Different MUCKs have different etiquette, and different ideas about powergaming. As well, most SMT characters have a number of superpowers and such which would be unacceptable elsemu*. With this in mind, we've listed below what our definition of powergaming is. See the punishment policy for some idea of what happens if you overstep these bounds frequently or severely.

These are things not to do:

1) Posing the whole action, and not the attempt. This goes for any action short of a tap on the shoulder, and does not only apply in combat. For instance, you would not pose, Maria kisses her husband soundly. but you would pose, Maria reaches for her husband, wanting to kiss him.

2) Forcing another person's response. This is much as above, typing, Maria lunges at her husband, her claws at his face so quickly that he has no time to get away. is no better than typing Maria scratches her husband's face beyond all repair

3) Ignoring IC consequences of actions. If you are in the middle of a crowd of policemen, and you shoot someone, it is completely unrealistic for you to pose, Maria slips away through the policemen's legs and down a separate passage, unscathed. UNLESS this was worked out ahead of time. See more on this at the IC consequences policy.

4) Magical/Superpowers. This is the same as 1. Even if you are casting a spell on a someone who might have no defences, they still have a change to dodge, get lucky, etc. Always pose only the attempt, and if necessary whisper what the spell was meant to do to them OOCly so they can pose proper effects, should they choose to do so.

5) An Invincible/Invulnerable/Really Lucky Character. All characters will be effected by stuff sometimes. Always dodging blows, magical attacks, etc, or even always dodging humiliating tricks is not the way to have an enjoyable RP. I don't care how much superspeed you have. Also, even if one particular thing might not hurt you, say fire magic, you must have other ways of being hurt. A character that doesn't have the ability to lose will be toaded, if it somehow slips through the character making process.

6) Description forces. If your description forces an effect upon the person reading it, that powergaming. It does not matter what kind of pose; be it lust, fear, an opinion, a psychic impression (i.e. you think he must be...) or a queasy feeling in the stomach, it is unacceptable. This applies to all object's descs, not only a characters.

7) Lengthy poses that assume no interruptions. Any time you pose several actions in a row, without giving other people time to respond, you are doing this. An example might be, Maria finishes kneeing the man in the chest, runs across the room, and escapes through the door. As you see, this isn't giving anyone time to do anything in between her actions, and so effectively forces inactivity upon the other players. A good idea would be to pose, Maria finishes kneeing the man and turns to run to the door. Again, I don't care whether you're supposed to have superspeed or not.

8) 'DMing' by a tinyplot co-ordinator. This is an acceptable form of powerposing within reason, as the co-ordinator of the tinyplot may need to move your group somewhere, or have you find a hidden trapdoor, or whatnot. Despite it's being allowable, it is bad etiquette. The tinyplot co-ordinator should inform people OOCly what they want to have happen, and the individuals should pose this for themselves.

For more information on what is good to do during roleplay, check out our RP Guide and our What is RP. You may also find the Combat Policy useful.

note: If you see what looks like a powerpose, and it's not being done to or by you, don't get your panties in a knot. The pose might have been worked out OOCly in pages or whispers beforehand.