For completeness, x-maxxing morphed out of "minmaxing" in gaming culture.

https://old.reddit.com/r/rpg_gamers/comments/kew14o/ok_what_...

It was fine before they got hold of it.

> x-maxxing morphed out of "minmaxing" in gaming culture.

Which comes from RPGs, the old school tabletop ones. Then I don't know if the ML/DS term "Minmax" predates the RPGs or if it's the other way around, neither would surprise me.

Er shit, thanks for the correction. That's what I thought I was linking to. I'm not good at reddit.