What is Meta?

What is Meta?

What is Meta in Games?

The term meta is usually the name given to the strategies that players decide on. Performing best in a particular maission or match is achieved by following the meta. Meta greatly influences the perspective of contemporary online games. It has managed to attract a lot of attention, especially in the e-sports sector. Metas can include anything from choosing a specific character to playing that character a certain way or purchasing specific items for that character. It can completely affect the way games are played and the point of view of the players.

Metas are often used in competitive matches. To perform best against the opposing team and move on to the next levels, players need to follow the meta. Meta is an indispensable concept of League of Legends, known as the world's most popular online game. The meta has changed as the game grows, evolves and updates come. Buffs or nerfs on items also cause the methane to change instantly. Players from the higher leagues usually take the lead in putting together the most compatible items. These players are defined as the pioneers of the meta. There are different sites created to follow meta characters in League of Legends game and one of them is "www.metasrc.com". By logging into this site, the current meta characters and the stages of these characters can be viewed.

Another example is the very popular game Hearthstone from Blizzard Entertainment. In Hearthstone, players can create custom 30-card decks. The best combination of these cards will be better than options made with other pieces. That's why the best-determined decks are called meta.

Meta explores all aspects of gameplay in online games. Developers who want to change the game need to be very careful and think about everything.

For example, when Riot wants to buff an item in League of Legends, it has to review a lot of things. They should calculate what this item normally does and how much buff it needs. They need to determine which champions buy this item the most and how strong they are. They should consider different options to see if this item will change the pace of the game once developed or break the gameplay that players are used to. Because a small change in the game can affect all meta. For this reason, controls must be provided to the finest detail while meta-adjusting.

Does Following Meta Get You Ahead in Games?

Following the meta and moving in that direction can help players get ahead in games. Because item structures or skill shares created as meta are prepared by focusing on the characters to give the best results. This meta raises the players who follow the tactics to a more powerful level than the others.

Is It Possible to Succeed Without Playing Meta Characters?

Of course, it is possible to be successful in games without playing meta characters. Characters that are only available in the meta are better suited to the current environment of the game. This makes it easy to play and power up meta characters. Achieving success with non-meta characters requires more attention and skill.

When Did the Term Meta First Appear?

The term meta in games was first used in a report by the Mental Health Research Institute in 1956 in zero-sum games. 15 years later, a person named Nigel Howard published a book called "Paradoxes of Rationality: Metagame Theory and Political Behavior".

Meta Terms

With the development of meta concepts in games, meta terms have emerged. Meta terms are terms usually created by gamers and viewers. These terms are used in-game to communicate quickly and are often shortened. Some meta terms and their meanings are listed below.

• AFK => Away From Keyboard
• AP => Ability Power
• AS => Attack Speed
• AD => Attack Damage
• AD Carry => Attack Damage Carry(Snipers)
• B => Base
• Bait => Means to bait the enemy player. In this way, a cleaner success can be achieved.
• Ban => It means ban. Some characters to be imported in ranked matches are prohibited by players.
• CC => Crowd Control
• CD => Cooldown
• Build => Known as the arrangement of items. It is the name given to all items purchased for the character.

League of Legends Meta Build Example

In League of Legends, the meta changes quite often. Buffs and nerfs are applied to the characters in this regularly updated game. Thus, the layout of the game completely changes. Items purchased for the characters and the regions where the characters are played may also vary depending on the meta. Above is an example of Diana's meta build for Patch 12.11. From the beginning to the end of the game, the items that the character will receive, the order of skill development and the runes that need to be entered are displayed. Meta structures of characters from different patches can be viewed on Metasrc.com. In this way, it is possible to increase the success in the games by purchasing the right items for the right character.