-ruling the whole multiverse.  It comes off as a god fantasy.

 

And with no limits placed at all.  To me no one should rule CoH's entire world.  It just sets for no one to have any plots of there own to matter, to have any impact.

 

Even more-so since it requires effectively reactions of the world that results in a mary sue/marty stu, or mary suetopia(whole world revolved around said players characters to the extreme).

 

The whole reason I held back from bringing this kind of rp up was because it is thankfully rare, but it gives a very toxic vibe to me.  Like keeping me from hanging ou with entire SG's when I used to enjoy hanging out with them levels of bad.  Old friends no longer hanged out with to, at least a few.  Granted this was a long time ago, but I still see it done sometimes when I hang out at the occasional bar/club.   And I don't seem to see them with the SG I used to hang out with anywhere near as much.  (Some of my not hanging out with the SG I used to is also schedule, friday nights just don't work for me anymore).

I instantly cringe when I see it.  Granted this goes for everyone I see if they do something like that.  Time manipulators its especially easy to do that, the player I knew prone to it wasn't the only one.

 

Of course, I sometimes just rp behind the scenes the players who do something like that, as the characters are just delusional narcissists.

 

But it also bothers me since when hanging out at the clubs sometimes, I cannot get away from them.  Should I just add them to the ignore since they never seem to really learn?  Or really change after they'd been in the CoH community for years?  I'm not entirely sure, since ignoring someone in say, a club environment you end up missing dialogue, or create awkward situations where someone's character says something in response to them.  Some of the old friends i'd try hanging out with more but then the god-moder in question still manages to over-ride everything, so it leaves me once again not hanging out again.

 

I post this because well, while I hang out with other groups now and other friends, and even got my own plots off the ground finally after a lot of retconning for some of my characters, I still cannot help but sometimes, sometimes wish to hang out with old friends, but cannot.  Even if just catch up on things, of course it's well past that I suppose.

 

Since then though I thankfully had been able to move on with my own plots and my own character archs after having made a lot of new friends, even ended up with new mains and stories with them.  Stories that probably would never have been interesting otherwise due to entire plots being mary sue'd in an instant.  Involving multiple rpers even.  And I ended up involved in other people's plots again, which also felt great, more-so when my own char got to use a solution she prefered over just brute-forcing the situation.  A battle she assisted with using wits rather than her own raw powers with a mark of discretion felt way more satisfying.  I worked it out with the two people who 'were' in the actual fighting and I was able to let my character do something without disrupting the story/character development.

[Tenaxa]

Classic god-moding and intruding on the plotlines of others to be the "I fix everything" character.

Ouch, I'm sorry this happened to you but I know very few RP'ers (in-game, in forums, wherever) that have not run into this. That you have a persistent issue seems...ugh, extra annoying.

 

I'm assuming you've talked to this person OOC and explained to them? 

If not...I also get it...don't want to cause conflict. That can be messy. Still, maybe worth a chat?

 

Come here, vent, let us commiserate with you. 

Also, lots of people out there to RP with that happily want to participate in your storyline without destroying/cancelling it. Sounds like you've found a way around it, avoiding said annoyance.  

Good luck with your RP. In-game, as in RL, stay away from toxic people.

 

[kito]

I hate meta gaming alot more then god moding myself but they are both a issue. I also assume you talked to the god moder ooc and explained you did not want them to fix your issue.  

 

I would also question how some one could be a time stream? Somehow this amuses me like someone being the personification of an inch. Many god moders I have run into over the years are just looking for some level of control in there life, others just want to be Uber powerful and helpful, and finally people who just want to be the center. If there more the center maby make an alt toon just to be apart of that circle of friends. (Assuming you get Fridays back) and keep your main toon and your stories away from the god modder. 

 

If it's a large enough issue for the SG or many players around the god moder you can always trap there godlike power in a story. Never found a god moder who could resist being the center of a story. And leave them mortal when they have X item on etc. This way they could fix your problem but can't while in the club at that very second not needing you to worry about them trying to override your story while hanging out.  

 

Overall I find it best to avoid them only talk with them at pocket d where they can't affect you by in game lore and just be friends adjacent. And maby wonder why your friends like them so much? 

