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I think the difference today though is the developers do have the ability to tweak every single tiny little detail of the game in order to tackle these kinds of

I think the difference today though is the developers do have the ability to tweak every single tiny little detail of the game in order to tackle these kinds of things, whereas in a physical sport there's really a limit to what you can change to "fix" issues that don't fundamentally change the entire game. Games like DOTA are great examples. There are countless times where the devs have done something like "moved single tree 0.25 in game metres to the left" (noting that there's probably >1000 trees on the map) to address ridiculously tiny optimisation "exploits". You just can't control the environment in physical sports the same way, so finding real "balance" that optimises for skill rather than just stats optimisation is going to be nearly impossible.

Eji1700 3y ago
I've been a huge fan of dota since 04/05 and yeah it's a great example, but on the real life side another reason things don't change as fast is just the huge barrier to entry, and to some extent the entertainment value. The cost, time, and physical demands to be in the top 10-20% of many real life sports is just a huge gate, and so you get a lot of people who become complacent. It often is the lower rungs that are trying to innovate, but it's hard to see that flow all the way to the top because you don't know if your strategy is actually viable vs the best of the best. Vs something like a video game where playing near the top level is much more achievable. There's also still an aspect of "entertainment". I'm not certain on this but to memory there's decent evidence that the best way to shoot a freethrow is an underhanded granny shot, but VERY few NBA players ever even attempt it.