Skill Issue / Simply a Difference in Skill

About

Skill Issue is a slang expression used in video game trash-talk, usually as a soft way of telling the opponent they are bad at the game. Starting in 2020, the expression spawned a series of reaction memes and GIF captions with the phrase also seeing ironic use as a comment on situations when skill has nothing to do with one's loss. Sounds Like a Skill Issue and Simply a Difference in Skill are common variations of the phrase.

Origin

While the exact origin of the phrase is unknown, its origin is presumed to be the streaming platform Twitch, where it was used by professional and highly skilled players to dismissively comment on other, less-skilled players in situations when they dominated them. The phrase saw the initial influx of use on social media in early September 2020, when it was used by Twitter^[1][2] and Reddit^[3] users to mockingly respond to people who complained about losing in video games (example posts shown below), with the most prevalent form of the phrase being, "sounds like a player skill issue."

The phrase likely achieved initial popularization among Roblox players and among Rogue Lineage players in particular, as several posts made in November 2020 in /r/RogueLineage and other Roblox-related subreddits,^[4][5][6] were titled "skill issue," with at least one post inquiring about the origin of the phrase.^[7]

On November 2nd, 2020, YouTuber^[8] swieg posted the earliest found meme using the phrase, a video of a person dancing captioned "skill issue." The upload received over 24,000 views in one and a half years (shown below, left). On December 2nd, 2020, Tenor^[9] user SirSauce posted a GIF based on the video, likely for further use on Discord (shown below, right).

Spread

In memes, the phrase saw an initial spread in late 2020 and early 2021 in the form of GIF and video captions uploaded to Tenor^[10][11] to be shared on Discord servers. For example, on November 20th, 2020, YouTuber^[12] Monk-ey uploaded a video caption based on the CGI Monkeys Dancing video (shown below, left).

On November 27th, 2020, Urban Dictionary^[13] user Creator_of_Niat added a definition for the phrase, defining it as, "something you say when someone complains about a game aspect that is completely their fault and has nothing wrong with it." On January 2nd, 2021, Urban Dicttionary user rogue lineage sucks defined the phrase as "a word describing the lack of skill in ones performance in a game," with this definition receiving over 440 thumbs up and becoming the most popular one.

Through 2021, the phrase spread across several major gaming communities, including fighting games such as Super Smash Bros.^[14] and Street Fighter,^[15] rhythm games such as OSU!^[16] and Friday Night Funkin'^[17] and hardcore singleplayer games such as The Binding of Isaac.^[18]

Along with its spread, the phrase also saw increasing ironic usage, with players commenting "skill issue" when poor game balance or a bug is clearly at fault.

Related Memes

Git Gud

Git Gud, an intentional misspelling of the phrase "get good," is an expression used to heckle inexperienced players or newbies in online video games, similar to the use of the phrase "lurk more" on forums.

Diff

Diff is an abbreviated slang form of the word "difference" that has been used in the gaming communities for trash-talking purposes. The word, paired with an indication of a players role (such as "tank diff" "dps diff," "jungle diff" etc.), is used to convey that the player on the trash talker's team is performing worse than the player in the same role on the opposing team. The word gained particular prominence in the League of Legends and Overwatch communities, and also has been used as a part of powerscaling memes.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References