Press F to pay respects

Lore & Background

In Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, the default control to interact with an object is F on PC, a button on Xbox, and a button on PlayStation, with the latter two held instead of pressed. The prompt "Press F to Pay Respects" (or "Hold [button] to Pay Respects" on consoles) appears during a scene where the player character mourns the death of his comrade, who was killed saving his life. When the player presses the key, the character steps forward, places his right hand on the coffin for several seconds, then turns and leaves.

According to 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 changed the scene after a military advisor objected to using a Navy SEAL tradition, as the character is a U.S. Marine. Screenwriter John MacInnes described the prompt as "a byproduct of late-stage game development" that he did not have control over, and said 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 game Batman: Arkham City, where Batman can visit the alley where his parents were murdered, and the prompt appears if the player approaches the chalk outlines of their bodies. Andrew Vestal of Gamasutra noted 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."

Reader's Guide

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 being arbitrary, unnecessary, and inappropriate to the mournful tone of the funeral the game otherwise intended to convey. In 2014, Conan O'Brien reviewed the game on a "Clueless Gamer" episode and criticized the scene. Paste described the mourning process as terrifically funny with the potential to catch on as a viral meme.

The phrase has since become detached from its source and is sometimes used sincerely. In the years after the game's release, users began typing a singular "F" in chat windows on websites such as Twitch to convey condolences or sorrow when reacting to unfortunate news, leading streamers to refer to this as "F in the chat". A notable example was in the tribute stream for the Jacksonville Landing shooting, where some viewers responded by posting a single letter "F" in the chat.

In retrospect, Morgan Park of PC Gamer described the meme as Call of Duty's greatest legacy. Vitor Braz of GameRevolution called it one of the most popular video game memes of all time. Cecilia D'Anastasio of Kotaku referred to it as iconic, stating it's not because it's "uniquely stupid", but because "the balance between 'sad' and 'flippant' is so hilariously lopsided". Ky Shinkle of Screen Rant described it as a video gaming meme that never gets old, and stated that it's common among gamers when "F" appears in unfortunate news or circumstances.

Did You Know?

• The prompt originally involved hammering a pin into the coffin per Navy SEAL funeral rites, but was changed after a military advisor objected because the character is a U.S. Marine.
• Screenwriter John MacInnes said he did not know the prompt was in the game until a journalist asked him about it.
• A similar prompt appeared in the 2011 game Batman: Arkham City, where it was optional.
• The phrase led to the practice of typing a single 'F' in chat windows on Twitch, known as 'F in the chat'.