Quote:
Originally Posted by fadetree
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Yeah, I know I'm word-nerding out. Just hearing that meta term everywhere nowadays and something is wrong on the internets. In fact, Wikipedia says I am wrong and you are exactly right, but I still deny. FIGHT THE POWER. Apart from the term, I know what you mean and I agree. I would maybe call it 'emergent gameplay', meaning things that were not foreseen but emerge from an open ruleset in ways that surprise everyone. Like FD pulling, etc. It's an interesting feature of the EQ ruleset, how open it is, meaning there was a lot that was left uncontrolled and unexplained. It's a big part of what makes the game so great and lasting.
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Understandable. The problem is you have many different platforms in which the term can be used. I believe examples of meta like in D&D is when we break character and ask another player or DM if grinding kobolds would offer sufficient exp. Well, d&d is a hard example because for the most part it is an rpg and by nature the majority of good ones at least are meta. Even grinding can be referred to as meta if you think about it.
In filmography meta can refer to a show within a show, or the show referencing itself. Maybe breaking the "4th wall" rule is meta but I'm not too sure on that.
Games like Magic the gathering, meta is building your deck in a way where you have a chance of combining the effects of different cards or having the foresight to know the opponents deck and prepare yourself accordingly. Also distracting him or her with boasts or bluffs is meta. Once again thats another hard one because a lot of the game is meta built areound a simple card game
Procedurally generated games such as rogue or diablo where you know a dungeon level is going to contain something you need because it has generated items on that level which are usually spawned together. Or knowing the layout because a chunk has loaded that always contains the same rooms. Example of loot finding would be mephisto runs. I doubt blizzard north intended people to equip their sorcs with nothing but rags and MF gear to run mephisto 24/7 but the loot finding centers around it. At least from the last time I played
WTS WTB WTT spamming I believe came from muds. We used to do it not knowing who started it in the first place.
Being a word nerd isnt a bad thing. In the end words are concepts that need to be defined in order to have a successful conversation.