Metagame analysis involves framing a problem situation as a strategic game in which participants try to realise their objectives by means of the options available to them.
The practical application of metagame theory is based on the analysis of options method, first applied to study problems like the strategic arms race and nuclear proliferation.
If the set of feasible scenarios is too large to be analysed in full, some combinations may be eliminated because the analyst judges them to be not worth considering.
Sometimes a stakeholder may want to make credible an 'involuntary' threat or promise, to use this to move the situation in the desired direction.
Such threats and promises can be made credible in three basic ways: preference change, irrationality, and deceit (Howard 1989, pp. 257).