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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6162314" data-attributes="member: 42582">To me, this reads like theorycraft. I want actual play examples that prove the point, or at least that give some reason to think that it is more than one person's statement of preference.Because, like [MENTION=6688937]Ratskinner[/MENTION], I've played a lot of games without meta-mechanics, and the only one of them that had any general tendency to encourage "inhabitation" of the character was Call of Cthulhu, and that's because the players just sit back and emote their PCs while the GM drives. As soon as the players are expected to exhibit any protagonism, they will be motivated by the meta-context, be that Gygaxian XP-for-treasure advancement rules, or the knowledge 4e players have of their available dailies, surges and AP. Depending how that meta-context is shaped, the resulting play may or may not lead to inhabitation of the character. The idea that a player can't inhabit the character simply because s/he also is responding to the metacontext has, for me at least, no supporting evidence in real life play. Apart from anything else, one important element of metacontext is enjoying the experience with one's friends at the table, and this can make a big difference to inhabitation (ie it is easier and more fluid, for me at least, when part of an enjoyable shared experience).</blockquote>