Comments on: Player killed the Videogame Star, Part 2 http://critical-hits.com/2006/02/10/player-killed-the-videogame-star-part-2/ The Journal of Gamer Culture Sat, 11 Feb 2012 17:53:14 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: The O http://critical-hits.com/2006/02/10/player-killed-the-videogame-star-part-2/#comment-58041 The O Fri, 10 Feb 2006 23:21:27 +0000 http://www.critical-hits.com/?p=101#comment-58041 While we all sometimes fall into the meta-gamer persona every now and then (usually unknowingly), it is seriously annoying when people do it consistently. My favorite experience with such a player was with that guy Hunter at BCon (the one who went from 500 to 850 lbs in one year). We were both involved in a Mage: The Ascension one shot adventure that took place in Baltimore. He kept saying how he knew where to go and how bad certain areas were with crime simply because of his own area knowledge of living there. Such a display crawled up my nerves enough to begin with, but he said so in an arrogant manner. Ever since I've been pretty hesitant to do pick-up games at cons because of such players. While we all sometimes fall into the meta-gamer persona every now and then (usually unknowingly), it is seriously annoying when people do it consistently. My favorite experience with such a player was with that guy Hunter at BCon (the one who went from 500 to 850 lbs in one year). We were both involved in a Mage: The Ascension one shot adventure that took place in Baltimore. He kept saying how he knew where to go and how bad certain areas were with crime simply because of his own area knowledge of living there. Such a display crawled up my nerves enough to begin with, but he said so in an arrogant manner. Ever since I’ve been pretty hesitant to do pick-up games at cons because of such players.

]]> By: The Game http://critical-hits.com/2006/02/10/player-killed-the-videogame-star-part-2/#comment-58040 The Game Fri, 10 Feb 2006 22:16:33 +0000 http://www.critical-hits.com/?p=101#comment-58040 Kwyjibo is a perfectly cromulent word. Kwyjibo is a perfectly cromulent word.

]]> By: DarthCthulhu http://critical-hits.com/2006/02/10/player-killed-the-videogame-star-part-2/#comment-58039 DarthCthulhu Fri, 10 Feb 2006 19:47:22 +0000 http://www.critical-hits.com/?p=101#comment-58039 Meta-gaming is a problem. The problem with it is that, in order to properly not metagame, the player needs to enter a kind of semi-psychotic state. A type of doublethink wherein the player knows something, but is able to keep it entirely seperate, mentally, from the character he or she is playing. This type of mental partitioning skill is difficult for a lot of people; these are the same people who don't understand why the woman ALWAYS goes into creepy door in horror movies. It's a conceit of the fiction that people will do incredibly stupid things and you have to put your mentality into the same one as the character. I think some exercises can help. When watching a horror movie like the one above, or any in which a character does not have the omniscient powers of the viewer, try and put oneself into the character's shoes and guess what they will do next. This also works when reading fiction; having people of very different perhaps even alien mindsets and trying to predict their actions is a very good way of training this doublethink. Do it enough and you'll find that partitioning out knowledge and personality becomes second nature. It's a kind of controlled multiple personality disorder. Meta-gaming is a problem. The problem with it is that, in order to properly not metagame, the player needs to enter a kind of semi-psychotic state. A type of doublethink wherein the player knows something, but is able to keep it entirely seperate, mentally, from the character he or she is playing.

This type of mental partitioning skill is difficult for a lot of people; these are the same people who don’t understand why the woman ALWAYS goes into creepy door in horror movies. It’s a conceit of the fiction that people will do incredibly stupid things and you have to put your mentality into the same one as the character.

I think some exercises can help. When watching a horror movie like the one above, or any in which a character does not have the omniscient powers of the viewer, try and put oneself into the character’s shoes and guess what they will do next. This also works when reading fiction; having people of very different perhaps even alien mindsets and trying to predict their actions is a very good way of training this doublethink.

Do it enough and you’ll find that partitioning out knowledge and personality becomes second nature. It’s a kind of controlled multiple personality disorder.

]]> By: The Main Event http://critical-hits.com/2006/02/10/player-killed-the-videogame-star-part-2/#comment-58038 The Main Event Fri, 10 Feb 2006 15:25:06 +0000 http://www.critical-hits.com/?p=101#comment-58038 There were some parts of Settlers of Catan: Piledriver that I prefer. What, you ask? I don't recall, just trust me. There were some parts of Settlers of Catan: Piledriver that I prefer.

What, you ask?

I don’t recall, just trust me.

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