Metagaming and metagames in Esports

The metagame is an overloaded term with no unified definition despite its importance and its common occurrence across different fields such as game design and behavioural economics. In our research we provide a unified and compact definition of the term metagame and metagaming by firstly highlighting their historical evolution. Although the original definition of metagame meant multiple things such as the environment surrounding the game, it has come to mean a perceived optimal or dominant playing strategy that is usually popular within an esport at that specific point in time. Metagaming as a verb is distinct and refers to a number of ways, external to the game's environment, a player can affect the outcome of a game. We focus on how these terms crystallised in the world of digital entertainment (esports) by providing multiple examples of metagames and metagaming in competitive settings. We additionally highlight the benefits of metagame shifts from the point of view of game developers. Finally, we provide a theoretical framework on the life cycles of metagames, as well general guidelines for understanding the current metagame of League of Legends and Dota 2. We conclude that by understanding the highly fluctuating metagame(s) of an esport at specific points in time, researchers will gain a better historical context of that game’s space. This in turn will give them insight into the decision making of professional esports players, game developers and tournament organisers. Additionally, this work will help researchers create better analytics tools and machine learning algorithms.