If there's a game, players will try to win

I have a friend who has often said, "you can power-game and still RP".

I think there's a lot behind the surface of her statement. It comes from a background of mostly D&D and Vampire, being a response to people who claim that you can run campaigns where you power-game or campaigns where you role play. The false dichotomy comes from the fact that either the rules cover combat well and other stuff not so much (D&D) or the rules are separate and different (Vampire - I'm assuming, I'm not really familiar). They're equating combat heavy games* with power-gaming, and social interaction heavy games with role playing. They 'just' want to have fun and role play and think they don't have to or shouldn't power-game. Well, power-gaming doesn't preclude role playing and it definitely doesn't preclude fun. Even assuming you can only power-game combat, the fact that your game isn't very much about combat doesn't preclude power-gaming. You're thinking of them as separate anyway, so why not have characters who happen to rock in combat?

I should say what power-gaming is. Power-gaming is using the rules well to get the maximal effect out of them. Power-gaming is not cheating. Power-gaming is playing the game well, it is playing the game. Power-gaming may take different forms depending on the system. In D&D it's going to be mostly how well you build your character, pretty typical to the use of the word power-gaming. But in total GM-fiat, it might involve sucking up to the GM - or at least proposing things that he is partial to.

Players will power-game. Why? Because it helps them get what they want. The gamey parts of the system are the parts that allow you to make choices affecting the chances of possible outcomes. Power-gaming is just making those choices well. Power-gaming is just using the rules of the game to try to align the fiction in the game with the player's desire. Expecting a player not to power-game is to expect him not to try to get what he wants in the game. Expecting a player not to power-game is to even expect a player not to care about what happens in the game. At that point, why play?


* I was going to try to be good about using the word 'campaign' for fictionally connected instances of role playing, but I find myself going into my usual speak and using the word 'game', by which I mean campaign. I think this terminology is widespread enough not to cause a problem, but I feel bad because it seems like suboptimal terminology.