GameSpot may receive revenue from affiliate and advertising partnerships for sharing this content and from purchases through links.

Sid Meier Confirms Nuclear Gandhi Is Sadly Just A Myth

As it turns out, one of the internet's favorite gaming stories is just that--a story.

4 Comments

In all of gaming lore, there is no tale as whimsical as that of Nuclear Gandhi, the story that tells of how a programming quirk turned the famously non-violent Indian leader into an aggressive warmonger with a penchant for nukes. While there have been attempts to debunk the story over the years, Sid Meier has finally come out and said that Nuclear Gandhi is, in fact, a figment of our collective imaginations.

The original story, for those who are unfamiliar, claims that in the original Civilization, Gandhi was given the lowest possible aggression rating, as befits a figure of his reputation. However the bug occurred when a player adopted democracy, which would reduce aggression automatically by two. With Gandhi already at an aggression rating of one and the program unable to handle negative numbers, it would cycle back around to give the Indian leader an aggression rating of 255, the highest in the game. From there, Gandhi would become a fearsome monster as soon as he had possession of nukes.

Please use a html5 video capable browser to watch videos.
This video has an invalid file format.
00:00:00
Sorry, but you can't access this content!
Please enter your date of birth to view this video

By clicking 'enter', you agree to GameSpot's
Terms of Use and Privacy Policy

Now Playing: Making Life Epic: A Lookback at Sid Meier’s Beloved Classics

In subsequent games, the story claims, the programmers gave Gandhi a higher aggression as an easter egg, calling back to the original story. The only problem is--none of it is true.

Sid Meier has written in his memoir, as quoted by Bloomberg, that there was no such bug in the original Civilization, and that the story itself is based on an incorrect premise--though he does enjoy the joke. "It's one of those mysteries that it's almost fun to keep mysterious," Meier said.

This attitude was mirrored in a letter sent to Chris Bratt, a journalist who investigated the myth of Nuclear Gandhi for People Make Games last year. "In some ways, it may be best not to know," Meier's letter to Bratt read. "Given the limited technology of the time, the original Civ was a game that took place mainly in the player's imagination… I'd be reluctant to limit what that player can imagine by introducing too many of my thoughts," he said.

Now, the cat's out of the bag on the original story--but if you would rather believe that Nuclear Gandhi actually happened, I'm sure Sid Meier wouldn't mind.

Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com

Join the conversation
There are 4 comments about this story