metagames

Metagames, or metagaming, refer to the sets of strategies, decisions, and considerations that arise from players' knowledge about the game beyond its explicit rules. They describe the game within the game: how players anticipate opponents' choices, adapt to common conventions, and exploit the surrounding environment (rules, balance, and community norms). The term is used across competitive games and is often shortened to the meta.

In practice, the meta is dynamic. Changes to balance, new content, or shifts in player perception can alter which approaches are most successful. Players study data, watch top matches, and test theories to align their play with the emerging meta. While appealing for efficiency, following the meta can limit experimentation and innovation.

Within specific genres, the meta is expressed as widely adopted archetypes, builds, or tactics. In collectible card games, deck archetypes; in fighting games, character tier lists; in multiplayer online battle arenas, favored champions and item builds; in first-person shooters, map picks and loadouts. The meta is not merely a catalog of powerful choices; it also reflects strategic counterplay, sequencing, and risk management consistent with the game's rules.

In game theory, the metagame can refer to a higher-level strategic layer where players reason about each other's reasoning. This broader concept describes expectations about opponents' behavior but may be less related to a particular game's balance patch.

Together, metagame-oriented decisions shape how a game is played at the highest levels.