In role-playing games (mainly, but not exclusively), powergaming is a particular way of playing in which the emphasis lies on developing a player character that is either as powerful as possible, usually to the detriment of other aspects of the game, such as character interaction, or violates roleplaying etiquette by either taking control of other players' characters, actions, or the outcome of a game.

Contents 1 Role-playing games 1.1 Online roleplaying 2 Video games 3 See also 4 Notes 5 External links

[edit] Role-playing games

Powergaming often involves an expert knowledge of the rules of the game, and knowing how to apply the rules to get maximum results with minimal penalties (often referred to as min-maxing). A certain level of min-maxing is not frowned upon by most Games masters (after all it shows interest in the game mechanics and willingness to improve one's character) however it can be brought to excess when a player willingly takes actions which should be illogical within the game world, or follows the rules to the letter rather than in their spirit.

Sometimes seen as an active abuse of the rules, when rules that are expected or intended to model a realistic game world (according to some well-understood definition of "realism") are applied in ways that are manifestly at odds with those expectations. For example, a Dungeons & Dragons sorcerer might take two levels of the paladin class for the attractive synergies that come with this, even though paladins are holy warriors fulfilling a lifelong mission, and the profession is not something you could train in briefly "just for stats". It is important to note that powergaming, in this sense, doesn't imply active cheating or circumvention of the rules, merely using them in ways that are frowned upon by those who consider the intent of the game more important than its exact implementation - keeping to the letter of the rules, but breaking the 'spirit of the rules'.

[edit] Online roleplaying

In text-based online environments such as MUSH, MUCK, MU*s and other role-playing (RP) games that emphasize role-play over acquiring levels or skills (as opposed to most MUDs), a player can be described as a powergamer if he or she presumes or declares that his or her own action against another player character is successful without giving the other player character the freedom to act on his own prerogative. They may also be a player who tries to force others to participate in role-playing they don't want to engage in.^[1] For instance, a player who unilaterally describes his character as doing something with (or to) another character that would usually require the other to play along — such as having a fight or a sexual encounter — is considered to be powergaming.^[2]

In such games, in which a sense of community and rapport between players is seen as crucial and conducive to the game's overall well-being, powergaming is generally regarded as extremely offensive behavior if it is not stated in the rules as being a bannable offense, which it is in the majority of text-based role-playing games. ^{[3] [4]} It is often seen as synonymous with twinking and closely related to godmoding.

[edit] Video games

In video games, powergamers enjoy being at the bleeding edge of progression of their selected game, taking part in every activity that yields the fastest progression, and bypassing the "lesser" activities or any other secondary job/trait/skill. This is a wide generalization however. A gamer that likes to maximize all aspects of the game and do so in an expedient manner is also classified as a powergamer, often seeing more of the world and or game than the "average" player would.

[edit] See also

• Munchkin (role-playing games)
• Powerleveling
• In Character (IC)
• Out of Character (OOC)
• Godmoding
• Min-maxing
• Twinking

[edit] Notes

1. ^ http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Corridor/1815/carefeed.html On The Proper Care And Feeding of Mushes
2. ^ http://www.nicoladoering.net/Hogrefe/ciskowski.htm MUDs: Exploring Virtual Worlds on the Internet
3. ^ http://www.roleplay.org/articles/rpg-types/irc-roleplaying/ IRC Roleplaying
4. ^ http://www.valhallagaming.net/forums/showthread.php?p=300682

[edit] External links

• Roll-playing vs. Roleplaying on TopMudSites, by Wes Platt. An article on the basics of role-play as opposed to 'roll-play' in text-based environments.
• The Official Powergamer Homepage: Real Ultimate Power, a satire on the powergaming concept in the style of Real Ultimate Power
• A Powergamer's guide to Life, another satire in which real life is treated as an online game to be powergamed.
• Powergamer.se The swedish powergaming site