player relationship metagaming PSA

	I've become a bit concerned lately about whether inter-player relationships that exist outside of REKT are having an effect on REKT itself - the story, the characters, and the world. This means in essence that the characters and story are flowing in an unnatural manner - one that damages the story itself and looks aberran to an outside viewer. To a GM, that's a significant problem, and it can manifest itself in a variety of ways.

	If two players let their relationship interfere in the game, one way that can manifest is that Player A might use their unconscious bias towards/against Player B to "read into" what Character B has said, and then "grant" that bias to their character, making it seem as though Character A has jumped to erroneous conclusions. [b]This is metagaming.[/b] In more extreme cases, it can lead to Character A "acting out" Player A's feelings towards Player B when Character A interacts with Character B. [b]This is also metagaming.[/b] I would have thought we would be past these things by this point, but over the past year I've noticed evidence that it's still around.

	Part of the agreement when you "sit down at the table" - my "table" in particular - is that you leave all inter-player relationships, bias, and knowledge at the door. The game world and the real world are meant to be two completely separate entities. If you are not willing to honor the agreement - if, for whatever reason, you would like your inter-player bias to show at the table - you are free to get up and leave at any time. The metaphorical door is right over there.

	If you suspect that you may have been part of this metagaming (either as the perpetrator or the victim), please come talk to me in PM, either here, on IRC, or on Discord. This also applies to people that I've discussed it with in the near or distant past. We will work it out together and try to prevent it from happening further, so it no longer disrupts gameplay and story.

tl;dr: This is too crucial for a tl;dr. Please read the post if you haven't.