Metagaming

Metagaming is any strategy, action or method used in a game which transcends a prescribed ruleset, uses external factors to affect the game, or goes beyond the supposed limits or environment set by the game. Another definition refers to the game universe outside of the game itself.

In simple terms, it is the use of out-of-game information or resources to affect one's in-game decisions.

The term metagame is a mathematic descriptor for set interaction governing subset interaction. The term passed from military use into political parlance to describe events outside conventional bounds that, in fact, play an important role in a game's outcome. For example, a military operation might be a game with its political ramifications being the metagame. Similarly, the passage of a law might be a game, with the political environment into which that law fits being the metagame.

Similarly, a game might be the passing of a law lacking majority support. The group opposing the law, benefiting in the metagame from the passage of said law, encourage their own members to vote in favor of the legislation.

Metagaming might also refer to a game which functions to create or modify the rules of a sub-game with the purpose of maximizing the subgame's ruleset. Thus, we might play a metagame of optimizing the rules of "chess-like" games to maximize the satisfaction of play, and perhaps arrive at the rules of standard chess as an optimum. This is related to mechanism design theory in which the metagame would be to create or make changes in the management rules or policy of an organization to maximize its effectiveness or profitability. Constitutional design can be seen as a metagame of assembling the provisions of a written constitution to optimize a balance of values such as justice, liberty, and security, with the constitution being the rules of the game of government that would result. Nigel Howard defines the "metagame" as the decision-making process that derivates from the analysis of possible outcomes depending on external variables that alter a problem.

Another game-related use of the term "metagaming" refers to operating on knowledge of the current strategic trends within a game. This usage is common in games that have large, organized play systems or tournament circuits and which feature customized decks of cards, sets of miniatures or other playing pieces for each player. Some examples of this kind of environment are tournament scenes for tabletop or computer collectible card games like Magic: The Gathering or Hearthstone, tabletop war-gaming such as Warhammer 40,000 or Flames of War, or team-based multiplayer games such as Dota 2, League of Legends, and Team Fortress 2.

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