The Potential of Meta Game Design

Disclaimer: This is an unqualified exploration into a topic that fascinates me. I am not an expert, just an enthusiast.

> Introduction

Meta game design is the practice of using elements within a game, but not directly connected to play, to shape the player's understanding of a game's world, lore, or characters.

Meta game design has the potential to influence the player, to offer a more nuanced, immersive experience, which encourages players to engage on a deeper level.

> Examples of Meta Game Design Elements

• Achievements:
  

  Rewards, badges, that players will earn through in-game actions. Except in a small handful of games, achievements do not have any impact on gameplay, outside of player motivation.

  Achievements have the potential to guide a player around, but they can also be used in a meta way, to tell a story.

• Loading Screens:
  

  These are traditionally used simply as a buffer, so the player has something nice to look at while assets are loading, and the game is being built. However, they contain within them the potential to communicate with the player in a way which is nigh-impossible within the gameplay itself.

  Oftentimes, loading screens will contain text presented to the player, this could be backstory, tips, or general lore. The potential to utilize this text in a more meta way is massive.

• Transitions:
  

  This could be a fade to black, a screen wipe, a spin, or any number of other visual tricks. Transitions between levels or between cutscenes adn gameplay, offer another potential area of exploration for a meta game designer.

  As a player progresses through a game, they will come to learn what a transition looks like, even so far as being able to (in some circumstances) anticipate when one is about to occur. This is a sense of familiarity, of comfort, to a player, and it is one with the potential for exploitation.

> Case Study #1 — Spec Ops: The Line

Spec Ops, developed by YAGER and published in 2012, has received widespread acclaim over the years for its storytelling, being called the new medium's edition of "Heart of Darkness" and "Apocalypse Now."

Much of the effectiveness of the storytelling comes down to the way the game plays its players. Spec Ops opens itself with the mask of a typical military shooter, right down to the loading screen tips being displayed to the player.

Tips begin with standard instructions for how to take cover, toss a grenade, etc. Such as:

However, as the game progresses, and takes on a much darker tone, the loading screen text stops being in-game tips, and starts directly addressing the player. This is a chilling communication corridor from designer to player, specifically because it is meta.

These loading screens have always been disconnected, separated from the story, until a certain point.

Some of the tips include:

• The US Military does not condone the killing of unarmed combatants. But this isn't real, so why should you care?
• You are still a good person.
• Do you even remember why you came here?
• This is all your fault.
• To kill for yourself is murder. To kill for your government is heroic. To kill for entertainment is harmless.
• Do you feel like a hero yet?

The game progresses these tips linearly. Starting by teaching players how to play, to telling the player:

To eventually point blank asking the player:

This method of slow build up to subvert the player's expectations of a standard shooter is facilitated by meta game design.

Transitions are also used to communicate with the player, though in a far more subtle way. The game has two primary ways of 'fading,' it will fade to white, or fade to black.

Whenever the game is fading to black, it is a simple loading fade, however, when fading to white: it indicates that the player protagonist has begun hallucinating. Crucially, this fact is not revealed to the player until near the very end of the game, at which point players are forced to realize the sheer number of things that simply did not ever happen throughout the game.

Using transitions for this is how Spec Ops manages to tell multiples stories in one, it is all facilitated by the meta game design of a simple fade animation.

> Case Study #2 — The Stanley Parable

The Stanley Parable was developed by Galactic Cafe and released in 2013. It is an interactive narrative often described as a 'Walking Simulator,' exploring the themes of choice, freedom, and relationships.

The Stanley Parable uses many of the same meta elements as found in Spec Ops: The Line, such as loading screen tips and screen transitions. However, one area of major difference is via achievements. In Spec Ops, achievements are quite standard for a shooter, and the game has even received criticism about how they undermine the other messaging. In The Stanley Parable, on the other hand, achievements are used extensively as meta game design.

The game is an intrinsically comedic one, and likes to poke fun wherever it can, including at the concept of achievements, and hunting them. One achievement, is the "Click on door 430 five times" achievement. This achievement is set up specifically to laugh at achievements in games. The narrator guides the player around, accomplishing a lengthy list of different tasks, before finally granting them the achievement they desired.

Another achievement, "Commitment," asks the player to play the game for the entire duration of a Tuesday. This is another example of meta game design being used to poke fun at achievement hunting.

> Conclusion

Meta game design offers designers a new set of avenues to engage and communicate with the player. By leveraging game elements that are outside of gameplay systems, designers can craft deeper narratives, subvert player expectations, and instill more emotional responses.