Who Is Mistral Dawn?

Mistral Dawn is a thirty-something gal who has lived on both coasts of the US but somehow never in the middle. She currently resides in the Southeast US with her kitty cats (please spay or neuter! :-)) where she works as a hospital drudge and attends graduate school. Taken By The Huntsman is her first effort at writing fiction and if it is well received she has ideas for several more novels and short-stories in this series. Please feel free to visit her on FaceBook or drop her a line at mistralkdawn@gmail.com

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Real Life #Godmodding?



Hey Everyone! :-)

Today I'd like to talk about something that a friend of mine got me thinking about.  My friend likes to roleplay online, and she told me about something called, "Godmodding."  Now, Godmodding, as she explained to me, is when a person in a roleplay describes not only their actions and feelings, but also the actions and feelings of another roleplayer in reaction to their actions and feelings.  For instance, "Person A walks into a room and smiles at Person B.  Person B smiles back and gives Person A a kiss."

I'm not much of a roleplayer, but my friend informed me that this kind of behavior is frowned upon in the roleplaying world because it takes the agency away from other players and defeats the purpose of roleplaying, which is to create a story from multiple perspectives and using multiple personalities. That makes sense to me. My friend also pointed out to me that many people often do something similar in real life, and I think she's right about that as well.

I mean, have you ever said, or had the urge to say, to someone else that you don't think their reaction to something is correct?  I know I have. But is it really anyone's place to dictate to someone else what their reaction to something should or shouldn't be?  I don't mean saying that you disagree with someone else's conclusion or that you have a different take on a given situation, I mean telling someone else they should or shouldn't feel something.  Pretty absurd, when you think about it, but also pretty common. At least, in my experience it is.

Wouldn't it be more productive to listen to each other and try to find common ground, than try to dictate to each other what should be felt or thought?  I don't know about you, but I don't tend to listen to someone when they tell me what I'm feeling is wrong. In fact, if anything, I tend to feel even more negatively towards them.  But if someone asks me why I feel the way I feel and then offers an explanation of their own thoughts and feelings, generally we can end up with some kind of agreement that works for both of us.

Anyway, I don't want this to be as long-winded a post as some of my other posts, I just wanted to give you a little something to think about.  And if you have an experience where this was done to you or you think you might have done it to someone else and you'd like to share, I'd love to hear from you in the comments.  In the meantime, peace my friends! :-)


2 comments:

  1. I was in a role playing group on fb based on the books Lords of the Underworld and it was a very large group and I experienced a lot of what you are talking about. There were a few people to just had their own agenda and caused a lot of problems, and hurt alot of people in the process. My hubby got very jealous because I spent a lot of time online with my group. He made me quit about 2 years ago and won't let me even talk to them online, but the admin for the group remained my friend and I still keep in touch w her on fb messenger. I really, really miss being part of the group because they were such great friends. He has tried to control me for about 6 yrs now and we pretty much live in the same house but have separate lives. He has a very bad temper which he takes out on me and my 23 yr old youngest daughter. She has been involved with doing cosplay for about 6 years now and makes her own costumes, writes her own mangas and draws her own characters. She has suffered at his temper and has severe anxiety, depression as well as being trans and has ADHD. She has mostly online friends and wants to transition to a male, and her dad just found out about it all and has told her if she does do this, he will kick her out of his life forever. So we have lived in this war zone now for 6 yrs and I now escape w reading and crafting and doing my art which I live sharing online. I am very lucky to have met such amazing authors online like you. Thank you, Kim

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    1. I'm sorry you're going through that. I hope you find a way to regain your freedom and that your daughter/son is able to live the life that is best for them. I'll be rooting for you both! *hugs!*

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