Metagaming Policy
Metagaming refers to playing the game outside of the game and covers
anything you do outside of the game which changes things which happen
inside the game. This often could mean asking, telling or pressuring
people OOCly to have their character do certain things, or could mean
telling other players things OOCly which will likely change their
choices for their character. Such as giving them info their character
wouldn’t know, or telling them that some other character is played
by some particular person to influence how they view that character.
Some level of metagaming is unavoidable and normal, but the more of
it there is the worse the story and roleplay become as the IC world
becomes less sensible, believable and immersive.
In general when judging if metagaming is going so far as to warrant
discipline or removal from the game the staff look at a few factors.
Unavoidability: The fewer characters who might have their behaviour altered
by an instance of metagaming the less of a concern it is. So for example
if you have a friend you regularly chat to about game stuff and neither of
you chat to anyone else, telling them something has very low unavoidability.
It’s only going to impact their specific character and presumably they’ve
opted-in to being your friend. But if you started saying the same thing
to several people who all talk to several other people it becomes very
unavoidable, even someone who deliberately is choosing not to talk to you
because they don’t want things spoiled is likely to be effected as the
statement spreads.
Things done on the game or on the game’s official channels also are usually
taken more seriously for this reason, nobody playing the game can really
avoid the information.
IC Effect Size: How big of an impact is this likely to have on the behaviour
of characters? If it’s some mild piece of trivia or a small suggestion on
someone’s play style it’s not likely to be that large a concern, if it’s
something which may significantly change how someone RPs then it’s a bigger
problem. Similarly if it only has an OOC effect it isn’t a major concern,
like telling someone they should not talk to the account “Charles” OOCly
cause they’re dodgy would be fine if Charles’ characters weren’t known, but
telling someone they should avoid the character ‘Charles’ would be a
significant problem.
Negativity/Anticompetetiveness: To what extent would the effect cause someone
else on the game to have a worse time or be put at some sort of disadvantage?
Some people enjoy some level of being told OOCly what to do, and as long as
they’re the only one getting the message then even if the IC effect is
significant on them it’s unlikely to be a big deal. But if someone doesn’t
want things spoiled for them and you’re spoiling it that’s a big problem, or
if you’re outing the alt of someone who doesn’t want to be outed, or causing
IC problems for a particular other player etc. that’s a much larger issue.
We understand that some games embrace OOC coordination and that’s great for
them, we’re not that game. Haven aims for a high level of immersion and IC
actions leading to credible and immersive IC consequences.