..I suppose I can't think of another meta game I play that's related to video games. I think there's better metagaming in boardgames, however.

I've always insisted that Steam itself is a meta-game, so I guess SteamGifts would be an unofficial expansion. While it technically isn't available on Steam it's definitely dependent on it, similar to how a mod requires the base game in order to function.
So I'd say SG is the best expansion/mod for Steam.

Since Skyrim is an integral part of Steamgifts, SG can credit itself with a very large part of Skyrim's success!

One could almost argue that Skyrim is part of the source code of SG!

Month after joining SG I already treated it as a game. And it is still some combination of game/hobby/addiction to these days :) So, hell-a Yess-a!

Yes, but I think Steam DB Calculator has a bigger audience as meta-game related to Steam

---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☐ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☑ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS

---{ Gameplay }---
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☑ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't

---{ Audio }---
☐ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☑ I'm now deaf

---{ Audience }---
☑ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☑ Grandma

---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☑ Potato
☐ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer

---{ Game Size }---
☑ Floppy Disk
☐ Old Fashioned
☐ Workable
☐ Big
☐ Will eat 10% of your 1TB hard drive
☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it
☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data

---{ Difficulty }---
☑ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls

---{ Grind }---
☐ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☑ You'll need a second life for grinding

---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☑ Some lore
☐ Average
☐ Good
☐ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life

---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☐ Average
☐ Long
☑ To infinity and beyond

---{ Price }---
☑ It's free!
☐ Worth the price
☐ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money

---{ Bugs }---
☑ Never heard of
☐ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs

For those who use bots, I guess one might call it Idle Game Collector Simulator.
For those who don't use bots, it's more like Daily Task Clicker Game Collector Simulator.

I'm still figuring out the rules ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Something something joke about pay-to-win something something

It's pretty much rogue-lite. You make so much attempts to win...

hell-a Yess-a !!!

For me its a game.

So how to start....
There is no tutorial so its kinda tough to know all the rules before starting the game, but luckily there are a lot of other helpful players who will finally introduce you into everything if you like to.

The beginning is quite RNG heavy and pretty hard to get some loot, but on the other hand you are feeling quite OP, cuz you can level-up quite fast, which finally gives you higher chances for some first loot.
It feels kinda P2W tho, but if you are lucky you can get also high value items without spending money at all!

Might be also kinda challeging if you are going for some side-quests. I reached already quite a high level, but some puzzles which can be found are so tough, that even the best guide wont help me to find the solutions! So there is also skill needed to 100% this game, which can be grindy as hell.

You also have the opportunity to join some clans from the start which will higher the chances for some loot, you can even join a lot of clans if you meet their requirements and you can stay there forever if you wont break any rules, which may effect in having way more loot then you could ever use, but as long as you are also sharing loot with your clan members its totally fine!

A story is not quite obvious, but can be found if you are looking for it and can be quite entertaining.
You can be part of those stories, or just reading them for your entertainment - its totally up to you!

The game is updated quite frequently and you shouldnt expect it will get abandoned by the devs anytime soon!
There is a huge community, so you can find people to share your gaming experience, play together, be involved in some of the stories and so on. The more you play the more you will discover and even if you reach the highest level its still fun to play!

Tho getting to the highest level might take a lot of time and is very grindy, but there is no need at all, its totally up to you how much you wanna level-up and it only gives you a bit of an advantage to lower-level players.
Basically you can play the game the way you want and thats great!

11/10 not planning to stop playing anytime soon!

Edit:

Maybe somewhere is a little secret hidden :o

View attached image.

this thread is not working as it should. poll hazn't got a clear answer, so, gonna try offerin mandatory things so to get more votes. please halp

Yess, SG even had its own villains we love to hate from time to time...

View attached image.

Also, The 1st SG Jigidi puzzle

My answer on behalf of Tewam, wherever he disappeared to:

Yes.

100% yes, but if it ever does become available on Steam, and thus then comes to SteamGifts, the resulting recursive loop will end the universe, just as the Mayans predicted.