Millennial Writing
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About
Millennial Writing is a slang term that refers to a type of writing, primarily in video games, that is distinguished by an unnecessary abundance of sarcasm, meme and pop culture references and cliché quips such as Marvel One-Liners. The most recognized example of "millennial writing" is the Borderlands video game series, High on Life and the 2022 reboot of Saints Row, while screenwriter Joss Whedon is generally considered a major influence. Following a 2023 YouTube video that popularized the term, millennial writing became a viral subject of discourse on X (Twitter) and 4chan's /v/ board.
Origin
Precursors
On May 14th, 2016, an anonymous 4chan user made a post in which they parodied the quippy, rambling writing style in the video games Borderlands 2 and Battleborn (developed by Gearbox Software), comparing it against succinct writing. The comment, posted in a /v/[1] thread about Battleborn, gained six replies in roughly seven years (shown below) and was widely circulated online in the following years.[2]
On August 14th, 2018, comic book writer Chuck Wendig made a tweet[3] in which he humorously described human life as being a "magic skeleton packed with meat and animated with electricity and imagination." The tweet (shown below) gained over 11,400 reposts and 31,300 likes on X in five years and has since been circulated as a prime example of "millennial writing."
The style of writing in Borderlands 2 and Borderlands 3 remained a topic of discussion in /v/ and other video game communities online through the late 2010s and early 2020s. For example, on March 25th, 2022, X[4] user @Googleygareth made a tweet about a way to mod all audio lines from Borderland 3, which received over 3,600 reposts, 29,100 likes and 1,400 bookmarks in one year.
Marvel One-Liners / So That Just Happened
On March 4th, 2022, the superhero film The Batman (based on the DC Comics of the same name) was released. Shortly prior to the film's release, jokes about fans of Marvel Comics and movies (a more lighthearted universe compared to DC Comics) being angry at the film not having many quips in it gained popularity on TikTok.
Following the release and the initial complaints, Fans When memes about Marvel fans not finding any such one-liners in the film became popularized (examples shown below), with the style of humor in Marvel films becoming a subject of ridicule.
"Millennial Writing" Term Coined
On January 23rd, 2023, YouTuber[5] ShreddedNerd made a video titled "Millennial Writing," a video essay with critical analysis of writing in Borderlands 2, the 2022 remake of Saints Row, High on Life and other video games. The video (shown below) received over 1.1 million views in seven months.
I've noticed a trend in writing. It seems to be getting more common over time. It's a certain type of writing I'm trying to describe, the best term I can of to call it is Millennial Writing. You'll find out why.
Okay, imagine this: you know those tweets that are like, "capitalism kow key killed our vibe and gaslit us into being okay with our bosses and landlords taking our excess value," and then it has like 260,000 likes? I'm more so just referring to the Twitter style of speaking, the tone and affectation and vocabulary. Now, have you noticed this style of writing in modern games?
Spread
Starting on January 26th, 2023, the term started spreading online. On that day, an anonymous 4chan user posted a thumbnail from the ShreddedNerd video and wrote "How do we stop the problem of millennial writing in games," starting a /v/[6] thread that garnered over 110 replies in eight months (shown below, left). On February 5th, Twitch streamer Asmongold reacted to the video essay, with the reaction video gaining over 1.8 million views on YouTube[7] in seven months (shown below, right).
![MILLENNIAL WRITING 91KiB, 1280x720, maxresdefault.jpg View Same Google ImgOps SauceNAO Fo Anonymou [117/8/56] s Thu 26 Jan 2023 21:58:32 No.625638 164 Deleted View Orig inal Report Quoted By: >>625639459 >>625639737 >>625640381 >>625641069 >>625641359 >>625641649 >>625641928 >>625642192 >>625643135 How do we stop the problem of millennial writing in games?](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/002/656/409/968.jpg "How do we stop the problem of millennial writing in games?")
Throughout 2023, the term achieved more recognition on 4chan's /v/ and on X, seeing increased use following the releases of Forspoken, Viewfinder, Baldur's Gate 3 and Starfield. For example, on July 19th, 2023, X[8] account @VinesauceClips posted a clip of Vinesauce Vinny reacting to "millennial writing" in the indie game Viewfinder by immediately setting speech volume to zero. The clip (shown below) received over 13,000 reposts and 89,200 likes on X in two months.
LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL pic.twitter.com/kVY98WTKvv
— Vinesauce Clips Bot (@VinesauceClips) July 19, 2023
Various Examples
![Baldur's Gate 167KiB, 1200x630, capsule_616x353-3e91.jpg View Same Google ImgOps SauceNAO >>646576867 >>646577218 >>646579918 Anonymous [9 / 3 / 7] Mon 07 Aug 2023 06:55:27 No.646576 389 View Origi nal Report Quoted By: >>646576821 This is pretty fun so far but the Marvel tier quipfest millennial writing is the only thing breaking my immersion. I thought were were past the Claptrap era. Do you think we will be able to mod it out with A.I eventually?](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/002/656/340/4cf.jpg "This is pretty fun so far but the Marvel tier quipfest millennial writing is the only thing breaking my immersion")
![BORDERLANDS PANDORA'S BOX 13KiB, 300x168, descarga.jpg View Same Google ImgOps SauceNAO Anonymo[14/5/11] us Sun 03 Sep 2023 16:37:00 No.6495 11549 View O riginal Re port Quoted By: >>649511764 >>649512802 >>649512902 >>649513218 >>649513252 is anybody getting more tired of milenial writing in video games? >normal writing:turn on the generator by fliping on the switches so we can get out of here ill mark it on your map >millenial writing:hey dudeeeeeeeeeeee good job killing those badies now we need to get out of here so turn on those flipin' switches or those mutants will poke our eyes out! and I could not see my space babe magazine! so my guy i marked it on this napkin so if you are a decent human being turn them on](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/002/656/342/5a8.jpg "is anybody getting more tired of millennial writing in video games?")
