title: Atari 2600

text: Warner Communications reported weaker results than expected in December 1982 to its shareholders, having expected a 50% year-to-year growth but only obtaining 10–15% due to declining sales at Atari. Coupled with the oversaturated home game market, Atari's weakened position led investors to start pulling funds out of video games, beginning a cascade of disastrous effects known as the video game crash of 1983. Many of the third-party developers formed prior to 1983 were closed, and Mattel and Coleco left the video game market by 1985.


title: Atari 2600

text: In September 1983, Atari sent 14 truckloads of unsold Atari 2600 cartridges and other equipment to a landfill in the New Mexico desert, later labeled the Atari video game burial. Long considered an urban legend that claimed the burial contained millions of unsold cartridges, the site was excavated in 2014, confirming reports from former Atari executives that only about 700,000 cartridges had actually been buried. Atari reported a loss for 1983 as a whole, and continued to lose money into 1984, with a loss reported in the second quarter. By mid-1984, software development for the 2600 had essentially stopped except that of Atari and Activision.


title: Atari 2600

text: Warner, wary of supporting its failing Atari division, started looking for buyers in 1984. Warner sold most of Atari to Jack Tramiel, the founder of Commodore International, in July 1984 for about , though Warner retained Atari's arcade business. Tramiel was a proponent of personal computers, and halted all new 2600 game development soon after the sale.


title: Atari 2600

text: The North American video game market did not recover until about 1986, after Nintendo's 1985 launch of the Nintendo Entertainment System in North America. Atari Corporation released a redesigned model of the 2600 in 1986, supported by an ad campaign touting a price of "under 50 bucks". With a large library of cartridges and a low price point, the 2600 continued to sell into the late 1980s. Atari released the last batch of games in 1989–90 including "Secret Quest" and "Fatal Run". By 1986, over Atari VCS units had been sold worldwide. The final Atari-licensed release is the PAL-only version of the arcade game "KLAX" in 1990.


title: Atari 2600

text: After more than 14 years on the market, the 2600 line was formally discontinued on January 1, 1992, along with the Atari 7800 and Atari 8-bit family of home computers.


title: Atari 2600

text: The Atari 2600's CPU is the MOS Technology 6507, a version of the 6502, running at 1.19 MHz in the 2600. Though their internal silicon was identical, the 6507 was cheaper than the 6502 because its package included fewer memory-address pins—13 instead of 16. The designers of the Atari 2600 selected an inexpensive cartridge interface that has one fewer address than the 13 allowed by the 6507, further reducing the already limited addressable memory to 4 KB (2 = 4096). This was believed to be sufficient as "Combat" is itself only 2 KB. Later games circumvented this limitation with bank switching.


title: Atari 2600

text: The console has 128 bytes of RAM for scratch space, the call stack, and the state of the game environment.


title: Atari 2600

text: The top bezel of the console originally had six switches: power, TV type selection (color or black-and-white), game selection, player difficulty, and game reset. The difficulty switches were moved to the back of the bezel in later versions of the console. The back bezel also included the controller ports, TV output, and power input.


title: Atari 2600

text: The Atari 2600 was designed to be compatible with the cathode-ray tube television sets produced in the late 1970s and early 1980s, which commonly lack auxiliary video inputs to receive audio and video from another device. Therefore, to connect to a TV, the console generates a radio frequency signal compatible with the regional television standards (NTSC, PAL, or SECAM), using a special switch box to act as the television's antenna.


title: Atari 2600

text: Atari developed the Television Interface Adaptor (TIA) chip in the VCS to handle the graphics and conversion to a television signal. It provides a single-color, 20-bit background register that covers the left half of the screen (each bit represents 4 adjacent pixels) and is either repeated or reflected on the right side. There are 5 single-color sprites: two 8-pixel wide "players"; two 1 bit "missiles", which share the same colors as the players; and a 1-pixel "ball", which shares the background color. The 1-bit sprites all can be controlled to stretch to 1, 2, 4, or 8 pixels.


title: Atari 2600

text: The system was designed without a frame buffer to avoid the cost of the associated RAM. The background and sprites apply to a single scan line, and as the display is output to the television, the program can change colors, sprite positions, and background settings. The careful timing required to sync the code to the screen on the part of the programmer was labeled "racing the beam"; the actual game logic runs when the television beam is outside of the visible area of the screen. Early games for the system use the same visuals for pairs of scan lines, giving a lower vertical resolution, to allow more time for the next row of graphics to be prepared. Later games, such as "Pitfall!", change the visuals for each scan line or extend the black areas around the screen to extend the game code's processing time.


title: Atari 2600

text: Regional releases of the Atari 2600 use modified TIA chips for each region's television formats, which require games to be developed and published separately for each region. All modes are 160 pixels wide. NTSC mode provides 192 visible lines per screen, drawn at 60 Hz, with 16 colors, each at 8 levels of brightness. PAL mode provides more vertical scanlines, with 228 visible lines per screen, but drawn at 50 Hz and only 13 colors. SECAM mode, also a 50 Hz format, is limited to 8 colors, each with only a single brightness level.


title: Atari 2600

text: The first VCS bundle has two types of controllers: a joystick (part number CX10) and pair of rotary paddle controllers (CX30). Driving controllers, which are similar to paddle controllers but can be continuously rotated, shipped with the "Indy 500" launch game. After less than a year, the CX10 joystick was replaced with the CX40 model designed by James C. Asher. Because the Atari joystick port and CX40 joystick became industry standards, 2600 joysticks and some other peripherals work with later systems, including the MSX, Commodore 64, Amiga, Atari 8-bit family, and Atari ST. The CX40 joystick can be used with the Master System and Sega Genesis, but does not provide all the buttons of a native controller. Third-party controllers include Wico's Command Control joystick. Later, the CX42 Remote Control Joysticks, similar in appearance but using wireless technology, were released, together with a receiver whose wires could be inserted in the controller jacks.


title: Atari 2600

text: Atari introduced the CX50 Keyboard Controller in June 1978 along with two games that require it: "Codebreaker" and "Hunt & Score". The similar, but simpler, CX23 Kid's Controller was released later for a series of games aimed at a younger audience. The CX22 Trak-Ball controller was announced in January 1983 and is compatible with the Atari 8-bit family.


title: Atari 2600

text: There were two attempts to turn the Atari 2600 into a keyboard-equipped home computer: Atari's never-released CX3000 "Graduate" keyboard, and the CompuMate keyboard by Spectravideo which was released in 1983.


