There’s a term in gaming, that seems to apply here - playing the meta. Every time a game is released or a new patch changes the mechanics, a game is in a state

There’s a term in gaming, that seems to apply here - playing the meta. Every time a game is released or a new patch changes the mechanics, a game is in a state of flux. New models are tried out, new build orders, and it’s more random, people experiment. Eventually though, the optimal strategy or set of strategies are known - the meta. It results in many striking metaphorical similarities 1) not following the meta gets you abuse in team games, and is generally going to be suboptimal. 2) the meta is not about fairness. If there is an unfair mechanic, well you had best be executing it better than the competition 3) the meta rewards people who can follow and execute, and significantly less towards experimenting new approaches. The game has only so many degrees of freedom so it’s not like there is much more you can do better than the meta. 4) related to 1, everyone does the meta. It’s the way to play. Eventually things get stale and boring, and only people who can Stomach/enjoy the meta get ahead.