Every game has rules. If you don't play by the rules there are always repercussions. Maybe you get a bad reputation. Maybe you get kicked out of the game. Maybe there's just some mild penalty. Or perhaps you just don't get invited back to play again next time. But the bottom line is you can not win the game if you don't follow the rules.
Now having said that, just because you have to follow the rules doesn't mean you have to play the game the same as everyone else. In fact, often, in order to win, especially in highly competitive games and sports, you have to come up with something new that other people aren't doing.
The more different variables there are in a competition the more potential different ways there are of taking part. The thing is, most people just focus on one area and do the best they possibly can at that one thing. They see what other people are doing and attempt to copy it, somehow hoping to be better or get better than those who are already at the top of the game.
For some people this works, those who are naturally gifted in whatever sport or game we are playing, or those who are willing to work literally for thousands of hours to be the best. The rest of us though are unlikely to ever reach the top spot if we don't fit into one of those two categories. Not by doing what everyone else is doing.
There is another way though. And it's called meta-gaming. What meta-gaming is all about is observing others who play the game and knowing what it is that they are likely to do ahead of time and then using that knowledge to your advantage.
Essentially you still follow all the normal rules of the game, but you find the best way of beating the people who are at the top of the game by beating their specific strategies.
For example an athlete who is a swimmer is going to have some pretty stiff competition as long as he does what everyone else does. But, if he knows what everyone else is going to do and how they are going to do it, because everyone knows you always copy what the top guy is doing, he can find a better, more efficient way of doing it and skip from the middle of the pack, straight to the top. And until others start to copy his method or find a method that is better still, he will remain at the top.
It has happened multiple times in sports such as swimming or running. The new guy will have some way of doing things that everyone else makes fun of because of how "stupid" or funny looking it is. Until he starts to run or swim circles around everyone else.And its is one of the many reasons why professional sports teams, for example those in the NFL or NBA spend countless hours watching game footage of their opponents. They want to know ahead of time what their opponents are going to do so they can find some way of countering and conquering it.
Meta-gaming is used in nearly every game and every sport where people want to get ahead in some new innovative way without just following the pack. It is useful in everyday life for the average person as well. If you know ahead of time how someone is going to react to a given set of stimuli, you can completely control the situation or at the very least ensure that things turn out to your benefit.
By knowing your opponent and his habits and reactions you can play by the same set of rules that they do and still become nearly unbeatable. And because you are doing something that is counter to the normal way of playing the game, often the other person won't know they've lost until it's way too late.
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