My players aren't die hard role players, and that is fine with us. But we do try to say what our characters would say without using a different voice.
There are many times however, when a player might start talking about the rules, might start offering combat suggestions, or start saying something that really isn't something their character would say at all.
So how to I encourage my players to 'stay in character' and only talk about things that their character would talk about without being a jerk GM?
I thought of coming up with a hand out that has reminder rules on it. Or maybe having something I hold up or set out ... Like a miniature of some sort.. that means - when this mini is on the table, there is not meta game talk allowed.
What do you guys do?
We are pretty loose about in-character vs out-of-character commentary in our games. It is rare that a session doesn't include a short discussion about whether something a player said was in character or not.
Using different voices and accents is a good way to deal with this, but it has been my experience that it is uncommon for a player to feel comfortable role-playing to that degree.
One session I suggested that players pick up their miniature when their character was talking or acting. That actually worked pretty well and everyone liked it. But by the next session we had forgotten about it.
It's never really been a problem that needs solving. It's sort of a minor annoyance from time to time is all.