When one persons RP and world building intrudes on everything

[MHertz]

2 hours ago, Crystal Dragon said:

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.

I don't recall any differences in opinion worth quibbling about, and I'm very glad to know you are enjoying the story surrounding the Willows. As a longtime Dungeon Master, I'm happy when everyone gets together to write a story in common. It's kind of my story, but I have plenty of good and helpful co-authors like yourself.

[UltraAlt]

11 hours ago, Kelri Irris said:

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

 

I am glad for you that they are your ex.

[Crystal Dragon]

11 hours ago, UltraAlt said:

 

I am glad for you that they are your ex.

Seconded here.

[Kelri Irris]

The funny thing is that I almost didn't post that joke at all, but it made my life partner laugh loud and hysterically (on a really horrible-no-good day, mind you), and I had to share it. And yes, he's a much better romantic partner than the ex. I'm glad to be rid of him too. ❤️ 

[Sakura Tenshi]

I kind of am more likely to be on the opposite end. One of my Characters, Gaia Redeemer, has basically been doing his thing for about 1.2 million years, reincarnating and regaining his past memories again and again. I usually try to be very careful not to step on anyone’s toes and usually I have a thing in my description to offer if people want to be part of that history or to have known in passing. Otherwise I gun for his relations being to comparatively obscure figures in history, such as past lives as Ametis of Babylon or Ashur Bhilit of Assyria or being a cousin to Gregori Orelev. (they’re actually pretty major, but tell me you know who they are without googling)

 

the admittedly big things though I imagine some might protest are: that in his life as an oranbegan he was captain of “the circle of bronze”, basically the head of the army and had been against the use of demonic pacts.

[American Valor]

On 2/8/2023 at 8:22 PM, Sakura Tenshi said:

I kind of am more likely to be on the opposite end. One of my Characters, Gaia Redeemer, has basically been doing his thing for about 1.2 million years, reincarnating and regaining his past memories again and again. I usually try to be very careful not to step on anyone’s toes and usually I have a thing in my description to offer if people want to be part of that history or to have known in passing. Otherwise I gun for his relations being to comparatively obscure figures in history, such as past lives as Ametis of Babylon or Ashur Bhilit of Assyria or being a cousin to Gregori Orelev. (they’re actually pretty major, but tell me you know who they are without googling)

 

the admittedly big things though I imagine some might protest are: that in his life as an oranbegan he was captain of “the circle of bronze”, basically the head of the army and had been against the use of demonic pacts.

Having not rp'ed with you on the surfaace it seams you get it.  I have interacted with ((Players)) beings godlike or supernatural who vastly make my toon existance seem small. In truth they are; 'Hawkeye, Punisher or Captain America' are small in the eyes of those beings 'Thor, Loki, Tiamaut'. It doesn't lessen the normal heroes it makes them more Heroic for them the threat is real they are not immortal.

 

But

 

When one person makes claims to be it 'the guy/gal' who created the very powers which allow everyone to exist and everything you do is because it pleases them then we have a problem and a disconect. It always comes down to consent. No consent no understanding and no meaningful interaction, For those time I rely on Disney:

 

"There he goes again that Crazy Old Maurice always good for a laugh"  exit stage right.

[Sakura Tenshi]

@American Valor
You know, sort of on the note of people playing Godlike beings had been how, with Gaia Redeemer, due to me kiiind of messing up with the sense of scale with how long he's been around, he's actually been in situations where other deities or demons boast about being thousands of years old and there's my guy who is so old his common joke is that "mutation origin to me meant you were born homo sapiens instead of a neanderthal" Which gets funnier since, to my later research, this in of itself undersells it as his earliest life would have put him at Homo Habilis or Erectus.

[Sabrehawk]

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

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.

 

Unfortunately this sort of thing happens in most (though not all) RP communities that I've been apart of. It can be tempting to 'go meta'. But as the years go on I find myself favoring this approach less and less. I've taken to attempting to remain purely IC. Would my character believe them? Why not? Alternately would they believe the more outrageous claims? This can be just as interesting. For example, Sabrehawk in her early career believed some of the more extreme claims regarding power level. But as her career went on and she met some of the top dogs of the setting she noticed that the people she met in the field never exceeded a certain level of power. The people who made outrageous claims in the 'D, however, she rarely saw in the field and when she did (in IC missions) those people ate pavement more than the rest. Thus, she came to the conclusion none of those people possessed the abilities they said they did.

 

On 2/6/2023 at 3:32 PM, Gruntuk said:

 

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}

 

Say what you will about the Grun'Tuk but at least the checks clear on time. 