title: Atari 2600

text: The initial production of the VCS was made in Sunnyvale during 1977, using thick polystyrene plastic for the casing as to give the impression of weight from what was mostly an empty shell inside. The initial Sunnyvale batch had also included potential mounts for an internal speaker system on the casing, though the speakers were found to be too expensive to include and instead sound was routed through the TIA to the connected television. All six console switches on the front panel. Production of the unit was moved to Taiwan in 1978, where a less thick internal metal shielding was used and thinner plastic was used for the casing, reducing the system's weight. These two versions are commonly referred to as "Heavy Sixers" and "Light Sixers" respectively, referencing the six front switches.


title: Atari 2600

text: In 1980, the difficulty switches were moved to the back of the console, leaving four switches on the front. Otherwise, these four-switch consoles look nearly identical to the earlier six-switch models. In 1982 Atari rebranded the console as the "Atari 2600", a name first used on a version of the four-switch model without woodgrain, giving it an all-black appearance.


title: Atari 2600

text: Atari continued its OEM relationship with Sears under the latter's Tele-Games brand, which started in 1975 with the original "Pong". This is unrelated to the company Telegames, which later produced 2600 cartridges. Sears released several models of the VCS as the Sears Video Arcade series starting in 1977. In 1983, the previously Japan-only Atari 2800 was rebranded as the Sears Video Arcade II.


title: Atari 2600

text: Sears released versions of Atari's games with Tele-Games branding, usually with different titles. Three games were produced by Atari for Sears as exclusive releases: "Steeplechase", "Stellar Track", and "Submarine Commander".


title: Atari 2600

text: The Atari 2800 is the Japanese version of the 2600 released in October 1983. It is the first Japan-specific release of a 2600, though companies like Epoch had distributed the 2600 in Japan previously. The 2800 was released a short time after Nintendo's Family Computer (which became the dominant console in Japan), and it did not gain a significant share of the market. Sears released the 2800 in the US in 1983 as the Sears Video Arcade II packaged with two controllers and "Space Invaders". Around 30 specially branded games were released for the 2800.


title: Atari 2600

text: Designed by engineer Joe Tilly, the 2800 has four controller ports instead of the two of the 2600. The controllers are an all-in one design using a combination of an 8-direction digital joystick and a 270-degree paddle, designed by John Amber. The 2800's case design departed from the 2600, using a wedge shape with non-protruding switches. The case style is the basis for the Atari 7800, designed by Barney Huang.


title: Atari 2600

text: The 1986 model has a smaller, cost-reduced form factor with an Atari 7800-like appearance. It was advertised as a budget gaming system (under ) with the ability to run a large collection of games. Released after the video game crash of 1983, and after the North American launch of the Nintendo Entertainment System, the 2600 was supported with new games and television commercials promoting "The fun is back!". Atari released several minor stylistic variations: the "large rainbow" (shown), "short rainbow", and an all-black version sold only in Ireland. Later European versions include a joypad.


title: Atari 2600

text: In 1977, nine games were released on cartridge to accompany the launch of the console: "Air-Sea Battle", "Basic Math", "Blackjack", "Combat", "Indy 500", "Star Ship", "Street Racer", "Surround", and "Video Olympics". "Indy 500" shipped with special "driving controllers", which are like paddles but rotate freely. "Street Racer" and "Video Olympics" use the standard paddle controllers.


title: Atari 2600

text: Atari determined that box art featuring only descriptions of the game and screenshots would not be sufficient to sell games in retail stores, since most games were based on abstract principles and screenshots give little information. Atari outsourced box art to Cliff Spohn, who created visually interesting artwork with implications of dynamic movement intended to engage the player's imagination while staying true to the gameplay. Spohn's style became a standard for Atari when bringing in assistant artists, including Susan Jaekel, Rick Guidice, John Enright, and Steve Hendricks. Spohn and Hendricks were the largest contributors to the covers in the Atari 2600 library. Ralph McQuarrie, a concept artist on the "Star Wars" series, was commissioned for one cover, the arcade conversion of "Vanguard". These artists generally conferred with the programmer to learn about the game before drawing the art.


title: Atari 2600

text: An Atari VCS port of the "Breakout" arcade game appeared in 1978. The original is in black and white with a colored overlay, and the home version is in color. In 1980, Atari released "Adventure", the first action-adventure game, and the first home game with a hidden "Easter egg".


title: Atari 2600

text: Rick Maurer's port of Taito's "Space Invaders", released in 1980, is the first VCS game to have more than one million copies sold—eventually doubling that within a year and totaling more than cartridges by 1983. It became the killer app to drive console sales. Versions of Atari's own "Asteroids" and "Missile Command" arcade games, released in 1981, were also major hits.


title: Atari 2600

text: Each early VCS game is in a 2K ROM. Later games like "Space Invaders", have 4K. The VCS port of "Asteroids" (1981) is the first game for the system to use 8K via a bank switching technique between two 4K segments. Some later releases, including Atari's ports of "Dig Dug" and "Crystal Castles", are 16K cartridges. One of the final games, "Fatal Run" (1990), doubled this to 32K.


title: Atari 2600

text: Two Atari-published games, both from the system's peak in 1982, "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" and "Pac-Man", are cited as factors in the video game crash of 1983.


title: Atari 2600

text: A company named Mystique produced a number of pornographic games for the 2600. The most notorious, "Custer's Revenge", was protested by women's and Native American groups because it depicted General George Armstrong Custer raping a bound Native American woman. Atari sued Mystique in court over the release of the game.


title: Atari 2600

text: The 2600 was so successful in the late 1970s and early 1980s that "Atari" was a synonym for the console in mainstream media and for video games in general. Jay Miner directed the creation of the successors to the 2600's TIA chip—CTIA and ANTIC—which are central to the Atari 8-bit computers released in 1979 and later the Atari 5200 console.


title: Atari 2600

text: The Atari 2600 was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame at The Strong in Rochester, New York, in 2007. In 2009, the Atari 2600 was named the number two console of all time by IGN, which cited its remarkable role behind both the first video game boom and the video game crash of 1983, and called it "the console that our entire industry is built upon".


title: Atari 2600

text: In November 2021, the current incarnation of Atari announced three 2600 games to be published under "Atari XP" label: "Yars' Return", "Aquaventure", and "Saboteur". These were previously included in Atari Flashback consoles.


