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Author Topic: Self-deification of the player  (Read 7103 times)

GoblinCookie

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Self-deification of the player
« on: December 25, 2018, 08:08:33 am »

I thought that with prophets in the game maybe the player could appoint their own prophet dedicated to a god that the player decides the name of.  So in effect the player's spiritual presence in the game becomes a deity and the deity is called whatever the player call it, plus has a caste, creature-type and spheres as well.  In effect the player-created god's religion then behaves rather like any other religion, with the extra caveat that the success or otherwise of the player in various roles can influence the success of that religion.

An extra mechanic is the ability to reveal or conceal the player's role.  When playing a fortress/adventurer the player can choose to declare that they are in fact God X.  This is naturally a double-edged sword, is they do well then it strengthens their faith but if they do badly it undermines their faith.  If they conceal their role, there is a possibility that someone with enough foresight might still figure out the player's role in events.

Also, avatars in general could exist and false avatars as well, whether the false avatar accepts their divinity or not.  It would be possible for the player to have a false avatar of the player running about the place and all sorts of fun if the player runs into the false avatar or the false avatar's followers and challenges their claims. 
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compsognathus

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Re: Self-deification of the player
« Reply #1 on: December 25, 2018, 06:37:38 pm »


One could add the True and the False religion: The true one has a true God. The false one has an organization similar to the newly added villains.
Nobody in the game must know if a religion is false or true.
One could understand it only by prohibited investigation. why investigate religions could create enemies of all religions, villains and true believers
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therahedwig

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Re: Self-deification of the player
« Reply #2 on: December 25, 2018, 08:44:52 pm »

Hm, it's maybe a little stupid, the opening seems to be about being a deity or pretending to be a deity in play, but what about religions that are deityless? Like Buddism. Sure, they have the Buddhas, but these are not really gods. Do you think it might be related to this topic, or do you think it requires a seperate thread?
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KittyTac

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Re: Self-deification of the player
« Reply #3 on: December 25, 2018, 11:06:55 pm »

Or add a "Deity Mode" which is this from the start.
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GoblinCookie

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Re: Self-deification of the player
« Reply #4 on: December 28, 2018, 10:02:52 am »


One could add the True and the False religion: The true one has a true God. The false one has an organization similar to the newly added villains.
Nobody in the game must know if a religion is false or true.
One could understand it only by prohibited investigation. why investigate religions could create enemies of all religions, villains and true believers

I don't think true and false religions require little if any mechanical clarification on most worlds.  In world so magical that god's regularly do stuff all over the place there won't be any false religions because they can't compete with the true ones while in worlds low in magic there is little mechanical difference between a true and false religion. 

It is an basically a goldilocks zone where we can prove a religion isn't genuine but yet false religions are still going to be competitive. 

Hm, it's maybe a little stupid, the opening seems to be about being a deity or pretending to be a deity in play, but what about religions that are deityless? Like Buddism. Sure, they have the Buddhas, but these are not really gods. Do you think it might be related to this topic, or do you think it requires a seperate thread?

They are socially similar to gods, or maybe prophets.  Godless prophets do not presently exist, but once they do they player could certainly create a prophet of their own that has no god (including the player).  The key idea of the player however is that the player as god means that the success and failure of the players fortresses/adventurers adds/subtracts from the status of their religion.  Having godless prophets however would not use those new mechanics naturally, it would rise or fall independently of the player even if started by the player.
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GoblinCookie

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Re: Self-deification of the player
« Reply #5 on: January 10, 2019, 08:07:44 am »

I've thought, when the player decides to set himself up as a figure of worship, we should have to decide whether we are in fact telling the truth.  The world should keep track of what we have decided in the past that we are and disallow us from choosing options for what we really are that are incompatible with the nature of the world.  In a no-magic world with no gods, we cannot actually be a god but we can still pretend to be a god. 

That leaves me thinking that Sufficiantly Advanced Alien needs to be an option for the player's true identity regardless of the nature of the world.  This still works in an unmagical world the player is actually simply a being with extremely advanced technology, there is nothing actually supernatural about him but it just seems that way.

