Metagaming (role-playing games)

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In role-playing games, metagaming is the use of out-of-character knowledge in an in-character situation. A character played by a metagamer does not act in a way that reflects the character's in-game experiences and back-story.

Examples of metagaming include:

Adjusting a character's actions if the player has some foreknowledge of the long-term intentions of the gamemaster.
Using certain types of attack or defense based on the strengths and weaknesses of a monster/other characters the character knows nothing of, for example a weakness to fire-based magic.
Acting on technical and/or scientific knowledge that the character is not or could not be aware of (such as creating gunpowder in a dark ages or middle ages setting).
Adjusting a character's behavior towards other player characters based on real-life relationships with other players.
Using knowledge of the game's mechanics to gain an advantage in the game.
Assuming that something that appears to be wrong or unlikely in the game world is a mistake of the gamemaster rather than something that could be investigated.
Assuming that if an item (often a chest, desk or book-case) is mentioned by the gamemaster during the initial description of an area, it must have some relevance to the storyline, and immediately searching or examining it (while ignoring other furnishings or objects that are most likely there as well).
Deciding on a character's course of action based on how the game's mechanics will affect the outcome.
Any action that is based upon the knowledge that one is playing a game.
Another form of metagaming occurs as a form of powergaming during character creation, when a player takes flaws or liabilities that they know the gamemaster is unlikely to fully exploit, thereby acquiring extra creation options without paying a corresponding penalty.

Traditionally, metagaming is generally frowned upon in role-playing communities, as it upsets the suspension of disbelief and affects game balance. However, some narrativist indie role-playing games deliberately support metagaming in "Director stance" and encourage shared storytelling among players.^[1]

In addition, live action roleplaying games with a more cinematic style may use metagame references to specific books and films, either before the game or during play, to prompt the players as to the atmosphere the organisers are aiming to create.

More broadly, metagaming can refer to those aspects of play that exist outside the gameworld, such as out of character discussions between players and the gamemaster.