title: Atari 2600

text: Modern Atari 2600 clones remain on the market. The Atari Classics 10-in-1 TV Game, manufactured by Jakks Pacific, emulates the 2600 with ten games inside a Atari-style joystick with composite-video output. The TV Boy includes 127 games in an enlarged joypad.


title: Atari 2600

text: The Atari Flashback 2 console, released in 2005, contains 40 games, with four additional programs unlocked by a cheat code. The console implements the original 2600 architecture and can be modified to play original 2600 cartridges by adding a cartridge port; it is also compatible with original 2600 controllers.


title: Atari 2600

text: In 2017, Hyperkin announced the RetroN 77, a clone of the Atari 2600 that plays original cartridges instead of preinstalled games.


title: Atari 2600

text: An Atari 2600 variant, known by its production code "CX2000" and nickname "Val", was found as two 1982 prototypes at the New York and Sunnyvale Atari facilities, respectively. It is a redesign of the aging 2600. Its design, with two integrated joystick controllers, is the result of human factor analysis by Henry Dreyfuss Associates. The project never reached market production.


title: Atari 2600

text: Atari started work on a 2600 successor called the "Atari 3200". It was to be compatible with 2600 cartridges, and was rumored to be based on a 10-bit processor, although design documents show it was to be based on the 8-bit 6502. It was still unfinished when preliminary game developers discovered that it was difficult to program. Atari cloned the Atari 3200 into the Sears Super Arcade II, but this was never released.


title: Tom Baker

text: Thomas Stewart Baker (born 20 January 1934) is an English actor and writer. He is well known for his portrayal of the fourth incarnation of the Doctor in the science fiction television series "Doctor Who" from 1974 to 1981.


title: Tom Baker

text: Later in his career, Baker performed in the television series "Medics" (1992–1995), "Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased)" (2000–2001) and "Monarch of the Glen" (2004–2005). He also provided narration for the television comedy series "Little Britain" (2003–2006) and "Little Britain USA" (2008). His voice, which has been described as "sonorous", was voted the fourth-most recognisable in the UK in 2006.


title: Tom Baker

text: Thomas Stewart Baker was born on Scotland Road in the Vauxhall area of Liverpool on 20 January 1934. His mother, Mary Jane ("née" Fleming), was a cleaner and devout Catholic. His father, John Stewart Baker, was a seaman and largely absent from the family due to being away at sea.


title: Tom Baker

text: Baker attended Cheswardine Hall Boarding School in Shropshire. At age 15, he became a novice religious brother with the Brothers of Ploermel (Brothers of Christian Instruction) in Jersey and later in Shropshire. He left the monastery six years later after losing his faith. In his autobiography, he said he realised he wanted to break each of the Ten Commandments in order and thought he should get out before he did something serious.


title: Tom Baker

text: He undertook his national service in the Royal Army Medical Corps, serving from 1955 until 1957. Upon leaving the army, he served in the Merchant Navy.


title: Tom Baker

text: He took up acting around 1956, joining the Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama in Sidcup. He went on to become a professional actor in the late 1960s.


title: Tom Baker

text: Baker was in his thirties when his professional acting career began. He worked in provincial rep theatre. He had his first break in 1968 whilst performing in a late-night pub revue for the 1968 York Festival. His performance was seen by someone with the Royal National Theatre who encouraged him to audition for the company, then headed by Laurence Olivier. Baker did so and was offered a contract. From 1968 to 1971, he was given small parts and understudied, one of his bigger roles being the horse Rosinante in "Don Quixote".


title: Tom Baker

text: Baker's stage work led to work on television where he gained small parts in series such as "Dixon of Dock Green", "Z-Cars", "Market in Honey Lane" and "Softly, Softly". His first major film role was as Grigori Rasputin in the film "Nicholas and Alexandra" (1971) after Olivier had recommended him for the part. He was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards for his performance, one for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and another for Best Newcomer. Baker appeared as Moore, an artist whose paintings are imbued with voodoo power, in "The Vault of Horror" (1973) and as Koura, the villainous sorcerer, in Ray Harryhausen's "The Golden Voyage of Sinbad" (1973).


title: Tom Baker

text: Baker also appeared in Pier Paolo Pasolini's 1972 version of Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales" as the younger husband of the Wife of Bath.


title: Tom Baker

text: In 1974, Baker took over the role of the Doctor from Jon Pertwee to become the Fourth Doctor in the BBC TV series. He was recommended to producer Barry Letts by the BBC's Head of Serials, Bill Slater, who had directed Baker in a "Play of the Month" production of Shaw's play "The Millionairess". Impressed by Baker upon meeting him, Letts then became convinced he was right for the part after seeing his performance in "The Golden Voyage of Sinbad". Baker was working on a construction site at the time, as acting jobs were scarce. Initially, he was dubbed "Boiler Suit Tom" by the media because he had been supplied for a press conference with some old studio set clothes to replace his modest garments. Letts left the series after producing Baker's debut story, "Robot" (1974–75), and was replaced by Philip Hinchcliffe. Under Hinchcliffe and script editor Robert Holmes the series gained a "Gothic tone" influenced by Hammer Film Productions and, according to Hinchcliffe, was aimed "a bit more to the adults in the audience".


title: Tom Baker

text: Baker quickly made the part his own, viewing figures for his first few years returning to a level not seen since the height of 'Dalekmania' a decade earlier. His eccentric style of dress and quirky personality (particularly his trademark look of wearing a long scarf and having a fondness for jelly babies), as well as his voice, made him an immediately recognisable figure and he quickly caught the viewing public's imagination. Baker suggested many aspects of his Doctor's personality and became known for making "frequent and often comedic scripting suggestions and ad-libs", but the scarf was created by accident. James Acheson, the costume designer assigned to his first story, had provided far more wool than was necessary to the knitter, Begonia Pope, intending for her to choose a suitable colour. However, due to miscommunication Pope knitted all the wool she was given.