Edited February 12, 2023 by Sabrehawk

[Attache]

On 2/7/2023 at 6:17 AM, UltraAlt said:

 

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.

I barely RP these days but I have a number of gods, demons, cosmic entities, etc. and where I think the self-gratification comes in is I just like creating characters in my own head canon universe. No matter their power level, I certainly don’t expect anyone else to acknowledge it or bow down.

 

This probably isn’t popular to say but RP in this game has been spotty going back to Live. Must of us aren’t good at it or improv or even courtesy. For every open and engaging person you encounter, there are 15 whose whole RP persona is, “Hi! I’m an edgy a-hole so I’ll be poking holes in whatever you say!” How fun!

 

Pocket D RP is loaded with these types and it is pretty impenetrable if you are not there doing it every day so when I pop in there, it is usually with the characters that lampshade PD RP to some degree. I had genuine fun playing out Steve Saturn’s origin story in the D and I hope some other people were entertained.

 

And I do try hard to not to yuck other people’s yum but sometimes I get in a weird mood and take it too far and am probably a distraction. At the time I was doing it, I was having fun only interacting with people using Dr. Rick Dagless Darkplace dialogue but in retrospect, I was probably the only one.

 

I say if someone is god moding, “yes and” them as much as you can stand and find another spot. I’m trying to take that advice myself.

Edited April 3 by Attache

[Solvernia]

Hi there. Hot take incoming.

 

So, first of all, this is a video game. Video games are meant to be fun. If the game is no longer fun, don't play it anymore. If there is only a part of this game that makes you believe that it is not fun, don't participate in that part of the game.

 

Second, your fun isn't the only fun that matters. Let people roleplay whatever they want however they want. They are here because they want to have fun and that is not your business. If you don't like the ways other people are having fun, that's a stupid and meaningless choice to make -- but whatever. Just don't interact with them. There will always be more people to play with.

 

Even if this person is somehow successfully convincing entire groups of other people to avoid you, that's also fine. You don't want to be playing with people who are that easily influenced to hate others. If this is a problem that is unavoidable, go do something else. There's no point in choosing to stay and play a game full of people who don't like you, or whom you don't like. There will always be more games to play.

 

No doubt that people are going to very strongly disagree with this post. Maybe you'll disagree, too. That's fine. Just take a moment and think about the kind of people who would oppose the argument of 'let people do what they want'. Think about the kind of people who want to enforce their own preconceptions of acceptable entertainment upon you. Think about trying to do that to others yourself.

 

Think about the bitter, seething hatred that wells in the heart of a human being who sees others having fun the wrong way. Think about that hatred building up within you. Think about how that, if you just stopped caring about what others do, there would be no such pettiness in your heart, only a sense of peace and acceptance. Understand that, and you will very quickly realize that there is no particular value or merit in choosing to be upset at others -- and anyone who believes otherwise can be safely disregarded without consequence.

 

Quote

I instantly cringe when I see it. Granted this goes for everyone I see if they do something like that.

This is a personal problem created by you and has nothing to do with anyone else. The world does not exist to live up to your expectations, just as you do not exist to live up to the world's expectations. So there's no point in choosing to be upset over how other people play the game.

 

Quote

I cannot get away from them.  

 

Yes you can. You have the choice to not interact with them or not even be near them. It is your choice, always. And if you choose to interact or be in the vicinity of people you do not like, there's no point in choosing to get upset over that.

 

 

Edited March 19, 2023 by Solvernia

[kito]

Great idea just take your ball and go home.

[Crystal Dragon]

Or you know, recognize you aren't king of the world and learn to work with others to integrate stories? The egocentric player is probably the worst to play with, in any game. Period. You are playing in a world full of hundreds of different personality types and characters of any stretch of the imagination. You aren't going to get along with every single one of them. But the few that you do manage to befriend and want to play with will probably want to modify their own story to join yours.

1. Being respectful of your fellow players is kind of core to RP, if you can't be respectful, why are you even playing online in the first place?
2. If you can't work well with others, or find a middle ground, review your own concept more critically. It's possible you are in fact the problem.
3. If you find yourself being rejected repeatedly, or lack of interaction entirely, maybe the issue isn't the other players, maybe it's your concept and how its perceived.
4. Anyone that tells you that you "must" play with them or face being stonewalled from accessing any other groups, circles, concepts, and player stories, is absolutely lying to you.
5. There is no god, god-kind, or center figure in RP. Period. You can be possibly from an alternative universe as a deity, but those power scales do not hold ground in COH context.
6. No one, and I do mean no one, has a right to tell you who or how you should play however.

