Basic Trope: A Stock Phrase used on allies not taking things seriously enough.
- Straight: When Jill offers to show Jack how to use the MacGuffin, he cracks a joke and fools about; she says this is Not a Game.
- Exaggerated: Jill snaps this when Jack laughs or smiles or does anything unrelated to The Quest.
- Downplayed: Jill started to count kills as if they were points, and Jack shushes her when they need silence.
- Justified: Jack really is that frivolous, but he's necessary; Jill has to try to bring him around.
- Inverted:
- Jack tells Jill that she shouldn't take what is a game so seriously.
- Alternatively Jack tries to convince the three year old Jill that evacuation is a game so that her panicking doesn't cause further problems.
- Subverted: Jill tells Jack that an actual game is Not a Game.
- Double Subverted: Except that the game can be deadly, and is used to settle disputes, so it's not appropriate to treat it as a game.
- Parodied: Jack has this as a Catchphrase and ends up using regardless if it's an actual game or if Jill is taking it seriously.
- Zig Zagged:
- At the beginning of the fight, Jack tells Jill that this isn't a game, and tells her to fight like she means it. The villain, however, is goofing around, so Jill starts fighting less seriously to match him. However, the villain shortly afterwards says "Oh, all that? I was playing pretend! We weren't really fighting..." He then draws his sword and shouts NOW WE'RE FIGHTING!!"
- Averted: Nobody says the line.
- Enforced:"We need some conflict between Jack and Jill — let's establish that Jill takes this much more seriously than Jack does."
- Lampshaded: (in a Videogame) "This is not a game!" *Aside Glance by other character*
- Invoked:"—and now, you're going to tell me it's not a game."
- Exploited:
- Jack starts to talk about points and winning to get Jill to yell at him about how it's not a game in order that Zachariah can sneak in behind her and plant the bug in her quarters, because Jack's The Mole.
- Jill snaps at Jack for the second time about how the mission is not a game. Except this time, Jack had a Heel–Face Turn. Both of them know Zachariah was spying on them, and Jill's yelling is actually a ploy to catch him off guard.
- Defied:"Don't you dare tell me that this isn't a game! I know dammit!"
- Discussed:"I think Officer Jill is the serious type who's likely to remind me that this isn't a game."
- Conversed:"Jill always says that about once every episode, that it's practically her Catchphrase."
- Deconstructed: Although the situation the group is in is very serious and dangerous, Jill takes her mission too seriously causing her to always snap at Jack who only wants to lighten the mood so that everyone doesn't go insane. This causes the group to dislike Jill and Jill herself suffers emotionally from all the undue stress she takes on.
- Reconstructed:
- The group doesn't take the mission seriously enough, with Jack being the worst slacker of the bunch. Jill needs them to be focused to complete the mission so has to constantly tell them to take their jobs seriously.
- Jack's good humor and Jill's seriousness are both needed, to keep concentrate on the end without losing interest or succumbing to despair; they work out a balance between acknowledging that it is not a game, and treating some elements as if they were games, in order to keep their sanity.
What you doing here, playing? This is Not a Game!!!! Go back!