Another option in more magical worlds is that we could chose to be the departed spirit of any being that died before the end of world-gen.  So we could actually be the departed spirit of a hydra that was slain by a great hero, play as an adventurer and then make it our mission to track down said great hero.  Perhaps we could kill the hero for revenge, or for comic effect just turn up and declare ourselves to *be* said monster to the hero's face. 
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PlumpHelmetMan

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Re: Self-deification of the player
« Reply #6 on: January 10, 2019, 07:30:31 pm »

*While sharing a drink with famous hero in a tavern* "Say, remember that time you killed me?"
"Heheh, yea...wait, what?"
*Breathes fire in hero's face*
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Egan_BW

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Re: Self-deification of the player
« Reply #7 on: January 10, 2019, 08:58:29 pm »

Is it so unbelievable that the player could just be whoever or whatever they're currently playing as? In fort mode you control the fortress because you are the fortress's leadership. You're not any particular creature on the map but that by itself doesn't make you some supernatural being.
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PlumpHelmetMan

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Re: Self-deification of the player
« Reply #8 on: January 10, 2019, 09:31:08 pm »

Well yes, players could just be their adventurer, no one ever suggested taking that interpretation out as to my knowledge (not in this thread anyway), but the option to identify as something different would contribute to DF's open-ended nature IMO.
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GoblinCookie

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Re: Self-deification of the player
« Reply #9 on: January 12, 2019, 12:01:47 pm »

Is it so unbelievable that the player could just be whoever or whatever they're currently playing as? In fort mode you control the fortress because you are the fortress's leadership. You're not any particular creature on the map but that by itself doesn't make you some supernatural being.

It is heavily implied that you are some kind of higher power that controls individuals or groups.  When you retire your fortress this is a historical event in which the "return to their senses".  This creates problems in world's that lack the supernatural, which is why I suggested that the sole truthful option for such worlds would be for the player to be an alien being with god-like technology that appears to be (but isn't) magic.

In any case, you can assume a front identity totally different to your actual nature.  Or you can reveal your actual identity and refuse to reveal your latest incarnation is you.  In any case the world will try to expose you, so we will end up with theories as to our true identity if we don't reveal, which can cause chaos if we have multiple fake identities.  Everyone is saying "that's what the player really *is*, but maybe they are all wrong?

Also some spheres should place restrictions on the player.  If we adopt [TRUTH] as a sphere of our TRUE identity we ought not to be able to adopt false profiles.  If we adopt [LIES] for all our profiles, real or otherwise this should reduce the chaos our false profiles would cause, since the above warring factions would ultimately conclude that none of their profiles are true (even if you were actually telling the truth). 

Is it so unbelievable that the player could just be whoever or whatever they're currently playing as? In fort mode you control the fortress because you are the fortress's leadership. You're not any particular creature on the map but that by itself doesn't make you some supernatural being.

I never thought of it but it causes problems in certain worlds.  If the player is simply a character they play as, then this means the game must end forever should they die, unless there is some kind of afterlife in which the player can continue to influence the world from beyond the grave.  If the player is the fortress site government itself, we get into a situation of needing afterlives for collective consciousnesses, something that doesn't even exist in Real-Life as far as we know. 

If we play as a person or entity, it really needs to be the first thing we play as, unless we get into very odd territory of time-travel, reincarnation and the ilk.  The basic idea is that when we die, we become a ghost and this is forever our true identity, similar to if we selected to be the ghost of a deceased character that died before the end of World-Gen.
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Strik3r

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Re: Self-deification of the player
« Reply #10 on: January 12, 2019, 08:44:26 pm »

Well yes, players could just be their adventurer, no one ever suggested taking that interpretation out as to my knowledge (not in this thread anyway), but the option to identify as something different would contribute to DF's open-ended nature IMO.
I can identify as an attack helicopter, but that doesn't make me one, does it?
I mean, you could identify as a god in Adv mode, but unless you're playing as an actual avatar of a god, you're just an adventurer.

It is heavily implied that you are some kind of higher power that controls individuals or groups.
Where is it implied?

When you retire your fortress this is a historical event in which the "return to their senses".
That line is a joke, BTW.

The sole truthful option for such worlds would be for the player to be an alien being with god-like technology that appears to be (but isn't) magic.
I'm pretty sure that a lack of the supernatural would also imply the lack of Sci-Fantasy tech or "god-like" technology. Besides, that's one thing i wouldn't be okay with in DF: Advanced technology, especially when the world is supposed to be "realistic". In magic-rich worlds, magitech is fine.