[Kelri Irris]

As someone who has been rp'ing online for decades (and I am avoiding doing the math, but have been rp'ing most of my life, so estimating), I can tell you that this is not a new problem. It's one I've run into time and again. One of the selling points for the guild I was in the longest (in another game) was that part of their ooc "mission" was to help teach new rp'ers the how's and how-not-to's of good rp, because they wanted the guild name associated with good rp. And their approach was always kind and gave you the sense that you were in control BECAUSE YOU ARE. 

 

What I have found is that when problems like this come up, talking can help if you've a mind though sometimes it doesn't. As someone who has spent a lot of time going through the "growing pains" of online rp, I can tell you that the best thing to do is what makes YOU comfortable. A lot of folks have some great advice in these situations, and if they're someone you trust, you can try their suggestions or not, based on what YOU feel comfortable with. 

 

Going on 50 years of life, however, I can tell you that is the only way you can find something that works - make sure it works for YOU. I can tell you how I deal with this problem when it comes up, but that may not fit who YOU are. And that's who has to be happy with the solution. YMMV

[Paragon Vanguard]

Best way to deal with these types of rp'ers is to not accept anything they say outside of what is...well...acceptable. They are "time itself", fine....prove it. Oh...well, time is still going by my watch! Believe me, there are plenty of people who think they are God or a poodle. Just because it is  claimed does not make it so. 

Of course you want to talk to someone first as they may not understand the difficulties they are causing, but in the end, there is no need to complain or stress on it. Their rp is only as relative as you allow it to be. 

[The GrunTuk Empire]

On 1/31/2023 at 3:39 AM, Paragon Vanguard said:

Best way to deal with these types of rp'ers is to not accept anything they say outside of what is...well...acceptable. They are "time itself", fine....prove it. Oh...well, time is still going by my watch! Believe me, there are plenty of people who think they are God or a poodle. Just because it is  claimed does not make it so. 

Of course you want to talk to someone first as they may not understand the difficulties they are causing, but in the end, there is no need to complain or stress on it. Their rp is only as relative as you allow it to be. 

 

We have faced this as well, many times. I might just stress as well, we could potentially fall into the realm of "One peoples world building bleeding into anothers." We try our utmost to not let this happen!

 

For a brief context, our niche is "We are evil Empire space invaders who have conquered worlds... come to conquer Earth." Our RP will only ever bleed into someone elses if they choose and want to take part in it, which we are more than happy to accomodate. Its not for everyone but we enjoy what we do and try to keep to ourselves... until the planet is ours!

 

Though it does present some funny scenarios to counter. People do enjoy telling us how we will fail and to be fair 99% of the time they are right. There are many flaws to our plan... its all part of the story. We completely understand its built to fail (OOC), but it is all about the journey! And we are so damned sure we will succeed that you cant tell us otherwise!

 

However, we sometimes run into people who want to, for lack of a better term, utterly curbstomp our plans and objectives just to show off how powerful an individual they are. It becomes ridiculous. Like @Paragon Vanguard has mentioned, they want to be the most godly god of all... or godly poodle of all!

 

The funniest (and in probably one of the more frustrating) scenarios we have faced was when one character basically said to us "Why even bother, I can counter everything you throw at us." Let me emphasis the "I" in that sentence. A lot of the time we get the "Why even bother question" and we are happy to answer... but this individual was really shooting down every answer we gave with the god like power they possesed.

 

Their crowning comment was something along the lines of:

 

Quote

"... I will teleport the entirety of planet Earth to an alternative dimension if the Grun'Tuk attempted to invade us..."

To which we responded:
 

Quote

"... well we will just wait until the planet resurfaces ... and in the meantime increase what fleet power we have while we wait."

 

We had not the time, nor Grun'Tuk Crayons, to draw up a list of ways that their plan would cause more havock to the planet than an evil space empire invading.

 

If you are going to hit us with an absurd strategy we will retaliate in kind! With words of course.

 

Thankfully these interactions are few and far between. They do stick out though when they come around.

Edited February 1, 2023 by Gruntuk

[Tenaxa]

I seriously want to RP with all the posters in this thread.

Except myself of course. That would be weird. 😛

 

Almost forgot; I also want to defeat the Grun'Tuk invasion. 🙂

 

Edited January 31, 2023 by Tenaxa

[The GrunTuk Empire]

38 minutes ago, Tenaxa said:

I seriously want to RP with all the posters in this thread.

Except myself of course. That would be weird. 😛

 

Almost forgot; I also want to defeat the Grun'Tuk invasion. 🙂

 

 

We look forward to crushing your hopes and dreams... and providing you with new ones!

