Thread: Power Gamers
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Old 09-01-2007, 07:17 PM   #8
Sergeytov
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Re: Power Gamers

It depends on what the game is for how a power gamer is defined, and if power gaming is bad.

If you accept a 'traditional' MUSH definition where 'power gaming' is forcing things on other in a scene without rolling the dice/consent/whatever the local standards are, then power gaming is a really bad thing that needs squelched as often as possible.

This discussion seems to be focusing on another kind of power gaming, however, and I think 'power gamer' in this context is better called an 'optimizer.' That is to say, someone who has studied a skill/equipment system to optimize. Min/max is somewhat similar to this.

If a game is RP Optional/No RP, then I see little issue with min/maxing or optimizing. Someone pays the price for their (poor) stats; reaps the rewards of their good choices mechanically. This is really a function of skill, just when the 'skill' is the ability to plan a character's stats out rather than tactical combat decisions.

In a game that is based heavily on playing a role, however, there can be problems with this kind of outlook. Point being that for games with a good amount of RP action, the optimization question is suddenly a bigger matter than mechanics, which can be solved, in many ways, by game god fiat.
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