Gaming Memes Everyone Uses
Press F, the cake is a lie, Leeroy Jenkins, sus. Where gaming’s most famous lines and jokes came from.
Gaming has its own language, and a lot of it leaked into everyday internet slang. Here’s where it came from.
The classics
"It’s dangerous to go alone! Take this." (The Legend of Zelda, 1986): an old man in a cave hands you a sword. People use it whenever they give someone something.
"All your base are belong to us": a badly translated line from an old game called Zero Wing. In the early 2000s it became one of the first viral internet memes.
"Do a barrel roll!" (Star Fox 64, 1997): the advice nobody asked for.
The legends
"Leeroy Jenkins!" (World of Warcraft, 2005): in a famous video, a team carefully plans an attack, and one player charges in yelling his own name, getting everyone wiped. Now it means ruining a plan by rushing in.
"The cake is a lie" (Portal, 2007): a robot keeps promising you cake as a reward. There is no cake. It means a promised reward that’s fake.
"Press F to pay respects" (Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, 2014): a funeral scene where the game literally prompts you to press F. Now people type "F" in chat when something sad or embarrassing happens.
The newer ones
"Sus" (Among Us, 2020): calling out the impostor. It took over all of 2020.
"Git gud" (from the Dark Souls community): what veterans tell players who complain the game is too hard. "Skill issue" is the 2020s version.
"GG": good game. Said sincerely at the end of a match, or sarcastically when it’s obviously over.
Speedrunning
Some players compete to finish games as fast as possible, using glitches and frame-perfect tricks. The Games Done Quick speedrun marathons stream these runs live and have raised millions of dollars for charity.
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