About

Garry's Mod (also shortened as GMod) is an independent physics sandbox game, modified from the Source^[2] 3D game engine. The game does not have a set of rules or goals and is used to manipulate props from other Steam based games like Team Fortress 2 or Portal.

History

Garry's Mod^[1] was originally released on December 24th, 2004.^[3] Created by Garry Newman^[4], the game was originally intended as a mod for Half-Life 2. On November 29th, 2006, Garry's Mod was made available for download on Steam, allowing all Valve games to be used in Garry's Mod.

The game has been continually updated since its release. On September 7th, 2010, a Toybox feature was released for the game, which automatically downloads third-party content from the Steam Workshop while the game is running, making it much easier for users to add on the new content and eliminating the need for users to download from alternative websites.

Gameplay

In the game, users can build contraptions by connecting different models such as nails, pulleys, muscles, balloons, hoverballs and more in a number of ways. There are also face, eye, and finger posing interfaces for ragdolls built into the program by default, as well as with 3rd party plugins that allow for scene playback from different characters.

Gamemodes

Other than the pre-installed Sandbox mode, the modding community has created a variety of multiplayer game modes, most of which are available on the Steam Workshop.

Trouble In Terrorist Town

Trouble In Terrorist Town (shortened as TTT) is a game mode created by Bad King Ugrain, in which player-controlled terrorists have to work together in order to find and kill a group of traitors who hide among the terrorists. The traitors are always outnumbered by innocent terrorists, but they can have many teammates if a lot of players are on the same server. If so, the innocents are also assisted by detectives who can use special gear to gain clues about the traitors' identities. Trouble In Terrorist Town was made using assets from Counter-Strike: Source and is one of the game modes officially supported by the creator of Garry's Mod.

Prop Hunt

Prop Hunt, a variable of "Hide and Seek", is a 2009 game mode where players are separated into two teams: Hunters and Props. Props are able to disguise as random objects around the level and have to hide away from Hunters before they kill them.

Murder

Murder is a game mode created by Mechanical Mind, in which innocent bystanders need to survive attacks from a knife-wielding murderer who is disguised as a bystander and can kill others with a single, silent strike. One of the bystanders spawns with a secret revolver which can be used to instantly kill the Murderer and win the game.

Reception

Many add-ons and tutorials are available on the official message board for the site, Facepunch Forums.^[5] There is also an unofficial download site, GarrysMod.org^[11], which hosts a collection of skins, builds, maps, and other addons for the game. Most of the fandom exists around YouTube creations. There is also a GMod Wiki^[12] which hosts a manual, tutorials for new players, and links to other sites to encourage player creations. The Wiki hosts a collection of links to GMod communities^[14], including over 40 forums, 4 download hubs, 5 news sites, and over 20 Roleplaying sites.

Garry's Mod has sold more than 1.4 million copies since its release for sale in 2007, according to the record of sales history published by its creator Garry Newman in March 2012. PC Gamer commented that the enduring success of Garry's Mod exemplifies the potential reward in the continuous development of a title long time after its initial release.

Machinima

Using Garry's Mod's customizable functions and 3D computer graphics rending engines, many users have created original short films as well as re-creating segments from popular films and TV shows that came to be known as Machinima. Such videos are typically created with first-person games like Team Fortress 2, Half-Life 2, Portal and Left 4 Dead and produced by game fans who are sometimes referred to as "machinimists" or "machinimators."

Related Memes

Dr. Hax

Dr. Hax is a character from the GMod Idiot Box YouTube series based on Half-Life 2 characters. The videos are made by YouTuber DasBoSchitt.^[6] The channel was created on December 9th, 2006 and receives nearly 23,000 views a day. Dr. Hax is based on Half-Life 2's Dr. Breen having an inflated head. In the series, Dr. Hax character shouts “HAAAX” while telekinetically thrusting a computer monitor at his target. The act of pointing at a person and shouting "Hax!" evolved into a popular catchphrase on its own.