These are just respected guide lines I teach for everyone to be able to play on a fair-play basis. Even I can be wrong, and yes I am humble enough to accept that.

However, that does not mean that you are going to be accepted if you choose to play a character that is all ego, and no substance. Playing a powerful character can be done in fair-play, I have a number of them that have, by some grace of self reflection, avoided the power-creep aspect of RP consuming their tales and warping the original intent of their creation. The issue at hand is more the fact that the same player has been guilty of these specific issues a number of times, by at least the last three years and has yet to address or do anything to repair the problematic behavior and player choices. 

[SolSoldier]

All I'm going to say atm cause I'm really tired is...I know EXACTLY who the OP meant in the original post & I really wish they'd get their head out of their own posterior and stop eating themself, so people can enjoy RP without dealing with a 'I am the END ALL, KNOW ALL, BE ALL' bullshyte they bring to any interaction. *may add actual constructive stuff to this reply later*

[The GrunTuk Empire]

19 hours ago, kito said:

Great idea just take your ball and go home.

 

If we could move planets we would... why bring the fleets to Earth, when we can bring the Earth to the fleets...

 

Though realistically it would potentially be catastrophic if we brought Earth to the home worlds... we might just succumb to some form of EARTH indoctrination... like K-Pop or Hoola-Hoops.

[Solvernia]

21 hours ago, SolSoldier said:

All I'm going to say atm cause I'm really tired is...I know EXACTLY who the OP meant in the original post & I really wish they'd get their head out of their own posterior and stop eating themself, so people can enjoy RP without dealing with a 'I am the END ALL, KNOW ALL, BE ALL' bullshyte they bring to any interaction. *may add actual constructive stuff to this reply later*

 

What you do with yourself, and what you think of others, is always your choice, and your choice alone. If you don't enjoy the way someone else interacts with you then that's your choice. And If you choose to not like them, then you can also make the choice to not interact with them.

 

Sure, you can always choose to interact with someone who you've chosen to not like. But I choose to think that's a pretty stupid thing to do.

Edited March 21, 2023 by Solvernia

[jkwak]

i have read all this.

And what i really want to do is making a humanoid reptile with fake wings and delusion of grandure who claims to be some kind of dragongod, while IC the character isnt even a dragon

 

as bonus keep it bellow lvl 10 and have the character claim they can Solo Hami.

sorry not constructive

Edited March 28, 2023 by jkwak

[Kelri Irris]

I have a character who BELIEVES she's a god. She's the creation/partner to a mage who cast a spell for protection, and he got her. So for him, and to all appearances, she is a bodyguard, but for her, she is a goddess who is protecting her "believer". The rp is fun, because of how full of crap she is and how hard she believes that she is a god. 😛

[Solvernia]

On 3/28/2023 at 1:49 AM, jkwak said:

i have read all this.

And what i really want to do is making a humanoid reptile with fake wings and delusion of grandure who claims to be some kind of dragongod, while IC the character isnt even a dragon

 

as bonus keep it bellow lvl 10 and have the character claim they can Solo Hami.

sorry not constructive

 

Playing RP characters that pretend to be powerful (but in reality they aren't) is fun! 

[Attache]

3 hours ago, Solvernia said:

 

Playing RP characters that pretend to be powerful (but in reality they aren't) is fun! 

 

This is my whole schtick with the all-powerful Duke Dreadsome, who may actually just be a villain cosplayer. I usually start with a crazy drink order in Pocket D, try to recruit some henchmen to truly deplorable conditions, ramble about how he is a widower seven times over, and then eventually call an Uber to catch the "Skull Flyer" in Port Oakes. Always fun!

"Ah, my dear bartender, I require a libation fit for a ruler of the underworld! A cauldron of molten gold, infused with the tears of my enemies and the blood of a thousand sacrificial goats! Mix it with the venom of the most venomous snakes and top it with a diamond chalice filled with the finest nectar from the flowers of the Underworld. And for an added touch of decadence, sprinkle it with gold leaf and garnish with the heart of a dragon!"

[Redletter]

I always wonder about where people get their ideas for these characters and what fun there is in solving an issue as simply as saying "it's solved".

For instance; let's say you're super god man omega the beginning of the end of beginings the enderer -- your powers is all of them. You're hanging out in pocket d next to your weak cuck little brother DJ Zero and overhear through your multiversal cosmic divine eye that there's a person across the bar (probably a qt gril) about how their call to adventure being the tragic death of their sister to the fearsome bee lord, and how that event has given them a bee-phobia but now, they have feelings for a bee person and they don't know how to reconcile their paralyzing fear and their budding romantic feelings for their bee friend.

