META GAMES

There is this idea in online gaming. This unspoken agreement among the players about the most efficient way in which to play that will result in a win. It is referred to as the meta or the meta game. The game within the game. It is seen in games like Call of Duty, where you have the option of choosing from a large arsenal of weapons and upgrades. You are then able to enhance your player character’s physical attributes, enabling this soldier to run longer, carry more weapons, withstand more damage. The list goes on. After everyone has been playing for a while, a combination of weapon and character perks begin to emerge, alerting the player base to what will come to be known as the current meta. The most optimal build. But if everyone is using the same weapons, the game becomes boring, and that’s when the developers of the game come in and either ‘nerf’ or ‘buff’ elements of the game. Making things more or sometimes less effective in-game. This resets the ecology of the game and allows for a new meta to emerge and begin the cycle again.

One would think that this kind of social engineering would be unnecessary, especially in something like video games, but the fact that it is so prevalent speaks volumes to the infrastructure of our current society. There is a meta in almost every facet of modern life. We usually call it office politics or something similar, but the fact remains that the people holding the reins, buffing and nerfing our social experiences, are far removed from our daily interactions and personal lives. Because if life is a game, then it is pay-to-win, and most of us are wasting away opening loot boxes that hold nothing more than little trinkets to keep us happy enough to not complain to the devs. Some Stanley cups here, a Labubu there. But people love showing off their new treasures. People spend hundreds of dollars to chase that high. But the crash is coming.

At the center of all this, ironically, is Meta, the artist formerly known as Facebook. Learning your behaviour and habits with every cookie collected, your algorithm becomes more finely tuned to your likes/dislikes. Your digital ego, adding and subtracting data as you grow in the real world, shedding beliefs and picking up new hobbies, follows you around like an invisible shadow. Until it becomes omnipresent, inescapable no matter where you are. This shadow becomes so high fidelity that we begin to feel that it knows us almost as well as we know ourselves, in some cases even better. We end up placing our complete faith in this entity, forgetting that it is humans, no less fallible than you or I, who are in charge of all the data that is being collected and stored. Stacks and stacks of extremely detailed notes about you and what makes you tick. An instruction manual of sorts.

All of this information makes an individual’s social feeds almost like a mirror, pointing straight back at all of our favourite things and personal interests. The feed becomes an echo chamber of our own curation, meaning that anyone who disagrees with the content found within it is in direct conflict with our personality and lifestyle. The feed becomes more than just suggestions and recommended content; it’s evolved past that. Content is becoming increasingly niche and personalized; people connect with creators and influencers and relate things they see online to their real lives. Going too far down the rabbit hole can result in an individual becoming out of touch with the meta. This can be observed in political circles as people who identify with their candidate on a personal level begin to personify the optics and branding, whereas in the past these things were simply dismissed as the usual BS of a politician. Now people fully buy into it.

Blindly following the crowds is never good, whether you’re going off the deep end or too scared to leave the shallow end. As with most things in life, harmony is found in balance. Sticking to the meta too closely results in people simply parroting the opinions of others, like that guy in Good Will Hunting, leaving people unable to form original thoughts and ideas, or afraid to share them with their fellow swimmers. I find it best to stay at a comfortable depth, surrounded by like-minded people who can adapt to the tides as they come and go because just like Call of Duty, this world is rife with updates and patch notes, and while it’s important to stay up to date, it’s also important not to get too lost in the sauce. And remember, kids, don’t hate the player, hate the game.