Metagame

The metagame is the game beyond the game. At the player level it means the meta: the strategies, builds and techniques the competitive community currently treats as strongest. On a larger scale it means everything surrounding the game that decides who wins, including the rulebook, the scoring system, the money and the politics.

Where the word comes from

Experienced players often say META stands for "Most Efficient Tactic Available." That expansion makes a handy teaching line, but it was invented after the word was already in use. Meta is Greek for beyond, and the term spread through tabletop and trading card communities before esports made "the meta" part of everyday gaming vocabulary.

"The word meta means "beyond" in Greek, and that's what the metagame is: the game beyond the game."

Edge, Play the Game: Rules & The Metagame

Level one: the meta players talk about

Most players use the word for the current consensus about what wins. In a fighting game, it's the characters that dominate tournaments. A chess opening that top players keep choosing is part of the chess meta. Jiu-jitsu has one too, in whatever submission system or guard is winning at the big events this year.

Knowing the meta is necessary, but it only gets you to the starting line, because everyone serious knows it too. Real edges come from two places: beating the meta with something it doesn't prepare for, or looking past it to the bigger metagame that most players ignore.

Level two: the game beyond the game

Edge asks competitors to broaden their view. Around every serious game sits a set of interlocking metagames: the business of the sport, its politics, its sponsors, its rulebook and the people who write it. Real stakes generate those metagames. A pickup game with friends has loose rules and nothing on the line beyond bragging rights. Professional sports are the opposite, with salaries, sponsorships, coaches and owners all pulling on every result.

"You're one punch away from being worth zero."

Dana White, UFC president, quoted in Edge, Play the Game: Rules & The Metagame

That line captures why the metagame matters. In a gym, a knockout costs a fighter some pride. At the top of a big promotion, one bad night can cost a career. Players who think only about on-field performance get caught in sucker traps set by managers, promoters and rule changes they never studied.

First-order and second-order rules

Rules are the starting point for understanding any metagame, because victory conditions point straight at what the metagame rewards. Edge splits them into two levels.

"A simple way to break this down is to view first-order rules as rules you'd understand as a player without reviewing a rulebook, and second-order rules as rules you'd be inclined to pull a rulebook out to discuss."

Edge, Play the Game: Rules & The Metagame

In soccer, "kick the ball into the other goal and don't use your hands" is first-order. Offside, substitutions and penalty rules are second-order. Esports flip the usual balance: the developer writes the first-order rules into the code itself, so the second-order rules (which bugs, spots and weapons are banned) get far more attention from serious players.

Metagame edges in real competition

Pulling guard in jiu-jitsu. Many BJJ rulesets let a competitor sit straight down into guard. The bottom player gets several ways to score or submit, spends little energy, and can stay there all match, while the top player gets penalized for passivity if they don't attack. Traditionalists complain, and the guard pullers keep winning.

Tanking in the NBA. League rules reward bad records with better draft picks. The Philadelphia 76ers leaned into that openly with a plan fans called "The Process," winning 47 games total across three seasons from 2013 to 2016, including a 27-game losing streak. By the 2017–18 season the rebuilt roster was a playoff team.

"They lose in the game, but not the metagame - an important distinction to make for every player."

Edge, Play the Game: Rules & The Metagame

Tournament rulesets. Organizers sometimes add or leave out something that changes how matches should be played. Competitors who read the ruleset closely spot it, and everyone else finds out mid-bracket.

Esports leagues. Many developers now run the leagues attached to their games, so one company owns both the game and the metagame. That creates opportunities and dangers for players that no other kind of competition has.

Why banned tactics prove the point

Every rule change is a message about the metagame. When something gets outlawed, everyone learns that it worked, and some people start looking for ways around the monitoring. That's why insider trading is illegal on Wall Street and steroids are banned in most sports: both are huge edges for anyone willing to risk getting caught. Using a rulebook cleverly is fair game. Breaking a fairly enforced rule is cheating, and it sits outside the metagame entirely.

How to use the metagame

1. Read the rulebook. Especially the second-order rules. Losing because you didn't understand the ruleset you competed under is an embarrassment you can avoid.
2. Find the victory conditions. Scoring rules, tiebreakers, penalties and seeding all tell you what the event rewards.
3. Study the current meta, then look past it. Know what everyone expects, and ask what it leaves exposed.
4. Watch the people around the game. Organizers, leagues, promoters and developers change the metagame more than players do.

Related concepts

Edge | First- and second-order rules | Tanking | Fair game principle | Scrub | Gamesmanship

Frequently asked questions

What does meta mean in games?

It's the set of strategies, characters, builds or techniques that the competitive community currently treats as the most effective. Playing the meta means using them; countering the meta means building a plan that beats them. It shifts whenever rules change, a game is patched, or players discover something new.

Does META stand for Most Efficient Tactic Available?

Players often say so, but that expansion is a backronym invented after the fact. Meta comes from the Greek word for beyond, and the metagame is the game beyond the game.

What is the difference between first-order and second-order rules?

First-order rules are the basics you need to play at all, like kicking the ball into the goal in soccer. Second-order rules are the details you'd open a rulebook to settle, like offside, substitutions and penalties. Most metagame edges hide in the second-order rules.

Is metagaming cheating?

No. Using the rules, the scoring system or the incentives around a game is legal by definition. It becomes cheating only when a player breaks rules that are fairly enforced.