this post was submitted on 15 Dec 2024
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[–] disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world 161 points 6 days ago (6 children)

You mean like when I used to ask my tween daughter how “the game” was going?

[–] Leate_Wonceslace@lemmy.dbzer0.com 92 points 6 days ago (2 children)
[–] disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world 60 points 6 days ago (3 children)

One year I had the baker write on her cake:

Eye

Laws

Dug

Aim

We all crack up watching her meltdown on the video now that she’s older

[–] notabot@lemm.ee 13 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I didn't know Satan had a daughter!

That is some top tier trolling, well done!

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[–] Midnight1938@reddthat.com 19 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Whats this now? How am i already in the 'how do you do fellow kids'??

[–] TheSlad@sh.itjust.works 25 points 6 days ago

The game has been around for generations

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[–] ICastFist@programming.dev 16 points 6 days ago

Every once in a while, my dad makes sure I lose it, just like how I lost now

[–] stevedice@sh.itjust.works 7 points 6 days ago

The earliest recollection I have about The Game is a friend texting me a chicken with a sign that spelled The Game. I had absolutely no idea what that was supposed to mean so I very eloquently asked him "wtf". "You lost the game", he replied. "What game? Dude, what are you talking about?".

He then explained what the game was and how I had lost it by reading the sign on the chicken, something that I thought, and made sure to tell him, was one of the stupidest things to have come out of the Internet. About an hour later he sent me a screenshot from an old conversation where I originally told him about The Game. I somehow had completely erased it from my memory. I won The Game.

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[–] reallykindasorta@slrpnk.net 108 points 6 days ago (1 children)

How long before this is an emoji or otherwise included in Unicode?

[–] grue@lemmy.world 62 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Calling it a rick roll dealt bonus damage.

[–] Thcdenton@lemmy.world 17 points 6 days ago

"the youth" 😏

[–] HonoraryMancunian@lemmy.world 59 points 6 days ago (3 children)

I don't think you have to be under 30 anymore

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 11 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I didn't realise under 30s knew about it.

[–] EncryptKeeper@lemmy.world 5 points 5 days ago

The oldest under 30 would have been 7 years old when Loss was posted.

[–] Anivia 7 points 6 days ago

You have to be over 30 now

[–] Orbituary@lemmy.world 8 points 6 days ago

I've been playing for 30 years.

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 39 points 6 days ago

If they were under 30 ten years ago

[–] theangryseal@lemmy.world 28 points 6 days ago (2 children)

I still have no idea what the fuck is going on with loss. I’ve seen the comic. I don’t get it.

[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 27 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Out of context Loss is actually pretty good, frankly. The thing is the context it was found in doesn't deserve it. It came from a sub-boner humor gamer comic that suddenly got really dramatic. The tone whiplash just struck a nerve at the time, which is why the comic came to wide attention.

Then there's the "is this Loss" meme, which is kind of a prank game where you encode the layout of Loss as abstractly as possible, often with one line, to represent the character walking through the door alone, two lines, one tall and one short to represent him standing and the sitting nurse, two tall lines for him and the doctor standing, and then one vertical and one horizontal line to represent him standing and her lying down. The joke here lies in reminding people of this stupid thing in as abstract and distant a way as possible.

[–] Comment105@lemm.ee 5 points 6 days ago (1 children)

It was a stupid reaction.

Buckley had every right to make that little comic, the amount of backlash for that was completely disproportional even if he had made a terrible comic about killing Skyrim children or something.

A "bad tonal ahift" is nowhere near bad enough to warrant this kind of hate.

[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 27 points 6 days ago (7 children)

He absolutely did have every right to make that comic. And his audience had every right to respond "Whahahahahahat the fuck was that?"

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[–] NikkiDimes@lemmy.world 6 points 6 days ago

Do you "get" rickrolling? It's the same thing

[–] atro_city@fedia.io 35 points 6 days ago (7 children)

What is this even talking about? Rick roll? Knives? Hieroglyphs? What do they have to do with each other?

