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| Metagaming in roleplay is the act of acquiring information about a person, place, event or thing from a source while not in character, then allowing that information to affect your actions in character. Metagaming often leads to one side of roleplay feeling cheated that their character's identity or secrets become common knowledge through unfair means.
| | Moved to [https://www.massivecraft.com/metagaming Main Site]. |
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| While it may seem like a good idea to metagame for some advantage, it is often not without consequence. Metagaming is looked down upon by many players in the roleplay community. It also generally ruins roleplay experiences for both parties involved, as well as making possible roleplay experiences impossible.
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| ==Examples of Metagaming in Roleplay==
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| *Larry the Vampire is a character who pretends to be blind to hide his red eyes from the public. The player who roleplays as Larry speaks in a conversation, letting it slip that his character is a vampire and the player who roleplays Joe the Trader hears this information. The next time Joe sees Larry, Joe alerts the guards of Larry's vampirism. In this example, Larry's character may be executed, disallowing the player to continue his plans he had for his character, and making him feel that his trust was betrayed.
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| *Robert Coolname steps into the tavern, his first time ever in Regalia! After buying himself a drink and ready to have a good time, Kattie the Vampire walks up to him, greeting him "Why hello Mr. Coolname." without ever actually meeting Robert in character. In this example Robert has never been to Regalia, nor has he ever met Kattie. This sort of metagaming is often overlooked, however it tends to have an unsettling effect. Robert may feel awkward that someone knows his name impossibly, feeling that roleplaying in Regalia isn't worth his time if somehow everyone knows his name.
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| *David the Hunter battles with the evil Bloodfang Humandrinker, but sadly falls in combat. The player who roleplayed David feels angry that they 'lost' this roleplay encounter, so they make a new character, David the Blacksmith. This new David, who has neither a grudge or knowledge of who Bloodfang is, seeks them out to combat them once more. In this example, the player who plays David refuses to accept the loss of his character, and enjoy the experiences of loss. The player instead makes an entirely new character for the sole purpose to bridge the failings of the last. This often makes people feel harassed, and leading to ill feelings and a pointless character.
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| ==Tips on Avoiding Metagaming==
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| *Never go looking for out of character information.
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| *If you learn something OOC unintentionally, attempt to forget it or push it to the back of your mind.
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| *Always remember that you and your character are two separate entities; you may have information about a person or event, but your character does not.
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| *If somehow you managed to accidentally metagame, attempt to recover by creating a credible reason as to why your character got the OOC information. (Generally this is easiest to do by apologizing to the person you just metagamed, and then figuring it out with them.)
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| *If all else fails, retcon.
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| [[category:Character Creation]] [[category:Roleplay Guides]] [[Category:Roleplay]]
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| {{roleplay}}
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