Search Interest
External References
[1] arch.b4k.co – /v/ Post #337630843
[2] Reddit – /v/ Describes Battleborn's Writing
[3] X – @ChuckWendig
[4] X – @Googleygareth
[5] YouTube – Millennial Writing
[6] arch.b4k.co – /v/ Thread #625638164
[7] YouTube – How Millenials Ruined Video Games
[8] X – @VinesauceClips
.jpg "Why Is Millennial Humor So Weird?"){kind=icon}
.jpg "Quirk Chungus"){kind=icon}
![MILLENNIAL WRITING 91KiB, 1280x720, maxresdefault.jpg View Same Google ImgOps SauceNAO Fo Anonymou [117/8/56] s Thu 26 Jan 2023 21:58:32 No.625638 164 Deleted View Orig inal Report Quoted By: >>625639459 >>625639737 >>625640381 >>625641069 >>625641359 >>625641649 >>625641928 >>625642192 >>625643135 How do we stop the problem of millennial writing in games?](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/list/002/656/409/968.jpg "How do we stop the problem of millennial writing in games?")
![BORDERLANDS PANDORA'S BOX 13KiB, 300x168, descarga.jpg View Same Google ImgOps SauceNAO Anonymo[14/5/11] us Sun 03 Sep 2023 16:37:00 No.6495 11549 View O riginal Re port Quoted By: >>649511764 >>649512802 >>649512902 >>649513218 >>649513252 is anybody getting more tired of milenial writing in video games? >normal writing:turn on the generator by fliping on the switches so we can get out of here ill mark it on your map >millenial writing:hey dudeeeeeeeeeeee good job killing those badies now we need to get out of here so turn on those flipin' switches or those mutants will poke our eyes out! and I could not see my space babe magazine! so my guy i marked it on this napkin so if you are a decent human being turn them on](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/list/002/656/342/5a8.jpg "is anybody getting more tired of millennial writing in video games?")
![Baldur's Gate 167KiB, 1200x630, capsule_616x353-3e91.jpg View Same Google ImgOps SauceNAO >>646576867 >>646577218 >>646579918 Anonymous [9 / 3 / 7] Mon 07 Aug 2023 06:55:27 No.646576 389 View Origi nal Report Quoted By: >>646576821 This is pretty fun so far but the Marvel tier quipfest millennial writing is the only thing breaking my immersion. I thought were were past the Claptrap era. Do you think we will be able to mod it out with A.I eventually?](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/list/002/656/340/4cf.jpg "This is pretty fun so far but the Marvel tier quipfest millennial writing is the only thing breaking my immersion")
![MILLENNIAL WRITING Millennial Writing Shredded Nerd 532K views 3 months ago 22:00 256KiB, 544x418, millennials.png View Same Google ImgOps SauceNAO ⠀ Anonymous [217/34/101] Wed 17 May 2023 04:25:23 No.637443018 Deleted View Original Report Quoted By: >>637443146 >>637443207 >>637443305 >>637443405 >>637443426 >>637443480 >>637443553 >>637443619 >>637444326 >>637444919 >>637444970 >>637445005 >>637445076 >>637445241 >>637445280 >>637445313 >>637445456 >>637445621 >>637445713 >>637446070 >>637446246 >>637446452 >>637446623 >>637446625 >>637447236 >>637447675 >>637447753 >>637447908 >>637447964 >>637448014 >>637448251 Why did Millennials feel the need to ruin gaming like they've ruined everything else? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyHG8EfcA5c](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/list/002/656/323/919.jpg "Why did Millennials feel the need to ruin gaming like they've ruined everything else?")
![Chuck Wendig @ChuckWendig TUESDAY. The day you realize that nothing can stop you, because you are a MAGIC SKELETON packed with MEAT and animated with ELECTRICITY and IMAGINATION. You have a cave in your face full of sharp bones and five tentacles at the end of each arm. YOU CAN DO ANYTHING, MAGIC SKELETON 109KiB, 960x773, C69DC9D4-7187-41 CD-AB9E- 75C3C4A101DB.jpg View Same Google ImgOps SauceNAO Anonymous Sat 25 Feb 2023 12:13:53 No.628989858 Deleted View Original Re [55/6/ 35] port Quoted By: >>628990174 >>628990181 >>628990420 >>628991141 >>628991320 >>628992763 >>628992924 >>628993284 >>628993793 >>628993914 >>628995195 Will zoomers end the nightmare of millennial writing or will they just be worse?](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/list/002/656/318/950.jpg "Will zoomers end the nightmare of millennial writing or will they just be worse?")
Top Comments
MCC1701
Sep 06, 2023 at 12:51PM EDT
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Sep 06, 2023 at 01:14PM EDT in reply to