In the online real-time strategy game Starcraft, there is a term called the "metagame" that refers to (among other details) the current trends in how the game i

In the online real-time strategy game Starcraft, there is a term called the "metagame" that refers to (among other details) the current trends in how the game is played. There can often be large shifts in the strategies that a majority of players are using. They often start with the professional gamer who first developed it and dominated with it, thus popularizing it. People end up getting exposure from watching the pros play, and also from having the strategy used against them. The more someone loses to a given strategy, the higher they will regard it. I'm curious if this happens with design trends, as you were saying. For more info on the metagame, see http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/Metagame http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/Metagame