Editing Powergamer (section)

== Identifying a Powergamer ==
Everyone who plays a game with a rule-based system (whether competitive or cooperative) is a powergamer to one degree or another. As everyone who plays wants to do their best and so long as people know the rules they can understand what is comparatively better than another, so unless someone gets a kick about playing the underdog or seeing others outperform themselves, it's simply in the nature of the system.

Habitual powergamers might argue that they are not powergaming at all and that they are just playing the same way as everyone else, but are easy to spot based on their behaviour and appearance, which is generally the same regardless of which system/ruleset they are using.

In systems which undergo regular revisions or receive frequent updates, powergamers will often stand out due to their fickle attitudes. Often becoming obsessed with the next "new" rulebook/codex/splatbook which will either be an improvement over anything previously released or is new enough that it has not been effectively countered or debunked by the community at large. In these situations, a gamer who requests a re-roll of his character or sells his old army on eBay to fund his next one are generally going to be powergamers.

*Note: it doesn't have to be freshly-released rules or player options to count as "new", but simply from the point at which the player discovers that he can do something new.

Lack of imagination when it comes to character/army builds is also a clear indication; people who [[Netlist|hunt internet forums/help-sites for optimal builds]] tend to be powergamers, as it shows that the player is more interested in "winning" than actually playing the game in their own fashion. Powergamers who rely too heavily on public-domain builds can also reveal themselves to be poor players and tend to have the most difficulty adjusting when someone else presents them with a unique situation or when new rulebooks get released.

They also tend to be quite vocal in their disappointment if they or others alongside them are not playing "optimally". This is extremely visible in [[MMORPG]]s where non-optimal players tend to get kicked from raid groups. On the tabletop, they'll tend to complain that their losses during games are because they don't yet own the right combination of models/units (but will [[derp|"soon"]]) or that [[Butthurt|you cheated]]. Either way, it's not their fault that they lost.

Considering the issue from a different angle, Powergamers usually like to brag about the [[CharOp|killing efficiency of their characters]], putting emphasis on the hard work necessary to support their uber character. Interestingly, as soon as the extreme efficiency build touched upon, they usually get very defensive about it. Watch out for someone defending their character as "not imba" before the accusation is made.

Taking this further, players who get called out on their powergaming will often go to obsessive lengths to tell you how their character is NOT the result of powergaming or munchkin-fu and will have a defence seemingly prepared before the question gets raised. They'll often immediately go into great detail about what their character is bad at or cannot do as well as other party members to try to convince you why their character is balanced. Unfortunately for them, this has all the hallmarks of being a powergamer anyway, because obviously they've considered the issue at '''great''' length before getting into the argument; they think the fact that they have a [[Dump Stat]] deserves positive recognition and would be like pointing out their [[Wizard]] cannot fight in melee as well as a [[Warblade]], when that wasn't really the issue in the first place. Of course this would also be similar behaviour to how someone being unjustly accused of being a powergamer might react, especially if they are naturally prone to considering all the angles. Being aware of your models' own strengths and weaknesses does not automatically make one a powergamer, and sometimes you might just get fucked over by a bad matchup. Generally, just remember you could be wrong unless that kind of thing happens over and over.