Another fantastic breakdown video. You did a great job distilling this abstract idea down to its core and explaining it with analogy. I very rarely comment but I wanted to say thank you so much for this entire series. Each one makes me pause and think, and since they hit the fundamentals of competitive games in general--not just 2D fighting games--I find myself coming back to them again and again. Serious kudos.
Verm - I've been playing the newly released AoE4 on steam but an interaction in the game made me wax poetic about the concept of "the meta" as I was trying to explain it to my gf the day prior. Although it's not smash its pretty translatable. I was playing against the "Hardest" AI by using the French, as the meta at the time had dictated to be the strongest civilization. Technically, the French are very powerful because they have one particularly strong knight opening sequence that has, in smash terms, like 90% option coverage. I was able to win by leveraging the meta which the computer is entirely unaware of, being a computer. In a hypothetical scenario where a computer could perform perfectly, it would use probabilistic calculations based off of game state and make adjustments as it made observations of my actions. Because of the game being that of one with imperfect information (fog of war requiring scouting), my knowledge of the meta was a massive advantage over the computer as I knew which strategy was strong and could go all-in, while the computer's probabilistic approach served as a delay in developing a counter. In real life, however, the meta has shifted. The reason is, while this opening covers 90% of scenarios, there are hard counters to it. By this knowledge, the meta decision becomes a merely binary decision by both players. "Will he or will he not open with french knights". Voila - a formerly 90% strat has now become a 50/50.
I love how accurate you pin point these concepts... and through these concepts I feel I have a much better understanding in general to the ways and whys of those ifs, buts and maybes. I just hope somewhere down the line, I can make even better use of these concepts... Thanks. :)
“META” in the context of video games means “Most Effective Tactic Available.” Outside video games the recursive definition you are trying hard to apply exists, like a meeting about meetings. It’s a simple concept probably not worth 6 min of discussion.
Uhm, isnt the actual definition for META just "most effective tactics available"? This can of course exist for the whole game and for certain characters.
Not quite. The metagame includes tactics that people *believe* are the most effective, and therefore are the most popular. But it's always more complicated than that due to counters, and the fact that just because something is popular that doesn't mean it's the best. Or just because one pro player is the best with a certain character or strategy, that doesn't mean it's the best character or strategy for you.
Another fantastic breakdown video. You did a great job distilling this abstract idea down to its core and explaining it with analogy. I very rarely comment but I wanted to say thank you so much for this entire series. Each one makes me pause and think, and since they hit the fundamentals of competitive games in general--not just 2D fighting games--I find myself coming back to them again and again. Serious kudos.
Such a great definition.
Also, that down b from ledge to fast fall up air at the end? Classy.
That was fantastic! I loved the "You too" example, it really clicked with me and also made me laugh since I've done that before!
Posting comments to aid the algorithm is the subscriber meta
Exactly.
The analogy between metagame and culture was great. Thanks for simplifying another concept that's difficult to explain!
The problem is that i now imagine an old lady telling me "eat me' after i open the door for her
Verm - I've been playing the newly released AoE4 on steam but an interaction in the game made me wax poetic about the concept of "the meta" as I was trying to explain it to my gf the day prior. Although it's not smash its pretty translatable.
I was playing against the "Hardest" AI by using the French, as the meta at the time had dictated to be the strongest civilization.
Technically, the French are very powerful because they have one particularly strong knight opening sequence that has, in smash terms, like 90% option coverage. I was able to win by leveraging the meta which the computer is entirely unaware of, being a computer. In a hypothetical scenario where a computer could perform perfectly, it would use probabilistic calculations based off of game state and make adjustments as it made observations of my actions. Because of the game being that of one with imperfect information (fog of war requiring scouting), my knowledge of the meta was a massive advantage over the computer as I knew which strategy was strong and could go all-in, while the computer's probabilistic approach served as a delay in developing a counter.
In real life, however, the meta has shifted. The reason is, while this opening covers 90% of scenarios, there are hard counters to it. By this knowledge, the meta decision becomes a merely binary decision by both players. "Will he or will he not open with french knights". Voila - a formerly 90% strat has now become a 50/50.
This video is high tier yt, too bad it isn't as meta as it should be.
I love how accurate you pin point these concepts... and through these concepts I feel I have a much better understanding in general to the ways and whys of those ifs, buts and maybes. I just hope somewhere down the line, I can make even better use of these concepts... Thanks. :)
You go verm! Always love the videos!
I really liked the personality in this video. :)
3:06 instuctions unclear ate a piece of Wood
Please lower difficulty of tutorial
Thanks for the upload, dad
Commenting for the algorithm
Ayyyy great definition bro
How would you describe the difference in the Meta's of the different scenes? (US, Japan, Australia etc)
Hold up Ganon had a DACUS that was patched out in Smash 4? sick.
Funny how none of the branches of potentialities are the European Meta lol
Ah, I see. Metagame is norms!!!!
A miserable little pile of tier lists.
3:19 Verm said "RADICAL FREEDOM"
“META” in the context of video games means “Most Effective Tactic Available.” Outside video games the recursive definition you are trying hard to apply exists, like a meeting about meetings. It’s a simple concept probably not worth 6 min of discussion.
Uhm, isnt the actual definition for META just "most effective tactics available"? This can of course exist for the whole game and for certain characters.
dunno if you're kidding, but: that's a fake acronym, as you can easily look up.
Maybe META as a stand-alone term yes, but metagame as other definitions as explained in the video
Not quite. The metagame includes tactics that people *believe* are the most effective, and therefore are the most popular. But it's always more complicated than that due to counters, and the fact that just because something is popular that doesn't mean it's the best. Or just because one pro player is the best with a certain character or strategy, that doesn't mean it's the best character or strategy for you.