I believe this is some sort of myth. I do not believe it’s the players, who take the fun out of a game.
I’d say it comes down to specifics. If the most optimal way to play a game is something completely inconsistent with the initial experience, to the point that you have to do it in order to get the most rewards out of the game and to not be left behind by other players, the fault lies with the devs, not the players.
Let’s make up a stupid example:
I make a game about jousting or fighting while being on a horse, you know… mounted combat… that’s what the game is about.
The game will have it’s audience, people that find that enjoyable and fun.
If it turns out, that the best way to play is to actually get off the horse and to walk around all slowly, but somehow you’re able to accomplish more on foot, when the entire point of the game is about you riding a horse…
well, that’s not the player taking the fun out of the game, that’s the dev lacking foresight and not fixing the game accordingly.
The moment you have that inconsistency, where the core and fun way to play is not the best way to win, that comes down to how the game was designed by the dev and having a fundamental flaw, not, that the player found the flaw.
Now to an actual example:
I remember back in early RoS when the best way to do Greater RIfts was for there to be a Witch Doctor support, that would keep monsters perpetually feared and rooted, effectively turning them into statues.
So we have like a D1, D2 and D3 vanilla, which are about monsters coming for you and attacking you, and then you have a game where you just walk around and you kill statues. And there is the inconsistency.
Now, is it the fault of the player for finding, that you can keep monsters in perpetual crowd control to the point, that they stay like statues?
Or is it the fault of the dev for lacking the foresight, that the various stats and items allow for a WD to turn everything into statues… I’d say it’s the devs fault.
Again, I don’t think there’s a big problem with players generally getting better at a game and raising the bar slightly. I think the problem is, when the best way to player a game is somehting, that does not match the original design and what people originally enjoyed about the game.