Editing Powergamer

"'''Powergamer'''" is a term describing players who are interested in winning and, more to the point, winning big.  Exactly how they do this depends on the game.

Powergamers who play [[RPG]]s generally attempt to make their characters as effective as possible within the game mechanics, possibly (but not necessarily) by exploiting broken or badly worded rules. The term is usually used pejoratively, suggesting that the player in question only cares about the mechanical power of their character and this comes at the expense of roleplaying, although there is nothing intrinsic to powergaming that inhibits good roleplaying.

In [[Magic: The Gathering]], powergamers are also called '''Spike''' or "Spikes", a name chosen specifically because it sounds all Serious Business and boring.

(Despite the card used as the image, Spikes shouldn't be confused with '''Timmies''', who are named to evoke kid-in-candy-store wonder -- Timmies are people who love big flashy creatures and cards that ''look'' powerful, but don't actually care about winning so much as causing massive explosions and other powerful-feeling effects.  To this day, each M:tG set contains at least a few cards aimed at Timmies -- cards with big powerful effects which leap out as being overwhelming, but which are generally too expensive to actually be practical in play.  The M:tG developers call them power-gamers, but they mean it in a different sense than most people do in competitive games -- Timmies enjoy the image and abstract feeling of wielding big dramatic effects or large numbers, rather than caring a huge amount about winning or losing.  In a FPS, for instance, the Spikes will carefully calculate the DPS and accuracy of each weapon and make a spreadsheet to determine which is optimal; the Timmies will use the rocket launcher regardless of how good it is, because they like big dramatic explosions and find them fun; or they'll play the sniper because it makes them feel powerful even if they're actually barely contributing.  And in a team-based setting like that, the Timmies will often be infuriating to the Spikes -- picture someone loudly trying to insist that the team's snipers to change to another class because they're not actually helping the team, and you have a typical Timmy-vs-Spike argument.)

A somewhat milder term with a similar meaning is "'''optimiser'''", which generally lacks the negative connotations of powergamer. At the other end of the scale is the "'''twink'''" or "'''munchkin'''", which is almost always used to refer to someone who cares only about mechanical power (to the exclusion of roleplaying), or is willing to outright cheat if he thinks he won't get caught, or there will be no consequences if caught, as is demonstrated by the [[Munchkin (Card Game)|"Munchkin" series of card games]] by [[Steve Jackson Games]].

== In Summary ==

[[Rage|RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGE]]

If you've played against one in any game*, was it fun? Did you like having your balls ground to a pulp? Fuck no. Nothing is worse than [[that guy]] who spams [[Abaddon]] AND [[Kharn]] AND three fucking [[Land Raider|Land Raiders]] because of a technicality. They're all dedicated transports? FUCK THAT NOISE, GTFO MY STORE. Or they guy who manages to get <s>4</s> <s>5</s> <s>'''6'''</s> '''7''' riptides in a single list becuase of GWs shitty wording that all have FNP.

Ever played against an IG armoured list. No? Pray you never do, because that list displays a level of asshattery (and disposable income) on a godlike level. Seriously, fucking TANKS as TROOP CHOICES?! OH FUCK THE FUCK OFF! Necrons don't care though so... Allies much?

For anyone playing a game simply to have fun and enjoy a good story, a powergamer is your number one enemy. Avoid at all costs. They'll fuck your shit up six ways to Sunday and five ways to Monday simply because they can.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>SenZar does not count.

[[Category:Roleplaying]]
[[Category:Gamer Slang]]