Why people say gg?

[Archisian]

I had a snarky reply in mind but I think a serious one is warranted.

It's like a post-game handshake: a very common — but not required — courtesy.

Some people believe that doing this ritual is absolutely required, otherwise you are a bad person.

Some people are of the same mind and others might retort that it was a bad game, actually. Which, well, OK. I'm certainly sorry if an opponent hated the experience.

Then why didn't you consider what your opponent could be thinking or feeling?

At the same time when I'm on the receiving end of a frustrating loss I do consider it a courtesy to let the winner simply enjoy their result. It's respect for the game as well as for your opponent.

You can let them do that without having to denigrate yourself. They won. That's already a good enough feeling. Why must you do more for them?

I think I would speak for most people who do automatic gg's that there is not a smidge of ill intent — nor any demand for reciprocation.

There are people who do.

If I knew more about my opponent and their mental state or could offer something more precise or that I could know would be better received then I would do it. Usually, I don't.

Have you ever thought about talking to them like a normal person?

So it's some variation of gg / well played / thanks for the game / good luck rest of the tourney / congrats / that was close! / "oh sorry, I got so lucky". And that is happily the same treatment I encounter most of the time.

Why do meaningless and emotionless rituals and platitudes make you happy?

[BarnardsStar]

It's all about appearances. They care about "appearing" polite, when in reality, it has nothing to do with actual politeness.

I’d argue that all politeness is about appearances. We have social conventions for a reason—blunt honesty is easily misread as being deliberately offensive. So you couch your words in common phrases and say nice things that you don’t necessarily mean.

Saying "gg" in a blowout as the winner makes you arrogant. As the loser, it makes you look like an idiot prostrating in front of the winner like a weakling.

No, saying “gg” when you’ve won makes you seem arrogant to people with fragile egos who are eager to read offense into such things. There’s a difference.

Being aware of such people, however, I have stopped using gg for the most part. I like that the “canned” responses in the popup appear in their chosen language so I mostly use the canned “Thanks for the game!” response.

"GG" is not nice. It is not polite. It is merely an attempt by a person to appear like they are.

And again, I say that appearing polite is being polite. They’re the same thing.

[FrankJones]

It's all about appearances. They care about "appearing" polite, when in reality, it has nothing to do with actual politeness. Saying "gg" in a blowout as the winner makes you arrogant. As the loser, it makes you look like an idiot prostrating in front of the winner like a weakling.

There are truly, very few games that happen which in a winner or loser can legitimately say were good. 99% of the time, it's all for appearances for the social convention. If you don't do it, especially as the loser, you are tarred and feathered as a sore loser who no one should play games with, even if you never said a single insult or rude remark.

Anyone who says that "gg" is a greeting is being dishonest, to you and possibly to themselves. You don't greet people after something is over and then simply walk away. Greetings are for introductions and an invitation for further conversation. Funny how once someone does interpret it as a greeting, those who said "gg" first immediately want to get away and go onto their next game.

"GG" is not nice. It is not polite. It is merely an attempt by a person to appear like they are.

Are you okay?

Therapy is available if you need it.

Why does this require therapy?

Because it sounds completely unhinged.

[Archisian]

I’d argue that all politeness is about appearances. We have social conventions for a reason—blunt honesty is easily misread as being deliberately offensive. So you couch your words in common phrases and say nice things that you don’t necessarily mean.

I believe that politeness is an extension of actual kindness, or at least should be considered more synonymous with each other. You would agree that a polite person isn't necessarily a kind person, right? I think we should start considering politeness and kindness as the same thing, rather than the fake show it's currently viewed among the majority of people (it seems). And while blunt honesty could be offensive, the "politeness" that people perform is usually transparent most of the time. Most people see words said in this performance as either passionless nothing-words that they have no inclination to care about or thinly veiled sarcasm and pettiness. Humans are pretty good BS detectors and we can sort the actual kind people from the unkind people.

No, saying “gg” when you’ve won makes you seem arrogant to people with fragile egos who are eager to read offense into such things. There’s a difference.

If someone was truly not arrogant and really wanted to tell their opponent that the game they played was actually good, then they'd strike an actual conversation with their opponent. Continuous use of a bog-standard response shows that the winner is, at best, being dishonest about the game since they neither cared whether it was a good or bad one since, as you mentioned, they say it without meaning anything. Or they say it to congratulate themselves on winning. There is no way saying "gg" first as a winner can have any positive connotations for the loser, unless the winner tries to actual build a connection with the loser.

And again, I say that appearing polite is being polite. They’re the same thing.

I'll refer to my first point again. If politeness is to mean "something you have to do because of appearances", then it has no meaning whatsoever.

[Archisian]

Because it sounds completely unhinged.