Grabbin' Pills

"Grabbin' Pills" is a catchphrase commonly associated with the character Louis from Left 4 Dead. In the game, pain pills are an HP boosting item and when a character sees them, he or she exclaims "Pills here!" The catchphrase appears in GMod memes to reference Louis' apparent constant craving for pills or "peels."

Intelligent Heavy and Spyper

Intelligent Heavy and Spyper were both made by YouTuber minifett^[7], whose channel was created on February 3rd, 2008 and gets approximately 4500 views a day. Intelligent Heavy is a Heavy who indulges in his intelligence for answers to questions from the other classes, including his best friend Spyper, a hybrid Spy and Sniper. He is depicted with the BLU Spy's head on the BLU Sniper's body.

Vagineer

The Vagineer is a GMod character made by using the faceposer tool on a Team Fortress 2 Engineer class character. A Vagineer has reversed speech and growls. It can also remove and regrow its own limbs or spit acid at others. The character appears across several different YouTube series, in which he frequently harasses and eats other TF2 characters.

Painis Cupcake

Painis Cupcake (also known as Penis Cupcake) is a character by YouTuber RubberFruit^[8] based on the Soldier class from Team Fortress 2. The channel was created on October 28th, 2006 with over 19,500 views a day. The character introduces himself by saying “I am Painis Cupcake. I will eat you," made by a voice command in the game. In these videos, the character will introduce himself then proceed to fight and devour the target.

Wanna Dance?

Wanna Dance? is based on a YouTube video series featuring characters from various games grooving to trance music in loop. The original video was submitted to Gzero91's Project Flail collaboration by YouTuber FineLeatherJackets^[9] featuring a Team Fortress 2 Heavy. It was remixed many times and while the choreography varies slightly from video to video, the hip swinging and up-and-down movement of arms have become closely associated with this series.

Finally! A Grey One!

Finally! A Grey One! is a fake rumor about a secret achievement that is awarded when the player successfully spawns a gray bouncy ball. The rumor started in the Russian Garry's Mod meme community Garry's Mod в схемах и мемах in October 2020, with memes about the fake achievement gaining larger spread in 2021.

On October 13th, 2020, VK^[15] community Garry's Mod in Schemes and Memes (rus. Garry's Mod в схемах и мемах) posted an American Psycho Business Card meme in which Patrick Bateman stared at a gray bouncy ball, which is not normally spawned unless game files are modified. In the post (shown below), the achievement notification "Finally! A Grey One!" can be seen The post received over 1,300 likes in six months, and several users posted inquiries^[16][17] whether gray bouncy balls exist in the game and whether the achievement was real.

Starting on October 30th, 2020, the group posted multiple memes about gray bouncy balls and the "Finally! A Grey One!" secret achievement existing in Garry's Mod. For example, an October 30th post,^[18] depicting YouTuber SoLiD holding a gray bouncy ball, received over 1,900 likes in seven months (shown below, left). A Hey King You Dropped This meme posted^[19] by the group on November 22nd received over 1,400 likes in six months (shown below, center). In the replies to these and other memes, users posted inquiries about the achievement.

On December 15th, 2020, YouTuber^[20] Erick_Maksimets posted a video debunking the rumor which received over 141,000 views in five months.

In late December 2020 and in 2021, several memes from the group and original memes about the "Finally! A Grey One!" achievement were reposted to the /r/gmod subreddit. For example, on February 15th, 2021, Redditor^[21] Soda238 posted a meme that received over 1,600 upvotes in two months. On April 10th, 2021, @gmod_txt Twitter^[22] gimmick account reposted a meme from the group, with the post gaining over 790 retweets and 5,500 likes

Search Interest

Search for Garry's Mod began in December 2004 when the game was originally released. It peaked in December 2006, right after the Steam release. GMod has had consistently more search, due to it being an abbreviation for several things. Interest peaks in summer months, coinciding with school breaks.

External References