RPC has moved! These pages have been kept for historical purposes

FreelanceWizard · **10-01-2013, 08:52 AM**

(10-01-2013, 01:12 AM)Faye Wrote: Putting details about your character's inner thoughts and feelings is in absolutely, no way metagaming. Is it metagaming to post a bio for your character? Because you're sharing information about your character not only outside of your character's direct speech and actions, but even outside of your RP? That's just silly. Seeing someone share their characters unexpressed thoughts and having your character automatically know all of their character's thoughts/reasons with no logical, justifiable reason is metagaming. There's a big difference.

Since I opened up the metagaming can of worms, I guess I should explain what I meant. Smile

When a person emotes something of their internal monologue and that's not something that someone could pick up on (as opposed to not something an imperceptive character could pick up on, mind you Smile

), then there's a complication insofar as that person is telling me, the player, something about their character. The question is then, "Why has this information been put out there, and do you intend for me to use it in the scene -- to take it IC?" If it's something there's no way my character could know unless I'm in that character's head ("Person leans back in his chair. 'This is a fine mess,' he thinks, his displeasure growing while his expression remains blank."), then it'd be metagaming for me to take it IC without asking that player first.

So, since I'd have to ask OOC anyway to determine if that emote is an RP hook intended to be taken IC or something else, IMO, it's just easier to not emote that sort of information and instead offer it up OOC to other players if you want them to have it. Then there's no question about whether it's metagamed or not, since both players have agreed to that knowledge becoming IC.

Now, beyond that, I do think it's better to show and not tell, and that emoting internal state is generally problematic -- but of course, exceptions apply, and I'm not talking about standard emotes like, "Person presses her lips together and narrows her eyes in frustration," since while the "Person is frustrated" is an internal state, a reasonably perceptive character could pick that up. Smile

I'm speaking more about things along the lines of the example above.

EDIT: Oh, and just to be clear, I'm only talking about RP in game, which is a different beast from, say, forum RP. Smile

The social contract is different depending on the modality of play, I think.

You're Not Writing A Novel

RPC has moved! These pages have been kept for historical purposes