title: Tom Baker

text: Baker played the Doctor for seven consecutive seasons, making him the longest-serving actor in the part, and his incarnation is often regarded as the most popular of the Doctors. According to BBC News in 2006, in polls conducted by "Doctor Who Magazine", Baker had only lost the "Best Doctor" category to Sylvester McCoy in 1990 and to David Tennant in 2006. In a 2010 interview, Baker said that he had not watched Tennant's performance as the Doctor but thought his "Hamlet" was excellent. Many of the stories from his early period are considered to be classics of the series, including "The Ark in Space" (1975), "Genesis of the Daleks" (1975), "The Brain of Morbius" (1976), "The Deadly Assassin" (1976) and "The Robots of Death" (1977). However, the violent tone of the stories produced by Philip Hinchcliffe saw the series come under heavy criticism from morality campaigner Mary Whitehouse. Concerns over violence during this early period led to a lightening of the tone and an "erratic decline" in both the popularity and quality of the series. In a 2014 interview, Baker described Hinchcliffe as "amazing" and identified that as his favourite period of his time on the series. He described Hinchcliffe's successor, Graham Williams, as "absolutely devoted" but lacking his predecessor's flair and "let me get away with murder". He acknowledged that his final producer on the series, John Nathan-Turner, made changes he did not agree with and they "did not see eye-to-eye really about very much"; however, according to Baker, the two became good friends afterwards and forgot their disagreements. Baker additionally criticised season 18, his last on the show and Nathan-Turner's first as producer, for an increase in the regular cast, which resulted in what Baker saw as stories that were excessively reliant on the Doctor (rather than other principal characters) to drive the plot forward. Baker ultimately suggested that he may have stayed in the role for one series too many, stating in hindsight that he felt it would have been better for him to have left with Williams and let Nathan-Turner recast the role of the Doctor for season 18.


title: Tom Baker

text: According to Baker in 2017, "When I was doing "Doctor Who", it was the realisation of all my childhood fantasies... so I took to it like a duck to water, and I still do. "Doctor Who" was more important than life to me—I used to dread the end of rehearsal... that's why I can't stay away from it." Although Baker declined to appear in the 20th anniversary "Doctor Who" episode "The Five Doctors" (1983) because it wasn't long since he'd left and he "didn't want to play 20 per cent of the part" and be "a feed for other Doctors", he briefly returned to the role of the Doctor for the 30th anniversary charity special "Dimensions in Time" (1993) and also recorded the audio for the PC video game "" (1997). Baker continues to be associated with the Doctor, appearing on documentaries such as the 40th anniversary BBC television retrospective "The Story of Doctor Who" (2003) and giving other interviews about his time on the programme, including for documentaries on the extras of "Doctor Who" DVD releases from his era as the Doctor, and he has recorded DVD commentaries for many of the stories.


title: Tom Baker

text: Baker has been involved in the reading of old Target novelisations in the BBC Audio range of talking books, ""Doctor Who" (Classic Novels)". "Doctor Who and the Giant Robot" was the first release in the range read by Baker, released on 5 November 2007, followed by Baker reading "Doctor Who and the Brain of Morbius" (released 4 February 2008), "Doctor Who and the Creature from the Pit" (released on 7 April 2008) and "Doctor Who and the Pyramids of Mars" (released 14 August 2008). In October 2009, Baker was interviewed for BBC Radio 4's "Last Word" to pay tribute to deceased former "Doctor Who" producer Barry Letts. He described Letts, who originally cast him in the role, as "the big link in changing my entire life".


title: Tom Baker

text: On 20 November 2013, Baker revealed that he would appear in the 50th-anniversary special, "The Day of the Doctor", stating, "I am in the special. I'm not supposed to tell you that, but I tell you that very willingly and specifically; the BBC told me not to tell anybody but I'm telling you straight away." The episode saw Baker in the role of a mysterious curator in the National Gallery who openly discusses his resemblance to the Fourth Doctor with the Eleventh Doctor.


title: Tom Baker

text: Baker also filmed inserts in 1992 for a video release of the unfinished Douglas Adams "Doctor Who" serial "Shada", originally begun in 1979 but abandoned due to strike action, and presented the video release "The Tom Baker Years" (1992), which was a look back at his time on the series with Baker watching short clips from his episodes. In November 2017, Baker returned to the Doctor role by completing "Shada". Animation was added to complete the original story. He also filmed one new scene for inclusion in the final episode.


title: Tom Baker

text: While Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann have all reprised their roles for audio adventures produced by Big Finish Productions (and sometimes the BBC) since the 1990s, Baker declined to voice the Doctor until 2009, saying that he had not seen a script he liked. In July 2009, the BBC announced that Baker would return to the role for a series of five audio dramas, co-starring Richard Franklin as Captain Mike Yates, which would begin release in September. The five audios comprise a single linked story under the banner title "Hornets' Nest", written by author Paul Magrs. He returned with a sequel to "Hornets' Nest" called "Demon Quest".


title: Tom Baker

text: In March 2011, it was announced that Baker would be returning as the Fourth Doctor initially for two series of plays for Big Finish Productions, starring alongside former companions Leela (Louise Jameson) and Romana I (Mary Tamm). The first series of six audios were released starting in January 2012. Big Finish had also arranged for Baker to record a series of stories reuniting him with Elisabeth Sladen's character Sarah Jane Smith (for which special permission was obtained from the producers of "The Sarah Jane Adventures" TV series), but Sladen died in April 2011 before any stories could be recorded. Baker recently recorded several Big Finish audio stories with Matthew Waterhouse, who played Adric, and Lalla Ward, who played Romana II (though Ward recorded her sections separately).


title: Tom Baker

text: It was reported in April 2020 that Baker had recorded "Return of the Cybermen" for Big Finish, an alternative version of the story "Revenge of the Cybermen" (1975), with Sadie Miller, Elisabeth Sladen's daughter, taking over the role of Sarah Jane Smith from her mother. The story was released in March 2021.


title: Tom Baker

text: Baker also returned to the role of the Curator for Big Finish, joining the casts of "" and "UNIT: The New Series".


title: Tom Baker

text: In 1982, Baker portrayed Sherlock Holmes in a four-part BBC1 miniseries version of "The Hound of the Baskervilles"; in the US, this production was telecast on A&E. He also made an appearance in "Blackadder II", in the episode "Potato", as the sea captain "Redbeard Rum". He played Puddleglum, a "marsh-wiggle", in the 1990 BBC adaptation of C. S. Lewis' "The Silver Chair".


title: Tom Baker

text: For the third series of the British game show "Cluedo", Baker was cast as Professor Plum, a "man with a degree in suspicion". He was also cast in the 2004 series "Strange", as a blind priest who possessed knowledge of the Devil. In addition, he played the part of Donald MacDonald in the BBC series "Monarch of the Glen", from 2004 until 2005. Previously, he had appeared as a guest on the quiz show "Have I Got News For You" and was subsequently described by presenter Angus Deayton as the funniest guest in the series' history. A particular highlight was when Baker gave an anecdotal account of how, while entering a recording studio in Wales, he was accosted by a member of the public who told Baker: "I will never forgive you, nor will my wife, for what you did to our grammar schools." Baker responded with: "What are you talking about, you daft bugger?" to which the stranger replied: "I'm so sorry. For a moment I thought you were Shirley Williams."


