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 IV
Sid Meier's Civilization III
Sid Meier's Civilization
Sid Meier's Civilization VI
Sid Meier's Civilization V
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
Sid Meier's Pirates!
Earthworm Jim
Shrek: Ogres and Dronkeys
Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender
Tony Hawk's Underground 2 Remix
X-Men: Wolverine's Rage
Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions
Twinsen's Little Big Adventure Classic
Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy
Call of Duty: World at War
King's Quest II: Romancing the Throne
Gladius
Earthworm Jim: Special Edition
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue!
X2: Wolverine's Revenge
Tony Hawk's Underground 2
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
Murder on the Mississippi
Spider-Man 2
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4
Call of Duty
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III
SpongeBob HeroPants
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines
Guitar Hero World Tour
The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct
Dragster
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
Bloody Roar: Primal Fury
Phantasmagoria
Call of Duty: Black Ops III
Skylanders: Giants
The Manhole
Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar
Plok
Tony Hawk's American Wasteland
Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time
Vigilante 8
Bomberman Tournament
Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style
Call of Duty: Black Ops