diff --git a/builtin/game/init.lua b/builtin/game/init.lua
index 52bdbee3..4a4c4d9c 100644
--- a/builtin/game/init.lua
+++ b/builtin/game/init.lua
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ if core.settings:get_bool("profiler.load") then
 	profiler = dofile(scriptpath .. "profiler" .. DIR_DELIM .. "init.lua")
 end
 
+dofile(gamepath .. "player_meta.lua")
 dofile(commonpath .. "after.lua")
 dofile(gamepath .. "item_entity.lua")
 dofile(gamepath .. "misc.lua")
diff --git a/builtin/game/player_meta.lua b/builtin/game/player_meta.lua
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..fdc3b6b3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/builtin/game/player_meta.lua
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+local floor, tostring = math.floor, tostring
+local getmetatable, setmetatable = getmetatable, setmetatable
+local PlayerMetaRef = {}
+
+function PlayerMetaRef:contains(key)
+	return self.player:get_attribute(key) ~= nil
+end
+
+function PlayerMetaRef:get(key)
+	return self.player:get_attribute(key)
+end
+
+function PlayerMetaRef:set_string(key, value)
+	if value == "" then
+		value = nil
+	end
+	self.player:set_attribute(key, value)
+end
+
+function PlayerMetaRef:get_string(key)
+	return self.player:get_attribute(key) or ""
+end
+
+function PlayerMetaRef:set_int(key, value)
+	self:set_float(key, floor(value))
+end
+
+function PlayerMetaRef:get_int(key)
+	return floor(self:get_float(key))
+end
+
+function PlayerMetaRef:set_float(key, value)
+	self.player:set_attribute(key, tostring(value))
+end
+
+function PlayerMetaRef:get_float(key)
+	return tonumber(self:get_string(key)) or 0
+end
+
+local mt = {__index = PlayerMetaRef}
+local function get_player_meta(player)
+	return setmetatable({player = player}, mt)
+end
+
+minetest.register_on_joinplayer(function(player)
+	if not player.get_meta then
+		getmetatable(player).get_meta = get_player_meta
+	end
+end)