title: Tom Baker

text: Baker later returned to "Have I Got News For You" as a guest host in 2008. Baker played the role of the Captain in the Challenge version of "Fort Boyard", and has also hosted the children's literature series, "The Book Tower". He recorded a special called, "Tom Baker – In Confidence" that was shown in April 2010.


title: Tom Baker

text: In the late 1990s, it was reported that Baker was a candidate for the role of Gandalf in the "Lord of the Rings" films. Baker has since stated that he was only approached for "a role" in the film, and turned down the offer when told that it would mean spending months away in New Zealand. He appeared as Halvarth, the Elven healer, in "Dungeons & Dragons" (2000).


title: Tom Baker

text: After his work on "Lionel Nimrod's Inexplicable World", Baker was cast as a similar narrator of "Little Britain" on BBC Radio 4 and remained in the role when it transferred to television. He has suggested that he was chosen for the part in "Little Britain" due to his popularity with creators Matt Lucas and David Walliams, part of the generation for whom he is the favourite Doctor. "I am now being employed by the children who grew up watching me", he stated in a DVD commentary. Another trademark of "Little Britain"s narration is the deadpan quotation of old rap lyrics, usually in the opening credit sequence. On 17 November 2005, to mark the start of the third series of "Little Britain", Baker read the continuity announcements on BBC One from 7 pm to 9:30 pm GMT. The scripts were written by Lucas and Walliams; Baker assumed his "Little Britain" persona. He used lines such as:


title: Tom Baker

text: Baker has appeared in various radio productions, including a role as "Britain's most celebrated criminal barrister", Sir Edward Marshall-Hall in "John Mortimer Presents the Trials of Marshall Hall" (1996), "Josiah Bounderby" in Charles Dickens' "Hard Times" (1998) and a part in the 2001 BBC Radio 4 version of "The Thirty-Nine Steps" as Sir Walter Bullivant. He guest starred in "The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" (a pastiche series written by Bert Coules) in the 2002 episode "The Saviour of Cripplegate Square". From 2000 to 2005 Baker voiced the character Max Bear in the Channel 4 (UK) Max Bear Productions animated series. He also voiced the role of the villain ZeeBad in the 2005 computer-animated film version of "The Magic Roundabout". In 2007 he voiced the character of Robert Baron in the BBC animated series "The Secret Show".


title: Tom Baker

text: Baker narrates the children's computer-animated series "The Beeps" which is shown on Channel 5's "Milkshake!" as well as narrating "Tales of Aesop" on BBC, a television series based on Aesop's Fables with beautiful puppet animation. Most recently, Baker has returned to the role of the Fourth Doctor, first in three series of audio adventures for BBC Audiobooks: "Hornet's Nest", "Demon Quest" and "Serpents' Crest"; and now in a new series of "Doctor Who" audio adventures for Big Finish Productions also starring Louise Jameson as "Leela". There were seven releases in 2013 with Mary Tamm as Romana: ("The Auntie Matter", "The Sands of Life", "War Against the Laan", "The Justice of Jalxar", "Phantoms of the Deep", "The Dalek Contract" and "The Final Phase"). Subsequent series also feature Baker alongside John Leeson as K9, Lalla Ward as the second incarnation of Romana and Matthew Waterhouse as Adric, all reprising their television roles.


title: Tom Baker

text: In the third season of the animated series "Star Wars Rebels", Baker provided the voice of Bendu, a powerful Force-sensitive being.


title: Tom Baker

text: Baker starred as the Fourth Doctor in the 1997 video game "Destiny of the Doctors" where he provided the voice. His voice has also been featured in "" (2000), "" (2003), "Sudeki" (2004), "Cold Winter" (2005), ": Resurrection", "", and "" (2007).


title: Tom Baker

text: Baker is a prolific voiceover artist and his voice was voted as the fourth most recognisable in the UK in 2006 after the Queen, Tony Blair and Margaret Thatcher.


title: Tom Baker

text: In 1992 and 1993, Baker narrated BBC radio comedy series "Lionel Nimrod's Inexplicable World". In 1994 he provided the narration for Channel 4's "Equinox" rave documentary "Rave New World". In 2002 he had a speaking role in the critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful "Hostile Waters" as the Narrator.


title: Tom Baker

text: He voiced both the narrator and the god "Tetsu" in the role-playing game "Sudeki", but was uncredited. During the first three months of 2006, his voice was used by BT for spoken delivery of text messages to landline phones. He recorded 11,593 phrases, containing every sound in the English language, for use by the text-to-speech service. The BT text message service returned from 1 December 2006 until 8 January 2007, with two pence from each text going to the charity Shelter. Also, a single "sung" by Baker's text voice, "You Really Got Me" by The Kinks, was released on 18 December 2006 with proceeds going to the charity. The creator of the song was Mark Murphy, designer of the site.


title: Tom Baker

text: Baker's voice may be heard at London's Natural History Museum narrating commentary to some of the exhibits that demonstrate Darwin's theory of natural selection. He has made three other brief forays into the world of music: he provides the monologue to the track "Witness to a Murder (Part Two)" on the album "Six" by Mansun; he appears on Technocat's single "Only Human" in 1995, and in 2002 he recorded the monologue to the track "Megamorphosis" on the album "Andabrek" by Stephen James, although the album was not released until 2009. Baker provides narrative at two British tourist attractions: the Nemesis roller coaster at Alton Towers, Staffordshire; and the London Dungeon, a museum depicting gory and macabre events in the capital, narrating the events leading up to and comprising the Great Fire of London.


title: Tom Baker

text: Baker voiced the character "Max Bear", a series of animated stories broadcast on Channel 4 (UK Terrestrial) from 2000 to 2005. He narrated Australian cartoonist Bruce Petty's 2006 film about world politics, "Global Haywire".


title: Tom Baker

text: Baker's autobiography, "Who on Earth is Tom Baker?" was published in 1997 and made available on Kindle devices in September 2013.


title: Tom Baker

text: Baker has also written a short fairytale-style novel called "The Boy Who Kicked Pigs". In 1981 he edited a collection of poems for children: "Never Wear Your Wellies in the House and Other Poems to Make You Laugh".


