I know this will sound like nit-picking, but I find all the talk about “meta” this and “meta” that to be kind of bizarre. People seem to be using this word to refer to “the best strategy” or “most powerful build,” which is not at all what the word means.
Outside of these forums, when people talk about something that’s “meta,” it involves context, subtext, reading between the lines, breaking the fourth wall, self-awareness or a work that comments on itself or its own medium.
This can certainly apply to video games — for example, in Metal Gear Solid when the colonel instructs you on how to climb ladders using “the action button,” or when Psycho Mantis psychically “moves” your controller, that could be considered a piece of meta-game dialogue.
“Meta” can also refer to game mechanics and gaining a competitive advantage, as well. But it goes beyond just recognizing good trait combinations and taking the game at face-value. Often it involves taking advantage of the interface in some way, thinking ahead and considering how other players will behave, or using technical aspects of the game’s infrastructure to maximize efficiency. It’s behaviour that — while operating inside the bounds of the rules — may be unintended.
In GW2, some simple examples of “meta-game” might be:
- Parking an alt in front of a gathering node or chest, just to grab it on server reset
- Back when “daily revives” was part of the achievement cycle, players would intentionally jump off cliffs and rez each other
- If you want unidentified dyes, don’t buy them with Laurels. Instead, buy Heavy Crafting Bags, sell the materials, then buy the dyes off the trading post
- Rather than spending the silver to port to Lion’s Arch, instead enter the PvP zone or WvW, then take the free gate to LA
- Manipulating the trading post market for profit
- Using overlays or fan sites that tell you when world bosses will spawn
- Using an otherwise-unused alt character as a free “bank”
- Crafting rare greatswords just to sell them, only because so many people want to dump them in the Mystic Forge in hopes of a precursor
- In-game roleplaying
- Logging on for a moment just to grab your daily reward chest, then exiting
- Rapidly burning through Personal Story 1-10 to farm keys
Note that “meta” does not necessarily mean “the best move” or “instant win.” It has less to do with in-game success and more to do with the level on which you’re thinking and interacting. It’s something that happens above or around the game, rather than strictly in it.
Of course this is all subjective, and you’re free to use whatever words you want in your posts. But I cringe whenever I see someone talking about “the current meta” of whatever game mode, when what they really mean is a build that players typically find effective. What it seems to boil down to a lot of the time is just playing smartly, picking traits that harmonize with each other, and using weapons or stats that suit your play style and the content type. That is no more the “meta” of Guild Wars 2 than dressing warmly is the “meta” of winter.
You could say this thread is sort of a “meta” post of this forum. Anyway, thanks for reading. I’m sure most of you will go on as you did before — but I wanted to give my two cents, as we all get to do.
TL;DR: You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
