It's worthy of discussion if it's a problem for some of our number, but I think we need to change the manner in which we discuss it. Invariably, those who feel it's a glitch blame the system, while those of us who don't have that problem feel that it must be something particular to that group. The truth lies somewhere in the middle.
Most RPG's that allow for advancement allow for power gaming. That isn't likely to change. But how we deal with and anticipate it, and how we share that information with others, can change.
My crew are a bunch of power gamers. Half of us are IT consultants, the other half are soldiers of some sort; we all make a living by rules and strategy of a sort, so it is no wonder that we tend to overbuild our characters. We have one rule: no dragons for players. That means nothing that gets a dragon subtype or turns you into a dragon or a half-dragon.
The reason for this: Dragon Magic = broken. End of story. This chafes certain of our number, but it's fair. No one gets to use it, and I make very sparing use of it as DM.
We allow all books from major publishers, applied in any way you'd like. I get fiat, but I rarely enforce it. There may be other campaign specific restrictions on ECL, etc, but those vary.
I mention all of this because, with all of the above, you'd think that we'd constantly run into this problem, or at the very least, it'd be Monty Haul. It's not. My wizard and cleric players are very good, and my martial class players are very good, and always make themselves useful. In fact, more often then not, they save the day through quick thinking or because they don't rely pieces of magic gear or a spellbook.
Good example: Epic level campaign (25th level IRC). The mission: break into extra-dimensional prison to free one of their number. Party make up: Assassin, Arcane Archer, Fighter, Werepanther Ranger. Opposition: powerful angels a vast array of powers, most notably dispel magic and a power called "Nail to the Sky", which is self explanatory. The day is won by the assassin and the fighter. The assassin, though pinned to the sky, manages to get off multiple hits with a cross bow capable of penetrating the angel's DR while the mounted fighter manages to harry and trip the angels. The Arcane Archer got off a few good hits, and the Werepanther got stomped.
Another example: 3 (bloodied) 2nd Level PCs (sorcerer, alchemist, cleric) and 3 (bloodied) 1st level PCs (fighter, fighter, rogue). Opposition: 4 2nd level gnome fighters, 4 2nd level gnome rogues. Action: Sorcerer provides artillery, while the fighters attack the nearest combatants. The rogue follows the fighters, sneak attacking and helping to finish them off. The cleric plays buff/healing at this level, as lower level summoning spells wouldn't make that much of a difference. They won.
I share these examples to show that Angel Summoners only overshadow others if they are allowed to by the BMX Bandit and the DM. Most games have ways of fixing it. There is no reason the BMX Bandit can't work faster or better then the Angel Summoner, other then the BMX Bandit is discouraged.
Several people said earlier that they didn't like the job of preparing for these kinds of things...well, I'm not sure what to say to that. You don't have to know everything about every player's character, and purposely build to mitigate facets of those characters every time. But, you do have to plan for your players in general. If that's what you object to...well, I got nothing.
I do, however, have play tips for anyone that is interesting in avoiding this sort of thing:
1.) Help Your Players
If you see some one or a group of some one's who is getting left behind, talk to him, find a way to help their tactics and hone their characters. If you are fighting a dragon, and the Angel Summoner is summoning angels, and your BMX Bandit is kicking the dragon four 1d4 points of damage, that's the player or (more rarely) the character. The BMX bandit could have run driven his bike right up the dragon's tail, over his head, and put out it's eyes. Or, he could have pulled a Star Wars and tied the thing's legs. Yeah, he could try to survive while the waits for the angels to show up, but beating the dragon before they do is more fun.
2.) Multiple Small Encounters
Multiple small encounters with no place to rest for 8 hours are a lot harder on spellcasters then they are on martial characters. Swords rarely run out of charges. You can take down 14th level spell caster with scaling encounters of orcs and kobolds between him and the end the adventure.
3.) Tactics
One of the hardest things to implement, but the most useful. Tucker's kobolds are really great equalizers. Further remember that anything they can do you can do better. He wants to summon Angels? Fiends make great adversaries for Angels. Or better yet, dismissal traps or similar impediments will nerf him and let the BMX bandit shine.
4.) Don't be afraid to Nerf.
If you have a player who really is being unfair to his fellow players, don't be afraid to covertly nerf him. Do it sneakily, quietly, but build in things that either take away his mojo or force him to try new tactics. He'll get the memo eventually, and you can make it like it was his idea all along.
5.) Size your adventure appropriately.
I put this here because it doesn't fit anywhere else. If you a 10th level party, and you see a disparity between the casters and the martial players, don't play a 10th level adventure; play 11th or 12. This will force the caster to work harder, and eventually trigger the same effect as Tip 2.
This is what I do, at any rate, and it seems to work. As usual, you mileage may vary.
Now that I have given my 2 cents on the purpose of the meme, to the OP I say this:
Yes, please, I'd love to stop this goofy meme. It's founded on exaggeration and just gives people a crutch to use when complaining about this problem.
Although, I do kinda want to play a rogue with mechanical horse right now....
