Discussion about the word META
I'd like to begin a discussion about the word meta. The word is being used a lot but lately it caught my attention that there seems to be a lot of disagreement and actually some arguing of what it actually means. I think there mainly 2 kinds of people at the moment:
- people saying meta means most popular/used squad, lead and/or strategy
- people saying it is the strongest squad/lead/strategy at the moment
Now I'm not a linguist or anything so I definitely can be wrong here but I'd like to share my point of view about this word.
I think that actually both these people are both right and wrong, but they are very important to the meta. Or better to say: meta-game. Because in fact, meta alone doesn't mean anything. Meta is a prefix. And in this situation meta-game is the appropriate word. And for what that means is kinda hard to explain. For a word like metadata it simply means "data about the data", so you could say that it means something like "the game within the game". But I'd like to propose the following definition:
The meta-game is the situation where the game is in now taking in consideration all squads that are popular and how to deal with that.
Having this definition I would say that it is simply wrong to say something like:
"Zaul is meta."
The right things that you can say are for example these:
"In the current meta-game Zaul is the most popular"
"In the current meta-game Zaul is the strongest"
"In the current meta-game Rex beats the most popular teams"
Now it's perfectly understandable to use "Zaul is meta" to shorten one of the first two examples but this is where the whole disagreement comes from I think. It actually can mean either of these two sentences.
Having that said, there is also the term anti-meta but I must admit I'm not entirely sure what the correct usage of that is. I think most people would agree that is about the squad or strategy that beats the most popular teams like I used in my last example. But it could maybe also just mean a strategy that is not popular but could change the meta-game when enough people would use it or something like that.
So what do you guys think? You think I got it somewhat right? And if not, what do you think is the correct usage or definition? and why do you think that?
- people saying meta means most popular/used squad, lead and/or strategy
- people saying it is the strongest squad/lead/strategy at the moment
Now I'm not a linguist or anything so I definitely can be wrong here but I'd like to share my point of view about this word.
I think that actually both these people are both right and wrong, but they are very important to the meta. Or better to say: meta-game. Because in fact, meta alone doesn't mean anything. Meta is a prefix. And in this situation meta-game is the appropriate word. And for what that means is kinda hard to explain. For a word like metadata it simply means "data about the data", so you could say that it means something like "the game within the game". But I'd like to propose the following definition:
The meta-game is the situation where the game is in now taking in consideration all squads that are popular and how to deal with that.
Having this definition I would say that it is simply wrong to say something like:
"Zaul is meta."
The right things that you can say are for example these:
"In the current meta-game Zaul is the most popular"
"In the current meta-game Zaul is the strongest"
"In the current meta-game Rex beats the most popular teams"
Now it's perfectly understandable to use "Zaul is meta" to shorten one of the first two examples but this is where the whole disagreement comes from I think. It actually can mean either of these two sentences.
Having that said, there is also the term anti-meta but I must admit I'm not entirely sure what the correct usage of that is. I think most people would agree that is about the squad or strategy that beats the most popular teams like I used in my last example. But it could maybe also just mean a strategy that is not popular but could change the meta-game when enough people would use it or something like that.
So what do you guys think? You think I got it somewhat right? And if not, what do you think is the correct usage or definition? and why do you think that?
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All that other stuff that people are throwing around now about "most popular" or "most effective" is just a very narrow part of it. It borders on the ridiculous when people get all worked up about how "meta means this and only this and nothing else can be called meta" or whatever.
"Metagaming" in contrast means crafting a strategy specifically to counter the currently predominant strategies, and is generally considered something only the best players can do. Note that the newly devised strategy generally becomes the new predominant strategy quite rapidly (in a low skill ceiling game like SWGOH anyway... but even in dota or starcraft, monkey see monkey do, even if lower level players don't do it as well as the pros), and thus becomes part of the new metagame itself: hence the double entendre for "metagaming": the act of shifting the metagame.
Note that in SWGOH, CG seems to be taking the DotA/LoL approach to the metagame: make sure it constantly shifts due to the release of new heroes and significant buffs to older ones, while attempting to avoid nerfing if at all possible. Blizzard takes a very different approach to adjusting the metagame in both Starcraft 2 and World of Warcraft: they use their nerfstick liberally (and only use significant expansions to introduce new stuff or large revamps to old and unused stuff).
wow. I think you're absolutely right. I wasn't able to find the right words at some parts and you're right that it's not only about the current popular teams. You hit the nail right on the head
In my experience playing other games it is exactly as the other posters above have described.
META by definition here means Most Effective Tactic Available. Seems pretty self explanatory or am I missing something?
Examples:
"Droids used to be FOTM."
"Wiggs is a noob cannon."
"Zaul is faceroll."
No need to redefine some old Greek word just to add another one to the list.
Its confusing when talking about meta because it means different things in different contexts.
Meta as a word is a greek word like you said, meaning self referential. And you could argue that the META report is self referential.
But META as an acronym (not a word) here in swgoh means Most Effective Tactic Available.
In other words, in swgoh context, the squad that best takes the #1 spot in arena.
Its not about what team is more popular or strong, although that plays into it. It is simply what team/character is Most Effective at taking the #1 spot in Arena. Thats what the META report shows.
Hope that makes sense
Most Effective Tactic Available is a Backronym. Meta never meant that but people have misused the term Meta so much that they have even misunderstood its meaning.
META report as in, report/information that you cannot normally gain in game = correct
In the first place, the meta report shows the predominant squads or compositions being used, not what is Most Effective.
Lol
I love that scene.
I love all those scenes.