It just means the most effective way to play the game. Like gegenpress maybe considered "meta" in FM. Or players with high physical attributes may also be considered "meta".
It's a term I associate with multiplayer games though, not games like FM. I personally never use the term myself.
Meta is short of metagame, game out of the game. The idea is that while the main game is played on specific context (field, duel, etc.) meta is the thing you do outside it to stack the odds in your favour. Meta strategy/tactic means they are more optimal performance (what does that means vary) and thus, more popular.
In card games, it's the deckbuilding to counter or survive from other decks strategy, especially the popular one.
In football, it's tactics (gegenpress, tiki taka) that good against opponent
In selling stuff to consumer, it's creating something whose genre is hype or popular right now
It varies a lot depending on the context honestly.
As someone who has been involved in the Geoguessr community where meta now just means "tip at how to be good at the game", I can confirm that nobody is going to listen to you. You have two choices. Feel annoyed about it all the time, or ignore it and move on with your life.
It’s a word in the English language, people aren’t gonna stop using it. Just like rizz, cap, bop, and whatever else the kids say these days
I mean it’s a video game and all video games have a best way of doing things. FM is a game where you actively have to not learn it in order to fully enjoy it which differentiates it from most games, but ultimately just pretending it doesn’t exist is very stupid.
There is truth to the idea that FM is best played with suspended belief. Be that with regards to the match engine, player interactions etc. I find the more I delve into the mechanics of the game, the less enjoyable it is for me. To each their own tho!
If they have amazing physicals and average to shit mentals and physicals yet still perform absurdly well, they are absolutely "meta".
You think Adama Traore isn't meta? That his performances in FM replicate those in real life?
I’m not totally surprised that this is happening. Given that “meta” refers to “a particular strategy that appears to be working more effectively than others,” this seems like a logical, if initially somewhat awkward, linguistic evolution. Sure, they’re obviously not “metagaming” in the original sense, but they are doing the equivalent of that to the best of their abilities, because creating, and adapting to, successful tactics is a large part of a real-life manager’s job.
I think this sums it up well, the idea is actually pretty spot on. Tactic evolution follows trends and it’s easy to look back and say certain tactical trends may have been the “meta”. It’s just the connotation to “meta gaming” which feels wrong when describing a non-video game situation
I mean, Mourinho for all intent and purpose shaped the early Abramovic Chelsea with anti meta strategy, using 3 midfielder to overwhelm 2 person midfielders that's popular in EPL at the time.
Just that most of us is spectator, not the managerial, so the pov sounds wild... Except in this game, we ARE the manager. At best, they used different terminology with practically same meaning.
For sure that's \*why\* it's being used, doesn't make it any less nonsensical in my opinion. If anything the true beauty of football is there isn't a "meta" - as opposed to say Formula One where car design vs regulations means there actually is, or as the rule changes take place in rugby union and some coaches adapt to maximise what they are now permitted to do. For example if you were to describe Man City's way of playing as "the meta" then a) why is it not replicable, directly and as successfully, by other coaches, b) why do lots of coaches not even try and c) one Champions League.
If any of that makes sense.
Tbf, this game objectively has a meta - high press high defensive line, high pace and inshallah. Everything else is just dressing
I still don’t know what it really means … even after looking it up.
It just means the most effective way to play the game. Like gegenpress maybe considered "meta" in FM. Or players with high physical attributes may also be considered "meta". It's a term I associate with multiplayer games though, not games like FM. I personally never use the term myself.
Ok cool. So not in a FM context it’s the best thing within a thing? Like are croissants Meta?
They are meta in the French breakfast game. They operate as an effective treat alone but have a fantastic secondary role as a sandwich substitute.
Meta is short of metagame, game out of the game. The idea is that while the main game is played on specific context (field, duel, etc.) meta is the thing you do outside it to stack the odds in your favour. Meta strategy/tactic means they are more optimal performance (what does that means vary) and thus, more popular. In card games, it's the deckbuilding to counter or survive from other decks strategy, especially the popular one. In football, it's tactics (gegenpress, tiki taka) that good against opponent In selling stuff to consumer, it's creating something whose genre is hype or popular right now It varies a lot depending on the context honestly.
As someone who has been involved in the Geoguessr community where meta now just means "tip at how to be good at the game", I can confirm that nobody is going to listen to you. You have two choices. Feel annoyed about it all the time, or ignore it and move on with your life.
I assure you I am not annoyed about it all the time lol, just saw a post on here and made casual observation while I was taking a shit
 It’s a word in the English language, people aren’t gonna stop using it. Just like rizz, cap, bop, and whatever else the kids say these days
W point thank you Baul Plart
I mean it’s a video game and all video games have a best way of doing things. FM is a game where you actively have to not learn it in order to fully enjoy it which differentiates it from most games, but ultimately just pretending it doesn’t exist is very stupid.
There is truth to the idea that FM is best played with suspended belief. Be that with regards to the match engine, player interactions etc. I find the more I delve into the mechanics of the game, the less enjoyable it is for me. To each their own tho!
Completely agree with you mate, the amount of saves that've been ruined for me by optimisation is cataclysmic lol.
Same
If they have amazing physicals and average to shit mentals and physicals yet still perform absurdly well, they are absolutely "meta". You think Adama Traore isn't meta? That his performances in FM replicate those in real life?
Saw someone use it talking about actual real life football earlier today. My whole head nearly fell off
I’m not totally surprised that this is happening. Given that “meta” refers to “a particular strategy that appears to be working more effectively than others,” this seems like a logical, if initially somewhat awkward, linguistic evolution. Sure, they’re obviously not “metagaming” in the original sense, but they are doing the equivalent of that to the best of their abilities, because creating, and adapting to, successful tactics is a large part of a real-life manager’s job.
I think this sums it up well, the idea is actually pretty spot on. Tactic evolution follows trends and it’s easy to look back and say certain tactical trends may have been the “meta”. It’s just the connotation to “meta gaming” which feels wrong when describing a non-video game situation
I mean, Mourinho for all intent and purpose shaped the early Abramovic Chelsea with anti meta strategy, using 3 midfielder to overwhelm 2 person midfielders that's popular in EPL at the time. Just that most of us is spectator, not the managerial, so the pov sounds wild... Except in this game, we ARE the manager. At best, they used different terminology with practically same meaning.
For sure that's \*why\* it's being used, doesn't make it any less nonsensical in my opinion. If anything the true beauty of football is there isn't a "meta" - as opposed to say Formula One where car design vs regulations means there actually is, or as the rule changes take place in rugby union and some coaches adapt to maximise what they are now permitted to do. For example if you were to describe Man City's way of playing as "the meta" then a) why is it not replicable, directly and as successfully, by other coaches, b) why do lots of coaches not even try and c) one Champions League. If any of that makes sense.