Post by Faust on Apr 23, 2009 18:12:39 GMT -5
(And so, like most creations, boredom is the muse that brings you this handy guide.)
The Art of Metagaming
Or: For the last time, it's called "Secret Identity" for a reason!
What is "Metagaming?"
Metagaming is a milder form of God-modding that many of us have perpetrated, at least from time to time. Basically, this is defined as giving your character access to information that he or she couldn't possibly know. This comes in many different forms, but mostly this one arises from having access to too much information. Some variants:
The Judge of Character
Bob is talking to Mary. Unbeknownst to Mary, Bob is planning to lead her into a trap. He has done this many times before and is considered a master at decieving people, while Mary is simply "a good judge of character."
Bob pours on the charm, makes many friendly gestures, and is generally doing everything in his power to ensure Mary that no, that's not a doomsday device hidden behind his back, thank you all the same. Mary is bought in by this personality, and is equally friendly without a hint of guile. But in the narrative, a small hint is dropped that secretly, hidden deep under that winning smile, Bob might just be lying a little bit. Instantly, the guard is raised. Mary knows that Bob is lying, and his evil plot is ruined. (Cue the "Curse You's" and "Big No's")
The Judge of Character is a master at reading hidden emotions. Just one little prompt, a short description of a character's well forced-down feelings, and this meta gamer suddenly knows everything relevant to what you're hiding.
The Problem: Look around you, next time you're in an area where everybody's standing around and generally doing nothing. (Classroom, public transportation, work, etc.) The smart bet says at least one of them's remembering a nasty fight they had, two or three of them are playing a scene from their favorite TV show or movie, more than a few of them have a song stuck in their head, but only remember a few bars, a few of them are thinking about what they're doing tonight, and one or two are coming to grips with the fact that Shirley from down the street is actually kinda cute when she takes off her glasses and sings karaoke Shania Twain.
Can you point them out? Can you tell what's going on in each of those people's head at any given moment? If you were really paying attention, you might be able to pick up some clues if they were giving them. (Tapping fingers in tune with the song, a forlorn sigh, etc.) Of course, that's not much of a comparison. After all, those people are bored. Chances are, they're wearing their heart on their sleeve, albeit glossed over with a fine sheen of numb boredom.
What about lying? There are people who recieve special training just to sniff out liers. Software has been written to train people in the tiny, miniscule little subtle changes that happen to a person's face in response to emotions. Of course, a character might have this training, who knows?
There's also the element of surprise to consider. In plain old English, nobody has their guard up all the time. It's human nature. We relax, get comfortable, don't notice things we've seen a million times before. If we have absolutely no reason to suspect that Bob is going to kill us, then we're not going to look for something to prove that he's lying. The only exception would be if almost everyone you met was secretly out to kill you. Or you were crazy paranoid.
The Solution: This normally originates because the person who plays Mary either wants to make the character seem really sharp for noticing, or doesn't want Bob's evil plan to succeed, or doesn't want Mary to actually be put in physical danger. Sometimes they take the words in Bob's narrative, and because they (the poster) see the fact that Bob is lying, then they assume that the character must see it plainly too. Really it's the other way around; the reason it has to be put in black and white is because it's not readily obvious to the observer.
Do not be afraid to fall for the plot now and then. It doesn't make your character stupid or gullible, just not crazy attentive. Most people who play the bad guys are going to ask for your complete okay before they do anything that might be objectionable to your character anyway. Ask nicely, and they'll usually give you an opporitunity to escape somewhere down the road, so long as you help them maintain their reputation as a cold hearted snake. Remember that you're not the only one who thinks of themselves as the main character, and giving other people the chance to look clever is always a nice thing to do.
(To be Continued, muse providing)
The Art of Metagaming
Or: For the last time, it's called "Secret Identity" for a reason!
What is "Metagaming?"
Metagaming is a milder form of God-modding that many of us have perpetrated, at least from time to time. Basically, this is defined as giving your character access to information that he or she couldn't possibly know. This comes in many different forms, but mostly this one arises from having access to too much information. Some variants:
The Judge of Character
Bob is talking to Mary. Unbeknownst to Mary, Bob is planning to lead her into a trap. He has done this many times before and is considered a master at decieving people, while Mary is simply "a good judge of character."
Bob pours on the charm, makes many friendly gestures, and is generally doing everything in his power to ensure Mary that no, that's not a doomsday device hidden behind his back, thank you all the same. Mary is bought in by this personality, and is equally friendly without a hint of guile. But in the narrative, a small hint is dropped that secretly, hidden deep under that winning smile, Bob might just be lying a little bit. Instantly, the guard is raised. Mary knows that Bob is lying, and his evil plot is ruined. (Cue the "Curse You's" and "Big No's")
The Judge of Character is a master at reading hidden emotions. Just one little prompt, a short description of a character's well forced-down feelings, and this meta gamer suddenly knows everything relevant to what you're hiding.
The Problem: Look around you, next time you're in an area where everybody's standing around and generally doing nothing. (Classroom, public transportation, work, etc.) The smart bet says at least one of them's remembering a nasty fight they had, two or three of them are playing a scene from their favorite TV show or movie, more than a few of them have a song stuck in their head, but only remember a few bars, a few of them are thinking about what they're doing tonight, and one or two are coming to grips with the fact that Shirley from down the street is actually kinda cute when she takes off her glasses and sings karaoke Shania Twain.
Can you point them out? Can you tell what's going on in each of those people's head at any given moment? If you were really paying attention, you might be able to pick up some clues if they were giving them. (Tapping fingers in tune with the song, a forlorn sigh, etc.) Of course, that's not much of a comparison. After all, those people are bored. Chances are, they're wearing their heart on their sleeve, albeit glossed over with a fine sheen of numb boredom.
What about lying? There are people who recieve special training just to sniff out liers. Software has been written to train people in the tiny, miniscule little subtle changes that happen to a person's face in response to emotions. Of course, a character might have this training, who knows?
There's also the element of surprise to consider. In plain old English, nobody has their guard up all the time. It's human nature. We relax, get comfortable, don't notice things we've seen a million times before. If we have absolutely no reason to suspect that Bob is going to kill us, then we're not going to look for something to prove that he's lying. The only exception would be if almost everyone you met was secretly out to kill you. Or you were crazy paranoid.
The Solution: This normally originates because the person who plays Mary either wants to make the character seem really sharp for noticing, or doesn't want Bob's evil plan to succeed, or doesn't want Mary to actually be put in physical danger. Sometimes they take the words in Bob's narrative, and because they (the poster) see the fact that Bob is lying, then they assume that the character must see it plainly too. Really it's the other way around; the reason it has to be put in black and white is because it's not readily obvious to the observer.
Do not be afraid to fall for the plot now and then. It doesn't make your character stupid or gullible, just not crazy attentive. Most people who play the bad guys are going to ask for your complete okay before they do anything that might be objectionable to your character anyway. Ask nicely, and they'll usually give you an opporitunity to escape somewhere down the road, so long as you help them maintain their reputation as a cold hearted snake. Remember that you're not the only one who thinks of themselves as the main character, and giving other people the chance to look clever is always a nice thing to do.
(To be Continued, muse providing)
I did post in shades of grey if anyone even remembers that lmao