Not a Game: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

"This isn't a game." or "We are not playing a game." (Or sometimes "We are not playing.")

 

[[Sister Trope]] to [[This Is Reality]], but with no invocation of the [[Fourth Wall]] (unless, of course, it's being said within a [[Video Game]]). [[You Watch Too Much X]] is a milder [[Sister Trope]]. Compare with [[And You Thought It Was a Game]].

{{examples}}

* In ''[[MAR]]'', the evil Chess Pieces have created a War Game where the last remaining strong good guys can fight against them in a final struggle for the fate of the world. When attacking the land of wizards, Kaldea, the [[Big Bad]] Phantom comes across the protagonist Ginta, and fights him off without any effort. As said fight was not during the war games, Phantom let him live, saying that "today's fight was just for fun." Ginta promptly goes berserk, exclaiming that it is ''NOT'' a game.

* ''[[Digimon]]''

* Speaking of Pet Monster series, ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'' did this trope as well. In the episode spent in the Orange Islands, the [[Team Rocket]] tells the twerps that "this isn't a video game?"

* ''[[Summer Wars]]'' is about an A.I. hacking into an online virtual world that the real world uses for nearly everything. When the protagonists try to stop it, their families gradually realize the activities they have been playing on their handheld devices ''isn't exactly a game...''

 

* A number of DC Comics fans relate "This isn't a game" immediately to Batman and his various Robins, given how often this phrase is uttered between them (or from one Robin to another). Specifically, [[Dead Sidekick|Jason/Robin II]] is linked to the belief that it's a game; meanwhile, Steph/Robin IV yelled at [[Complete Monster|Black Mask]], before he beat her and started torturing her, that "this isn't a game!"

* When [[Cerebus Syndrome]] sets in during the 4th volume of ''[[Bone]]'', Gram'ma Ben tells the innocent Fone Bone, "Where do you think you are?! Back in Boneville!? It's high time you realized that this isn't a game, Bone!"

 

* In ''[[With Strings Attached]]'', when George asks what happens if they can't get a piece of the Vasyn during their quest, Jeft tells them that “this is not a game you can win on good intentions and points. You have victory conditions....” The other Fans think he's just using gamer terminology, but the irony is that {{spoiler|that this really ''is'' a kind of game that Jeft set up}} and is actually quite true.

 

* ''[[The Incredibles]]'':

{{quote|'''Mrs. Incredible''': Remember the bad guys on those shows you used to watch on Saturday mornings? Well, these guys are not like those guys. They won't exercise restraint because you're children. They ''will'' kill you if they get the chance. Do not give them that chance.}}

* ''[[Megamind]]''. Titan has no use for banter or jibes. He is just a murderous, brutish thug.

{{quote|'''Hopper:''' You think this is a game? Well, guess what: you just lost.}}

* ''[[Crocodile Dundee]] II''. Mick Dundee is about to go up against some gangsters.

{{quote|'''Sue Charlton:''' Mick -- be careful. This isn't a game.

'''Muir:''' Oh, yes it is. It's exactly what it is. And it's no kid's game either. [[Serious Business|This is a whole other game. And it's serious and it's dangerous. And it's not one you want to lose.]] }}

* The tagline for the infamous ''[[Super Mario Bros. (film)|Super Mario Bros]]'' movie was "This Ain't No Game."

{{quote|'''Johnny:''' Oh, come on! We just said this is serious!}}

:: The fact that it's Johnny, who is usually the jokester on the team, who says this only further emphasizes how serious the situation really is.

 

* [[Dan Abnett]]'s ''[[Gaunt's Ghosts]]'' novels:

** In ''Only in Death'', {{spoiler|after the loss of Gaunt}}, Rawne informs his officers to tell the men that if they slip up, they will make {{spoiler|Gaunt's}} [[Heroic Sacrifice|sacrifice]] [[Senseless Sacrifice|in vain]]. When they are shocked:

* In CS Goto's ''[[Dawn of War|Blood Ravens]]'' novel ''Dawn of War: Ascension'', Gabriel threatens an eldar to try to get a translation from him, informing him that it was not a game.

