Metagame & Mechanics

[Valamir]

If you asked someone who's never played role-playing games and asked them what a Metamechanic is....if he has a good grasp of the English language, he will say "mechanics about mechanics".

Heh.  If you asked someone who's never played role-playing games what a Metamechanic is, he'd probably think you were talking about the crew chief at a Nascar event.

[Marco]

I too would identify Meta-mechanic as "mechanic about mechanic" (coming from the realm of meta-data which is, of couse, data about another body of data).

The point about metastatis/morphosis is well taken though. It's correct to say that meta, in the wild so to speak, is impossible to correctly quantify.

That said, using the term to help define what a met-mech is doesn't get any clearer from my off-the-cuff-definition.

I think the most meaningful usage for me is drawn from physical-metaphysical.

Mechanics handle the physics of the game world. Meta-mechanics handle resolution "above" the physics of the world--in the "hey, it's just a game and here's some rules to mess with the shared imaginary space."

That would sort of make all drama mechanics meta-mechanics (except for worlds like, maybe Puppet Land where the mechanics, wonky as they are, are the physical rules of the universe).

It'd, I think, make most Narrativist games heavy on the meta-side as well (and GURPS almost all in the pure mechanic arena).

I guess what I'm saying is that that distinction might be usefu or at least interesting.

-Marco

[pete_darby]

I think the term meta-mechanics, or meta-game, arises essentially from the sim assumptions of most games: the bulk of the rules are there to provide a simulation of a world, but there are some rules that allow players to "override" the simulation in the service of drama (most commonly).

Strictly, unless they are explicitly changing the way the game is played, or altering the rules, they shouldn't be called meta mechanics, but hey. In nar biased designs, the idea of meta-mechanics tends to be depreciated becuse most of the rules are about moderating the story, not the world. In conventional sim terms, all the mechanics are meta.

Or I could be due a break. I dunno.

[Dauntless]

I'm not so sure there is a common definition that everyone agrees upon for the term Metamechanic...which is why it's a good idea to nail down the definition now to avoid confusion later.  Just look at this thread alone and see how everyone interprets the connotation of Metamechanic, and I think you'll agree that there's no consensus of the definition yet.

And most words have several different meanings depending on the context of the situation, but I think the most common usage of meta is "about".  Take for example using a meta search engine like Infoseek.  If I say Metasearch engine, most people probably realize it's a search engine that uses other search engines to find things on the internet.

I therefore think the definition I have laid out is more universal and intuitive, and also contains in part the definition that Ron Edwards used, as a Metamechanic can alter or change the in-game rules (in a way).  However, in the sense that Ron has defined a Metamechanic, if the game rules actually explicitly state rules that allow for this "overriding", then it is no longer a Metamechanic, but simply another game mechanic.

The best example I've seen given is for the Hero System in the 5th edition supplement of Fantasy Hero.  In this supplement, Steve Long says that absolute conditions in game terms, such as for example being able to dispel alll Fire attacks, no matter the power level is something the Hero System discouraged.  Why?  Because one of the underlying principles, or Meta rules of the game is that absolute powers are too imbalancing (it was a rule about a rule).  In other words, Steve Long had to explicitly mention that one of the Meta rules of the Hero System was that such absolute conditions were looked at with an unfavorable eye, but in the fantasy genre, such absolute powers were common.  So Steve "overrode" the normal in-game mechanics of balancing costs by using the knowledge of this meta rule of the Hero System to adjust it for the setting.  These meta mechanics are not explicitly stated in the Hero System, but if you read between the lines, you can figure out much of what they are.

Another example could be Greg Porter's older TimeLords and SpaceTime games and how the concept of damage is arrived at.  If you looked at the DV (Damage Values) for weapons, it might just seem like an arbitrary numbering within common sense (larger calibre weapons do more damage than smaller calibre weapons...usually).  But if you buy BTRC's supplement, Guns!Guns!Guns!, then you actually get to look "behind the scenes" at the meta mechanics used to actually derive the in-game mechanics (all the weapon stats).  If you as the GM want to change the lethality of the game, you know have a more formalized set of rules and conditions (the metamechanics) to tweak the in-game mechanics.  For example, I did a little mathematical tweaking of some of the numbers to provide for a base damage value and a penetration score (the TimeLords system combined raw energy input and Force/Area into one value called DV, I seperated the two values).  In other words, I used the explicit knowledge of the meta-mechanics involved to change the in-game mechanics.