Playing Off Meta #1 - Chess

Rare stats

Odd strats/ rare strats I am understanding better now, why they're enjoyable, they're not just played to win but also get into the conditions required by said strats to be performed.

Otherwise, trying to play like a machine, optimal at every step would be boring, lackluster, etc.

Going for tactics and stats that aren't going to help me through entire matches but rather playing off meta, off kilter of what you're supposed to be playing for the given game in question.

You come up with more clever problem solving and everything; it brings a lot of things together for how you're able to tackle challenges or not. They put you in a position where you need to play optimal under the conditions of the handicap.

Playing against authors intent

I see the idea of the death of the author or game designer but the question becomes around designing a game against the authors intent of strats and tactics. How often times players seem to have fun doing the inverse as the game intended being just as fun and rewarding; though that's not true for every challenge and every game; the ones it's fun for it would seem are the ones that require you to be creative and problem solve or take a solution that goes against the design of the game.

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