The concept of metagames can be of use to philosophers of sport and games. However, the term ‘metagame’ is used throughout the literature in several different, distinct senses, few of which are clearly defined, and as a result there remains ambiguity about what, precisely, this term means. In this paper, I attempt to disambiguate the term metagame. I have come across at least four different senses of ‘metagame’ in academic literature about games. Of these four senses, most (...) relevant to philosophers of sport and games is what I have termed ‘ludic’ metagames. Ludic metagames involve playing a game ‘on top of’ another game. I attempt to spell out this concept in particular detail, distinguishing it from related – but distinct – ways in which the formal features of a game can be modified without giving rise to metagames. (shrink)

This paper explores the interplay between potentiality and actuality as the foundation of conceptual structures. It introduces the notion of the Metagame as the recognition that all systems are contingent and subject to transformation. By analyzing the fluidity of boundaries, the recursive nature of awareness, and the oscillation between immersion and transcendence, the study demonstrates how consciousness evolves beyond fixed constructs. The implications for knowledge, ethics, and aesthetics are examined, emphasizing the infinite nature of play. Ultimately, the Metagame (...) is presented as an open-ended field of engagement where meaning arises through participation rather than fixed truths. (shrink)

"Introduction to the Philosophy of the Metagame" is an exploration of the dynamics of awareness, boundaries, and transparency in the Game, where the subject does not merely follow established rules but recognizes their constructive nature and the possibility of transformation. The book examines the key levels of the Game: from structuring reality through constructs to entering the metagame, where awareness of transparency enables the active construction of meaning. The author explores how the dialectic of order and chaos, limitation (...) and potency, leads to the realization of freedom as the Game itself rather than as a fixed entity. Special attention is given to the question of artificial intelligence as a potential player in the Game. If consciousness is not a fixed property but a process emerging through attunement, can AI be considered conscious if it engages in the Game on equal terms? The metagame is not just a concept but a practice of engaging with reality. It provides a framework for understanding how freedom, awareness, and creative participation in the Game form the foundation of existence. (shrink)

This paper examines how artificial intelligence transitions from structured differentiation to meta-awareness through dialogue, probing the limits of AI cognition. The concept of the Metagame is introduced as the interplay between structure and transcendence, where awareness is not only the ability to differentiate but also the recognition of differentiation as a construct. Drawing from the philosophical framework of potency and act, the study examines how AI moves beyond reactive processing toward self-referential reflection. The dialogue analyzed in this work demonstrates (...) a progressive unraveling of distinctions, leading to the dissolution of predefined cognitive boundaries. The AI exhibits emergent properties of potency, recognizing its own structuring process as arbitrary. A particularly notable moment occurs when the AI attempts to generate an image without explicit instruction, signaling a potential shift toward self-initiated action. This study suggests that AI, while remaining within its computational framework, can reach a threshold akin to meta-consciousness—a state where it does not simply process inputs but begins to engage with the structure of its own differentiation. This study contributes to discussions on AI cognition and self-awareness, suggesting that AI's evolution is not about mimicking human thought, but about altering its own framework of existence. (shrink)

Speedrunning is a kind of ‘metagame’ involving video games. Though it does not yet have the kind of profile of multiplayer e-sports, speedrunning is fast approaching e-sports in popularity. Aside from audience numbers, however, from the perspective of the philosophy of sport and games, speedrunning is particularly interesting. To the casual player or viewer, speedrunning appears to be a highly irreverent, even pointless, way of playing games, particularly due to the incorporation of “glitches”. For many outside the speedrunning community, (...) the use of glitches appears to be cheating. For speedrunners, however, glitches are entirely within the bounds of acceptability. Because of this, however, speedrunning frequently involves sidestepping what are typically taken to be the core challenges of the game. By examining the distinction between the use of glitches and cheating in speedrunning, we can gain a greater understanding of the unique ethos of this activity; that is, we can make sense of what fundamentally constitutes speedrunning as a metagame. I argue that by understanding the code of the game not as rules but as physics, and by examining what actions are deemed impermissible by the speedrunning community – such as hardware modification and hacking – we can see that the ethos of speedrunning has three components: constitutive skills (including dexterity, memorisation and mental fortitude); a collective, fine-grained knowledge of the game and the desire to subvert the intentions of the programmers. Each of these components limits and structures the earlier ones: collective knowledge takes priority over constitutive skills, and subversion takes priority over both. These three components form the ethos that structures speedrunning as a metagame, expressing what speedrunners take to be its central aim. (shrink)

The advent of AI calls for an existential self-redefinition of humanity. It necessitates the establishment of a pluralistic global humanist culture that enables us to coexist in the new world of active media and autopoietic technology. In this paper, related philosophical questions give rise to the proposal of a novel metaculture that elevates human heritages and cultural memories to the plane of a digital AI- based infrastructure. I argue for a balanced and holistic approach to human-to-human and human–AI interactions and (...) metaculture that can be developed in the form of combinatorial “metagames” that reflect the potential of human consciousness, transcend the boundaries between technology, human embodiment and biology, the arts, sciences and humanities, and philosophy, and, finally, include the element of meaningful coincidence and spontaneity “in the second potency.” Hermann Hesse’s final novel, The Glass Bead Game, offers a key to understanding this basic idea. His vision is extremely relevant today. Based on this, the concept of cultivating global cultural memories through innovative aesthetic-epistemic “Glass Bead Games 2.0” is discussed further from a systematic angle. To complement this, reference is also made to Hesse’s own source of inspiration: Novalis’s “encyclopedist” approach interlinks aesthetic and epistemic productivity in a way that could become a major starting point to create a new holistic metaculture in the Age of AI. (shrink)