[–] Escew@lemm.ee 63 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Rick roll refers to tricking someone into opening the YouTube video for Rick Ashley’s Never Gonna Give You Up. Knives are used to cut things, and in this case the father was arranging them to look like the loss comic. Without the context, the layout of the knives appears to just be a hieroglyph, which is a symbol used to convey information.

When you bring this all together, you get a dad having fun with his kids by ironically referencing memes he doesn’t understand. Kind of like how grandma used to call every video game console a Nintendo or every Pokémon a pikachu.

[–] Ephera@lemmy.ml 28 points 6 days ago (2 children)

In case, you're not familiar with the Loss comic, it's this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_(Ctrl%2BAlt%2BDel)

TL;DR: It's an unexpectedly dark comic (hence the psychic damage), and it turned into somewhat of a meme to try to remind people of it, by producing ever more abstract representations of it.
For example, you can post ~~:.|:;~~ here on Lemmy and someone will probably recognize it.

The dad is creating such an abstract representation by arranging knives.

[–] breadsmasher@lemmy.world 21 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (2 children)
[–] can@sh.itjust.works 35 points 6 days ago

⠀⠀⠀⣴⣴⡤
⠀⣠⠀⢿⠇⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢰⢷⡗
⠀⢶⢽⠿⣗⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣼⡧⠂⠀⠀⣼⣷⡆
⠀⠀⣾⢶⠐⣱⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣤⣜⣻⣧⣲⣦⠤⣧⣿⠶
⠀⢀⣿⣿⣇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠛⠿⣿⣿⣷⣤⣄⡹⣿⣷
⠀⢸⣿⢸⣿⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠙⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿
⠀⠿⠃⠈⠿⠆⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠹⠿⠿⠿

⠀⢀⢀⡀⠀⢀⣤⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⡀⡀
⠀⣿⡟⡇⠀⠭⡋⠅⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢰⣟⢿
⠀⣹⡌⠀⠀⣨⣾⣷⣄⠀⠀⠀⠀⢈⠔⠌
⠰⣷⣿⡀⢐⢿⣿⣿⢻⠀⠀⠀⢠⣿⡿⡤⣴⠄⢀⣀⡀
⠘⣿⣿⠂⠈⢸⣿⣿⣸⠀⠀⠀⢘⣿⣿⣀⡠⣠⣺⣿⣷
⠀⣿⣿⡆⠀⢸⣿⣿⣾⡇⠀⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣗⣻⡻⠿⠁
⠀⣿⣿⡇⠀⢸⣿⣿⡇⠀⠀⠉⠉⠉⠉⠉⠉⠁

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[–] notabot@lemm.ee 9 points 6 days ago
[–] cobysev@lemmy.world 24 points 6 days ago (3 children)

The father used knives to create the Loss shorthand on the countertop. He called it "Rick-rolling" because he knows that word is associated with online trolling. He's never seen the original Loss comic, so the arrangement of knives on the counter is more akin to hieroglyphics than anything; an arrangement of symbols to convey an idea.

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[–] BearOfaTime@lemm.ee 16 points 6 days ago (3 children)

Even after reading all the explanations, it still seems very forced and contrived. And definitely not humorous at all, not even grin worthy.

[–] VerilyFemme@lemmy.blahaj.zone 34 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (2 children)

Context is very important here, and maybe it's impossible to find funny if you weren't there for it.

But as just my little take on an explanation, it's less funny than it is shocking, which is what makes it funnier than it is shocking.

I know that's confusing, so let me explain. CTRL+ALT+DEL is like the be all end all of snarky gamer webcomics. Week after week, Tim Buckley would have his characters make nerdy 2000s-2010s gamer puns and complain about video games. It's pretty straightforward, just basically imagine The Gamer™ stereotype and you're pretty much there.

Ex:

So then out of nowhere, Tim starts uploading comics that really focus on relationship drama, culminating in Loss. Then he dropped the idea of being serious in that manner altogether.

So this gamer comic about gaming drops an arc about a miscarriage then immediately goes back to being a gamer comic about gaming without a second thought.

It's truly shocking. So shocking that if you were enveloped in that world at the time, you couldn't help but chuckle at Tim for releasing something like this. It's that mix of shock and (if you know the comic) an utterly unexpected situation that has given Loss staying power.

