Can someone Explain to me why is There a Meta in League?

Nothing prevents different play. The meta is a result of people trying to optimize the game to be a certain way.

In league, it also is helpful to have some meta because that allows people to know what's happening in each game they play. If you only have the beginning of game timer to decide, it can be hard.

Anywho, the specfic meta in league wasn't decided for awhile, but it was eventually decided that the adc should have someone guarding him in lane, since they have the best late-game damage potential. That became bot lane, and that's where supports go because getting your adc fed is the most important, and that's what supports do best.

The solo lanes are efficient because that's the easiest way in the game to get xp and gold. Mages were typically played mid because they weren't tanky, and needed a good escape if they got ganked. Mid is the shortest lane. Since they are a carry (less than the adc, but still), they needed a safer lane. So mage goes mid.

Top lane was for a bruiser or fighter because it was the most dangerous. You put a tank there because it was the most dangerous place on the map. Long lane, no partner to help you.

The jungler does his thing because that allows for two solo lanes and maximizes the gold and xp a team gets from the jungle. It also gives one person who cannot be seen most of the game, opening the possibility for ganks.

I did not play league in beta. This is my piecemeal understanding of the reasoning from early on. Of course, you don't always run a tank top lane now. And mid is not always a sustain damage mage. But the current meta MOSTLY sticks to this formula, and most deviations are designed to counter it. Any iteration that is different (assassins mid, bruisers top, whatever in the jungle) have kind of been an offshoot of this meta.

Any older players, correct me as needed.

Other players, that's what. Meta only means that some champions have bigger advantages when they are played on a certain lane/role and is therefore a good guideline for new players to orient themselves on. But sadly, too many player take the meta too serious and follow it blindly, like sheep.

Everything in life can be done in an optimal way.

Because it's simple, easy, and efficient for strangers to get together and form a (mostly) balanced team comp.

But it's too narrow-minded, if you ask me. People think about what champion does well in what lane, but they don't think about how their champions will synergize with the rest (maybe except adc and support).

Take Darius for example. He's a decent lane bully, but what happens if bot lane takes Sona and mid lane has Zed (and a jungle Lee Sin)? During teamfights, you can deal a lot of damage, but the enemy team is more likely to have more cc.

The meta is easy, but people don't think beyond that.

It's simply a matter of wanting to win. It just so happens that playing in the current role configurations usually beats all other role configurations.

Another reason that the carries are mid and bot lane is to more easily take and guard the dragon. Which is actually more important in S5 than in previous seasons.

Nothing "prevents" everyone from playing differently. But when teams are organizing in the lobby most will end up going to the established patterns for a reason.

First - every team wants someone who can do a lot of damage late game preferably from range as by then some of the melee champs are dangerous to be near. This results in teams wanting an ADC.

But - the ADC tends to be very squishy and vulnerable early in the game, so you provide a "support" to help keep them alive. And as you have 2 people together, and need to have eyes on the dragon, these 2 go to the bottom lane.

Then teams want to take advantage of their jungle, this requires either a bruiser or a tank usually (yes there is AD Nidalee or Fiddlesticks, but they aren't common and for the jungle qualify as "bruiser"). These champions will be largely invisible to the other team at first as they level up in the jungle area, but are expected to help for group kills (ganks) in lane and control of the dragon.

Mid-lane is positioned so that the minion waves arrive faster. So you want someone who can take advantage of that. This often means you send a mage who needs levels or an assassin who can roam between waves of minions. in truth anyone can go here, but with assassins and burst mages being popular other champs are often either ineffective or end up completely destroyed.

Top-lane is where most teams send their tank or their bruiser/off-tank depending on what kind of jungler they have. This champ is expected to be very self-sufficient early as they are far from the dragon and the focus of the early objectives, but they have to scale well into the mid and late game when they often are in the front during team fights.

You could do something different, and I've seen it done, but the problem is that it can also really hurt your team. If you try to play Nidalee in the ADC spot you sacrifice a lot of the late game damage and often can't control dragon well early. Yes, Nidalee can be a monster late game with enough AP, but she could have probably got that in the jungle and not replaced the main DPS member of the team. I've seen Fiora taken midlane and do very well early only to fall off late game when her level advantage is slowly erased and there is no burst killer on the team to help clear the way for her.

If you really want to go off meta, I'd recommend doing it in normals and talking to your team at the start so they understand what you want to try. Also make sure you are really good on the champion so you can handle being out of position.

Riot nerfing everything that changes the meta within a matter of a month prevents you from playing differently.

Or should I remind people of the 2-1-2 targon's top lane strategy which somehow "killed junglers" even though the 1-1-1-2 meta was perfectly doable and worked just fine.

players mindset

Basically it's because what accomodates better for gold eficiency and giving the team a bit of everything it needs.

Also to the guy who mentioned about Targon, that was nerfed because the item was simply broken, not because it killed jungle.