Press F to pay respects
"Press F to pay respects" is an Internet meme that originated from Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, a 2014 first-person shooter in Activision's Call of Duty franchise. It originated as a set of instructions conveyed during an in-game quick time event at a funeral service. Widely mocked by critics and players due to its forced element of interactivity that was not perceived to be tastefully executed, the phrase would later become a notable Internet meme in its own right. It is sometimes used by Internet commenters to convey solidarity and sympathy, either sarcastic or sincere, in response to unfortunate events.
Origin
In Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, the default control to "use" or interact with an object is on PC, Image:Xbox button X.svg|15px|alt=X on Xbox, and on PlayStation, with the latter two buttons being held instead of pressed. The prompt "Press to Pay Respects" appears during a scene where the player character mourns the death of his comrade, who was killed saving his life in battle. When the player presses the key, the character steps forward and places his right hand on his comrade's coffin for several seconds, then turns around to leave.According to Advanced Warfare level designer Steve Bianchi, this was a last-minute change: the original segment had the player hammer a pin into the coffin per Navy SEAL funeral rites, but the creative team had to change the scene after a military advisor objected to using a Navy SEAL tradition, as the character in question is a U.S. Marine. In an interview with theScore esports, Advanced Warfare screenwriter John MacInnes described the prompt as "a byproduct of late-stage game development" that he did not have control over, adding he did not know it was in the game until a journalist asked him about it.
The same prompt had appeared previously in the 2011 video game Batman: Arkham City, in a section where Batman can visit the alley where his parents, Thomas and Martha Wayne, were murdered, the prompt appearing if the player chooses to approach the chalk outlines of their bodies. Andrew Vestal of Gamasutra noted that the difference between the two games was that in Arkham City, the prompt was optional, and that "Ultimately, it doesn't matter if the player decides to pay their respects or to keep on walking. The point has been made."
Reception
Upon the release of Advanced Warfare in November 2014, many critics and players mocked the cutscene for its forced or awkward element of interactivity that seemed out of place at a memorial service. The mechanic was frequently criticized and ridiculed for both being arbitrary and unnecessary, as well as being inappropriate to the mournful tone of the funeral the game otherwise intended to convey.In 2014, late night show celebrity Conan O'Brien reviewed Advanced Warfare on a "Clueless Gamer" episode and criticized the scene. Paste described the mourning process, which takes the form of a quick time event, as terrifically funny with the potential to catch on as a viral meme.