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Rules Lawyers, Powergamers, and Munchkins: Thoughts on the Origins of Diverse Species
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<blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 9133494" data-attributes="member: 6790260"><p>My point was that there seems to be an undercurrent here that there <em>is</em> a right way to play, and yet simultaneously an overt effort to assert that there is<em> no</em> right way to play. Trying to have the cake and eat it too. That conflict is one of the contributing factors to having disruptions from potential rules lawyers/powergamers/etc. It's a thing I see from a lot of older-school publications, an ongoing tension between two things. First, asserting a no-gods-and-no-masters "do what you want 'cause a <s>pirate</s> GM is free" philosophy where the rules are exclusively a toolkit to do whatever interests you no matter how others feel about it. Second, asserting that there IS a purpose (typically some degree of "Gygaxian naturalism" and dungeon heist type play, often accompanied by some degree of PVP or at least competition) and anyone not fulfilling that purpose is Doing It Wrong.</p><p></p><p>The pretty clear thing I get from these (and other) quotes, and the whole existence of terms like Monty Haul and what "munchkin" came to mean over time, is that many early-game folks <em>believed</em> their game was "do whatever you want." However, what they actually <em>practiced</em> was an expectation of playing in a particular style, with limits that were far more specific than they realized. When subsequent generations of gamers strained against those limitations in light of the claim that you can do whatever you want, those efforts often got derided.</p><p></p><p>I don't mean to claim that the "barracks lawyer" nor the "rules lawyer" don't have a tendency to crappy behavior. But it seems to me that there's some space in there for people who <em>would not be</em> rules lawyers, just (shall we say) "rules experts" with little to none of the disruptiveness, but for that particular mix of <em>claiming</em> to embrace anything the player (or GM) might wish to do with the game, while actively mocking anyone who failed to conform to the expectations of the original player base.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="EzekielRaiden, post: 9133494, member: 6790260"] My point was that there seems to be an undercurrent here that there [I]is[/I] a right way to play, and yet simultaneously an overt effort to assert that there is[I] no[/I] right way to play. Trying to have the cake and eat it too. That conflict is one of the contributing factors to having disruptions from potential rules lawyers/powergamers/etc. It's a thing I see from a lot of older-school publications, an ongoing tension between two things. First, asserting a no-gods-and-no-masters "do what you want 'cause a [S]pirate[/S] GM is free" philosophy where the rules are exclusively a toolkit to do whatever interests you no matter how others feel about it. Second, asserting that there IS a purpose (typically some degree of "Gygaxian naturalism" and dungeon heist type play, often accompanied by some degree of PVP or at least competition) and anyone not fulfilling that purpose is Doing It Wrong. The pretty clear thing I get from these (and other) quotes, and the whole existence of terms like Monty Haul and what "munchkin" came to mean over time, is that many early-game folks [I]believed[/I] their game was "do whatever you want." However, what they actually [I]practiced[/I] was an expectation of playing in a particular style, with limits that were far more specific than they realized. When subsequent generations of gamers strained against those limitations in light of the claim that you can do whatever you want, those efforts often got derided. I don't mean to claim that the "barracks lawyer" nor the "rules lawyer" don't have a tendency to crappy behavior. But it seems to me that there's some space in there for people who [I]would not be[/I] rules lawyers, just (shall we say) "rules experts" with little to none of the disruptiveness, but for that particular mix of [I]claiming[/I] to embrace anything the player (or GM) might wish to do with the game, while actively mocking anyone who failed to conform to the expectations of the original player base. [/QUOTE]
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