* In ''[[Percy Jackson and The Olympians]]'', Percy rebukes Nico for not taking a game of capture-the-flag seriously, pointing out that they had real weapons that could really hurt: this is serious.

* Walter Jon Williams' appropriately titled ''This Is Not a Game'', about an [[Alternate Reality Game]] producer using her forums and players to get her out of a burning Jakarta, has the forum admins constantly reminding the players that this one is Not a Game.

* In ''[[The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe]]'', when all four Pevensies swipe coats from the wardrobe to wear in snowy Narnia, one of the younger siblings suggests they could pretend they're Arctic explorers. An older sib points out that their circumstances are already exciting and mysterious enough, there's no need to pretend anything. Not quite a [[Matter of Life and Death]], but same trope.

* In [[Adrian Tchaikovsky]]'s ''[[Shadows of the Apt|Dragonfly Falling]]'', Drephos annoys a Wasp officer by speaking of the next move in the game (the war); when asked if it was a game to him, Drephos retorts that it is the officer, too, and they knew the stakes.

* In [[Dale Brown]]'s ''Sky Masters'', Patrick calls Dr. Masters out on his flippant, overly casual attitude with regards to the oncoming battle.

 

* ''[[Chuck]]''. Casey to Chuck, after the latter (a Geek Squad employee) claims he can defuse a bomb:

{{quote|"This is not an [[Xbox]]. You are not an [[X-Men|X-Man]]."}}

{{quote|"Best of the best. Counting kills, like it's a game. Like it's just a game. I remember one particularly fun day: A guy in my squad got his stomach blasted open in a fire fight. He spent six hours, holding his own guts in. His buddy carried him on his back to the nearest aid station, just praying that someone could put the dumb son of a bitch together again. The game, Pyle... the game is played with your buddy's life -- with the life of your squad, your platoon. The game is played by you, on behalf of the whole damned human race!"}}

 

{{quote|'''Spider-Man:''' This isn't a game, Mysterio! The symbiotes will destroy ''everything'' in their path unless I can stop them!}}

* On one [[Sidequest]] in ''[[Mass Effect]]'', Shepard has to convince a woman to stop working as an informant because her sister is worried about her. At one point, Shepard says "This isn't a game, Jenna. These people are dangerous!" which I found amusing because, [[Don't Explain the Joke|you know, it]] ''[[Don't Explain the Joke|is]]'' [[Don't Explain the Joke|a game.]]

* In a [[No Damage Run]] of ''[[Thwaite]]'', one of the villagers thinks the action is [[All Part of the Show|just an elaborate fireworks show]], and another has a hard time convincing him otherwise.

 

{{quote|'''O-Chul:''' This isn't the dungeon. In a war, people on the winning side still die.}}

* In ''[[Girl Genius]]'', the Castle warns Agatha that claiming to be the Heterodyne is not a game.

* In ''[[Alien Dice]]'', when Chel says something like "This is only a game." to Lexx, he screams "I am playing for my life!"

* [http://daringnovelist.blogspot.com/2010/07/miss-leech-and-yard.html Miss Leech and The Yard] starts with the inspector informing the [[Little Old Lady Investigates]] that

* In ''[[Sequential Art (webcomic)|Sequential Art]]'', [http://www.collectedcurios.com/sequentialart.php?s=700 Pip uses it -- and finds some skepticism.]

 

* Used in the ''[[Code Lyoko]]'' episode "Final Round":

{{quote|'''Aelita:''' This isn't a video game, William.}}

* ''[[Invader Zim]]''. In the episode "Nanozim" Dib and Zim face off in a nanobot battle within Dib's body. Gaz walks by and sees Dib controlling his nanobot, and asks what game he's playing. Dib screams "This is no game, this is my life!". Gaz tells him to use the "quarter-circle-back" cheat to transform, which works, half subverting the trope.

 

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Stock Phrases]]