outside of game influcence = things that may either bleed into the game from outside that can't be vetted (like out of game communication about the game) or things that bleed out of the game that can affect it (like a wager on the game, which may cause a person to play in a way that is not entirely commensurate with their wincon)
what you experienced was off topic conversation
at worst
, or really in this case probably just a non-sequitur, which is neither of these