I actually like the idea of players getting to play as a god, but as a mode separate from any of the other modes, like Fortress or Adventure. But with the effects of playing god being felt in other modes. It'd actually be pretty awesome seeing a bunch of dwarves in fort mode starting to worship a deity due to the player's action as that deity.
But again, the stuff should be kept separate: Fortress mode should be about the fortress, Adventurer mode should be about adventuring, God mode should be about being a god.
Even if you play as an giant spirit tree that just so "happens" to be in the middle of a fortress, you can't directly control the fortress. If you're playing the fortress, you don't get to use god powers just because that tree sits on the same map, at that point you're not that tree.

Consider it like this: Right now you can have a retired adventurer living in a fortress you've built, but they just act like another citizen and you only have as much control over them as fortress mode affords. And that's how it should stay; you are what you're playing as, no more and no less.

As for god avatars and other fun stuff; all gods whether player-controlled or not, should get them.

I never thought of it but it causes problems in certain worlds.  If the player is simply a character they play as, then this means the game must end forever should they die...
*snip*
If we play as a person or entity, it really needs to be the first thing we play as, unless we get into very odd territory of time-travel, reincarnation and the ilk.  The basic idea is that when we die, we become a ghost and this is forever our true identity, similar to if we selected to be the ghost of a deceased character that died before the end of World-Gen.

But the game does end permanently... for that character. It just so happens that you can create a new one whenever you want, and it doesn't make you a god.
Just think of it like theater; The player is playing a character, should the character die, it just means that character's role in the story is over.

If the player is the fortress site government itself, we get into a situation of needing afterlives for collective consciousnesses, something that doesn't even exist in Real-Life as far as we know.

afterlives for collective consciousnesses
WTF LOL

I'm pretty sure
Is it so unbelievable that the player could just be whoever or whatever they're currently playing as? In fort mode you control the fortress because you are the fortress's leadership. You're not any particular creature on the map but that by itself doesn't make you some supernatural being.
Was just saying that when you're playing a fortress, you're just the fortress' administrator or some guy behind the scenes who gets to make all the decisions.
not that when you're controlling a fortress, you actually are every dwarf that lives in that fortress...

Not that the player has any presence within the gameworld but at least that's a reasonable explanation if you want one.
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Azerty

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Re: Self-deification of the player
« Reply #11 on: January 13, 2019, 05:08:29 pm »

Currently, the only secret the adventurer is able to learn is Necromancy. When others, linked to other spheres such as Thaumaturgy, will be added, could we see adventurers using their gifts to pass themselves as gods? Bonus points if the secret is linked to a sphere worshiped by the targets.
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Re: Self-deification of the player
« Reply #12 on: January 14, 2019, 02:55:20 am »

Currently, the only secret the adventurer is able to learn is Necromancy. When others, linked to other spheres such as Thaumaturgy, will be added, could we see adventurers using their gifts to pass themselves as gods? Bonus points if the secret is linked to a sphere worshiped by the targets.
Probably, especially to primitive civilizations.
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GoblinCookie

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Re: Self-deification of the player
« Reply #13 on: January 14, 2019, 02:20:17 pm »

I can identify as an attack helicopter, but that doesn't make me one, does it?
I mean, you could identify as a god in Adv mode, but unless you're playing as an actual avatar of a god, you're just an adventurer.

The game does not know what you are by default.  That is why when you declaim yourself to be something for the first time, you have to declare what you actually are, because otherwise it cannot attach your fake profile (if your lying) to anything.  If you declare yourself to be an attack helicopter but are really a jeep, the game models your future relationship to your followers as a jeep pretending to be an attack helicopter; but if you simply say I'm an attack helicopter the game has no way of knowing if you aren't actually an attack helicopter. 

It's all retrospective.  If you declare yourself to really be something, all your previous significant actions as the player are added to the (potentially new) profile that you now are.  This is what allows people familiar enough with your pawns to detect your presence even when you don't reveal your identity.  This is also why the question of the afterlife matters.

If your real identity is a mortal human and you die, that's it for you the player isn't it? 

That line is a joke, BTW.

So when it says that your character was "guided by unknown forces as the vanguard of destiny", that's a joke too.  It doesn't matter, if you never declare yourself as an object of worship, none of the mechanics I was talking about apply. 

