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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 6466309" data-attributes="member: 4937">The 'metagame' is the part of the game that occurs out side of the game itself.  So your example of using information the player has in the real world but the character would not have in the imagined game world is an example of metagaming.  Another example would be negotiating with, flattering, or attempting to bully the DM, in order to gain some advantage in the game world (for example 'rules lawyering').   On a basic level, you can think of it as being the difference between 'OOC' (out of character) and 'IC' (in character) things.Most of the common examples of 'meta-gaming' refer to behaviors that are generally seen as anti-social and bad for the game (and the enjoyment of the game).But the metagame itself is not actually a bad thing, and is of course essential for there to be a game at all.  For example, it's the metagame that allows us to agree to cooperate and play together and respect each other.As a general rule, the GM should try to ensure that issues in the metagame aren't addressed in the game, and that issues in the game aren't addressed by the metagame.   There are of course exceptions.  For example, a player could express, "I'm uncomfortable with this scene because of X."  Depending on the complaint, that could require either changing the metagame (how the scene was played out and described, if at all) or the game (what actually happened in the scene and what consequences it had, if any).</blockquote>

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