Alright, now that you're back, lets talk. I think there were some great points made in there, mainly about the balance there needs to be in a game and times where (be ready to shudder) meta gaming is OK.

Something I run into a lot is that a lot of us, myself included, enjoy making interesting characters; characters that wouldn't be your "standard" adventurer. That said, I think that can lead us to making characters that can make party dynamics difficult. Things such as characters that are surly or who just don't get along with any other characters or characters who are, for other reasons, really not suited to adventuring can really throw a party out of whack.

In the end, D&D is a game, like any other and there are certain considerations to be made, the main one being "Is everyone at the table going to be able to have fun with my idea?" If the answer to that isn't "Yes," then there needs to be some re-vamping done. There are lots of ideas out there that may make for an excellent book character or a movie character, but in this case, the character needs to be thought of as a component of a larger whole; as a member of a group instead of an entity completely alone.

I really like the way Mr. Perkins put it.

"... these players typically fall back on the defense of, “that’s what my character would do.” There are variants: “I don’t think my character would know that.” Or “This is the character I made.” They boil down to the same excuse, and regardless of the rationale, it’s lame."

That about hits the nail on the head. The excuses that players use when a character is doing something that hinders the party because it "fits the character" more can get really lame. In a cooperative game, the main consideration should be "This is what's best for the party and, correct "role playing" or not, this is what's best for the party."

So, in the spirit of the new year, I'm backing an RP change. Let's not make RP foremost anymore. Lets keep it alive, lets let it breathe, but lets think of our fellow gamers first and make it our primary goal to play well with others, then make a cool role play experience.