title: Tom Baker

text: In 2019 Baker released a Doctor Who novel called "Scratchman." Co-written with James Goss, the novel is based on a script Tom Baker and Ian Marter wrote for a Doctor Who film in the 1970s. The plot involves the Fourth Doctor meeting Scratchman who may be the devil.


title: Tom Baker

text: In 1966 Baker became a member of Frank Dunlop’s Pop Theatre Company production of Shakespeare’s "The Winter's Tale", which was performed at that year's Edinburgh International Festival and in the Cambridge Theatre, London. Other cast members included “Carry On...” stalwart Jim Dale and up-and-coming actress Jane Asher: Baker played several small roles within the play, including the infamous “bear”.


title: Tom Baker

text: Baker joined the National Theatre in 1968 as an understudy for "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" followed by small parts in "The National Health" by Peter Nichols (directed by Michael Blakemore).


title: Tom Baker

text: After playing the horse in "The Travails of Sancho Panza" (directed by Joan Plowright), Laurence Olivier subsequently cast him as the Prince of Morocco in "The Merchant of Venice". The play was directed by Jonathan Miller, with Baker appearing alongside Olivier as Shylock. Still under contract at the National, Baker also played a Russian in "The Idiot", Sir Frances Acton in "A Woman Killed With Kindness", opposite Anthony Hopkins, and Filippo in "The Rules of the Game".


title: Tom Baker

text: After leaving the role of The Doctor in 1981, Baker returned to theatre to play Oscar Wilde in "Feasting with Panthers" at the Chichester Festival Theatre. The following year, he played Judge Brack in "Hedda Gabler", with Susannah York as Hedda, in the West End. Also in 1982, Baker played Dr. Frank Bryant in a Royal Shakespeare Company production of "Educating Rita", alongside Kate Fitzgerald as Rita. He returned to the National Theatre in 1984 to play Mr Hardcastle in "She Stoops to Conquer" in the Olivier Theatre and on a later tour. The following year he played both Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty in "The Mask of Moriarty" by Hugh Leonard at the Gate Theatre in Dublin.


title: Tom Baker

text: In 1987 Baker played Inspector Goole in a revival production of "An Inspector Calls" directed by Peter Dews.


title: Tom Baker

text: In 1998, Baker provided narration on the track Witness to a Murder (Part 2) on the album "Six" by the English alternative rockband Mansun.


title: Tom Baker

text: On 13 May 2020, Dutch producer and songwriter Arjen Anthony Lucassen announced that Baker would provide spoken vocals for the character of "The Storyteller" on Ayreon's album, "Transitus".


title: Tom Baker

text: Baker's first marriage was in 1961, to Anna Wheatcroft, niece of rose grower Harry Wheatcroft; they had met and started dating in acting school. They had two sons, Daniel and Piers, and divorced in 1966. Baker lost contact with his sons until a chance meeting with Piers in a New Zealand pub allowed them to renew their relationship. In December 1980, he married Lalla Ward, who had co-starred in "Doctor Who" as his character's companion Romana. They divorced in April 1982.


title: Tom Baker

text: Baker married for a third time on 1 April 1986, to Sue Jerrard, who had been an assistant editor on "Doctor Who". They moved to the Bell House, a converted school in Boughton Malherbe, Kent, where they kept several cats before moving to France in January 2003. They sold the property to Jim Moir ('Vic Reeves') shortly after Baker had worked with him on the BBC revival of "Randall and Hopkirk". In November 2006, Baker bought a house in Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, before later moving to Rye, East Sussex.


title: Tom Baker

text: Baker is cynical of religion and describes himself as irreligious, or occasionally as Buddhist, but not anti-religious. Politically, Baker has expressed disdain for the Conservative Party and New Labour, saying in 1998, "when the Conservatives were in I cannot tell you how much I hated them, but I realise how shallow I am because I now hate the Labour Party as much."


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: In folklore, a will-o'-the-wisp, will-o'-wisp or ignis fatuus (, plural ignes fatui), is an atmospheric ghost light seen by travellers at night, especially over bogs, swamps or marshes. The phenomenon is known in English folk belief, English folklore and much of European folklore by a variety of names, including jack-o'-lantern, friar's lantern, hinkypunk and is said to mislead travellers by resembling a flickering lamp or lantern. In literature, will-o'-the-wisp metaphorically refers to a hope or goal that leads one on, but is impossible to reach, or something one finds strange or sinister.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: Wills-o'-the-wisp appear in folk tales and traditional legends of numerous countries and cultures; notable wills-o'-the-wisp include St. Louis Light in Saskatchewan, the Spooklight in Southwestern Missouri and Northeastern Oklahoma, the Marfa lights of Texas, the Naga fireballs on the Mekong in Thailand, the Paulding Light in Upper Peninsula of Michigan and the Hessdalen light in Norway.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: In urban legends, folklore and superstition, wills-o'-the-wisp are typically attributed to ghosts, fairies or elemental spirits. Modern science explains the light aspect as natural phenomena such as bioluminescence or chemiluminescence, caused by the oxidation of phosphine (PH), diphosphane (PH) and methane (CH) produced by organic decay.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: The term "will-o'-the-wisp" comes from "wisp", a bundle of sticks or paper sometimes used as a torch and the name "Will", thus meaning "Will of the torch". The term "jack-o'-lantern" (Jack of the lantern) originally referred to a will-o'-the-wisp. In the United States, they are often called "spook-lights", "ghost-lights", or "orbs" by folklorists and paranormal enthusiasts.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: The Latin name ' is composed of ', meaning "fire" and ', an adjective meaning "foolish", "silly" or "simple"; it can thus be literally translated into English as "foolish fire" or more idiomatically as "giddy flame". Despite its Latin origins, the term "ignis fatuus" is not attested in antiquity, and what the ancient Romans called the will-o'-wisp may be unknown. The term is not attested in the Middle Ages either. Instead, the Latin ' is documented no earlier than the 16th century in Germany, where it was coined by a German humanist, and appears to be a free translation of the long-existing German name ' ("wandering light" or "deceiving light") conceived of in German folklore as a mischievous spirit of nature; the Latin translation was made to lend the German name intellectual credibility. Beside ', the will-o'-the-wisp has also been called in German ' (where ' translates to "wisp"), as found in e.g. Martin Luther's writings of the same 16th century.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: Folk belief attributes the phenomenon to fairies or elemental spirits, explicitly in the term "hobby lanterns" found in the 19th century Denham Tracts. In her book "A Dictionary of Fairies," K. M. Briggs provides an extensive list of other names for the same phenomenon, though the place where they are observed (graveyard, bogs, etc.) influences the naming considerably. When observed in graveyards, they are known as "ghost candles", also a term from the Denham Tracts.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: The names "will-o'-the-wisp" and "jack-o'-lantern" are used in etiological folk-tales, recorded in many variant forms in Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales, Appalachia, and Newfoundland. In these tales, protagonists named either Will or Jack are doomed to haunt the marshes with a light for some misdeed. One version from Shropshire is recounted by Briggs in "A Dictionary of Fairies" and refers to Will Smith. Will is a wicked blacksmith who is given a second chance by Saint Peter at the gates of heaven, but leads such a bad life that he ends up being doomed to wander the earth. The Devil provides him with a single burning coal with which to warm himself, which he then uses to lure foolish travellers into the marshes.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: An Irish version of the tale has a ne'er-do-well named Drunk Jack or Stingy Jack who, when the Devil comes to collect his soul, tricks him into turning into a coin, so he can pay for his one last drink. When the Devil obliges, Jack places him in his pocket next to a crucifix, preventing him from returning to his original form. In exchange for his freedom, the Devil grants Jack ten more years of life. When the term expires, the Devil comes to collect his due. But Jack tricks him again by making him climb a tree and then carving a cross underneath, preventing him from climbing down. In exchange for removing the cross, the Devil forgives Jack's debt. However, no one as bad as Jack would ever be allowed into heaven, so Jack is forced upon his death to travel to hell and ask for a place there. The Devil denies him entrance in revenge but grants him an ember from the fires of hell to light his way through the twilight world to which lost souls are forever condemned. Jack places it in a carved turnip to serve as a lantern. Another version of the tale is "Willy the Whisp", related in "Irish Folktales" by Henry Glassie. "Séadna" by Peadar Ua Laoghaire is yet another version—and also the first modern novel in the Irish language.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: Mexico has two equivalents as well. In one they are called brujas (witches), folklore explains the phenomenon to be witches who transformed into these lights. The reason for this, however, varies according to the region. Another explanation refers to the lights as indicators to places where gold or hidden treasures are buried which can be found only with the help of children, in this one they are called luces del dinero (money lights) or luces del tesoro (treasure lights).


