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]].

 

* 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]]''

** Ken, however, mistakes the Digital World to actually BE a game in ''[[Digimon Adventure 02]]'', not knowing he was enslaving real beings and, upon his defeat and before [[Heel Face Turn|joining the group]], threatens to "[[Save Scumming|reset the Digital World]]".

** Also shows up in ''[[Digimon Tamers]]''. After learning that Digimon are real, Kazu and Kenta think that being a Tamer and fighting evil Digimon is the coolest thing ever. When they want to accompany Takato to one of these fights, Takato nixes it, invoking this trope.

* ''[[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!"

 

 

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

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

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

'''Mick:''' Tis to me. }}

* ''American Ninja 4: The Annihilation'':

* ''Antitrust'':

* ''[[Titanic]]'':

'''Rose:''' Of course I know it's gone! You remind me every day! }}

* In ''[[Magnolia]]'', while he is participating in a TV game show, Stanley's teammates stress that [[Serious Business|this isn't a game.]]

'''Flynn:''' [[Big No|NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!]] }}

'''Clu:''' Not anymore. ''(kills his opponent)'' }}

'''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 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.

 

** 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 ''His Last Command'', when Gaunt orders Ludd to leave him, and Ludd objects that his orders were to stay with him at all times, Gaunt answers that that was fine when it was just a game, but it wasn't a game any more.

* 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.

* Subverted in ''The [[Black Jewels]] Trilogy'', in that to the Sadist, it ''is'' a game. Near the end of the series, when Daemon's not quite as cold-hearted to everything, the phrase he (and other characters) use to tell themselves they've got to keep going is, "Play the game," or keep the deception against the Big Bads going. Similarly, when witnessing an Arcerian execution, one character says, "He [the huge intelligent tiger] is ''playing'' with him [the man to be executed]." Another character replies, in a grim, low voice, "He's playing, but it isn't a game. This is an Arcerian execution." The tiger then proceeds to precisely, brutally, mercilessly murder the man by batting him around as he would a toy. Considering said tiger weighs in at around 800 pounds, the man lasts about a minute before being gutted and left to die as everyone else watchs. In case you're feeling even the slightest bit sorry for the guy, the reason for the execution was {{spoiler|several (like, twenty plus) counts of rape, including gang raping the village's Priestess, murdering a whole village, and betraying his race, cause, and Jewel.}} Don't read that unless you have a strong stomach or you don't visualize things as you read them.

* In [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Only You Can Save Mankind]]'', the Captain criticizes humanity for thinking all of life as a game. Later, during a class discussion of the war (Iraq, then ongoing), Johnny hears someone asking whether they think the pilots treat it like a game, when they could be killed at any time, and saying that people turn everything into games and it's not games. Then he realizes it was him.

* 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:

* ''[[The Sarah Connor Chronicles]]'' has [[Shell-Shocked Veteran]] Derek Reese thrust into a mentor position for a bunch of teenaged military cadets, who talk about their aspirations. He does not approve.

 

* 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.]]

* Naomi says a variant of it in ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 4'' [[Lampshade Hanging|while images of the logos of all the previous canonical games come up on the screen]].

* In ''[[Persona 4]]'', teen detective Naoto Shirogane drops by the main characters to inform them that the murders they have been investigating have apparently been solved, and that their 'game' is about to end. Of course, by this point many of them have either lost friends or nearly been killed themselves over the course of the investigation, and they angrily point out that if anyone thinks of it as a 'game' it would be Naoto, not them.

* The very first line spoken in ''[[Wheelman]]'' is "You think this is a game? Move!"

* ''[[System Shock]] 2'', said by your [[Mission Control]]: "Why do you move so slowly? Do you think this is some kind of game?"

* ''[[Prince Of Persia The Sands Of Time]]''

'''Prince:''' Game? She thinks this is 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

* ''[[The Dreamland Chronicles]]''

* ''[[Megatokyo]]''

** "[http://megatokyo.com/strip/1058 It's not a game.]"

** "[http://megatokyo.com/strip/1175 That part of me belongs to me. It's not part of any game.]"

 

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

::Which is ironic, since Lyoko does look a lot like a video game. William really should have listened, though.

* ''[[Transformers Prime]]'':

** And the lesson ''still'' hasn't sunk through her thick skull.

* Intro to ''[[Da Boom Crew]]'':

* ''[[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]]