minmaxer

English

Etymology

From minmax (“blend of minimize and maximize”) +‎ -er.

Noun

minmaxer (plural minmaxers)

1. (roleplaying games) A player who attempts to create an optimized character by minimizing unfavourable traits and maximizing favourable ones, typically by improving a single trait or ability to the exclusion of others.
   • 1992 December 2, Sea Wasp [username], “Re: Question on why people play AD&D and all”, in rec.games.frp.dnd‎^[1] (Usenet):

     Point based systems have their problems. Some of us simply don't like them because, while D&D has its Munchkins, most of the PB-players we've encountered seem to be minmaxers whose greatest joy is wringing the very most out of their points. Forget ROLE playing.

   • 1996 December 9, Harrigan, “Re: GURPS, sci-fi RPGing, and medical skills (was Re: Space-Rpg.)”, in rec.games.frp.misc‎^[2] (Usenet):

     One thing that annoys me is when someone posts a character or something, built, as minmaxers would say, 'inefficiently.'

   • 2003 January 6, Timothy Little, “Re: Foolish Character Designers”, in rec.games.frp.gurps‎^[3] (Usenet):

     I agree that a minmaxer can usually make a character more suited to particular situations on less points than a player driven by a pre-existing concept, but for a well-designed system there will always be *some* way that their character is less effective.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:minmaxer.

Synonyms

• munchkin