Metagame

noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
A game about games. countable
"Nomic is a metagame in which players can modify the rules as part of gameplay."
2
The exploitation of the rules etc. of some other game, at a higher level than simply playing the game normally; a game outside or peripheral to the actual gameplay. countable, uncountable
"But usually when people refer to the metagame, they mean things such as unlockables or customizable features. The problem with metagames is that they almost always damage the games they surround. […] Metagames also often create motivations that conflict with the inherent motivations of the core game."

Verb

1
Of a roleplayer, to make use of knowledge while roleplaying that they learned out of character, which their character does not know; often considered a form of cheating.

Example

"Nomic is a metagame in which players can modify the rules as part of gameplay."

Etymology

From meta- + game.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.