Auto Hitting
Auto hitting is the act of wording an attack so that it lands without giving your opponent a chance to defend against it. All attacks need to be phrased in a fashion that are an attempt rather than an actual blow landed. Typically, people use the words “if” or “would” to show an attempt but feel free to indulge your vocabulary. This is an auto hit. -Striked May upside the head giving her an instant concussion- However, if you chose to word it like this, it would be legal. -His opened palm travelled easternly within sturdy trajectory as blinding speeds, giving May a mere 0.2 seconds to evade the oncoming strike. If said strike isn't evaded the force of his palm colliding with her cranium would evoke a severe concussion-
Puppeteering
Auto hitting is the act of wording an attack so that it lands without giving your opponent a chance to defend against it. All attacks need to be phrased in a fashion that are an attempt rather than an actual blow landed. Typically, people use the words “if” or “would” to show an attempt but feel free to indulge your vocabulary. This is an auto hit. -Striked May upside the head giving her an instant concussion- However, if you chose to word it like this, it would be legal. -His opened palm travelled easternly within sturdy trajectory as blinding speeds, giving May a mere 0.2 seconds to evade the oncoming strike. If said strike isn't evaded the force of his palm colliding with her cranium would evoke a severe concussion-
Puppeteering
Unless given express permission, one is only and will ever only be able to control their own character. Puppeteering is the act of posting another character’s actions without them actually making them. Now, this could be as obvious as saying another character walked in your way when they never posted such a thing, or it can be more subtle. If say your genin character is the first to post for training and in his post he is claiming that his fellow squad members are tardy, it is puppeteering. Also one can puppeteer without physically moving the character. Say someone has a jutsu that induces fear, because people can respond to fear differently, you dictating how they react to the fear is puppeteering. For instance, some people freeze when they are afraid while others get a boost of adrenaline and jump into action. It is up to the person to decide how their character will react to such circumstances. Another subtle way to puppeteer is by trying to dictate the actions of a player controlled NPC. Basically, if it is not your creation, you are not allowed to control it.
Meta-Gaming & Mixing
There is a complete divide between in character and out of character. What you know as a typist does not mean your character will have the same knowledge. When you use OOC information in role play it is meta-gaming. When you use the writer’s personal feelings and emotions to guide the character that is mixing. The knowledge your character has should be realistic to their experiences in their life so far. This means your eight year old genin will not know complex chemistry and physics, not unless they grew up in a lab and spent their life studying it. If you as a role player are angry with another role player and you have your character attack their character for no legit reason tied to the role play, that is mixing. Knowing exactly where to find them to attack is Meta-Gaming. The same can be said about friendlier interactions. If you are role playing and ooc you start to date someone and they are really awesome and you decide to force the relationship onto your characters even though it makes no logical sense for them to be together, it is mixing. If you as a writer know that your opponent has an injured leg and you attack there because of this OOC knowledge, that is meta-gaming.
A lot of people instruct keeping emotions out of role play to prevent meta-gaming and mixing…. However without emotions, there is no connection to the writing and it comes off flat. Instead, your writing should focus on the character’s emotions. As a writer, you should want to express and experience what your character is going through. It is when you flip it around and your character begins to take on the writer’s emotions and feelings that things go astray. You are not your character and your character should have the knowledge, personality and emotions based in their fictional background. Do not allow yourself to become confused and corrupt your character with OOC feelings.
Furthermore, do not let out of character politics dictate the role play. Not all characters are good and each character will have their own beliefs and quests. If you are playing a character who might be questing after power or world domination or the tailed beasts, do your planning in character. I encourage you to plot and create conflict. However, this should always be done in character. Do not get together out of character and try to sabotage others or find OOC ways to achieve in character goals. There will be zero tolerance for such behaviour.
God Modding
God Modding is a term that tends to have fairly abstract and varying definitions based on personal experiences and preferences. For sake of consistency and ease of understanding, for this role play experience God Modding will be described as the following.
An attribute of God Modding is creating a character who fails to have balance. For every strength your character has, they should have a comparable weakness. If your character has no weaknesses or very few compared to their powers, they will need to be edited before you will be allowed to enter the role play.
Creating a power without being able to properly explain how it works will also be lumped into the God Modding category. You should know thoroughly how all your abilities work and be able to explain. You cannot just do something without any logic or reasoning behind it.
Giving your character abilities that are not logical for them to have or just too many will fall under God Modding.
While previously I have covered characters that are God mods, actively God Modding in a fight can also happen. One of the main offenders is not taking a blow properly. If you take a hit, there will be damage, at least to some degree. Nothing you can do will completely prevent a blow from hitting you. Your damage needs to be logical to the blow taken. If your opponent has prepped for 4 posts and nails you with an attack and you throw a defense up in one post to defend against it… you are still taking 3/4th the damage from their attack because it is four times stronger. If you get stabbed in the chest with a kunai and then claim it is just a scratch without doing anything to lessen the blow it is god modding.
Another way people commit god mods is by using words that are absolutes. Absolutes are words that are either 100% correct all the time or 100% wrong and have no exception. Stay away from these words when describing your moves or powers; all, always, every, only, never, none and must. It is impossible to know every scenario possible in a role play and so you have no way of knowing that the only way to defeat your move is what you list. You could be faced with opponent who thinks drastically different and defeats your move with something you had never thought of before. If you say your character never misses, it is a lie. You cannot account for every situation, so do not use wording that has no room for exceptions.
