A note on modded threads.
I attempted to write an IC post and it sucked horribly. This plague and a week of powerful cold drugs has officially destroyed my faith in ink or, you know, maybe just my ability to communicate effectively. Regardless, I decided to write a meaningless scrap instead because it's not like I manage to work my way down to the point of these things most of the time anyway.
At this juncture in my Mizahar gaming experience I have modded more threads than I have had modded threads as a player. It has caused me realize something about my preferences as both an ST and a player regarding modded threads. Maybe it would be more exact if I said that it's caused me to better express those preferences and understand the source of my occasional difficulty with modded threads.
First, I don't think I mod threads very well. There is a lot of room for improvement on my part. Nor do I think I am very good at being a PC in them all the time. I occasionally fail in the same manner everyone sometimes fails me on both sides of the deal.
Here's the thing.
I'll take it first from my point of view as a player involved in a modded thread. I like room to move. If I do not know the ST very well, I am sometimes worry about moving too much, concerned that if I allow my character to do something too proactive or unexpected that it will upset the ST's plot and thus the ST. Not all mods build plots that are very flexible. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but those are not the sort of plots that I enjoy the most. This is primarily due to the fact that I don't like my character to be micro managed. I could say I don't like to be god modded, but I think that's too strong a phrase for what I'm trying to express.
What it comes down to of course STs will, as they have to, perform some micro managing in a thread. It's necessary and doesn't bother me. What bothers me is when either a) the ST does not take the effort to try to know and understand my character and thus leaves themselves open to accidentally doing real damage to the PC. Not IC damage, OOC damage.
Take for example Caelum. If an ST is going to mod Syna or, frankly, any god for a Caelum thread, then I am sitting here on pins and needles praying that they have done their homework. Caelum's character is completely created around the concept of his unique relationship with Syna and the pantheon as a whole. That is who he, as a character, is and thus if someone is writing a god interacting with him, they need to know what they are doing as it would be fairly simple to accidentally ruin all the work I have done with him. There has been one or two close encounters already, so it makes me a bit paranoid.
Of course, this is why I'm really protective about who mods gods with him. This has nothing to do with my personal opinions of mods themselves. It has to do with whether or not I know a mod either already "gets" Caelum's character or is willing and able to take the steps to do so before plotting out the thread.
That brings me to b) when an ST leaves a thread either too controlled or too distant. Too controlled is the over micro managing bit, when as a player I'm essentially being told the entire story and not left with much or any room to move within it. I feel as if this robs me of my character, and my character of the ability to impact his/her own story. Howso? Because no matter how well a person has researched my character and how well they "get" my character, it still isn't their character. It's mine. And unless you're me, you have no way of absolutely knowing how my character is going to react to everything. You can make extremely intelligent guesses, but you can't know. Hell, often I don't even know until the character is doing it. It happens organically a lot, which is sometimes awesome.
Too distant and while I can move, I don't know where or how to move. I'm floundering hoping for a hint of what the plot goals are so I can take a dive.
On to my point of view as the ST in a modded thread.
Because of my above mentioned preferences as a player, I tend to build my mod plots with a lot of flexibility. I want to be certain every PC has the ability to tell and impact their own story. On the flip side, I don't want them to flounder without direction either.
As a mod, my biggest difficulty tends to come when the player/s in the thread aren't doing a whole lot of moving. Honestly, if a PC does something that "ruins" my plot, I would cheer them on. I want them to move. To hopefully be inspired. To take chances and dive. If there's a question of rules, I want them to ask me. Nine times out of ten I give permission. And if a PC does something so brilliant or unexpected or awesome that it completely alters the projection course of the plot --- how fucking cool is that? I love that stuff.
Of course, there are two downsides of this habit of mine. The first is that not every player moves a lot of my modded threads. Uncertainty, uninspired, be it my fault (most likely) or their's, they just don't. And when they don't it forces me to do a lot of that micro-managing thing I dislike so much. So bleh.
The other downside is for a player to move often means the player is taking IC risks. I get that. And, yes, I tend to construct dangerous and risky plots. I like dangerous and risky plots. So, yes, there are moves a PC can make that are going to have big ol' consequences, but to me, that equals awesome fun time not scary character doom. Besides, I have never killed a PC and I don't plan on doing so either unless the PC does something really, ridiculously stupid and the only way to not kill them would be to pull a deus ex machina. I don't like deus ex machina. I don't like retconning more, but still.
I guess it comes down to a matter of preference and philosophy. I like high stakes. I like drama. I like danger and consequences and being able to earn my own either way, by being really creative or being really retarded. Sometimes it just means I'm being true to my character, and.. I have some stupid characters. (Why, hullo, Dor.)
Cold med head full force.
- k. |
by Caelum on January 6th, 2012, 9:22 pm 
