小学生

What does 小学生 mean?

“小学生放假了”, the elementary kids are on break, is a warning issued twice a year, and veterans rearrange their ranked schedule around it. 小学生 is almost never about actual age. It describes behaviour: the teammate who feeds and then blames everyone else, rages in chat, quits at the ten-minute mark, plays like 菜鸟 while arguing like a professional analyst. On international servers the shorthand is three letters, “xxs”, and every Chinese player in the lobby winces in recognition.

Where does 小学生 come from?

2013, the Chinese League of Legends boom, is when gaming claimed the insult as its favourite label. Media stories about children skipping homework to play ranked gave the old stereotype its modern shape. The roots go further back, to forum culture of the early 2000s, where 小学生 tagged clueless newcomers straight out of a metaphorical primary school. Since then every winter and summer break has found ranked queues blaming their losses on the school calendar.

How to use 小学生

• 匹配到三个小学生，这把没了。
  Pǐpèi dào sān ge xiǎoxuéshēng, zhè bǎ méi le.
  Queued with three elementary schoolers — this match is done.
• 小学生放假了，排位没法打了。
  Xiǎoxuéshēng fàngjià le, páiwèi méi fǎ dǎ le.
  School’s out — ranked is unplayable now.