Remember, a meme is not a joke. A joke is something crafted to make us laugh, but a meme is just an idea with staying power. Yes, some memes have staying power due to their hilarity (I would say maybe "2 guys walk into a bar" jokes fall in this category - the idea is simple and can be set up to end in many different ways, but the goal and the way it's remembered is comedic), but on the flip side a lot of memes have staying power because of the shock they cause (2 girls 1 cup, jarsquatter, Astolfo Monster can, Shrek is Love Shrek is Life).

An element of shock memes that increases their prevalence is the game of "getting" your friends. A lot of those shock clips were circulated through people saying something similar to "oh hey check out this cookie recipe I found" and then deviously sending a link to something horrific instead, thus tricking the victim.

Here's where Loss comes back in, because there's a third relevant category of meme here - "gotcha" memes. These memes play on the same "gotcha" value that helps spread shock memes.... but they're not necessarily shocking. People get a kick out of their friends' reactions when they see that meme, so they send it to them to get that reaction without necessarily causing real trauma by actually sending horrific pornography.

Examples of this include Loss, Rickrolling, Darude - Sandstorm, The Game, Updog. One common factor between these? They generally rely on shared cultural experiences. If you rickroll a 10-year-old they're just going to be like "uhm I think you sent me the wrong link," but it's funny to people who were there for that moment in history.

Another common factor is most of these are spread by people "getting got." If you fall for "smells like Updog in here," I guarantee the first thing you're doing is going to try that out on someone else.

In short, is Loss funny? Not really. But it's not forced either. It's widespread because people reading gamer comics got smacked in the face out of nowhere with a miscarriage plot and it was so outrageous that they spread that feeling of "what the fuck did I just see" all over the internet.

But that's just my two cents.

[–] notabot@lemm.ee 13 points 6 days ago (1 children)

But that's just my two cents.

That was definitely worth more than two cents. A good and thorough overview of what memes are. Thank you for making the point that memes are ideas not just jokes. The knowledge that rubbing two sticks together can start a fire is a meme.

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[–] Taleya@aussie.zone 7 points 6 days ago

Comic that got roasted for trying to be artsy and ended up being mockworthy. Then it got simplified to the lines. Then people started making variations in increasingly ridiculous ways. So kinda like how people run doom on their fridges

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[–] teije9@lemmy.blahaj.zone 14 points 6 days ago

he was arranging the knives to look like loss

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[–] alekwithak@lemmy.world 8 points 5 days ago (1 children)

How old is this? I don't feel like anyone under 30 would know what loss is.

[–] Dasus@lemmy.world 4 points 5 days ago

I'd agree.

But saying "a part of younger millenials" just wouldn't have the same impact as a joke

̶:̶ ̶.̶ ̶|̶ ̶:̶ ̶;̶

[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 14 points 6 days ago (2 children)

No idea how to parse this. Still a proud non-knower of the loss meme.

[–] the_tab_key@lemmy.world 12 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (2 children)

You're not missing out on much. As far as memes go, this one is pretty bad.

[–] DesolateMood@lemm.ee 7 points 6 days ago

As the post says it's about the same quality as a Rick roll. Take that as you will

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[–] fibojoly@sh.itjust.works 8 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Given that the author was genuinely inspired by something he lived (it's never been cleared up for me whether he had a girlfriend experience miscarriage or what), I never really understood the vicious and now eternal mockery. Just goes to show the community...

The meme itself is wonderfully elegant! It's a reduction of the original comic to its simplest form. The sort of shit that should evolve over the course of centuries gets done in a few weeks in the Internet primordial soup. I could write it thus and I reckon it's still recognizable : I Ii II I_

Each bar represents a character in the otherwise silent comic. And is usually presented in a two by two pattern to reflect the comic layout. But it's been deconstructed to much it'd still work as I've rendered it above.

[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 4 points 6 days ago (2 children)

I genuinely can't tell if you're fucking with me

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[–] SplashJackson@lemmy.ca 16 points 6 days ago

Pics or n'est pas le happen

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