LESSON What is Metagaming?

[Minerva]

Here's something on what Metagaming is, and how not to do it:


People want to have the most over powered characters. ( OP ) This will change, hopefully, once you read this section.


I: Meeting people

A big tip on meeting people is to not metagame. ( Wow, big surprise. ) An example is this:

"Bob strode up to Jill and smiled warmly. "G'day, Jill! You've probably never met me before, and I've never met you, but I magically know your name because I'm lazy and illiterate."

When you meet someone, depending on your character, you usually don't know about them. Let's say a group of heroes who don't know eachother are assembling in a tavern.

Wrong:

"Magnus! Will! Dak! Darius! Illaisure or however you pronounce your name!" The adventurer shouted loudly. "I see you have all answered the call, as have I! The Dragon of the North will rue sending out his bandit knaves.."

Right:

The adventurer took a sip from his mead and looked around. The tavern was packed, and there was not one man he recognized. Many had refused to tell him his name. He looked around to another explorer sitting beside him. "Ay, lad, do you know what we're all here for?"

You see, someone who knows everything like that just ruins the fun.

II: Combat

The number one instance of godmodding is usually endurance. I've seen fights go on for a page or two. It isn't even that big of a deal if you lose ( Considering the RP has anti-killing laws. If it doesn't..Well, make a new application! )

Now, auto-hitting and auto-dodges. Sometimes people do things like this:

"The queen picked up her battleaxe and with a loud cry slashed over and over at your corpse. The blade hewed and cut so fast that there was no time to avoid it!"

"But wait! Somehow you did! Jumping up, you kicked the queen back and ran out of the building."
That's not cool, yo.

There are occasions where people make characters designed to be cheap in battle. An example: Elite, hulking, bodyguard who was skilled at parkour and longswords, but also was an expert boxer and martial artist. Despite his large size, he could spring like a nymph and was extremely lithe. His only weakness are female spies who had dual daggers and katanas.

Get my drift? That's just..Ugh. No one wants that guy in their roleplay ( RP ) His only weakness was female spies with a specific set of weapons. So please, don't do this type of person. It's neither fair nor fun for people in the RP.
III: It was in my pocket!

As this title clearly suggests, this is about having knowledge of something that you shouldn't know. Here is a prime example.

"Percy Jackson tightened Riptide and charged toward Luke. He had never fought him before, yet by watching Luke fight over and over, he had found out his one protected weakness!"

"I'm starving.." Percy said weakly, and then noticed the bark on the tree. "!@#$%^ Bark!" In the nature's handbook, it had explained that this extremely rare bark was healing in nature, and also provided an ample meal!

It's terrible if Character One, the main plot, is hopelessly sick with an incurable disease. Doctors can't cure him, but....Enter Character Two, who falls madly in love with C1, and using her incredible healing powers, she heals C1.

Finally here, there's backstory insertion. This is when you somehow know someones backstory.

This happens too:

Another example of nonviolent godmodding: inserting yourself prominently into someone else's backstory without permission. Somehow you know how Jack's parents died, so you comfort him. What the hell you talking about? That's private! Unless your an acceptor, DON'T READ OTHER PEOPLE'S APPLCIATION! This way, you can slowly learn more about them.

IV: I knew that!

A hybrid of Powergaming & Metagaming, your character somehow knows something, even though it might have not been mentioned in the IC, just in the application / OOC.

Here's an example
The adventurers continued down the ruined temple stairs, their eyes alert. However, they didn't realize they were fixing to trigger a dart trap, which, if successful, would send a bamboo arrow, tipped with venomous poison, into their bodies. However, Evan, just for safety, muttered a safety spell to protect from any objects.

Another example:
OOCP1: "Wanna no something cool? Promise not to tell.
OOCP2: "Sure."
OOCP1: "My character is sick and he's gonna collapse soon from exhaustion.

In the IC...
Quote
P1: Jack fell to the ground with a cry and slumped forward. He managed to cry out, but the soldiers, busy as they were, failed to notice him.

Person2: Luckily, James ran up and, lifting Jack up, since he had known he would faint, placed him on a prepared blanket and pillow.

See how many different ways you can metagame? I know it may be hard to not include a neat fact you learned in the OOC, but it's much more fun for everybody if you allow the person whose character it is to reveal it themselves IC the way they'd intended to.

This isn't mine either, it's copied from Planet Minecraft:

Planet Minecraft • View topic - The General Roleplay Hub - Introduce yourself! [Help/Chat]

Credit to Korigon from there.

 

[Absyinthe_Artica]

This was an excellent and informing read! Thank you!

 

[Lest]

Heres a condensed version that someone I know made that I that is just one simple rule in the form of a commandment.

"1. No God Moding - Thou shalt not play another person's character, or the derivatives and functions relating to that character, unless given permission by the player. If the player is unavailable, proceed in the knowledge that what you write must be withdrawn at the player's request if they deem it unacceptable.

2. No Power Gaming - Thou shalt not perform any feat necessitating attributes strictly limited to God unless a quorum of players permits it for reasons relating to the plot of the story. Essentially, if it isn't strictly yours to control, don't touch it.

3. No Meta Gaming - Thou shalt not use knowledge you, but your character does not, possess (also called OOC knowledge) unless it is agreed upon by all parties affected for reasons relating to the plot of the story."