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: The swampy area of Massachusetts known as the Bridgewater Triangle has folklore of ghostly orbs of light, and there have been modern observations of these ghost-lights in this area as well.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: The fifollet (or feu-follet) of Louisiana derives from the French. The legend says that the fifollet is a soul sent back from the dead to do God's penance, but instead attacks people for vengeance. While it mostly takes part in harmless mischievous acts, the fifollet sometimes sucked the blood of children. Some legends say that it was the soul of a child who died before baptism.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: Boi-tatá () is the Brazilian equivalent of the will-o'-the-wisp. Regionally it is called "Boitatá", "Baitatá", "Batatá", "Bitatá", "Batatão", "Biatatá", "M'boiguaçu", "Mboitatá" and "Mbaê-Tata". The name comes from the Old Tupi language and means "fiery serpent" ("mboî tatá"). Its great fiery eyes leave it almost blind by day, but by night, it can see everything. According to legend, Boi-tatá was a big serpent which survived a great deluge. A "boiguaçu" (a cave anaconda) left its cave after the deluge and, in the dark, went through the fields preying on the animals and corpses, eating exclusively its favourite morsel, the eyes. The collected light from the eaten eyes gave "Boitatá" its fiery gaze. Not really a dragon but a giant snake (in the native language, "boa" or "mboi" or "mboa").


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: In Argentina and Uruguay the will-o'-the-wisp phenomenon is known as luz mala ("evil light") and is one of the most important myths in both countries' folklore. This phenomenon is quite feared and is mostly seen in rural areas. It consists of an extremely shiny ball of light floating a few inches from the ground.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: In Colombia, La Candileja is the will-o'-the-wisp ghost of a vicious grandmother who raised her grandchildren without morals, and as such they became thieves and murderers. In the afterlife the grandmother's spirit was condemned to wander the world surrounded in flames.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: In Trinidad and Tobago a Soucouyant is a "fireball witch" that is literally a witch that takes on the form of a flame at night. This spirit is, like the other versions, evil – it enters homes through any gap it can find, and drinks the blood of its victims.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: Aleya (or marsh ghost-light) is the name given to a strange light phenomena occurring over the marshes as observed by Bengalis, especially the fishermen of Bangladesh and West Bengal. This marsh light is attributed to some kind of marsh gas apparitions that confuse fishermen, make them lose their bearings, and may even lead to drowning if one decided to follow them moving over the marshes. Local communities in the region believe that these strange hovering marsh-lights are in fact Ghost-lights representing the ghosts of fisherman who died fishing. Sometimes they confuse the fishermen, and sometimes they help them avoid future dangers.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: Chir batti (ghost-light), also spelled chhir batti or cheer batti, is a strange dancing light phenomenon occurring on dark nights reported from the Banni grasslands, its seasonal marshy wetlands and the adjoining desert of the marshy salt flats of the Rann of Kutch near Indo-Pakistani border in Kutch district, Gujarat State, India. Local villagers have been seeing these sometimes hovering, sometimes flying balls of lights since time immemorial and call it Chir Batti in their Kutchhi–Sindhi language, with Chir meaning ghost and Batti meaning light.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: Other varieties (and sources) of ghost-lights appear in folklore across of India, including the Kollivay Pey of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, the Kuliyande Choote of Kerala, and many variants from different tribes in Northeast India.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: Similar phenomena are described in Japanese folklore, including Hitodama (literally "Human Soul" as a ball of energy), Hi no Tama (Ball of Flame), Aburagae, Koemonbi, Ushionibi, etc. All these phenomena are described as balls of flame or light, at times associated with graveyards, but occurring across Japan as a whole in a wide variety of situations and locations. Kitsune, mythical yokai demons, are also associated with will 'o the wisp, with the marriage of two kitsune producing kitsune-bi (狐火), literally meaning 'fox-fire'. These phenomena are described in Shigeru Mizuki's 1985 book "Graphic World of Japanese Phantoms" (妖怪伝 in Japanese).


