In a gaming scene the word cheese is used to describe strategies or ways of playing that are really powerful and do not require much skill from the players side at the same time. The term is widely used both in video games and tabletop games alike.
It is extremely subjective, there's no strict definition of what is "cheese" and what is not, but that's besides the point.
What are the origins of it? What has cheese to do with "undeserved" victories, cheap strategies, etc.?
Best Answer
I'm not sure about the Korean explanation, but it definitely predates the strategy game Starcraft, which was first released in 1998, and was at least five years earlier in beat-'em-up games such as Street Fighter II.
Searching Usenet, I found cheese strategy used on Aug 22, 1993 in alt.games.sf2 in a post called "SF2:HF(Turbo) Ken Strategy Guide".
Here's the cheese strategy involves making simple, easy moves to defeat your opponent. These moves were often described as cheese moves or just cheese.
Another Street Fighter II thread of Dec 6, 1992 in rec.games.video.arcade titled "Cheese glorious Cheese!" includes cheese used a verb and a noun:
A definition was given in alt.games.sf2 on Jun 18, 1992 in "Bison's Cheesepeedo":
Cheese move dates back to at least Apr 6, 1992 in "SF2 TCE Match Ups" in rec.games.video.arcade:
The very earliest mention I found of this cheese in any form (although I expect there will be earlier ones) was in "SFII (SFI)", posted to rec.games.video.arcade on Jan 27, 1992:
Finally, a July 1994 rec.games.video.arcade thread debates "To cheese or not to cheese" and an October 1993 alt.games.sf2 thread discusses the (regional) differences between ticking, cheesing, cheating and cheaping. Perhaps cheese comes from a combination of "cheap" (as in a cheap move), "cheat" and "easy".