Define "Metagame"!

ekans dilos

(Don't know if this is the right place for this thread but it wasn't getting any views in Con. of the Masses and doesn't belong in internet renaissance so here goes!)

Hi guys. Long time no see.

Anyway, I'm currently writing an essay for school in which I'm explaining what a metagame is for online gamers. I understand the basic idea (playing beyond the intended rules, constantly changing your team and strategy to beat what's trendy at the moment, etc.), and I see the term thrown around this site a lot, but I wanted to get some opinions on the matter, since I know a lot of you probably understand it better than I do. So please, if anyone's willing to help me out; how would you define a metagame in the context of multiplayer gaming (not just strictly in pokemon)?

Thanks in advance.

-ekans
 
Metagaming is a broad term usually used to define 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. In other words, using out-of-game information to affect one's in-game decisions.
 
I can read wikipedia too, thanks. (to the first guy who copied it without citing.)
Sudo: I agree it's not bad, but not really deep enough for my liking...sorry to sound like a snob heh... basically it's a good start but I need more.

Does anyone have a better definition? Smogon's community is definetly one that revolves around metagaming so... come on. Can anyone describe, elaborately and without copying what some guy wrote on wikipedia, what exactly we do around these parts in terms of metagaming? Thanks.
 
a game in SSBB where one only uses metaknight. duh.

but it is also the influence that players have brought to a game from an outside source. the first guy to post put theirs a lot more eloquently, so ill let you read their post.
 
nice name

meta is 'about itself', game is 'game', metagame is a game about a game, which i guess you can apply to pokemon in that playing it like we do, we are making a game out of a game
 
sanjay120 said:
nice name

meta is 'about itself', game is 'game', metagame is a game about a game, which i guess you can apply to pokemon in that playing it like we do, we are making a game out of a game
Click to expand...
That has no logic.

A molecule is a 'molecule'

A vacuum is a 'vacuum'

etc
 
Metagame usually represents rules or gaming conditions that exist but are not part of the explicit rules of the game. They can be thought of as "Traditions" or even "Trends" in the game.
 
To me, the metagame is whatever the current trend in a game is. A person who "plays the metagame" would be someone who analyzes these trends and actively tries to come up with a counter-strategy.

Also, afaik, a competitive metagame will usually either remove certain game elements (Smash Bros., no items, certain stages banned), or make hidden game elements that a "casual" player would have no knowledge of or control over open and freely modifiable (Pokemon, IVs and EVs) to best suit a scenario where everyone is on a (relatively) even playing field and that removes as much luck as possible to make the skill of the players the primary factor in victory/loss.
 
From my experience playing competitive games, the Metagame is the prescribed sets of strategies you expect to face. So, in the current OU metagame, everyone must expect to face Garchomp. Garchomp is a higher level factor in the Metagame. However, Pikachu is a much lower factor in the current metagame: it's not necessarily a requirement that your team be resilient to a Pikachu assault, mostly because very few people use Pikachu. (Besides the fact that it's not very hard, etc. etc., yes, I know.)

When you are Metagaming, you take into account all the factors that you would expect to beat in a metagame and you tune your strategy to beat the current metagame. For example, if the metagame is basically "Everyone uses Garchomp in combination with Sandhax" (with Everyone meaning "most people"), then if you, say, built a Hail team with pokemon that had Blizzard, that would be a form of metagaming.

That's what I've learned from my competitive gaming experience. I wrote a small section in a paper on the importance of metagaming in a specific competitive game, which I don't have right now but could probably find, if you would like to see it.
 
Metagaming is the game outside the game: mind games, for example. Another example of metagaming is using outside information to make decisions in-game or before a game. A really great example of this is the following situation.

Let's say that according to some stats from Shoddy for march, the most used phys wall is Skarmory completely uncontested. That's probably not correct, but hypothetically speaking of course. For that reason, I'm going use this information to actively 'metagame' against that field by playing Magnezone, which is very effective at dealing with Skarmory. Other people will then metagame by bringing Skarmorys with Shed Shell.

Metagaming is a part of all player vs player interactive games. Take Magic the Gathering, for example. There are a number of tier one decks, aka top decks that people play in a competitive environment. We can label that as a metagame because we are expecting the majority of decks in any given competitive tournament to be one of those.

Poker also works here. If I know that one of my opponents is a real hot-head and bets aggressively pre-flop, regardless of his cards, I can use that outside knowledge in my decision making processes. That isn't part of the technical aspect of the game: it's mental game.

EDIT: Another good example that relates to pokemon, and one I just realized, is prediction. You bring knowledge from outside the game (weaknesses, resistances, move sets, hold items, basic strategy, etc) and use these to get a read on your opponent's play. Hidden information, such as whether or not their Garchomp is scarfed, can even be considered metagaming if you are playing around it before actually confirming that what you suspect is actually true.
 
a game in SSBB where one only uses metaknight. duh.
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/thread

I think a simple definition of a metagame would be a game with certain levels, each slightly different and with different rules and regulations.

Good luck on that essay.
 
I'd describe a metagame as the set of commonly used strategies that one would encounter when playing a game competitively. In order to be successful at playing, your strategies must account for going up against the ones in the metagame.
 
A lot of great answers here. Thanks guys! And tgva i don't absolutely need to see that paper, I think what's here is good enough; but thanks a lot for the offer.

Also to the guy with the Godot avatar, OBJECTION!
 
sanjay120 said:
nice name

meta is 'about itself', game is 'game', metagame is a game about a game, which i guess you can apply to pokemon in that playing it like we do, we are making a game out of a game
Click to expand...

here, and in most cases, meta doesn't mean 'about itself.' meta means 'beyond,' or 'after.'
 
beez said:
here, and in most cases, meta doesn't mean 'about itself.' meta means 'beyond,' or 'after.'
Click to expand...

That's about right. It comes from Greek I believe.

Anyway, here's my short section on metagaming I just wrote in about 10 minutes (keep in mind i'm trying to explain this to someone who's not very familiar with gaming altoghether.) My essay is actually about online gaming communities, so metagaming is just a small part of it. If you can be bothered to read it over, let me know what you think. Thanks!

"Another aspect of online gaming communities is that they allow players to discuss competitive strategies with one another, mutually improving their games. Eventually a standard of high level competitive guidelines emerges, often known as a metagame. Metagaming means to use outside knowledge to influence one’s courses of action in a game; like a game beyond a game. It can be applied to many types of games, from videogames to Trading Card Games to Role-Playing Games to Poker. For example, there is a fairly large community that plays a PC simulation of the GameBoy game Pokemon over the internet, battling other players at a high level of play. Within this community, players are all aware of rules that are outside the prescribed rule set: they understand the mechanics the game doesn’t explain to you, such as the exact way damage is calculated, and use these to their advantage.

Metagames are also very cyclical. For example, a certain creature in Pokemon, Garchomp, is so powerful that it can defeat just about everything except ice-type creatures, to which it has a weakness. Because it is so powerful, a large number of players include it in their teams of six. At first, these players win many of their matches because of this creature. However, the community as a whole, aware of the threat, begins to adapt to it: after some discussions and assessments, just about every team begins to carry an ice-type capable of defeating it. As a result of this, usage of Garchomp begins to decline, and teams begin to counter the ice-types with say, fire types. Following this trend, ice types start to decline as well. Cycles like this one go on continuously within the community, though they are more complicated than the one above."

Yes obviously there are things like ice moves on non-ice types, choice band, blablabla, but he doesn't need to know that ;) the whole Garchomp being so powerful thing is for argument's sake. (I can't believe I just wrote the word "Garchomp" in a university essay.)
 
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