So, wanting people to be genuine with their words and have mutual kindness is being unhinged?

[Ezahl Vinclair]

It's all about appearances. They care about "appearing" polite, when in reality, it has nothing to do with actual politeness. Saying "gg" in a blowout as the winner makes you arrogant. As the loser, it makes you look like an idiot prostrating in front of the winner like a weakling.

There are truly, very few games that happen which in a winner or loser can legitimately say were good. 99% of the time, it's all for appearances for the social convention. If you don't do it, especially as the loser, you are tarred and feathered as a sore loser who no one should play games with, even if you never said a single insult or rude remark.

Anyone who says that "gg" is a greeting is being dishonest, to you and possibly to themselves. You don't greet people after something is over and then simply walk away. Greetings are for introductions and an invitation for further conversation. Funny how once someone does interpret it as a greeting, those who said "gg" first immediately want to get away and go onto their next game.

"GG" is not nice. It is not polite. It is merely an attempt by a person to appear like they are.

None of this is absolute fact.

Can you absolutely 100% know for sure that it’s all about appearances? The answer is no.

Can you absolutely 100% know for sure that saying "gg" in a blowout as the winner makes you arrogant? No.

Can you absolutely 100% know for sure that saying "gg" as the loser makes you look like an idiot prostrating in front of the winner like a weakling? No.

“There are truly, very few games that happen which in a winner or loser can legitimately say were good.” - Winners and losers play games to have a fun experience. They don’t necessarily care about whether they win or lose if the game is fun.

“99% of the time, it's all for appearances for the social convention. If you don't do it, especially as the loser, you are tarred and feathered as a sore loser who no one should play games with, even if you never said a single insult or rude remark.”

So what if it’s all for appearances? People mean well and are trying to be nice. Even if you have a shadow side inside your mind and you have negative thoughts and negative feelings running around in your private mental-emotional space, you don’t necessarily act them all out for the sake of complete honesty. No. You meet these feelings and thoughts with complete awareness and you learn to process them with emotional intelligence..knowing and realizing that they actually don’t define who you are.

If a loser for a game doesn’t say “gg”, so what? It doesn’t automatically mean they are a terrible person. There could be many other reasons they didn’t say it.

“Anyone who says that "gg" is a greeting is being dishonest, to you and possibly to themselves. You don't greet people after something is over and then simply walk away. Greetings are for introductions and an invitation for further conversation. Funny how once someone does interpret it as a greeting, those who said "gg" first immediately want to get away and go onto their next game.”

People can have positive intentions and mean well when they say “gg”. Whether it’s a greeting or not makes no difference. They mean well. Your interpretation and perception of it and the personal meaning you give to it as dishonest does not make saying it “wrong” or “bad”. Even if it seems like a person said “gg” as an act of sarcasm after a blowout victory, they could still mean well. Your subjective interpretation of their decision and intent behind saying ‘gg” might be off kilter.

Long story short, treat ‘gg” as an attempt at good sportsmanship…If it does not seem to feel that way, learn to skillfully process your thoughts and emotions using introspective intelligence and emotional intelligence.

[Shobu]

Seeing how "gg" seems to trigger someone's own insecurities, there's an interesting topic for psychological studies here. Not forgetting how randomness put people into despair, another recurring discussion.

[Manic Meeple]

I think it's only fair to contribute a bit of trivia here on behalf of this guy who is maybe a bit old school and maybe a bit presumptuous, but he's definitely not unhinged. And there may be an age barrier here. He's at least half right, but no more than half these days. The meanings have changed with the time and I think most people are simply saying Good Game without any deeper meaning. But 10-20 years ago within competitive online gaming, all those other points were part of the culture. GG meant good game but specifically in a way that is congratulatory from the loser to the winner, when it becomes obvious how the game will end. Like tipping over your king to forfeit in chess rather than limping along wasting time, GG came from the impending loser like saying "ok yeah you got me", without necessarily needing to play through to the last second. So having said that, you could see why it would be rude coming from the winner, like asking "aren't you ready to forfeit yet?"

I dunno where all the stuff about weakness comes from, and like I said it just doesn't mean that anymore; language evolves. But to be fair, dude's not just TOTALLY UNHINGED. Maybe just a tiny bit

[ExaltedAngel]

I think making assumptions about what someone else means when they say something so common as "gg" is just stupid. Just reply “gg” like polite people and leave it at that, without all the unnecessary arguments

[Jellby]

Reminds me of the "What do you mean 'thank you'?" scene in the Fresh Prince. I can't find it online though, the line could be different, since I remember it in Spanish...

Ah, here it is: https://clip.cafe/the-fresh-prince-of-b ... ugh-crowd/