I'm pretty sure that a lack of the supernatural would also imply the lack of Sci-Fantasy tech or "god-like" technology. Besides, that's one thing i wouldn't be okay with in DF: Advanced technology, especially when the world is supposed to be "realistic". In magic-rich worlds, magitech is fine.

Nothing you said there makes any sense.  Advanced technology is not unrealistic, nor is it magical or supernatural; you are just a mortal being using mind-control technology.  It is an option that allows the player to create a cargo-cult in the world devoid of the supernatural and potentially introduce the concept of the supernatural into the world in the process, this is you are not being honest about the source of your powers. 

If you are honest, folks will instead bombard you with requests for scientific and technological knowledge. 

I actually like the idea of players getting to play as a god, but as a mode separate from any of the other modes, like Fortress or Adventure. But with the effects of playing god being felt in other modes. It'd actually be pretty awesome seeing a bunch of dwarves in fort mode starting to worship a deity due to the player's action as that deity.
But again, the stuff should be kept separate: Fortress mode should be about the fortress, Adventurer mode should be about adventuring, God mode should be about being a god.
Even if you play as an giant spirit tree that just so "happens" to be in the middle of a fortress, you can't directly control the fortress. If you're playing the fortress, you don't get to use god powers just because that tree sits on the same map, at that point you're not that tree.

Consider it like this: Right now you can have a retired adventurer living in a fortress you've built, but they just act like another citizen and you only have as much control over them as fortress mode affords. And that's how it should stay; you are what you're playing as, no more and no less.

As for god avatars and other fun stuff; all gods whether player-controlled or not, should get them.

Your status as a god is not seperate from your in-game actions.  This means that a seperate god mode is redundant, your actions as a player are taken to be divine acts by your followers.  If you are (actually) a god you can do other stuff like answer prayers as a kind of mini game, otherwise the game will automatically do your god stuff for you according to the Spheres you chose.  If you are pretending to be a god, the prayers will always be 'answered' automatically, since they just imagining things; but maybe something close to a god like a demon could answer prayers using a fake deity persona. 

But the game does end permanently... for that character. It just so happens that you can create a new one whenever you want, and it doesn't make you a god.
Just think of it like theater; The player is playing a character, should the character die, it just means that character's role in the story is over.

If you the player literally *are* that character, then logically your game is over as well.  If you have an afterlife however, you can influence people from beyond the grave, so you can play a series of characters. 

WTF LOL

I'm pretty sure

What is so confusing.  If you can truthfully be a collective consciousness like a fortress site-government, this creates the same problem we have with individual creatures in a non afterlife world.  If the fortress is wiped out, so are you. 

Was just saying that when you're playing a fortress, you're just the fortress' administrator or some guy behind the scenes who gets to make all the decisions.
not that when you're controlling a fortress, you actually are every dwarf that lives in that fortress...

Not that the player has any presence within the gameworld but at least that's a reasonable explanation if you want one.

You get to pick what you are. 

Currently, the only secret the adventurer is able to learn is Necromancy. When others, linked to other spheres such as Thaumaturgy, will be added, could we see adventurers using their gifts to pass themselves as gods? Bonus points if the secret is linked to a sphere worshiped by the targets.

The player's actions and powers enhance their god-status, so yes.  For the same reason that if you kill 100 megabeasts people are more likely to believe in you as an object of worship, being a powerful necromancer could do likewise.  The really interesting part here is that if you are actually a god of the right spheres, you could actually create your own flavor of necromancy in the world.  If you are pretending, you could pass some other god's necromancy off as your own. 

Probably, especially to primitive civilizations.

Primitive does not mean stupid.  In a world full of necromancers, nobody is going to worship simply if you raise a few zombies here and there, but in a world with no other necromancers then it is a possibility.  It is the things that set you as the player apart from AI controlled NPCs that allow you to set yourself up as an object of worship. 

In effect the NPCs are worshiping you because you are the player; it is this that makes you enigmatic and powerful to the NPCs; hence godlike.  Just doing what everyone else does to the same level of competence, undermines your claims. 
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Strik3r

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Re: Self-deification of the player
« Reply #14 on: January 14, 2019, 04:01:18 pm »

*snip*

I refuse to be caught up in another forum shitflinging match.

So here is my final opinion on this topic, regardless of whether there will ever be god-level gameplay or how it wil function:
The player's influence upon the gameworld is not, will not and should never be canonical.

You can (mis)interpret that however you want.
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