side quest

/side kwest/

noun

Meaning

An optional activity, mission, or pursuit separate from a person’s main objective. In video games, a side quest is outside the central storyline; in informal everyday use, it describes an unexpected errand, distraction, hobby, or small adventure that interrupts the original plan.[1]

1. In a video game, an optional mission or storyline separate from the main quest and usually offering extra challenges, rewards, or background.
2. An unplanned detour or distraction from the activity someone intended to do.
3. A secondary project, job, hobby, or pursuit carried on alongside a person’s main work or direction.

Examples

“Went out for coffee and somehow ended up on a three-hour side quest.”

“Bathroom side quest. Back in five.”

“My main quest is finishing this report; learning latte art is the side quest.”

“The grocery run became a side quest when we found that tiny bookstore.”

“This weekend’s side quest: finding the best dumplings in town.”

Origin and spread

Side quest is a compound from video-game language. In games, it names an optional mission that is separate from the main storyline or quest chain. A 2013 academic study of video-game narrative describes side quests as independent, optional narratives, while a PagerDuty engineering article dated August 26, 2020, uses the term as a metaphor for secondary career and workplace projects. The same gaming framework now commonly carries into everyday speech, where an unexpected errand, distraction, or hobby is humorously presented as an extra mission. The evidence supports circulation beyond gaming by 2020, but does not establish a single inventor for the broader slang use.

How to use it

Side quest is informal, playful, and usually lighthearted. Use it when there is a recognizable main task and an optional extra activity pulls attention elsewhere. It works for a quick detour, a spontaneous adventure, or a longer-term hobby. Calling a serious obligation, relationship, or another person a side quest can sound dismissive, so the phrase is safest when the framing is clearly joking. In formal writing, use secondary project, diversion, or additional activity instead.

Sources

1. PagerDuty Engineering Blog — Side Quests For Work: The Main Quest Can Wait (Sometimes)Supports: meaning.
2. Wikipedia — Sidequest (disambiguation)Supports: form.