So you teleport over, tell them who you are and what you do, then use your super mega time god of the ending begining of begining alpha detla supremo powers to reach through all timelines and realities and consolodate them in a single momentous moment where you undo their beephobia.

 

Like. Ok. Cool. Now theyre not scared of bees and can be with their beeloved. Now what do we do?

That's ultimately my problem with god-modding ultra toons. It's not the scale of their power or their willingness to use it. It's that after they're done, there's nothing to do. You don't extend the scene, nor do you really add to your own lore. Like, ok, so youre the ubermench who saves entire realities and now you can say you deleted a person's phobia of bees -- is that really impressive? When you go on to ruin your next scene, is that something you can really brag about?

 

 

 

My favorite thing to do in these situations is just negate them with Null the Gull. Null lets out a lil cosmic toot and their attempts to "fix" my character are foiled -- for all their awesome might they're powerless in the face of Null's errant flatulence.

 

Sign my petition for Seagull Mode today

[chase]

I used to keep reminding myself that a genre like this has to have room for all kinds of characters, that some will just be choosing to play at such an extremely different level of play from everyone else that the best solution will be to just to avoid them and "retcon it away" from my own personal timeline.   That works, but I've been suppressing something more blunt.  

"((I'm sorry.  I can't see how continuing this would be fun for either of us.))"

It hurts to hear that someone finds your creation so unenjoyable they want to end it.   I like to think i'd take it well if one of my more quirky creations was unknowingly interacting with someone whose styles were so opposite of mine that it troubled them, but I know I'm more thick-skinned (and thick-skulled) than the norm, so I try to take that into account.

When do you make that decision, though?   To me, it comes down to agency.   When I see an omnipotent character that strips away all agency from another character, denying them any reason or purpose to exist, as far as I care that's a level of meta-griefing that I have no interest in supporting or encouraging.    I may listen in for a few additional exchanges just to be sure I'm not misunderstanding or taking out of context (two players jokingly in a meta-omnipotent godmod war with one another can be quite entertaining) but I'll probably not be sticking around.

 

[lemming]

On 4/6/2023 at 5:45 PM, Redletter said:

Sign my petition for Seagull Mode today

As long as it's not a PvP fest fighting over a french fry

[biostem]

On 4/6/2023 at 8:45 PM, Redletter said:

So you teleport over, tell them who you are and what you do, then use your super mega time god of the ending begining of begining alpha detla supremo powers to reach through all timelines and realities and consolodate them in a single momentous moment where you undo their beephobia.

Why couldn't that person simply says "Oh?  Hmm, I don't feel any different.  I guess it didn't work.  Thanks for trying, though..."

 

I mean, YOU cannot tell me how my character reacts to your powers, and I can make up any of a number of reasons why your "god-like" powers have no effect...

[chase]

29 minutes ago, biostem said:

Why couldn't that person simply says "Oh?  Hmm, I don't feel any different.  I guess it didn't work.  Thanks for trying, though..."

 

I mean, YOU cannot tell me how my character reacts to your powers, and I can make up any of a number of reasons why your "god-like" powers have no effect...

It's a good suggestion... don't get me wrong... and perhaps... hopefully... the person takes it in such stride as to continue some fun play and banter.   My personal experience over the years with this level of powerset doesn't lend much hope though.   Godmodders at this level broadly fall into three categories

1. those that are doing this as their own form of griefing and they'll just escalate the 'changes' they're doing to you, happy to just waste your time as you counter all the things they claim they can do
2. those that really REALLY emotionally NEED to be the omnipotent super-powerful entity they pretend and take personal affront that you'd deny them their RP outlet.  Things escalate fast
3. those well-adjusted individuals that just either take the hint or make it clear they're engaging in well-intentioned playful banter and appreciate your handling of it.

Generally speaking, I hope for #3, prepare for #1, and usually encounter #2.

[biostem]

Just now, chase said:

those that are doing this as their own form of griefing and they'll just escalate the 'changes' they're doing to you, happy to just waste your time as you counter all the things they claim they can do

Agreed.

 

1 minute ago, chase said:

those that really REALLY emotionally NEED to be the omnipotent super-powerful entity they pretend and take personal affront that you'd deny them their RP outlet.  Things escalate fast

Funny how they can't see that is exactly what they did, though... I guess it's par for the course.  It's one of the pitfalls of trying to RP in an environment with no GM/DM who can rein in such behavior.  Guess we gotta just take it in stride.  I usually just chalk up such a character as being overly boastful about their own power, but I guess stating as such can further aggravate the other person, as you stated...