i hate meta-gaming

If you don't know the term, "meta-gaming" is when a player gives his/her character some knowledge or has a character act based on knowledge the character can't possibly have in-game. It's totally bad & usually in a game's rules that you can't pull that one on your fellow players. But still, it's a temptation and it happens.

It happens because of one really fun part of role-playing -- players start to connect outside the game and build friendships & alliances.

When I first joined KTDARPG, there wasn't much connecting going on. But within 3 months or so, the networks had come alive. You may contact another player because you want to do a specific scene with that player's character to advance the story. Then you get "joint posting" or some really wicked fun doing back-n-forth posting to create the scene.

That sounds complicated, so take my word for it -- it's a blast. And it's fun to get to know your fellow players. You make friends, create partnerships, switch sides, and do all sorts of things that end up reflected in the game. It creates a richer tapestry of a story than you can get when everybody is playing from their own isolation.

Then comes the danger. One player tells another about some upcoming plot twist or possibility that exists in a game-thread. Unfortunately, the other player then can see the possibility too ... and may decide to act on it before you can, turning that knowledge to his or her own advantage. Doesn't matter that the character involved has no way of knowing the knowledge that's used. You've been trumped. You've been screwed. You've been meta-gamed.

Oh, you can yell & cry "foul" and piss and moan about it. But if the player who's screwed you has any talent at all? That player will find some way to "justify" the move & turn your objection back on you. Hey, you SAY you've been meta-gamed? Prove it. And the other can find just as many explanations for why the character did what he/she did.

It can get ugly. If you push it? You could end up losing a friend. If other players agree with you and back up your objection? They could get hurt in the backlash too.

Is it worth it, to press the point & demand a post be deleted to get rid of the meta-gaming? I honestly don't know. I guess it depends on the players involved, the egos involved, and the levels of both skill and maturity involved. Fair is fair...but I don't have so many friends that I don't value each one, and I don't like the thought of losing a friend over a game.

-Chyna