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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Vykarius" data-source="post: 4937850" data-attributes="member: 85386"><img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/rant.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":rant:" title="Rant    :rant:" data-shortname=":rant:" />Forgive the length of topic in advance please? So I have been gaming since I was 11 years old from 1982 to present. I haven't made any attempted to play 4th edition, but have several years of experience with each & every previous edition of Dungeons & Dragons.  I first started hearing the term META-Gamer thrown around in mid-to-late 3rd edition. I am aware what the term is trying to paint of those whom are labeled "META-Gamers".  One thought struck me when I first heard the term, was the fact that it always seemed to be the player with the worst of luck making a character build (over and over ad nausea) who was accusing others of the "META-Gaming" dreaded title. It reminded me of the type of people in life that envy the skills/abilities of others they can't emulate, but find a way to make an observation such as 'your an underachiever" cause you don't utilize your abilities to their fullest. It is always referencing others ability with taint due to their own lack-there-of. I began to informally analyze the interactions of the lesser effective character builders with those of the succesful ones both in D&D campaigns and online server based Neverwinter Nights game. I wanted to see if there was a correlation between that of inefficient character builders/players & expressed META-Gamer label being used towards the effective character builders/players around them. The conclusion over about that 7-8 year period was overwhelming in distribution of META-Gaming label being alleged almost exclusively by the ineffective players. In short, those who can't  or rarely make efficient character builds, are the primary source of alleging that the the effective character builders were in fact usually simply the dreaded META-gamers! My thesis is that they found a creative way to be critical of a player's efficiency of good character builds by creating/espousing a label which criticizes efficiency & functionality by stating that is the ONLY focus of the efficient player's role-playing! In a nutshell they found a way to never have to acknowledge veteran player's skill level as such and to have a defense mechanism for their seeming lack of success in building effective characters in general. It's like saying "Yeah that team beat us in the super bowl, but they only did it because they were so pre-occupied with winning it that they lost site of the "real meaning" or some other esoteric hidden meaning. It is sour grapes pure and simple in my opinion. You wouldnt tell a great experienced athlete he was a META-Athlete and marginalize him/her because they are so efficient would you. In my book if you've been role-playing a number of years, there are just some basic character developing build aspects that become innate in their functionality. The fact that some lazily or ineptly don't acquire said skills as fantasy gamers is in no way a negative reflection on those who possess the skills to shine at the table! Don't most folks who hone their craft even in a hobby like D&D eventually get better and more efficient as time goes by?!? It is Envy that found a coy gaming engineered label to vent their jealousy without losing face as being insecure or jealous of the others! They desperately want there 2 be some in-game explanation for their inefficiency & it not being their lack of ability to blame. In my experience, the lot of rules-wise players with good PC-building skill, are also some of the best at engineering a realistically role-played conceptual character. In other words they are usually better at role-playing & roll-playing too! Just my theory...sorry 2 drag it out but as you can guess, it's kinda my soap-box! lol Any guesses if I have been called a META-Gamer?<img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/rant.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":rant:" title="Rant    :rant:" data-shortname=":rant:" /> <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/glasses.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt="B-)" title="Glasses    B-)" data-shortname="B-)" />DM's and players alike please give any feedback on the topic, as I am interested to hear if good character builders in other games have been the target of the inefficient with this coy defense-mechanism label IMHO. Thanks for listening and giving any and all feedback I will take emails at <a href="mailto:Vykarius@gmail.com">Vykarius@gmail.com</a> for those not wanting 2 post in forums as well. <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/angel.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":angel:" title="Angel    :angel:" data-shortname=":angel:" />          ~Vykarius the Intrepid</blockquote>

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