Doing something that is not possible is a god mod. If you make 3000 shadow clones or if you do 14 back flips and three kicks in the time it takes your opponent to flick their wrist is not possible. This is god modding.
With time, given the extensive nature of the term god modding and the catch all it has become within role play, more may be added to this section with time.
Interrupts/Hypotheticals/Attacks per Post
If one were to get into a fight in real life, a person would not stand there while their opponent threw thirty punches at them. No, when they see their opponent's fist coming towards them, they react. Role Play is no different.
When you write your post, it is an attempt and the stuff in your post has not yet happened. It has only happened when your opponent replies and does not do anything to alter the chain of events. It can get very very confusing but it is important to know what has actually happened and what can be altered in your next post. There is an exact moment in every post that dictates what has actually happened in a preceding post. Think of it like a trigger moment. If you’re fighting and you start running towards your opponent and go to kick them in the ribs you can only change this course of action if your opponent does something that your character is able to perceive and have time to react to. Say the moment you start running, your opponent pulls out a katana and points it at you. Obviously, your character is going to see the sword and alter their course. That moment when the opponent moves is the trigger. Your character cannot go back and change what they have done until that happens. So, if say your opponent does not move until your foot is in the air flying towards him. No matter what your opponent does, you cannot go back and interrupt your actions to prior to that moment they moved. Your running towards them is no longer an attempt and actually occurred.
The tricky thing is that your character actually has to be able to perceive what the opponent’s course of action. Even though you as a role player know what is coming having read your opponent’s post, doesn’t always mean your character has the needed skills to notice. So be wary of meta-gaming. Sometimes their reactions may not be something that is visible, like gathering chakra in order to do something after your character has connected. If your character is unable to sense chakra in such a fashion, then you cannot interrupt based off them gathering chakra.
Hypotheticals seem to go hand and hand with interrupts. A hypothetical is wording a post in a manner that allows for combo attacks or a secondary attack if you are capable of predicting what your opponent may do. It basically is saying that if your character does this, my character will do this in response. Now it is a common misperception that if the person who is facing the hypothetical does what the person writing the hypothetical says, that the blow will land by default. That is not true. The hypothetical is still just an attempt and even if the opponent completes the action, they still are able to do so in a fashion that blocks or somehow lessens the blow. It only becomes a blow landed if they complete the action and neglects to defend against the hypothetical. If they neglect it, then the person who orchestrated the hypothetical is able to reply with the results and damage done.
Unless you use a hypothetical, you are only able to attack once per post.
Prepping
T1 is very clear on the use of prepping. When an attack is prepped it is stronger than an attack or block that is not prepped. If you prep for four posts, your attack is four times stronger than if you did not prep.
Acceptance
If you have an issue with someone else’s post, do not post until it is resolved. If you do not understand how something is done by your opponent ask them to describe it. It is a role player’s job to be able to describe what they have done in their post. They do not have to describe why they did it or what might happen because they did it. If someone posts something and it is unclear or vague, it is their foul. No one is ever to be made to feel stupid or inadequate for asking for clarification. If your post is not clear, it is your job to explain. This does not mean your opponent is stupid or less intelligent than you. If you have special knowledge in a field, do not accept that it is common knowledge to everyone. You have to be able to explain things in a fashion understandable to everyone.
As mentioned before, if you think something is not legal or you have questions, do not post until they are resolved. By posting, you are accepting all of the role play that has occurred previously. You cannot wait 3-4 posts to ask for a ruling. Once you post a reply, you are giving your consent that you believe everything prior to that post is valid, legal and has taken place. Your post is what concretes this. With situations where you are posting with multiple people, you can refute only what has transpired since your last post.
When you do have an issue, it is expected to be handled maturely and politely. Your fellow role players are not your enemies, even if they play one for a character. We are all needed for an enjoyable experience. I will not tolerate any name calling or insult slinging. Leave your egos elsewhere. Winning or losing a fight does not make you any better or worse than another role player. Everyone has good days and bad days, and some characters are better suited to face off against certain characters while others are not. Conduct yourself with dignity and respect or you will be gone.
Process for Disputes
If the situation arrives that you need a moderator’s judging, there will be a dispute thread. You will need to include a link to the post, copy and paste the exact part of the text you believe to be illegal and how and why you believe it to be illegal. There are some rules for this thread and they will be listed there as well as the instructions.
Only people who are directly involved with the posting may comment on it. If you are not involved and you post that so and so auto hit so and so… even if they did auto hit, your post will be deleted. Part of role play is to be able to learn and interpret other role player’s posts. It is an unfair advantage to have another intervene.
Once the initial complaint is filed, any posts voicing opinions will promptly be deleted. It is not a democracy. The judging will be solely handled by the moderators.
Once you post your query, be patient. There is no need to message someone to check the thread, or badger for an immediate reply. We all have lives outside of the role play and other obligations. We will get to it.
© Discordia@IMVU
Last edited by Serpent on Tue Feb 21, 2017 2:46 pm; edited 3 times in total
