Your first paragraph is pretty much spot-on, but the meta-game behind these builds is actually more complicated. E.g. as judged by the community, "rush" strategies are no less legitimate than "standard" play and a good player will be able to execute and defend against both types of play.
Within the SC community, the term 'cheese' is used for these kinds of non-standard or "all-in" build orders that anticipate an early end to the game. A good parallell to draw would be the QB sneak in American football. When an offense intends to use this tactic, they are intentionally disregarding everything they've invested in the QB's throwing arm, wide receivers and running backs whose job is usually to advance the ball after receiving it from the QB. The tactic works because the defense is caught unprepared, deceived into preparing for a more elaborate play which never materializes.
Mastery of the cheese / QB sneak is worthless if that's all the player / offense is capable of doing, because eventually the defense / other players will catch on and stop it every single time. However, as part of a balanced repertoire of strategies it can be very useful, keeping the opposition on their toes and making the player much less predictable. Interestingly, very fast economy builds which completely sacrifice early-game army are also considered 'cheese' because, like the all-in rush, their only hope for success is when the opponent does not expect them.
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Your first paragraph is pretty much spot-on, but the meta-game behind these builds is actually more complicated. E.g. as judged by the community, "rush" strategies are no less legitimate than "standard" play and a good player will be able to execute and defend against both types of play.
Within the SC community, the term 'cheese' is used for these kinds of non-standard or "all-in" build orders that anticipate an early end to the game. A good parallell to draw would be the QB sneak in American football. When an offense intends to use this tactic, they are intentionally disregarding everything they've invested in the QB's throwing arm, wide receivers and running backs whose job is usually to advance the ball after receiving it from the QB. The tactic works because the defense is caught unprepared, deceived into preparing for a more elaborate play which never materializes.
Mastery of the cheese / QB sneak is worthless if that's all the player / offense is capable of doing, because eventually the defense / other players will catch on and stop it every single time. However, as part of a balanced repertoire of strategies it can be very useful, keeping the opposition on their toes and making the player much less predictable. Interestingly, very fast economy builds which completely sacrifice early-game army are also considered 'cheese' because, like the all-in rush, their only hope for success is when the opponent does not expect them.