Metagame is the layer of play that operates above the immediate rules of a single moment or match. It includes long-term optimisation, team composition, build selection, social strategy, account progression, community norms, and the broader strategic understanding players develop around a game. In service games it often refers to the deeper structure that keeps players engaged after the basic loop is understood; in Burgun’s critique, “metagame” can also mean bolted-on progression layers that add complexity without deepening the core design. (Clark, Games as a Service, see source-games-as-a-service; Burgun, Game Design Theory, see source-game-design-theory)
The term is useful, but context matters: sometimes it means depth and mastery, and sometimes it means a distracting extra layer added around the core rules.
Related: game-loops, player-lifecycle, games-as-a-service, meaningful-decisions