[1] A metagame can serve a broad range of purposes, and may be tied to the way a game relates to various aspects of life.
[7] In 1967, the word appeared in a study by Russell Lincoln Ackoff[8] and in the Bulletin of the Operations Research Society of America.
[2][4] The concept gained traction in game design in a column written in 1995 by Richard Garfield, the creator of Magic: The Gathering, for The Duelist.
[2]: 8 They go on to describe that metagaming "results from the entanglement of philosophical concepts, the craft of game design, and the cultures of play that surrounds videogames.
[4][better source needed] This usage is particularly common in games that have large, organized play systems or tournament circuits.
In some games, such as Heroes of the Storm, varied level design makes the battleground a significant factor in the metagame.
[14] The practice of losing individual games to dodge stronger opponents in tournaments has also been interpreted as a form of metagaming,[4] sometimes considered as unfair.
A newer trend in more recently released titles is to allow the selection of multiple characters at once which the player can then switch between on the fly, rendering match-up picking excessively hard and virtually impractical.
[15] Rogue-likes often gate content behind completion of basic runs, usually to convey a sense of progression and/or not to inundate less experienced players with too many choices.
For example, having a character bring a mirror to defeat Medusa when they are unaware her gaze can petrify them, or being more cautious when the game is run by a merciless gamemaster.
This can involve extra progressions or an economic market appended to the core gameplay that add mid- and long-term goals for players.