[biostem]

On 1/28/2023 at 5:55 PM, DrunkFlux said:

The one person I know insists his character is THE time stream, time itself.

So what happens when you/your character simply says they don't believe them, or just chalk their claims up to some sort of delusion.  Heck, you could even give them the benefit of the doubt but say they're "THE time stream" from an alternate dimension that has no impact on the current one, and they simply don't comprehend that fact...

[Crystal Dragon]

I believe I know whom you speak of, and yes, they are a toxic individual. Best to avoid them. My plots welcome anyone to join so long as they know to behave themselves and are able to maintain OOC communication lines for working out possibly speed bumps along the way. I know far too many players that don't keep their OOC communications open with the players they interact with, and some end up in just such a case, ignored globally by myself and what friends I end up sharing my experiences with. I too can understand the frustration this causes when the player you speak of gets tied into the group of friends you had prior to their involvement, and yes, breaks them absolutely apart from you. It's insidious how some people can twist personal canon into a matter that other people playing the game must contend with, even with their backstory. (Long story, but yes an attempt was made and failed miserably by that same individual.) You have my sympathies and if you see a character I'm playing that you wish to interact with, feel free to send me a tell.

[TorrentYed]

I was recently, elsewhere, reading about a cast member that had been removed from a web series known as Critical Role. I don't watch it myself, but the partner loves it, so I tend to learn about it in that osmotic way that happens when friends and family have an interest in something outside of one's own.

 

For those unfamiliar, and to try to linger only on salient points, a group of voice actors play DnD together in homebrew campaigns. It's very popular, enough so that it's gotten an Amazon series, and a big reason for that is that it places a heavy emphasis on the storytelling, the acting, all of which is to say the roleplaying. Which takes me to the removed cast member, and the reason I even bring this anecdote up.

 

The cast member played a dragonborn sorcerer, born from a politically puissant family, a prodigy in magic, which, you know, sure, fine! That can work! ...Except he also displayed an extreme degree of main character syndrome.

 

When another character had a shining moment, landing a nigh-impossible archery trick shot, it was because the dragonborn sorcerer was actually using his telekinesis to make sure her arrow landed. When another player's character arc became the central focus, the dragonborn sorcerer tried to argue that his family could send an army to solve it by dint of overwhelming force. Scenes that didn't feature him needed to feature him, and he had to be the means of solving every problem. When he rolled poorly on his dice, he'd lie about his rolls (which is applicable to CoX in that it's someone needing to always succeed).

 

And, as expected, it pissed the other players off! 

 

There were other issues, but these factors were, no doubt, a prominent factor in his removal from the cast. He wasn't letting the other players have fun, he wasn't letting them have their moments to shine in the spotlight, because he had to be the most powerful, the most influential, the most important.

 

Rarely is anyone actually impressed by that. We're all cognizant of the fact that, at the end of the day, we're all ultimately playing a game, an old, died-too-soon MMO since revived on a private server, and that we're all on equal footing.

 

And from this egalitarian perspective, the idea adopting the stance of, 'My character, yes, just my character, is THE time stream itself—don't mistake them for my other character which is in fact the essence of all suns (not to be mistaken for my other character who created existence as you know it, which includes you),' and leaving no room for others unless they are somehow lesser—bit players in their grand epic?

 

It's asinine. Nobody is impressed. Because they recognize it's just another dork (and we're all dorks) trying to power trip in an old, died-too-soon MMO since revived on a private server.

 

To echo others, I'd say just don't buy in, don't engage—if you have the spoons for it, lay out why you're not engaging. That latter option does mean potential conflict, which may not ultimately lead to a satisfying resolution, but it might hint to the person that they're alienating people, because (again looking at responses in this thread) I can guarantee that you're not the only person put off by the behavior.

[twozerofoxtrot]

19 minutes ago, TorrentYed said:

I was recently, elsewhere, reading about a cast member that had been removed from a web series known as Critical Role.

 

Ironically both characters are playing dragon-people. 

 

 

 

 

[Crystal Dragon]

3 hours ago, twozerofoxtrot said:

 

Ironically both characters are playing dragon-people. 

 

 

 

 

I shan't name names but I'll answer a confirmation with a smile and a nod.

[Ruin Mage]

My character is The Moon itself.

Real.

