Well, here's how I see it. (I'll write it as I would write it on a random website somewhere, to an audience who isn't necessarily familiar with RoleplayerSpeak. 
)
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God-mode (verb) (hyphen optional): To perform In-Character (IC), or attempt to perform IC, actions which are clearly beyond the power of any player character.
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Meet our exemplars, AbsurdlyPowerfulMan, or APM, and UnfortunateGuy, or UG. That pretty much tells you all you need to know about them.
Example1: AbsurdlyPowerfulMan wiggles his pinky finger, causing a flaming crack to open under UnfortunateGuy's feet and convey him directly to a firey death at the planet's core.
(APM is clearly god-moding. There is simply no means within the game for any player character to do that under any circumstances. And what if the world doesn't actually *have* a flaming core?)
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Example2: AbsurdlyPowerfulMan gestures with his right thumb, causing a bolt of lightning to strike UnfortunateGuy and fry him to a crisp.
(Still godmode. APM may very well be a Conjurer capable of tossing lightning bolts around, but UG might very well have survived the blast, depending upon how tough he is, or how resistant he is to lightning. Or maybe UG does, in fact, have tremendously fast reflexes that might allow him to dodge the bolt!)
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Example3: AbsurdlyPowerfulMan raises an eyebrow, causing everyone within ten yards to think that UnfortunateGuy has stinky feet.
(Yep, godmode again. APM cannot dictate what other people think or feel. Whether or not UG's feet actually do stink is, of course, another matter entirely.)
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Example4: AbsurdlyPowerfulMan waggles his fingers, causing a bolt of lightning to streak forth in UnfortunateGuy's direction.
(Not godmode! At least, not if APM can actually toss a Thunder spell.)
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Example5: AbsurdlyPowerfulMan holds his nose. "Wow, UnfortunateGuy, your feet stink! I can smell them from all the way over here."
(Also not godmode, and probably just as likely to make everyone else within ten yards think UG *does* have stinky feet!)
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Metagame (verb): To make In-Character use of Out-of-Character (OOC) knowledge, or knowledge gained through OOC means.
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Example1: AbsurdlyPowerfulMan, having never consulted an alchemist or alchemical text in his life, spends the afternoon before the castle raid mixing together a large batch of sulfur and saltpeter. "This oughtta blow a hole in the castle wall!"
(Clearly metagaming. Out-of-Character, APM obviously knows how to make gunpowder. But, even assuming that sulfur, saltpeter, and gunpowder even *exist* In-Character, there is no way that APM would know that mixing them together would do anything, much less how much of each ingredient to use.)
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Example2: AbsurdlyPowerfulMan, faced with the prospect of raiding an imposing castle, visits the Alchemist's Guild to acquire a few healing draughts. There, he sees an old man demonstrate his new invention, "fire-sand", a black powder that explodes when exposed to fire! Intrigued, AbsurdlyPowerfulMan purchases a large sack of the "fire-sand" from the old man. "This oughtta blow a hole in the castle wall!"
(Not metagaming! OOC, APM still knows what gunpowder is, but his *character* doesn't have any idea... until he happens to see the stuff in action at the Alchemist's Guild! Let's hope he has the good sense to stand well clear of any open flames between here and the castle....)
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Example3: UnfortunateGuy's player posts on the FFXIV RPC forms a bit of his character's background, including a secret place he has underneath a warehouse in town. Later that day, UnfortunateGuy's character opens the secret door behind the haybales, to find AbsurdlyPowerfulGuy waiting for him, sword at the ready!
(Metagaming. The only reason APG's player knows about the secret place is because UG posted on the forums about it! APG's character has no way of knowing about it, much less getting there *ahead* of him to set up an ambush.)
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That about covers it, I think. Thoughts, everyone?
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God-mode (verb) (hyphen optional): To perform In-Character (IC), or attempt to perform IC, actions which are clearly beyond the power of any player character.
---------------
Meet our exemplars, AbsurdlyPowerfulMan, or APM, and UnfortunateGuy, or UG. That pretty much tells you all you need to know about them.
Example1: AbsurdlyPowerfulMan wiggles his pinky finger, causing a flaming crack to open under UnfortunateGuy's feet and convey him directly to a firey death at the planet's core.
(APM is clearly god-moding. There is simply no means within the game for any player character to do that under any circumstances. And what if the world doesn't actually *have* a flaming core?)
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Example2: AbsurdlyPowerfulMan gestures with his right thumb, causing a bolt of lightning to strike UnfortunateGuy and fry him to a crisp.
(Still godmode. APM may very well be a Conjurer capable of tossing lightning bolts around, but UG might very well have survived the blast, depending upon how tough he is, or how resistant he is to lightning. Or maybe UG does, in fact, have tremendously fast reflexes that might allow him to dodge the bolt!)
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Example3: AbsurdlyPowerfulMan raises an eyebrow, causing everyone within ten yards to think that UnfortunateGuy has stinky feet.
(Yep, godmode again. APM cannot dictate what other people think or feel. Whether or not UG's feet actually do stink is, of course, another matter entirely.)
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Example4: AbsurdlyPowerfulMan waggles his fingers, causing a bolt of lightning to streak forth in UnfortunateGuy's direction.
(Not godmode! At least, not if APM can actually toss a Thunder spell.)
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Example5: AbsurdlyPowerfulMan holds his nose. "Wow, UnfortunateGuy, your feet stink! I can smell them from all the way over here."
(Also not godmode, and probably just as likely to make everyone else within ten yards think UG *does* have stinky feet!)
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Metagame (verb): To make In-Character use of Out-of-Character (OOC) knowledge, or knowledge gained through OOC means.
---------------
Example1: AbsurdlyPowerfulMan, having never consulted an alchemist or alchemical text in his life, spends the afternoon before the castle raid mixing together a large batch of sulfur and saltpeter. "This oughtta blow a hole in the castle wall!"
(Clearly metagaming. Out-of-Character, APM obviously knows how to make gunpowder. But, even assuming that sulfur, saltpeter, and gunpowder even *exist* In-Character, there is no way that APM would know that mixing them together would do anything, much less how much of each ingredient to use.)
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Example2: AbsurdlyPowerfulMan, faced with the prospect of raiding an imposing castle, visits the Alchemist's Guild to acquire a few healing draughts. There, he sees an old man demonstrate his new invention, "fire-sand", a black powder that explodes when exposed to fire! Intrigued, AbsurdlyPowerfulMan purchases a large sack of the "fire-sand" from the old man. "This oughtta blow a hole in the castle wall!"
(Not metagaming! OOC, APM still knows what gunpowder is, but his *character* doesn't have any idea... until he happens to see the stuff in action at the Alchemist's Guild! Let's hope he has the good sense to stand well clear of any open flames between here and the castle....)
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Example3: UnfortunateGuy's player posts on the FFXIV RPC forms a bit of his character's background, including a secret place he has underneath a warehouse in town. Later that day, UnfortunateGuy's character opens the secret door behind the haybales, to find AbsurdlyPowerfulGuy waiting for him, sword at the ready!
(Metagaming. The only reason APG's player knows about the secret place is because UG posted on the forums about it! APG's character has no way of knowing about it, much less getting there *ahead* of him to set up an ambush.)
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That about covers it, I think. Thoughts, everyone?
