What do you consider Metagaming?

[Whill]

I'm big on GM/player co-designed character concepts and backstories, but additional details can be adlibbed during play by the GM, and even player if it doesn't get abused just to arrange advantages. I'm ok with players helping each other make decisions if it doesn't get out of hand and it doesn't detract from the mood of the adventure at that point.

In general I do not approve of players playing their characters with knowledge the characters wouldn't have, but I do enjoy creative metagaming that provides good in-game explanations for the knowledge. And I reward players who provide creative in-game reasons to maintain continuity with film canon, in the rare cases that they encounter it.
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[cheshire]

[DougRed4]

Fascinating subject; thanks for bringing it back up, garhkal!

I've long found the concept of Narrativist/Simulationist interesting, and this thread had me clicking numerous links to read detailed analysis elsewhere (and I learned a lot that I hadn't previously known!)

In our games, we tend to police extreme out-of-character metagaming amongst ourselves, though it's not uncommon for a GM to simply remind a player that "your character wouldn't know that." No other penalty, though. And nobody in our group obnoxiously metagames consistently.

For a long time we've jokingly had this rule that if somebody else at the table encourages you to do something, then that's the one thing that you can't do! (since you didn't think of it yourself) Playing more narrative-style games that actually encourage group cooperation has relaxed us (or at least me) a bit towards the concept of saying too much to someone.

The whole issue is a complex one. I think RPGs can tend to be unfair towards Knowledge based skills, as if the player is supposed to know everything their character knows. In other words, when a player makes a Melee Parry roll, we have a good baseline (their Dexterity) to know what they can and can't do. But when it comes to knowledge (say, Tactics), we often limit players to what the player knows, rather than the character. It can be tough. What if the GM doesn't really know much in the way of tactics, to be able to help the player who says "I don't really know tactics myself, but my character has 4D+1 and I'd like to roll for it!". Situations like these are ones that I think it really makes sense to have everyone in the group pitch in, to help the player who personally might not have the expertise that their character should have.

[garhkal]

[DougRed4]