KoR's Private Policy on Metagaming

[Sohmah Yhaazri]

1. Your character cannot act on information that you, the player, knows that the character himself/herself did not obtain. For instance, if a squad of players is off on a mission, and the player knows about it, but the character was not either invited to the mission or knows explicitly of the mission and it is not accepted by the group OOC, arriving to the event is considered metagame shitposting. Not only is it not appropriate for your character to arrive to an event that he would not even know about, arriving to an event you aren't invited to is generally considered a dick move.

2. If you the player is not the “DM” or better put, Curator of the mission, for the player or the character to constantly or unpredictably throw in wildcards to alter the mission from the original intent of the players that had invented the story is considered bad manners, but also Hijacking, another form of metagame shitposting. If you wish to include wildcards into a story that your character is participating in, you MUST discuss this with the players that are curating the mission. If not, then the curators have the authority to strike down your wildcard without discussion. Communicating with the players who have put time and effort into the story is paramount.
 

3. Sanctuary areas – Places in the game that are considered Sanctuaries (IE: Gridania, Limsa, Rhalgr's Reach, etc) including the Free Company owned plots and property are excluded from being the target of collateral damage or property destruction. Not only is it disrespectful as shit to the people that have put time and effort into the RP, the Housing, and the other players that have to write in that area, it causes many issues with timeline and alternate stories that are going on at the same time. As much as you believe it would be cool to blow up half of the FC house for everyone to return to, it is truly not appreciated. Just like the Brass Blades wouldn't appreciate it if you blew up half of a bar they were in charge of protecting. This particular topic is somewhere between Godmodding and Metagaming, but is more so considered a dick move, and something to avoid for the enjoyment of the writers around you. Please be considerate.
 

4. General Story Engagement Etiquette – Not only is it imperative that you, the player, communicate beforehand with whoever is running a particular storyline before jumping in, it is also imperative that your character get that information in a way that is consensual to the other players and characters in that mission. In that same vein, it is important to acknowledge and respect the personal space and agency of other players and characters that you may encounter in your travels. While this is more in the vein of basic etiquette, many ways that this can manifest is in various forms of metagaming. For instance, simply stating that your character touches or pets another character violates that character's personal space, and the player's agency to reject your mayhaps unwanted approaches. In order to diffuse that entire situation, as well as many, many, many forms of metagaming, your character writing must include the attempt to perform an action on another character, rather than your character performing an action. While it may seem that this is taking away your player agency, what it is rather doing is taking away one player's ability to take away the agency of another. If your attempt is welcome to another player or character, then that action will be accepted. It is important to clarify that in the same action, you do not have to attempt to use dialogue, just the action. (For example, you would say “Jaster reached out to put his hand on Curly's head to ruffle her hair, and said, “Hey, it's just another day, right?” This does not take away curly's or Jaster's player agency to perform or react to an action or perform dialgoue) Not only will this create better and more dynamic engagements between characters, but it keeps agency and personal space in the hands of the players and characters themselves. Be Warned: This rule will be cracked down on by moderators very, very hard from this point onward. Learning to write in a manner of attempts rather than actions is absolutely vital to keeping the integrity of player agency. This is a very basic pillar in RP writing, and it is mandatory that any Roleplayer learn this vital concept in writing. If you have any questions, please contact Jaster, Curly, Eunbi, or Sohmah. If one of these moderators tell you to rephrase something you are writing, it is in the best interest in preserving character agency. Please comply, because if this rule is not internalized, it will become disastrous to you as a writer to engage with other writers or writing groups at large.
 

5. Combat Etiquette – In order to preserve player agency in combat, it is also important to only include combat ATTEMPTS when directing hostile action against another player or a player's controlled NPCs. While the NPC is not a player in itself, it belongs to the player, and also its agency. NPCs that you bring in that are not connected to another player can be killed however you wish. But beware, because bringing in these NPCs in a story that is not controlled by yourself without the consent of the owner of the storyline is considered Hijacking. While this does bring up the opportunity for Godmodding in the form of never letting a character land a hit on another, it is up to the player whose being attacked to make that judgement. Taking into account the power levels and skills of both combatants as well as the current state of the fighters. If you believe there is issues arising in combat in how a player is reacting to your attacks, you must appeal to a moderators (most preferably Jaster, our resident Combat RP expert) to clarify and pass constructive judgement so both players can learn from the experience. Combat Roleplaying is by far and away the hardest aspect of Roleplaying to keep fair, but if you can master it, you can take that experience in writing almost anywhere, making much better quality writing in the future. If you have any questions at all about how to properly phrase something to keep player agency in the hands of the appropriate characters, please PM Jaster, or Eunbi, Sohmah, or Curly.

 

If you want to check out more of our rules and FAQ's, please head on over to our website: https://knightsofredwall.enjin.com

 

Edited October 25, 2018 by Sohmah_Yhaazri