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Roleplaying: Wank

Wank

The derogatory term "wank", originally slang for masturbation, or hacker-speak for a particularly clever and quirky styling, has a special meaning in NationStates. In the NS usage, wank is the abusive over-use of a particular stratagem, technique, or style. The word "wank" is often hyphenated to form a specific type of wank, as shown below. Remember, wank is not always bad or a godmode, but some forms can be.

Tech-Wank

The most common and least offensive form of wank. It is abuse of high technology, either to break the laws of reality , or to enforce adherence to minutiae on an RP not concerned with technicalities of combat systems.

In general NS, most people are not technophiles, and will become irked when you proceed to explain to them exactly how your 8mm Tungsten-Carbide, Armor-Piercing, Fin-Stabilized, Discarding-Sabot fletchette firing assault rifles are perfectly designed to penetrate their mere level three kevlar vests. This would be considered wank because most players would not know about the benefits of TC/DU APFSDS Fletchettes, and would negate their infantry armor. This is NOT a godmode, however, since it does not change the rules of reality or break the roleplay. (And yes, I used my own weapon as an example of wank. It's the SAG ACR, if you want to know.)

However, announcing that, because your opponent only claimed to use "RPGs" on your tank, it did no damage (since the RPG-7 is incapable of piercing the glacis plate of a Main Battle Tank, and your opponent did not use an RPG-29 specifically) is tech wank AND a godmode, because it allows you to ignore their attack, and take no damage. Most players couldn't tell an RPG-7 from an SA-2, and they had the right idea (firing rockets at a tank), but not the intrinsic knowledge of weapons. In this case, assume that they are using the correct weapon.

Most blatant of tech-wank is the "impenetrable shield" and the "unstoppable bullet" syndrome, in which the technology becomes a get-out-of-jail-free card, allowing blatant godmoding to be disguised as legitimate gameplay. On a side note, the effect of an unstoppable bullet striking an impenetrable shield has proven catastrophic.

See the entire article at Wank