Wise Mystical Tree / If You're Over 25 and Own a Computer, This Game Is a Must-Have

Confirmed 248,383

Part of a series on Gaming. [View Related Entries]

Featured Episode

About

If You're Over 25 and Own a Computer, This Game Is a Must-Have, also known as the Wise Mystical Tree and Must-Play Tree, refers to clickbait ads for several browser games that feature a human-faced tree character and a knight kneeling in front of it, with the text often claiming that if you're above a certain age and own a computer, then you must try the game. In 2017, the ads went viral on 4chan's /v/ board as users parodied and mocked them, with the ads again going viral in September 2022 on Twitter. The images later gained popularity as a video caption and remix format, and have often been combined with the composition "Secunda" from the Skyrim soundtrack.

Origin

Several fantasy artworks depicting a knight standing near a human-faced tree were commissioned by the mobile game company Plarium for the purpose of advertising their browser game Stormfall: Age of War.^[1] The best-recognized artwork, which shows a knight kneeling in front of the tree (shown below, left), was traced from a photograph of a tree in a forest (shown below, right).

The ads have also been used by Plarium for advertising their other games Vikings: War of Clans and ThroneL Kingdom at War and usually feature one of several captions, most notably:

If you're over 25 and own a computer, this game is a must-have!
If you own a computer you must try this game!
This game will keep you up all night

Prior to becoming a meme, the image achieved some online recognition as clickbait ads for Stormfall: Age of War appeared on various sites in the spring of 2017. For example, on May 3rd, 2017, Twitter^[2] page @USgamernet made a post about the artwork (shown below, left). On May 11th, Tumblr^[3] user letshearitforthisclown made a post about it, which received over 8,000 likes and reblogs in roughly five years (shown below, center). On June 11th, 2017, Twitter^[4] user @snakepixel posted a tweet that gained 20 retweets and 100 likes in a similar timeframe (shown below, right).

On June 23rd, 2017, an anonymous 4chan^[5] user posted the artwork to the /v/ board, writing, "ITT games you need to play if you own a computer" (shown below). The thread received over 90 replies in roughly five years.

Spread

Starting in late June 2017, the meme started to spread on 4chan's /v/ board, with users referencing the ads in their posts. For example, on June 28th, 2017, a /v/^[6] user referenced the ads in the opening post of their thread (shown below, left). The meme gained major recognition on the board after July 14th when a user posted a screenshot of a clickbait ad with another artwork of the tree (shown below, right).^[7]

Starting on July 18th, users on the /v/ board posted memes based on the artworks across multiple threads^[8]^[9]^[10]^[11] centered around them (examples shown below).

Between 2017 and 2022, the meme largely fell into obscurity, although several posts referencing it appeared during that period on Reddit^[12] and iFunny.^[13]

In September 2022, the meme resurfaced on Twitter after user @marisagender tweeted^[14] a montage showing multiple "If You Own a Computer" ads with the tree on September 18th, 2022. The video accumulated over 250,000 views, 5,500 retweets and 36,400 likes in three days. The video was originally posted on Twitter^[15] by user @JacobKluding on September 17th, 2022, with the post not gaining significant traction (shown below).