To add my fuel to the fire, I think one of the biggest things I've learned from competitive multiplayer games (at least the ones that aren't pure races or two-team contests) is that at some level they all devolve into "vote who wins" and its variants (usually some combination of kingmaking, popularity/influence contests, and sheer luck.) The darker "vote who wins" games depend on deception for influencing the other players' actions (so I try to avoid those games.)

Many real-life situations also seem to be variants of "vote who wins" so it can be helpful to recognize those situations and act accordingly.

Even if you're stuck in a "vote who wins" game, it is still usually worth it to play the core game as well as you can, even if the outcome will primarily be decided by the metagame.