Viewing Single Trivia
▲
1
▼
In 2012, TV Tropes user Tunafish edited the site's page for the Civilization series to claim that Gandhi can become the most aggressive character in the original game due to a rollover error. World leaders' aggression levels drop by two points upon adopting democracy; because Gandhi's aggression is set to 1, the lowest possible value, the pacification allegedly lowers it to -1, which defaults to 255, the highest possible value.
Despite the edit not providing any evidence, the claim nonetheless circulated online in subsequent years. Because leaders will vehemently pursue a nuclear weapons policy when their aggression is high enough, the claim spawned the "Nuclear Gandhi" meme among Civilization fans, poking fun at the apparent dissonance between the real Gandhi's pacifism and his fictional counterpart's apocalyptic jingoism. A KnowYourMeme page on the memes further distorted the rumors by claiming that the bug first appeared in Civilization II rather than the first game; as of March 2024, the page now acknowledges that the rumors are false.
The Nuclear Gandhi claim was eventually debunked by series creator Sid Meier in his 2020 autobiography, Sid Meier's Memoir!: A Life in Computer Games. In the book, Meier revealed that Civilization and Civilization II are respectively programmed in C and C++, which are immune to the kinds of rollover errors that the urban legend describes. Consequently, Gandhi's aggression level remains at 1 after the adoption of democracy. Nevertheless, Meier admitted that he found the memes surrounding the urban legend funny.
Despite the edit not providing any evidence, the claim nonetheless circulated online in subsequent years. Because leaders will vehemently pursue a nuclear weapons policy when their aggression is high enough, the claim spawned the "Nuclear Gandhi" meme among Civilization fans, poking fun at the apparent dissonance between the real Gandhi's pacifism and his fictional counterpart's apocalyptic jingoism. A KnowYourMeme page on the memes further distorted the rumors by claiming that the bug first appeared in Civilization II rather than the first game; as of March 2024, the page now acknowledges that the rumors are false.
The Nuclear Gandhi claim was eventually debunked by series creator Sid Meier in his 2020 autobiography, Sid Meier's Memoir!: A Life in Computer Games. In the book, Meier revealed that Civilization and Civilization II are respectively programmed in C and C++, which are immune to the kinds of rollover errors that the urban legend describes. Consequently, Gandhi's aggression level remains at 1 after the adoption of democracy. Nevertheless, Meier admitted that he found the memes surrounding the urban legend funny.
Edit history on the TV Tropes page for Civilization showing Tunafish's edit:
https://web.archive.org/web/20120901052801/http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/article_history.php?article=VideoGame.Civilization&more=t
KnowYourMeme page about Nuclear Gandhi:
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/nuclear-gandhi
TheGamer article:
https://www.thegamer.com/nuclear-gandhi-meme-civilization/
GameRant article:
https://gamerant.com/civilization-gandhi-nuclear-aggression-bug-myth/
https://web.archive.org/web/20120901052801/http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/article_history.php?article=VideoGame.Civilization&more=t
KnowYourMeme page about Nuclear Gandhi:
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/nuclear-gandhi
TheGamer article:
https://www.thegamer.com/nuclear-gandhi-meme-civilization/
GameRant article:
https://gamerant.com/civilization-gandhi-nuclear-aggression-bug-myth/
Comments (0)
You must be logged in to post comments.
Related Games
Sid Meier's Civilization II
Sid Meier's Civilization IV
Sid Meier's Civilization III
Sid Meier's Civilization V
Sid Meier's Civilization VI
Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires
Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar
RollerCoaster Tycoon
Disgaea: Hour of Darkness
Dynasty Warriors
Dynasty Warriors 8
Worms Armageddon
Persona 3 FES
Samurai Warriors
Uncharted Waters: New Horizons
Dynasty Warriors 4: Empires
Dynasty Warriors 6
Croc 2
Warriors Orochi 2
Persona 3
Sid Meier's Pirates!
Samurai Warriors 2 Empires
Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender
Samurai Warriors 2 Xtreme Legends
Makai Kingdom: Chronicles of the Sacred Tome
Samurai Warriors 2
Dynasty Warriors 7
Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce
Dynasty Warriors 6
Dynasty Warriors 3
Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories
Dynasty Warriors 5
Pirates! Gold
Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine
Cooking Companions
Madness: Project Nexus
Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust
Metal Morph
Arcanum: of Steamworks and Magick Obscura
Sunset Overdrive
Tekken 2
Legend of Mana
Dalek Attack
Dragon Ball Z: Super Butouden 2
Densha de GO!
Samurai Shodown
Sora
Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator
Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel
Mafia