[lemming]

On 1/31/2023 at 4:18 PM, biostem said:

So what happens when you/your character simply says they don't believe them, or just chalk their claims up to some sort of delusion.  Heck, you could even give them the benefit of the doubt but say they're "THE time stream" from an alternate dimension that has no impact on the current one, and they simply don't comprehend that fact...

Not that I engage much in the RP areas, but I'd be tempted to put together a stereotypical psychiatrist outfit to switch to.

[MHertz]

I don’t understand the need for this either. I see a lot of players who choose to represent themselves as all-powerful gods, demons, fates, dragons, etc, and it puzzles me greatly. Who is the audience for that? Am I supposed to be impressed or awed by someone who has the imagination of a child on a playground (“I have Everything-Proof Shields, so there! Nyah!”)?

 

Weakness is so much more powerful an RP tool than strength. Weakness invites others to contribute. Strength closes off any other contributions besides your own.

 

I play the Willows on Everlasting, and people seem to enjoy engaging in the backstory and offering to help with things the characters “need.” People are here to be heroes, mostly; what’s the point of playing a hero who can’t be helped by other heroes?

Edited February 6, 2023 by MHertz

[The GrunTuk Empire]

13 hours ago, twozerofoxtrot said:

 

Ironically both characters are playing dragon-people.

 

 

It seems Earth has a leviathan problem... fear not citizens, we shall do our utmost to scour the planet of such a problem when we are in control!

 

^{A friendly PSA from the Grun'Tuk Empire}

[American Valor]

9 hours ago, Shadeknight said:

My character is The Moon itself.

Real.

Do you keep it carefully tucked beneath your robes until displayed in the air. 🙂

 

[Ruin Mage]

Yes

[The GrunTuk Empire]

It's time to say... goodnight moon...

[American Valor]

Nooo, it's time for a full moon every night and twice on Fridays 

 

 

[Crystal Dragon]

This took an unexpected turn 🤣

[UltraAlt]

On 2/6/2023 at 12:57 PM, MHertz said:

I don’t understand the need for this either. I see a lot of players who choose to represent themselves as all-powerful gods, demons, fates, dragons, etc, and it puzzles me greatly. Who is the audience for that?

 

The player that created them. It's self-gratification.

 

They need to feel self important to the level that they feel; 1) They were invincible, superior, etc. to all other characters, 2) they are flawless, perfect, etc., and that 3) all others should bow down and recognize their absolute superiority.

Honestly, I feel sorry for them.

Edited February 8, 2023 by UltraAlt
Put "They" instead of "The" in that first sentence. Corrected.

[Kelri Irris]

3 hours ago, UltraAlt said:

 

They player that created them. It's self-gratification.

 

They need to feel self important to the level that they feel; 1) They were invincible, superior, etc. to all other characters, 2) they are flawless, perfect, etc., and that 3) all others should bow down and recognize their absolute superiority.

Honestly, I feel sorry for them.

 

I'm surprised how well you just described my ex. 😛

[Crystal Dragon]

4 hours ago, UltraAlt said:

 

They player that created them. It's self-gratification.

 

They need to feel self important to the level that they feel; 1) They were invincible, superior, etc. to all other characters, 2) they are flawless, perfect, etc., and that 3) all others should bow down and recognize their absolute superiority.

Honestly, I feel sorry for them.

Same, honestly. I broke away from them because of the fact they refused to acknowledge the problematic play style preferences and other matters that I won't share here.

  

On 2/6/2023 at 12:57 PM, MHertz said:

I don’t understand the need for this either. I see a lot of players who choose to represent themselves as all-powerful gods, demons, fates, dragons, etc, and it puzzles me greatly. Who is the audience for that? Am I supposed to be impressed or awed by someone who has the imagination of a child on a playground (“I have Everything-Proof Shields, so there! Nyah!”)?

 

Weakness is so much more powerful an RP tool than strength. Weakness invites others to contribute. Strength closes off any other contributions besides your own.

 

I play the Willows on Everlasting, and people seem to enjoy engaging in the backstory and offering to help with things the characters “need.” People are here to be heroes, mostly; what’s the point of playing a hero who can’t be helped by other heroes?

 

I know we've had our share of differences in opinions in the past on the boards here, but I genuinely enjoy the interactions I've had with the Willows and the backstory is absolutely boss.

Edited February 7, 2023 by Crystal Dragon
Addendum.