Well, I'm gonna say it: meta information really isn't an issue at all,
unless the goal of a player(s) is to "get over" on other players. Thing is, in a truly collaborative Role-play experience, it wouldn't matter if you knew your IC partner was LE and your PC is CG, or that they had a background in the Zhentarim but are hiding that from others in an attempt to infiltrate another faction—all this meta that one can gleam from the Forum or Discord or the Sunday paper is worthless if the goal is collaborative storytelling, and a reliance on neutral/chaos based outcomes—essentially Dice Rolls—to determine the result (after RP determined action of course).
Sure, our community members (players, DM, Staff) can always do better to be aware of the info "sharing," and we could all try to allow for more neutral/chaos-based mechanics to lead us through our role-play experience, but unfortunately neither of these things and the many other things mentioned in this thread are going to get better or get changed because of the following fact:
Too many of us dislike each other, personally.
And with that essential sickness underneath masks of good sportsmanship and community support, few are going to have compassion about other players unless they are involved within their own group-think/feel clique. Far too many of us dislike a substantial portion of the "others" of this community, that we'd probably NOT sit down at a table and have PnP D&D together. Because its obvious right now, on this Server, how many ignore, cajole, intentionally attempt to insult each other...and many have simply moved off this Forum to BGTSSC Discord or a private Discord, where their dislike and semi-anonymous Internet selves can easily talk and be consequence free—in most cases...—just go full on meta and full on negative against others.
Look, though I see this as such and am willing to write about it, I actually don't think it is that weird, honestly. It's no different now on the Internet than it was in the mid-nineties...nor is the Internet that different from how shitty things can be in RL, when a group cliques up and does their best to make your life miserable. Human beings have a tendency to prefer like-to-like, even though, thankfully so, we have the capacity to be truly open to others (it's not easy, takes training, though firstly, willingness).
What is probably most unfortunate, for the BGTSSC community, is the lack of honesty. Many will be saying shit about you behind your back, but won't say it to your (digital) face. Far too many cannot muster the honesty to say "I do not want to RP with you," and move on in a honest and polite way. And even worse, many will think and attempt to subvert your RP on BGTSCC through their meta usage and private groups, because of their actual interest in "seeing you fail" cause "they annoy me." I've seen it from playerside
and DM side on BGTSCC. I am doubtful of its change.
Lastly, even though this Server can really eat you up with the meta-gaming and the cliques and the rather non-compassionate combative game play (anti-collaborative), IT IS STILL POSSIBLE to find people to HAVE a great experience in RP on BGTSCC...but even and when you find it, you'll have to accept and somehow do your best to steer clear of the shit going down in parallel and/or dark corners of the Server.
Essentially, in order to combat the clique-ish crap, you have to form your own clique. How F-ed up is that?!!? You have to meta-create a group that you can OOC feel good with, and hope that it lasts, meaning those people you find don't randomly drop off with saying goodbye or that they rage quit because they just can't handle anything shitty that comes to them outside their safety bubble, created-in-defense clique. I mean, I just saw this happening again 2-3 months ago with a player that reached out to me for "perspective," and it was sadly shocking to think that it STILL happens and the/any player is pretty much left on their own to try and "fix" the problem, because of the lack of honesty and the lack of compassion (or at least, the idea that being neutral towards what is going on is the best rule of action, which often times, is indirectly supportive of the bad behavior).
Feeling good yet?
But yeah, one more thing: people—players, Staff, etc.—are always showing up trying to do better, make it better. It often feels like a losing battle, but hey, if you aren't at least trying for something better, you got zero chance to flip the script. See, again...we need to always have that 5% chance!!!
PS- I know some of you are going to read the above and react: "But Steve, you're a total (person)!" Sure, I can be at times. That's me being honest (about myself). I'm simply not a brown noser, but that means I can also say thank you, and mean it, because I'm not looking to gain anything from it. Oh, and yes, I dislike my fair share of players and staff past and present, and most know why—again, honesty! Side note: critical thought and response is NOT dislike. Anyway, hope for the best, prepare for the worst, I say. And...get off Discord.
