What is Godmodding and how to avoid it.

First I will post a copy of a great description of godmodding I found and then I will get into times where it may come up and give you some ideas about what could be done instead.

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"Godmodding occurs when a character describes an event or a series of events he or she has taken against a player character in the RPG, with the person who plays the character acted against then describing actions taken that completely nullify the original actions against them. Godmodding is thus used like a "Get Out of Jail Free card" when things don't go the way a player wants, rather than working with previously unfolded events. It is also used as a single word definition of having an invincible character or unbreakable armor, limitless power, etc. For example, the following exchange would be godmodding on the part of player A:

* Player B states, "Having exploited A's mistake and caught hold of him, B strikes A."
* Player A states, "B completely missed A, and A takes no damage."

Godmodding at the expense of others

Godmodding can also refer to the case where a player describes the outcome of their own actions against another character. For example, player A stating, "A strikes B and B takes damage" would be considered godmodding on the part of player A in most situations. Another less common version of this is when a character is facing multiple enemies, and he directs an attack from one foe into another foe. This takes the format 'Player B states, "A misses B completely, and strikes C instead."'

Controlling characters

Controlling characters that aren't your characters to begin with is also a form of godmodding.

* Player A: Punches Player B.
* Player B: Dodges attack, grabs Player A and throws him. Player A flies at Player B, who warps behind him and slashes Player A in the back.

DON'T DO IT!"
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Godmodding can also be something as simple as "Yumi: *shakes Jim's hand." But Jim is such a germaphobe he would never do that. So always be mindful, but also don't cause a fuss over it. Jim can always follow this up by "Jim: *pulls out a sanitizing cloth and whips his hands, he looks a bit apologetic, "It's not you, I'm just worried about germs."
Now this being said, if I wanted to do something like throwing one character at another I would ask OOCly the parties involved, be prepared for a "no" or a negotiation of events/description.
Also be polite, if you walk in on two people in the middle of a scene which in reality may only take a couple of min to do, but takes longer to type out when you have to take turns are occasionally go ooc for consent, ask before jumping in. Even if your character cannot join in maybe you could help out by including NPC reactions that don't directly interfere with them. Then when they finish, you can have your character come in.

Now the reason I am writing this is because someone said that they were using an encrypted signal that could not be traced. Ok, so two things, one the encrypted signal is a great idea! But two, saying that it "cannot be traced" limits the roleplaying opportunities and prevents the plot from developing organically. However in their defense they were worried that someone was just going to say, "I hack it and now know your location", which has the same two points, great idea but hinders roleplaying. Plus they are both godmodding. One way to get the most out of this situation would be something along the lines of the following.

Player a: ((i am using an encrypted signal))
player b: ((I have some hacking/tracing equipment as my character is a Private investigator, and would like to start a trace))
player a: ((well I was hoping to draw this out a while, would you mind only getting a partial trace this time and then you could get more in the future?))
player b ((sure, how about if I do 6 traces when you are on the chat that are at least 2 real life hours apart that i can get the location of your base, even if you were not there at the time of transmission I could check the logs and see which planet you have frequented the most))
player a: ((sounds good to me))
player a: *continues to talk over the system*
player b:*begins the trace on player a's location*

this allows both players to be awesome, but also allows the story line to move forward. also try to get other players involved. you find out that player a is in sector b, get some people to go out and build "triangulation towers" to help get a lock on them.

**will probably write more later but right now i am falling asleep at my keyboard **