Life games reflect life aims. And the games men choose to play indicate not only their type, but also their level of inner development. [DeRopp, a biochemist, used the term game not to denote frivolity but as "a trial of strength or a trial of wits played within a matrix which is defined by rules."]

Following Thomas Szasz (more or less) we can divide life games into object games and meta-games. Object games can be thought of as games played for the attainment of material things, primarily money or the objects which money can buy. Meta-games are played for intangibles such as knowledge or the "salvation of the soul."

In our culture object games predominate. In earlier cultures meta-games predominated.

To the players of meta-games, object games have always seemed shallow and futile, an attitude summarized in the Gospel saying: "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" To the players of object games, meta-games seem fuzzy and ill-defined, involving nebulous concepts like beauty, truth or salvation.