Metagaming, Power Playing, and God Mode

In role play, you may hear any one of these three words often: Godmod (Godmodding), Powerplay (or Powerplaying), and metagaame (metagaming). They are sometimes used interchangeably, but the truth is that each of these words has a different meaning. 

I'm going to begin by explaining the first of these words, since it is the most commonly used, and it is used incorrectly by the vast majority of people. "Godmod" is an incorrect term. The expression is Godmode, which refers to the god mode in video games that allows the player to not suffer damage or death and to therefore be able to complete the game without the usual obstacles.

Many role players (and administrators) use this term to refer to moving another person's character as well as your own. This is an incorrect definition of godmode, which actually refers to making your character invincible. In "God Mode," your character never takes a hit.

To use an example in age play, let's say that an adult is wrestling with a naughty child who is fighting the sound spanking that they richly deserve. The child is thrashing and struggling and kicking and flailing. In order to avoid taking a fist to the face or a foot to the chin, the adult enters "god mode" in order to not take any damage.

In traditional literate roleplay, this is verboten. "Godmodding" is to be avoided at all costs. In ageplay, however, god mode is sometimes necessary in order to prevent the child/innerkid/little/bottom from overpowering the adult and ruining the thread.

Power playing is the next term that I'd like to address.

This term is, once again, often mis-used or over used. Power playing refers to your character making contact with another person's character without giving them the opportunity to block that contact.

Power Play is harder to explain than God Mode, but allow me to give you an example from ageplay again: You are playing a child character playing with another child character, and a fight breaks out between them. Your character is upset, and being young and out of control, reaches out and smacks the other child. This is power playing, because your character successfully hit the other character without giving that player the chance to have her character dodge the blow.

In ageplay, adults (guardians and parents, otherwise "spankers") must rely on power playing in order to accomplish the simplest of desired tasks, such as spanking an errant child. Without the privilege of power playing under these circumstances, a spanking thread would go something like this.

John (Daddy)

John attempts to smack Jamie's bottom with the palm of his hand.

Jamie (Son)

Jamie squeals as Daddy smacks his bottom!

John (Daddy)

John attempts to smack Jamie's bottom again.

There are people who role play like this, but it's not desirable. A good spanking post (in brief) could look more like this:

John raises his hand and brings it down crisply on Jamie's bottom, reddening it where his hand fell. He pins his son down and continues to spank hard, finding his rhythm and ignoring his son's protests. 

In the second case, John (appropriately) power played Jamie's character by saying that the spanking actually made contact with Jamie's body.

The third term that we're addressing is the most complicated: Meta-Gaming.

As to its roots, this term cannot be broken down into the sum of its parts, so bear with me as I attempt to explain both definitions.

Some people use the term "meta-gaming" to mean a character reading the mind of another character through narration.

For example, if Peggy says (but does not say) that she is thirsty, Donny is "meta gaming" if he mentions her thirst in his post.

At Birchwood Isle, we use the term "meta-gaming" to describe one player moving another player's character.

For example, Donny metagames Peggy by saying that she takes a drink of water because she's thirsty.

At Birchwood Isle, we allow limited power playing in order to facilitate spanking.

Metagaming and God Mode are strongly discouraged on Birchwood Isle.

Reasons not to Rush Your Inner Kid at Birchwood Isle

Every age player I know has been there at some point or another. You're new in a group, and everything seems to be happening around you. Being new makes you nervous, and you're worried that if you aren't careful, you're going to be overlooked by the people who are "in charge" in the group. You have to do something to get noticed. Eager to get it right, you weight your options, and you probably decided that you have two or three possible options for dealing with the terror of going unnoticed.

1. You could make a thread in which your character acts like a brat, forcing an adult to pay attention because somebody needs to punish him.
2. You could have a "crisis" in which your character becomes injured or is triggered by some activity that requires adult attention.
3. You could wait it out and hope that somebody notices you, but since previous experience tells you nobody will, you revert to option 1 or option 2.

Most groups are short-lived, lasting a matter of weeks before vanishing into the ether. Those that last rely on quickly-formed bonds between characters who then post almost exclusively with one another, leaving new members out of the loop and without anyone to create threads with.

In short, new members often have to take what they can get, when they can get it, and they often resort to using extreme behaviors to solicit a response from an adult. After all, you never know how much time and how many chances you're going to get to accomplish your main goal with a character (and specifically an inner kid). If you're only going to have one thread in which to express your character's feelings about his or her past, you have to do it quickly.

It's very typical in groups for existing players to exclude new players in favor of their preferred "clique.' If you're new, or if you're not part of the "in" crowd, your threads get dropped, your inner kid gets ignored, and nobody joins the open threads that you post. 

I'm the owner of Birchwood Isle, the one who pays the bills and who curates the site, and I cannot count on one hand the number of times that I have rushed into misbehavior for attention, or that I've pushed a "big reveal" in order to get adults to focus on my inner kids. It's happened to me, and not just in groups with frequent neglect, but in my own groups, when I'm not sure how long it's going to be before I have to move on to being the parent again (which can, admittedly, be stressful).

