Our original idea in designing/implementing gods was that they would be the type of gods born from society and altered by it. Initially, this meant that the views of society upon a certain domain would affect the god related to that domain; if rebellion became associated with hotpants, Zhen Ji would start wearing hotpants.
However, it's been brought up as a very strong concern by god and non-god players that, fundamentally, this design and implementation has been flawed. Having gods be solely affected by society's perception means that god players would be forced to stay on top of the community for their views on their god and at times, have to change their god from what they originally apped without any true consent. Players have also been feeling frustration in being told that their actions and way of thinking could affect a god, then not seeing any results. It's been a lose-lose situation thus far and it's fairly obvious something needs to change.
Some of the suggestions we were given as well as some things we already had going gave us a general notion that we think may work out really well for both parties: that there are multiple ways that a god can change.
1) Society's perceptions of the god - Our original intent, how people view certain domains or aspect of a god can alter the way they behave, look, offer from their shrines, or even domains from then on. In matters where the community as a whole is Very Set on its view of a certain domain, this could work for a god!
2) Through individual interaction with a god - As a player suggested, the current community of Thusia is a much smaller one than an entire world's populace and much less unified in its perceptions of things. With an allowance for individual interaction with a god, gods would be able to alter more through their conversations with people. How this happens would be left largely to the god player, but this method would allow most for character impacts on gods, and also allow for gods to play out those effects.
3) The gods alter themselves - Some gods currently in play have it worked into their history that they've changed their own domains! Either by stealing them from another god, picking it up as a complement to one of their existing domains, etc. This ties a little more to the first method, but it is playable! For example, Zhen Ji thus far has been heavily associated with metal in general and even offers metal as a subset to his priests. Continuing with that, he could theoretically pick up metal as one of his domains, due to the perceptions of people toward him and his own need for it in order to subsist his destruction domain.
4) The gods affect/alter each other - Another element that's been worked into the backstory of a couple of the gods is that they can alter each other. For example, Selyir's domain of shadows originally belonged to another god, whom was also affected in other ways by that! Eizon has the power to restrain Zhen Ji and has done so, when Zhen Ji was at his lowest in terms of energy. Gods interacting, we think, is a great way to get more of the history/backstory of both the gods and the world of Thusia out to players more and we'd really like for it to happen more often.
These are the four main ways of altering/affecting a god we are considering implementing. If you have any other ideas on how a god could be affected, or suggestions/concerns about these particular ideas, we'd really like to hear them and get player input before deciding what to do. This is open to god AND non-god players, as both will be affected!
AFFECTING THE GODS
However, it's been brought up as a very strong concern by god and non-god players that, fundamentally, this design and implementation has been flawed. Having gods be solely affected by society's perception means that god players would be forced to stay on top of the community for their views on their god and at times, have to change their god from what they originally apped without any true consent. Players have also been feeling frustration in being told that their actions and way of thinking could affect a god, then not seeing any results. It's been a lose-lose situation thus far and it's fairly obvious something needs to change.
Some of the suggestions we were given as well as some things we already had going gave us a general notion that we think may work out really well for both parties: that there are multiple ways that a god can change.
1) Society's perceptions of the god
- Our original intent, how people view certain domains or aspect of a god can alter the way they behave, look, offer from their shrines, or even domains from then on. In matters where the community as a whole is Very Set on its view of a certain domain, this could work for a god!
2) Through individual interaction with a god
- As a player suggested, the current community of Thusia is a much smaller one than an entire world's populace and much less unified in its perceptions of things. With an allowance for individual interaction with a god, gods would be able to alter more through their conversations with people. How this happens would be left largely to the god player, but this method would allow most for character impacts on gods, and also allow for gods to play out those effects.
3) The gods alter themselves
- Some gods currently in play have it worked into their history that they've changed their own domains! Either by stealing them from another god, picking it up as a complement to one of their existing domains, etc. This ties a little more to the first method, but it is playable! For example, Zhen Ji thus far has been heavily associated with metal in general and even offers metal as a subset to his priests. Continuing with that, he could theoretically pick up metal as one of his domains, due to the perceptions of people toward him and his own need for it in order to subsist his destruction domain.
4) The gods affect/alter each other
- Another element that's been worked into the backstory of a couple of the gods is that they can alter each other. For example, Selyir's domain of shadows originally belonged to another god, whom was also affected in other ways by that! Eizon has the power to restrain Zhen Ji and has done so, when Zhen Ji was at his lowest in terms of energy. Gods interacting, we think, is a great way to get more of the history/backstory of both the gods and the world of Thusia out to players more and we'd really like for it to happen more often.
These are the four main ways of altering/affecting a god we are considering implementing. If you have any other ideas on how a god could be affected, or suggestions/concerns about these particular ideas, we'd really like to hear them and get player input before deciding what to do. This is open to god AND non-god players, as both will be affected!