Meta-Gaming (Role-Play Standards Discussion)

Discussion Disclaimer: This article represents my personal opinion, and not the opinion of the SotA Role-Play Community as a whole. However, as role-play communities are an organic process that grows and changes over time, from alpha to beta and even years into release, I thought to begin some discussions that will let the community discuss what standards we think will work for us.



Meta Gaming
When to use it and when not to use it.



Resource Links from other RP Communities:

· https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metagaming
“In role-playing games, a player is metagaming when they use knowledge that is not available to their character in order to change the way they play their character (usually to give them an advantage within the game), such as knowledge of the mathematical nature of character statistics, or the statistics of a creature that the player is familiar with but the character has never encountered. It can also include plot information, such as renaming a character with a false name to their real name before it is revealed.”

· http://forumroleplay.com/roleplay-guides/bad-roleplay/metagaming/

· http://www.ongoingworlds.com/blog/2014/06/metagaming-is-good/

· http://swtor-rp.com/home/m/1639454/article/425633/tag/metagaming



So a quick definition

If your character acts on information that they did not directly receive via local chat they might be meta-gaming. If your character acts on knowledge that only the player knows then they are meta-gaming. If your character acts on information they might have known they still might be meta-gaming.

There are lots of reasons why players meta-game, but if doing so give’s your character an advantage over another, or if another player starts thinking, “How the heck did he know that?!” … player frustration will ensue.


Good Reasons to Meta-Game

Role-Play Events
Someone posted up about a role-play event on the forums, but the post is entirely worded as if it was out of characters. My own meet and greet event is a perfect example of this. The event is advertised completely OOC.

In this case, it is definitely meta-gaming to go to the event, as your character has no idea there is some meet and greet for role-players going on. However, the event coordinator certainly wants your character to come! This is a good reason to meta-game.

It would be better if the coordinator used some IC language to give the character a reason to be there. Here are some examples:

· The town criers announce that there will be an open gathering of like minded avatars (role-players) at the tavern in Bastion’s Point.

· *notices of such an event can be easily found scattered about*

· *messenger birds bring news to any who might be interested*


Any of these and more are viable options for giving the character the in character knowledge of the posted event. And thank goodness, otherwise we’d be having to travel all over Novia personally inviting each character!


Finding People
Finding people to role-play with via use of the friend/guild window in game, by asking in discord, “Hey where are you”, or simply choosing to head to one player own town rather then another because its listed as a RP town on the wiki.

In these examples, it is definitely meta-gaming, as YOU the player are directing your characters actions from knowledge he doesn’t have. However, this is often a necessary solution to finding your friends to RP with and harms no one.

In a prior game, I had a friend who was a very hard core role-player. And she said to me once on skype that she didn’t know anyone in our town to role-play with and she was bored. I said to her, with some shock, “But most of our friends are playing here, what do you mean you don’t know anyone, what about ….”. And her response was, well my character doesn’t know that they live here. I have to admit I facepalmed. I’m a pretty hard core player myself, but this was a new one even for me.

On the flip side, doing this when there is a private or secret event going on is not justifiable. Doing this when you are in character hunting down an enemy/foe is not okay.

Anyone have a Number Three to propose?



Generally Unacceptable Meta-Gaming

The following are generally agreed to be unacceptable forms of meta-gaming.

Avatar Name

Knowing the name of an Avatar you’ve never met. Exception: When that character is inherently well known enough in the game that it can be reasonably assumed you know who they are. I’ve never met my Mayor, and I’m not even sure what he looks like. But the one time I was in the supermarket, it became obvious from everyone else’s actions who he was.

Hint: If you fub this up because you got confused between an IC and OOC conversation, and someone says, “Who do you know my name”, you can always say, “Your fame preceeds you” *winning smile*.

On the flip side, if SotA doesn’t have functioning disguise kits, the character may be role-playing they are in disguise. Its always a good idea to let the player get his entrance post out before you rush to welcome them.


Forum Posts/Stories

Unless a forum post is clearly marked as public knowledge, it is never a good idea to use information learned from other players forum posts including their RP stories.

Unless your character is part of the story or was at the event in the case of a re-telling, you should never bring that information into your role-play.

This includes even if the story is set in your town, or if you aunt Bob lives in the town, don’t play even one degree of Kevin Bacon to justify knowing something you learned as a player on the forums.

Unless: The post is clearly marked as public information, or perhaps marked as regional knowledge. Look for statements like, “The following information may be learned by anyone who is in SolTown”, or “Rumor has it”, or “All the town criers are talking about …”.

In the case of the first one, “learned by anyone who is in SolTown” it isn’t an invitation for you to go to Soltown just to learn it. If your character doesn’t normally go to SolTown, then going to SolTown because of the forum post, would be meta-gaming.

Crafting: Much like events which are often posted OOC, crafters posting up about their stores and merchandise are usually assumed to be public knowledge.




I am going to end here, and open the thread up for discussion …

 

First of all.. well written. I'd be inclined to ask if I could post that as an article on sotarp.. just as soon as I get it back in working order.. (grrr the domain was recently transferred to me and seems to be having some DNS issues even though everything seems properly configured anyway.. )

I wanted to comment a little bit on showing up to events and such. You may have picked up on the meet and greet.. I've developed a couple of IC mechanisms to explain Bowen just showing up out of the blue that works well for me. First I should explain that Bowen's original concept is that of a ranger.. and has something of an affinity for animals. His primary "pet" is Mir.. who on this occasion led him to the event for reasons unknown.. even to Bowen.

Bowen's also been known to wander aimlessly with his nose in a book.. only to look up and find he's not where he expected to be.

Of course, it isn't necessary to have an excuse to show up anywhere but should anyone ask you'll always have an answer.

On another note.. the separate of IC and OOC is something a lot of RPers struggle with.. knowing people's names is particularly easy to stumble on when it's hovering over their head the whole time.