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Metagaming or: I'm a cook, not a rogue!
Feb. 18th, 2012 11:29 amI ranted a bit about this at dear_gnome: People dragging a character's class into RP, and not accepting that someone might play a mundane worker (a cook, a tailor, a fisherman...) and just had to choose a class because "mundane worker" doesn't exist. Others don't seem to get that characters disguise themselves for a reason and can't be recognized by a name tag over their head. Name tags don't exist IC. Or they insist on "seeing auras" or "feeling magic". While I don't doubt that certain professions might have a sensibility for some kinds of magical residue, I don't think that everyone is just born with it. And sometimes, as stated above, people don't play the class you see on the tooltip.
I guess that's what people call "metagaming": Applying OOC knowledge to IC situations. That's annoying in pen&paper games (players recognizing the disguised "big bad" their characters have never seen, knowing where the secret thieves' guild is because they looked at the map, etc.) It's also annoying in WoW RP, because here, our options are more limited and things like tooltips exist.
So the level 85 character must be an honoured veteran (although she might as well never have left the city. My warlock left to fight for the first time when she was level 82.) The rogue must be a rogue and thus do rogueish things, although he might have an everyday profession and be rather law-abiding. Maybe he just prefers agility in combat, or maybe he has a shady past and now turned to honest work, or maybe the player just couldn't choose "cook" as a class and picked something they enjoy playing. (Rogues are fun!)
And of course, the warlock must be a warlock. No matter whether they've ever summoned anything in their life. No matter whether they ever used fel magic. No matter what they call themselves. And if people don't have ingame proof like a visible demon or active Fel Armor, they grasp at straws: My warlock was "exposed" two times. Both times she was flagged as OOC and wearing quest armour (cloth heirlooms in the first case, and a staff that glowed slightly black in the second). People approached her and began talking about how her clothes show her evilness, or how the staff emits dark magic. Hey, I had just ported back to town and was OOCly checking the auction house! I admit that my warlock loves skull designs, but nevertheless, she wouldn't have worn those clothes ICly. That's just not her style.
And she still isn't a warlock. Although her class/spec says "affliction warlock", ICly she is a Loa priest who specialises in curses and hexes. She serves some of the darker Loa, but she knows about the dangers of fel magic and invocations, so she steers clear of it. She won't be surrounded by fel residue. She won't admit to summoning demons, because she doesn't do this. And my rogue won't admit he's a rogue, because he's a cook and an alchemist. He doesn't sneak around and kill people (he's actually quite bad at sneaking). He doesn't pick pockets or break into houses. The only reason he knows how to open a lock is because he tends to forget his keys. He's extremely wary of breaking the law, because he has a lot of responsibility (he's a guild leader) and doesn't want to be a bad example. He knows a lot about poisons because as an alchemist, he had to learn how to make antidotes (and he keeps pet snakes).
My priest is a brewer. My druid is a merchant. My paladin is just a healer who's not affiliated with any kind of order. Some of my other characters are actually what the tooltips says, and yes, my death knights are all death knights (although each of them has found a new profession or hobby - archaeologist, Argent Knight, and bodyguard/illustrator). I don't want everyone else to play their characters in the same way - the world needs warriors, mages, and druids, after all. But I want others to respect my choices and to accept that game mechanics sometimes aren't in accordance with RP concepts.
Sometimes the tailor is a spy, but sometimes the tailor is just a tailor.
I guess that's what people call "metagaming": Applying OOC knowledge to IC situations. That's annoying in pen&paper games (players recognizing the disguised "big bad" their characters have never seen, knowing where the secret thieves' guild is because they looked at the map, etc.) It's also annoying in WoW RP, because here, our options are more limited and things like tooltips exist.
So the level 85 character must be an honoured veteran (although she might as well never have left the city. My warlock left to fight for the first time when she was level 82.) The rogue must be a rogue and thus do rogueish things, although he might have an everyday profession and be rather law-abiding. Maybe he just prefers agility in combat, or maybe he has a shady past and now turned to honest work, or maybe the player just couldn't choose "cook" as a class and picked something they enjoy playing. (Rogues are fun!)
And of course, the warlock must be a warlock. No matter whether they've ever summoned anything in their life. No matter whether they ever used fel magic. No matter what they call themselves. And if people don't have ingame proof like a visible demon or active Fel Armor, they grasp at straws: My warlock was "exposed" two times. Both times she was flagged as OOC and wearing quest armour (cloth heirlooms in the first case, and a staff that glowed slightly black in the second). People approached her and began talking about how her clothes show her evilness, or how the staff emits dark magic. Hey, I had just ported back to town and was OOCly checking the auction house! I admit that my warlock loves skull designs, but nevertheless, she wouldn't have worn those clothes ICly. That's just not her style.
And she still isn't a warlock. Although her class/spec says "affliction warlock", ICly she is a Loa priest who specialises in curses and hexes. She serves some of the darker Loa, but she knows about the dangers of fel magic and invocations, so she steers clear of it. She won't be surrounded by fel residue. She won't admit to summoning demons, because she doesn't do this. And my rogue won't admit he's a rogue, because he's a cook and an alchemist. He doesn't sneak around and kill people (he's actually quite bad at sneaking). He doesn't pick pockets or break into houses. The only reason he knows how to open a lock is because he tends to forget his keys. He's extremely wary of breaking the law, because he has a lot of responsibility (he's a guild leader) and doesn't want to be a bad example. He knows a lot about poisons because as an alchemist, he had to learn how to make antidotes (and he keeps pet snakes).
My priest is a brewer. My druid is a merchant. My paladin is just a healer who's not affiliated with any kind of order. Some of my other characters are actually what the tooltips says, and yes, my death knights are all death knights (although each of them has found a new profession or hobby - archaeologist, Argent Knight, and bodyguard/illustrator). I don't want everyone else to play their characters in the same way - the world needs warriors, mages, and druids, after all. But I want others to respect my choices and to accept that game mechanics sometimes aren't in accordance with RP concepts.
Sometimes the tailor is a spy, but sometimes the tailor is just a tailor.
