"Selling books is like a game; it has rules, and you have to learn them and get serious about them because it's not a game!"
— Evan, Black Books
Sue Charlton: Mick — be careful. This isn't a game.
Mick: Tis to me.
Mick: Tis to me.
— "Crocodile" Dundee II
Art3mis/Samantha: This isn't a game, Z!
Bill (as Parzival/Wade): Are you sure? 'Cause it really looks like one!
Bill (as Parzival/Wade): Are you sure? 'Cause it really looks like one!
Alex Mason: My god... the numbers are real!
Interrogator: They've always been real, Mason! This isn't a game! We face annihilation unless you cooperate! Where is the broadcast station!?
Interrogator: They've always been real, Mason! This isn't a game! We face annihilation unless you cooperate! Where is the broadcast station!?
Megamind: Whoa, whoa, whoa! This isn't how you play the game!
Titan: Game over!
Titan: Game over!
— Megamind
"Have you been playing all summer? You think this is a game? Well, guess what: you just lost."
— Hopper, A Bug's Life
Generic Girl: You're mining a trash heap. Not for uranium, just for junk. Stop pretending to be a supervillain, Penelope. This isn’t a game.
Bad Penny: Then why are you playing, Claudia?
Bad Penny: Then why are you playing, Claudia?
Neon Rider: This isn't a game.
Spider: Perhaps we should make it one.
Spider: Perhaps we should make it one.
"Because it's not a game, Kate! This is a scale model of war! Every war ever fought right there in front of you! Because it's always the same! When you fire that first shot, no matter how right you feel, you have no idea who's going to die! You don't know whose children are going to scream and burn! How many hearts will be broken! How many lives shattered! How much blood will spill until everybody does what they were always going to have to do from the very beginning: SIT DOWN AND TALK!"
— The Twelfth Doctor, Doctor Who, "The Zygon Inversion"
Hera: Is everything a joke to you?
Eiffel: Only things that are ridiculous, which lately, yeah, pretty much everything.
Eiffel: Only things that are ridiculous, which lately, yeah, pretty much everything.
— Wolf 359
Look at you. Is there one thing you have done that is good? Did you think this was all a game? 'I will go to Africa and I will play the white man with the natives.' Is that what you thought? We are not a game, Nicholas. We are real. This room here, it is real. I think your death will be the first real thing that has happened to you.
Julius: This isn't a game, you know.
Bob: Of course it's a game. Everything's a game, Julius. It has to be. Life is whimsical, random, and cruel, but a game is something you can win.
Bob: Of course it's a game. Everything's a game, Julius. It has to be. Life is whimsical, random, and cruel, but a game is something you can win.
Chris: Oof, what's with all this seismic activity?!
Ian: Really! It keeps happening, like, every 30 seconds.
Jack: Maybe he's just wandering around the lab aimlessly.
Chris: This isn't a video game. Real monsters don't do that.
[cut to the monster pacing back and forth within the lab]
Ian: Really! It keeps happening, like, every 30 seconds.
Jack: Maybe he's just wandering around the lab aimlessly.
Chris: This isn't a video game. Real monsters don't do that.
[cut to the monster pacing back and forth within the lab]
— Minilife TV, "Mini-Monster Mayhem!"
Gregory: James! Cover your ears at once! if you start dancing, your soul!
James: But grandpa, this is so much fun!
James: But grandpa, this is so much fun!
Gregory: No James! Stop it! This isn't a game! If you dance to this rhythm, your soul will leave your body!
Ada: This is getting old. Saving your ass, that's twice!
Leon: I didn't realize you were keeping score.
Ada: Look, this isn't a game! Nothing dies down here.
Leon: I didn't realize you were keeping score.
Ada: Look, this isn't a game! Nothing dies down here.
If you miss a line in the game, you reset. If you miss it on the track, you could die.
— Jack Salter, Gran Turismo (2023)
