The Metagame: August 18, 2007
For those of you who have been in the game for a while now, you will probably have developed your own style of play.
Whether you are following one of the more mainstream methods or have developed your own sense of game, you typically have a sense of sameness to our approach.
For example, some PUAs favour a more direct style. Others prefer to use some form of dance game, whereas others may still use routines, or cocky funny type spur of the moment lines.
Whatever your style, there is one thing that does apply to many PUAs, especially those in areas populated with a strong community. Sometimes you can't avoid sarging in the same venue as other PUA's.
You may have a different style to the other PUAs in the area, but the fact is you are competing with other PUAs. Now I understand that some people are fortunate enough to be in areas where there are few PUAs so this wouldn't really apply to them. However, having said this, almost every area will still have naturals, which can sometimes be as bad as their professional PUA counterparts.
The Metagame is something that was first used in mathematics as a descriptor for set interaction that governs subset interaction in certain cases. The term was then taken and passed through military and political actions to describe operations or events that were outside the bounds of a normal situation. I suppose it could be described in layman's terms as thinking outside the box. It's applications are much more specific than that.
A good example of Metagaming could be one found in politics where a law was passed to placate a specific media sensation.
The actual effect of that law however, may be used to further another cause. In this situation "the game" would be the passing of the law, but the Metagame would be the bigger picture into which the passing of the law fits. For example, it could be like using the terrorist act to enable police greater powers to invade privacy. It's an extreme example, but it makes the point)
The idea is that you are playing to the bigger picture. You have a clearly defined set of goals and will tailor your gameplay to achieving that aim, typically by refining your standard set of decisions by using additional information in order to achieve your goal.
For simpler game a related example we can use chess. In chess there is a special set of four moves that can ensure you win the game. If you notice your opponent has used these same four moves in his last six matches in order to win, you could use this additional information in order to secure the victory by assuming he would continue to use them and playing in such a way that they would not work.