But here's what I've learned (the hard way), and the reason that I rush less often than I did before.

It's better when you take it slow.

I've talked about this before, and I will continue to hammer this home until every last person on Birchwood Isle understands it. 

We're not going to shut down next week; We've had a forum for Birchwood Isle (though it's moved a couple of times) for three and a half years. Ava and I are both very active and we both play plenty of kids, teens, and adults. We make a point of being available to you if you request a thread from either of us, and we commit to playing our character true to him or herself. In spite of our massive numbers of characters, each one is unique to the others and you'll get a different experience with each one of them.

Most of all, we're reading, and we're listening, and we're remembering. If you state, in one post, that your inner kid hates green beans, trust me when I tell you that we've either remembered that he hates green beans or we know that we should cross-reference dinner threads to establish which food it is that he hates. If you've said in one post that your character was locked in a closet every time she cries, we'll remember it and be able to apply this memory to the interactions with that child.

There's no need to rush information. That's why there isn't any application. Give it to us slow and steady, feed us a diet of your character and make that diet a rich one, full of little secrets revealed slowly, and not only will you get better results, we will crave threads with your character.

But what about spanking? What about those of you who are spankos who want nothing more than a good, swift kick in the pants? How do you go about getting that without "rushing things?" 

How often have you acted out in an arrival thread, knowing that it might be the only chance you're going to get to be spanked because after that, the adults aren't paying attention any more? Trust me, we get what it's like to want the catharsis so bad and worry about not getting the next one!

We're not like that. Give us a chance and we'll show you. Our adults notice things like (ADULT PLEASE) after the title of a thread. We're scanning threads to see where adults are needed and entering them appropriately. We're fully prepared to give you detailed spankings that you'll crave for the rest of your role playing life, if you let us. 

But if you push, we're not going to want to follow through. Take your time and enjoy the ride. We'll still be here next week as long as you're here next week.

We only ban predatory individuals who make it clear that they are interested in non-consensual situations or that they are interested in minor children (in real life).

4 Reasons Severely Disordered Ageplay Characters aren't "Special" but Annoying

Although Birchwood Isle Ageplay and Spanking RPG is appless (meaning that we don't require many character details before you can get started), we do expect our members to work on developing their character and on fine-tuning their personalities. BWI is obviously a discipline-related role play, and we encourage (and use) physical punishment with the children and teens on the Island. However, our primary focus is not on the spanking, but on the relationships that build out of it.

Here's what I want to talk to you about today: Everybody wants to be special. 

Every player is trying to make their character stand out in the crowd of other characters on the site, especially considering that the administrators have a long list of characters originally created to flesh out the group and to give it the feel of a thriving community. More on this in another post.

The problem with this is that all-too often, people choose to build their character around what amounts to a list of disorders and symptoms in lieu of giving them a real personality. Before I get into the specific reasons that this doesn't work out well in the long run, I want to give you some examples of what we're talking about. These aren't specific examples pointing fingers at specific people, and any one of these issues alone wouldn't be a problem. 

• A severely autistic child who is also intellectually disabled and who is entirely mute. He writes backward using his left hand and only knows the Greek alphabet.
• A teenager who has a special eating disorder causing her to only want to eat rocks. She won't eat real food and any attempt to make her do so results in massive tantrums.
• A child who still wets their pants at age 11 and cannot be potty trained. This child is entirely antisocial with children his age and relies entirely on interactions in which adults change his pants.
• A girl who is absolutely terrified of men and who therefore becomes non-compliant in their presence, forcing them to punish her for her fear, or to simply stop interacting with her entirely.
• A child whose religion forbids him from being housed with other children in of the opposite sex, meaning that he must instantaneously placed in a private foster placement.
• A teenager whose chronic insensitivity to pain means that she cannot be physically punished in a system that espouses physical punishment, but who then acts out frequently due to her ADHD.

I could go on for quite some time about this, but my point is that your character needs to be more than any symptoms of diseases that they have. 

Please don't misunderstand. We absolutely permit you to play characters who have disorders or symptoms. All we ask is that you take the time necessary to research your disorder and understand the disease instead of making it up as you go along. For example, we have a thriving community of Deaf characters on Birchwood Isle. The people playing these characters have a firm understanding of Deaf culture, American Sign Language, and the Deaf community. 

If you choose to play a character with a disorder, be prepared to understand that disorder. Eating disorders and drug addiction are the most common and likely types of disorder we'd see in foster children on Birchwood Isle. These are relatively easy to research!

I've composed some reasons why making your character nothing but a list of their symptoms is unwise.

