The funniest gaming memes everyone loves to remember

One of the best ways to make people remember something is to get them to laugh. Humor is a great thing that connects people in ways most don't even think about. This is why video game-related memes are often very popular and shared among people all the time on social media. Whether or not it's tied to a game people really enjoy is irrelevant, especially if it makes them laugh. And with so many video games ripe with material that makes for great comedy, the memes that come from them can have people chuckling for a very long time. You just can't keep a good meme down.

But what are some of the best video game memes that people love to remember? Some references to games in memes have become so popular that they never go away from public consciousness. When delivered at the right moment, they can be a great way to make others laugh at any time. And the internet never forgets an excellent meme. Here are some of the funniest gaming memes that people love to remember.

Take an arrow to the knee

If you talk to any fan of role-playing games, chances are The Elder Scrolls will get brought up at some point. But not always for the reasons one might think. The series is full of amazing fantasy role-playing elements, deep customization, and beautiful locations to explore. All of these things would be great points for someone to bring up about games like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, but then they took an arrow to the knee. And there lies the humor of something so silly, but it was able to take on a life of its own.

This meme comes from some of the dialogue when interacting with guards in various parts of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, where they say they used to be a great adventurer like the player, but then they took an arrow to the knee. It's a phrase meaning that someone has given up something for a different kind of life, often one that is calmer and relaxing. In most cases where the meme is referenced, people use it as a way to avoid doing something. "I used to play sports a lot, but then I took an arrow to the knee." It was a meme that spread around the internet like wildfire, with so many people referencing it for nearly any kind of situation, and to this day, it remains a popular phrase among gamers who know even the slightest bit about The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

3 Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Here we go again...

Another meme that became very popular comes from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas from 2004. The main character of the game, CJ, occasionally has dialogue at random moments when moving around. Towards the beginning of the game, following the opening cutscene, CJ has a moment where he talks to himself after being harassed by corrupt police officers in a bad neighborhood. CJ says to himself, "Ah shit... here we go again..." as the player regains control. It's a meme that has become bigger than the Grand Theft Auto game that it originated from.

It was this moment that many latched onto and began to share around in nearly any context. The meme became so popular after 2015, when images with the phrase and a screenshot of the scene were shared online. As it often does, the internet ran wild with it and had many people creating variants of the scene with humorous results. Some people had goofy characters, political statements, comedic topics, and so much more, opposite of CJ, as the phrase was shown with text at the bottom. Various internet users even went as far as to use the scene with clips from their favorite shows and anime series, which were widely and positively received by many people. It's a meme that is still used to this day and shows no signs of slowing down.

2 Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

Press F to pay respects

A sad moment in a video game can be a powerful thing, making people feel emotion through a heavy scene. However, the same emotional moment can be turned into a tool of humor in more ways than anyone can think of. This is the case with a scene in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, where the player attends the funeral of a soldier who died in South Korea during a mission. The scene has the player pay their respects after prompting them to do so, which asks them to press the F key on the PC version of the game. Console versions of it would have a different button prompt corresponding to the platform. For many people who played Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, this felt like an example of forced interaction that was out of place for what was to be a sad moment in the story.

People online mocked the scene and used it in various montages shared over platforms like YouTube. The meme became so popular that the phrases "press F to pay respects" and "Fs in the chat" were often used for moments of sadness and failure online. Many live-stream audience chats use the phrase, usually when something negative happens, and it has become even more popular. Variants of the meme became common as well, with some people changing some of the wording to make funny moments or statements to the audience. What was once a moment of sadness became one of the most common and funny statements for gaming culture. It single-handedly made the letter "F" on a keyboard one of the most popular keys ever used.

1 World of Warcraft

Leeroy Jenkins

World of Warcraft was, and still is, a very popular MMO game that people play. Which is why so many cultural moments and phrases are tied to the game and people who have played it over the years. One massively popular meme that still gets a laugh to this day comes from 2005. The guild PalsForLife shared a video on the official World of Warcraft forums, showing the events of a raid they were planning in Upper Blackrock Spire. After some intense planning and discussion, one player named Leeroy Jenkins charges into the area prematurely and screams out the now legendary battle cry. The moment is made even funnier by the reaction from the guild that came shortly after. And following a struggle for the guild to recover from the chaos, members of the guild lament what had just happened, with Leeroy saying it wasn't his fault.

The moment was sparked by so many people online and outlets referencing it, including a member of the US House of Representatives in 2023. To many, the moment with Leeroy Jenkins was emblematic of what can happen when someone runs into a situation without proper planning and preparation. However, the funny moment was embraced by Blizzard Games and everyone else as a fun part of gaming culture. Blizzard even went as far as to include Leeroy as an NPC in World of Warcraft, as well as reference him in other merchandise and supplemental material related to the game. To date, it's one of the most referenced gaming memes in pop culture, with various TV shows and other projects bringing up Leeroy Jenkins at humorous moments.

The memes will never die

Gaming memes are a fun part of video game culture that continues to make people laugh to this day. Even those who don't have the context of the games they might come from, or experience playing them, often know of the memes that people continue to share. Some people just need a good laugh, and often like to remember some of the funniest memes when they first exploded in popularity. With more video games being released, there will inevitably be more memes to create and react to online. But nobody can ever forget some of the classics that made us laugh and enjoy being part of video games.