for other’s reference, I’m using this:
array(
'name' => 'Players',
'id' => "players",
'type' => 'user',
'field_type' => 'select_advanced',
'multiple' => TRUE,
'query_args' => array('meta_key' => 'is_player',
'meta_value' => 'on')//'role' => 'player'//role worked, but I stopped using the role for these.
),
https://wordpress.org/plugins/meta-box/