Originally Posted by
lostsanityreturned
The "As well" in your post suggests you think people were advocating for punishing a player in this thread. Were there any such posts here?
I would say it is "I read the adventure in advance", "I have the monster manual open" or "I look at the GM's notes when they are in the toilet" style meta cheating. Anyone who continues to do something like this after being caught out and asked not to, will just keep doing it. And if the GM doesn't like it, it will cause resentment over time and that is what is important (especially when it comes to burnout).
It isn't about punishing someone for doing wrong, it is about caring for yourself, the campaign, and the other players.
It can even open up a dialogue, if they come back with a "sorry for doing it, I really do like the group and was being a bit of a fool because I could. I promise I won't do it again" I would let it be a group decision. However if they showed hostility they would be gone for good, same if they ever repeated the actions again. No arguments, threats or debates.
I am speaking from my own mistakes in the past of trying to be more accomodating and putting myself last. It was especially hard when I was running lots of public games for folks I didn't know at my FLGS, I was feeling like I was being mean to them whenever I would have to have the talk.
- Had one girl who would openly direct the party through dungeons because they knew what was where, telling other players stuff like "no, that way has xxxxx, this way has xxxxx" or telling people what items to bring, spells to prep and such.
- Another who whenever he would get bored because the tone had shifted to RP would turn it to a fight or torpedo the scene so he could have the spotlight again. Regardless of how frequently he had had it that session already.
For the record neither of these people were malicious or nasty in intent, but they both valued themselves more and continued their behaviour over 6 months (the latter for nearly a year) and were constantly testing where the boundaries were.