I find controlled starvation of cites to be meta gaming, as it is based upon knowledge of our the food consumption code works. Should we raise some SMA violations against every realm that has used that technique on Dwilight?
Is it done by *that* many people? Honestly, I consider that to be outright abuse. But it is absolutely impossible to police.
How about the fact that some religions choose not to have temples in some regions, because they can avoid follower limits imposed by the temples that way. Even though to most people it would seem obvious that is a non-intended aspect of the code?
Yes, but again, impossible to police. Though seriously I think that this code could and should have been changed long ago.
I have found the tone of both these thread to be aggressive enough that I have decided to post rather just lurk as I usually do. So here is my take. For me it is meta gaming to deliberately cast doubt on a game mechanic that provides reliable information, and to try and RP it away. I'm not a Dev, I can't know what the Devs intended by a feature, so I take it as face value. I don't try and deconstruct it to so that I can excuse it, anymore then I would try to deconstruct the fact we have instant messaging, or the fact I can see where everyone within my realm is on the Dynamic map.
Some things, like instant messaging, are a necessary compromise or else the game simply wouldn't be playable. Being able to access realm pages of your realm is the equivalent of the locals instant messaging you info. That some exceptions must be made doesn't mean that everything should be accepted.
When I started this game I was taught that Game Mechanics trump RP, so yeah I would think that people that RP around and invalidate game mechanics are meta gamng to try and avoid the realities of the code. Does that mean I am right? Does that mean I should throw my personal opinion in people face and accuse others of !@#$ty play or being "dickish". This could have been a rational, calm discussion. It could have been, hey guys I have always had this opinion, what does everyone else think, can we get a consensus that might help guide peoples actions in the future? Pity that emotion has pretty much destroyed any merit the argument may have had in my mind.
I think you completely misunderstand what meta-gaming means. Meta-gaming is like when I play D&D with my friends, and I decide to take reckless decisions because I know the DM wouldn't let the party all get wiped out over such a thing. Metagaming is not about avoiding code, it's about using out-of-character knowledge of the way a game works to influence the way your character will act.
Do game mechanics trump RP? Yes, absolutely. However, I don't see this to be an issue here. Nobody is trying to RP something that game mechanics said did not happen. There's a difference between saying that IC actions should not be based on player knowledge of the code, and writing RPs that contradict events that the game determined happened.
There was a time where, on Dwilight, forgeting a "sire", writing too many OOC messages, failing to RP your oath, or having instant exchanges with relatives of other continents would likely have grave consequences, be it through policing by players themselves or by Tom and the titans. I really feels like there's nothing left of SMA on Dwilight nowadays, and that we may as well just remove the SMA rules if all this meta-gaming is to be considered fine. SMA has no place on a continent where so many decisions are made that lack any IC sense, simply because of how the game works.
