PlanetPhillip » Archive » Poll Question 082

Poll Question 082 - Is the Gman good or evil?

Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3

I was surprised by the voting last week and could be again this week.

Is the Gman good or evil?

I Like Him

Let’s be honest, without the Gman things might not be so interesting within the Half-Life universe. Perhaps we only see the side that makes him seem bad. Perhaps he keeps kittens in his apartment and presses flowers. Or he could be a bit naughty and eat kittens in his apartment and burns flowers instead of candles. Either way, he is here to stay. Or is he?

There have been plenty of theories published about him and now it’s your chance to decide once and for all.

The Poll

CrowbarSka 10th May 2008 at 15:55 1

I don’t think he’s strictly ‘good’ or ‘evil’. I think he has his own agenda and sometimes this conflicts with other peoples’ agendas.
Aniline 10th May 2008 at 23:58 2

I think Gman is Gordon Freeman from the future who has come back to correct things he messed up the first time around.
Bladesinger 11th May 2008 at 01:31 3

I agree with CrowbarSka, I don’t think he is good nor evil. He get his orders from someone else.
kalkin 11th May 2008 at 04:04 4

I voted other - I think the game makes it very clear that he has his own agenda and he is trying to use Gordon to achieve it. So Gordon gets pretty messed up by this although he benefits at times - so both good and evil.
tox (dev) 11th May 2008 at 20:44 5

I voted other : (I think he is) A few ‘good’ G-man
mel 12th May 2008 at 13:34 6

All Gman are good, otherwise they would not be a Gman.
Mman 12th May 2008 at 14:27 7

Other, I don’t think G-man is either good or evil in their main terms. However, I do think it’s pretty much inevitable that G-man’s goals will conflict with Freeman’s sooner or later (they pretty much have already) and he will need to be dealt with in some way, which I guess classfies him as “bad” in terms of the game.
CeeJay.dk 12th May 2008 at 21:03 8

I too agree with CrowbarSka. The G-man has his own agenda, and manipulates events from the shadows.
He is no friend of the Combine and he does act against them , but that doesn’t make him good.
The enemy of my enemy, is not always my friend. Only thing is certain .. the G-man can only be trusted to serve his own agenda , or that of his employer.
He uses other people and entire races as pawns in his game, but he may be a pawn himself.
planetphillip 12th May 2008 at 22:36 9

planetphillip Said:

All Gman are good, otherwise they would not be a Gman.

I don’t following your thinking. Why are all Gman good?
Berrie 12th May 2008 at 23:00 10

I choose other as well.
He clearly has another agenda, that doesn’t directly benefit either the combine or the humans, to this end he does what he has to achieve his goals.
Neal 13th May 2008 at 17:19 11

Other, of course. He is against the combine and the vortigaunts for sure. What are his goals? We may never know for sure. He just uses Freeman to carry out his wishes. In fact, I think Freeman is a Gman too. Just not as high ranking as the Gman. And very confused.
Memobot 13th May 2008 at 17:59 12

He doesn’t have his own agenda but is a willing sevant to a higher authority
LarixUthule 14th May 2008 at 03:28 13

Beyond good and evil.
mel 14th May 2008 at 04:10 14

The term G-man derives from the 1920/30 prohibition era in the USA, when the main job of the FIB agents was either fighting gangsters or closing down elicit alcohol brewing and sales. It was the gangsters that named FBI agents G-man meaning Government agents, with Elliot Nest being the most famous. So a G-man is traditionally a good guy fighting the evil gangster and bad morals of society, if you believe that then pigs have just landed on Mars.
mel 14th May 2008 at 06:06 15

That should read FBI.
Ol' Scratch 14th May 2008 at 07:08 16

“Good” or “evil” is merely a matter of perspective… from *our* point of view, he’s “evil” because he seems to be orchestrating the downfall/enslavement of Earth and humans; from *their* POV, he’s merely a mercenary (Cheney?) doing their bidding, which involves destroying humanity.

I voted “other”, but personally I hope Gordon puts a .357 thru his skull at the end.
Gypsy_Jim 15th May 2008 at 01:44 17

Having played HL since the demo, (on a cover-mounted CD on 2000AD!) and the Episodes, Mods etc…I am struggling to recall exactly where, in the games themselves, rather than the media world, the G-Man is actually referred to as such?

He’s portrayed as an enigmatic character, possibly dealing with the Combine, the Zen worlds, and goodness only knows what/where else….but while we’ve been given hints, we really have no real idea what the heck is actually going on…Or, as often, is that just me??

He’s beyond human, he p*sses off the Vortigaunts, and he can put Gordon into, and pull him out of, suspended animation, as well as stepping into & out of “our” reality, manipulating time & dimesional space, but so far the clues haven’t really given away much as to his origins, or motives. how on earth can we judge good v evil without a tad more information?

Middleman…an agent, no clues as to his motives….Maybe, one day, it’ll all be tied up, but if so, then it could be all over, and given the potential franchise that could come from the series, why would Valve burn their bridges over this….?

Roll on HL3!

FWIW my feeling is that there is a proper tie-in coming with Portal….but what do I know?

It’s just a game, no really!
AI 15th May 2008 at 04:19 18

Gypsy_Jim, with your comments about the G-Man, I think you have revealed his true idenity!! The only person who can do these things is —— Dr Who !!! and he gets around in the Tardus!! it only makes sense, I think! But as they told me at the job I had “You don’t get paid to think!”
Gypsy_Jim 15th May 2008 at 11:28 19

Hmm, that hadn’t occured to me! Another rogue Time-Lord? You never know…..

To those who think he’s been orchestrating the downfall of humanity, if that was the case then why would he keep dropping Gordon into the thick of it, when he’s seen how effective he can be with a crowbar…..?
Ezequielhl 16th May 2008 at 00:20 20

I think he is amoral like the capitalism itself: it’s not trouble for him good or evil purposes, he just do “the job” (whatever he has to do, but I think he considers things in a ‘business POV’)… like a mercenary.
zellock 18th May 2008 at 03:13 21

Whatever side he is on, he’s obviously working against the Vortigaunts, which seem to be on the ‘good’ side. so i guess that makes him bad, in his own way.
LAZORLOVE@YAHOO.COM 26th May 2008 at 16:23 22

THE GMAN IS REALLY WIERD AS HIS G STANDS FOR GOVERMENT ITS REALLY HARD TO TELL IF HES GOOD OR A CROOK

I LIED I KNOW THE ENDING

ILL SHARE

ONLY ONE HINT

HES EVIL AND TRIES TO KILL YOU

oh wait that was 2 tips