1. Characters who don't have personalities are boring. Bear in mind that a list of symptoms does not a personality make. Strengths, weaknesses, skills, and hobbies are the foundation of personality, as are motivations and behavior. Symptoms aren't any of these things, and therefore they are secondary to your character's personality. Characters with too many symptoms are generally void of personality, making them dry for their role play partners.
2. Disordered characters are difficult for adults. Our experience tells us that there are plenty of age players who seem to enjoy the strain that they place on the adult players, but we frown on this because over time, these types wear down the adult players, who will eventually leave the group or who won't want to continue to role play with the disordered child or teen. Don't make a difficult kid for the sake of being special. Do it because it's inside of you and be patient with your partners.
3. Disordered characters are often bratty or needy. Many people make a list of symptoms in the hopes not of making their character unique, but of making somebody "love" their character and want to bond with them because they are so needy and special. The fact is that most players with adult characters don't have the time or energy to devote to these disorders, and it's probably not going to happen for you. 
4. Severely disordered characters are generally considered "unadoptable" on Birchwood Isle. Because these children are especially difficult and place a lot of strain on the adult playing with them, the character is going to need to form a strong bond with an adult (and their player) in order to convince them to look past what makes the child or teen character difficult in order to love them.

I'm writing from experience. My character Toby is one of my earliest characters. I still play her because I love her, but she is especially difficult, with a nicotine addiction, anorexia, and a learning disability. It's taken me years of cultivating her personality and showing her vulnerabilities (which are few) in order to make her endearing to other people. Many people find her strange and unlikable because she's just too much.

If you need to, or want to, go ahead and make a disordered character, but bear in mind that they need to have a personality and that three or four disordered stacked on top of one another may result in your character being undesirable for adoption.

Feel free to ask any questions in the comments!

Top Tips: How to Find an Adoptive Family for Your Inner Kid

Whether you're new to the age play community or you've been a part of it for many years, the same pressing question bothers most bottoms: How do I find a family for my inner kid? 

While this article is geared toward members of Birchwood Isle (in conjunction with the original posting if our adoption policies), it applies to anyone in the ageplay community who is looking to find a family for their inner kid. These tips should work whether you are trying to be part of a biological family or trying to get adopted in a foster care group.

Members of Birchwood Isle are asked to please read this thoroughly and keep these tips in mind. Potential players will of course be interested in what this has to say, but I wish for people in both groups to understand this first and foremost: We're going to find a family for your inner kid, if you work with us. Unless you fight us every step of the way, or don't want your inner kid to be adopted, we will find an adoptive family for you.

1. Don't ask someone to adopt you. I know that this is incredibly difficult for most people, but when you ask someone to adopt you, you apply pressure to them to say "yes," even if they aren't comfortable making that commitment.
   
   
   Pro Tip: Instead of asking someone to adopt you, open a dialog with them. Ask them what they're looking for in a child they might want to adopt, ask about their discipline policies, and invite them to talk to you about what they want. When you make it about them and not about you, you get better results.
   
   
2. Avoid bratty behavior. While we acknowledge that most of our members are eager to get punished (since that's one of the main themes of our game), bratty behavior (such as hiding out to smoke pot, or running away from home, or shouting obscenities at random) makes your inner kid less desirable, and potential parents are less likely to adopt children who they see as "bratty."
   
   
   Pro Tip: Instead of acting out with the deliberate intention of getting in trouble, try some natural behaviors. A young child is generally less likely to be disrespectful toward adults than a teenager is, but may talk back when she hears something she doesn't like. A little boy is more likely to leave the grounds because he's chasing a rabbit than he is to leave because he's angry with his foster parents. Make the behavior make sense, if you want to get adopted! 

   
   
3. Post a lot. This should go without saying, and our "one thread per kid at a time" rule may make this seemingly difficult, but in any group you encounter, you should be able to post frequently and broadly. Don't just post with adults, find peers to role play with, learn to enjoy different combinations of characters. Play with characters of both sexes, maybe try non-binary genders, kids, teens, adults, teachers, social workers, therapists and other caretakers. Show off how great your kid is so that people will want to adopt him.
   
   

   Pro Tip: Threads between two children often lead to disciplinary measures needing to take place because they often degenerate. This is a natural way to get the spanking you came to the group for in the first place, without appearing bratty. Taking time to get to know other kids could ultimately get you the very thing you first wanted from your roleplay partner, so you wind up killing two birds with one stone! Even better, adults reading threads looking for kids to adopt will see how friendly your inner kid is and may want to adopt him!
   
   
4. Attend site events. This might mostly apply to Birchwood Isle, but if your group has events, the same thing works: Go to the events. Post in them. Make yourself available to the adults who may be looking to adopt. 
   
   

   Pro Tip: Talk to a number of adults at events, if available. Don't focus only on the one that you're already determined that you want. Try not to misbehave and to get in trouble at these events, as punishment is time consuming and disruptive and doesn't allow you to make the most of the time you have. Our events only last one month, so that time is limited.
   
   
5. Be patient. I know that this is hard. When I introduce a new inner kid character, I'm already ready to see that character get adopted into a loving family. It's not always possible for a child to be adopted straight away in a group, so you have to be patient.
   
   

   Pro Tip: Make the most of the time that you spend waiting, by making friends and maybe enemies, and getting to know what all the site has to offer. Every site should have something incredible to offer you as a player, and you can use this time wisely to get to know the group.