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: In Korea, sightings of blue-white light at night are said to have been quite commonly reported even up to the 1960s. The lightballs were usually seen flaming and hovering over rice paddies, near old trees, in mountains or even in some houses and were called 'dokkebi bul(Korean: 도깨비 불)', meaning 'goblin fire (or goblin light)' in folklore terms. They were deemed malevolent and impish, as they confused and lured passerbys to lose their way or fall into pits at night.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: Medieval Chinese polymath Sheng Gua may have recorded such a phenomenon in the Book of Dreams, stating, "In the middle of the reign of emperor Jia You, at Yanzhou, in the Jiangsu province, an enormous pearl was seen especially in gloomy weather. At first it appeared in the marsh… and disappeared finally in the Xinkai Lake." It was described as very bright, illuminating the surrounding countryside and was a reliable phenomenon over ten years, an elaborate Pearl Pavilion being built by local inhabitants for those who wished to observe it.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: In European folklore, these lights are believed to be spirits of the dead, fairies, or a variety of other supernatural beings which attempt to lead travellers to their demise. Sometimes the lights are believed to be the spirits of un-baptized or stillborn children, flitting between heaven and hell.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: In Sweden, the will-o'-the-wisp represents the soul of an unbaptized person "trying to lead travellers to water in the hope of being baptized".


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: Danes, Finns, Swedes, Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, and Irish people and amongst some other groups believed that a will-o'-the-wisp also marked the location of a treasure deep in ground or water, which could be taken only when the fire was there. Sometimes magical tricks, and even dead man's hand, were required as well, to uncover the treasure. In Finland and several other northern countries, it was believed that early autumn was the best time to search for wills-o'-the-wisp and treasures below them. It was believed that when someone hid treasure, in the ground, he made the treasure available only at the Saint John's Day, and set will-o'-the-wisp to mark the exact place and time so that he could come to take the treasure back. For then he could be fulfilled with treasures.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: The Aarnivalkea (also known as virvatuli, aarretuli and aarreliekki), in Finnish mythology, are spots where an eternal flame associated with wills o' the wisp burns. They are claimed to mark the places where faerie gold is buried. They are protected by a glamour that would prevent anyone finding them by pure chance. However, if one finds a fern seed from a mythical flowering fern, the magical properties of that seed will lead the fortunate person to these treasures, in addition to providing one with a glamour of invisibility. Since in reality the fern produces no flower and reproduces via spores under the leaves, the myth specifies that it blooms only extremely rarely.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: The will-o'-the-wisp can be found in numerous folk tales around the United Kingdom, and is often a malicious character in the stories. In Welsh folklore, it is said that the light is "fairy fire" held in the hand of a púca, or pwca, a small goblin-like fairy that mischievously leads lone travellers off the beaten path at night. As the traveller follows the púca through the marsh or bog, the fire is extinguished, leaving them lost. The púca is said to be one of the Tylwyth Teg, or fairy family. In Wales the light predicts a funeral that will take place soon in the locality. Wirt Sikes in his book "British Goblins" mentions the following Welsh tale about púca.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: A peasant travelling home at dusk sees a bright light travelling along ahead of him. Looking closer, he sees that the light is a lantern held by a "dusky little figure", which he follows for several miles. All of a sudden he finds himself standing on the edge of a vast chasm with a roaring torrent of water rushing below him. At that precise moment the lantern-carrier leaps across the gap, lifts the light high over its head, lets out a malicious laugh and blows out the light, leaving the poor peasant a long way from home, standing in pitch darkness at the edge of a precipice. This is a fairly common cautionary tale concerning the phenomenon; however, the ignis fatuus was not always considered dangerous. There are some tales told about the will-o'-the-wisp being guardians of treasure, much like the Irish leprechaun leading those brave enough to follow them to sure riches. Other stories tell of travellers getting lost in the woodland and coming upon a will-o'-the-wisp, and depending on how they treated the will-o'-the-wisp, the spirit would either get them lost further in the woods or guide them out.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: Also related, the Pixy-light from Devon and Cornwall is most often associated with the Pixie who often has "pixie-led" travellers away from the safe and reliable route and into the bogs with glowing lights. "Like Poltergeist they can generate uncanny sounds. They were less serious than their German Weiße Frauen kin, frequently blowing out candles on unsuspecting courting couples or producing obscene kissing sounds, which were always misinterpreted by parents." Pixy-Light was also associated with "lambent light" which the Old Norse might have seen guarding their tombs. In Cornish folklore, Pixy-Light also has associations with the Colt pixie. "A colt pixie is a pixie that has taken the shape of a horse and enjoys playing tricks such as neighing at the other horses to lead them astray". In Guernsey, the light is known as the "faeu boulanger" (rolling fire), and is believed to be a lost soul. On being confronted with the spectre, tradition prescribes two remedies. The first is to turn one's cap or coat inside out. This has the effect of stopping the faeu boulanger in its tracks. The other solution is to stick a knife into the ground, blade up. The faeu, in an attempt to kill itself, will attack the blade.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: The will-o'-the-wisp was also known as the Spunkie in the Scottish Highlands where it would take the form of a linkboy (a boy who carried a flaming torch to light the way for pedestrians in exchange for a fee), or else simply a light that always seemed to recede, in order to lead unwary travellers to their doom. The spunkie has also been blamed for shipwrecks at night after being spotted on land and mistaken for a harbour light. Other tales of Scottish folklore regard these mysterious lights as omens of death or the ghosts of once living human beings. They often appeared over lochs or on roads along which funeral processions were known to travel. A strange light sometimes seen in the Hebrides is referred to as the "teine sith", or "fairy light", though there was no formal connection between it and the fairy race.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: The Australian equivalent, known as the Min Min light is reportedly seen in parts of the outback after dark. The majority of sightings are reported to have occurred in the Channel Country region.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: Stories about the lights can be found in aboriginal myth pre-dating western settlement of the region and have since become part of wider Australian folklore. Indigenous Australians hold that the number of sightings has increased alongside the increasing ingression of Europeans into the region. According to folklore, the lights sometimes followed or approached people and have disappeared when fired upon, only to reappear later on.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: Science proposes that will-o'-the-wisp phenomena (ignis fatuus) are caused by the oxidation of phosphine (PH), diphosphane (PH), and methane (CH). These compounds, produced by organic decay, can cause photon emissions. Since phosphine and diphosphane mixtures spontaneously ignite on contact with the oxygen in air, only small quantities of it would be needed to ignite the much more abundant methane to create ephemeral fires. Furthermore, phosphine produces phosphorus pentoxide as a by-product, which forms phosphoric acid upon contact with water vapor, which can explain "viscous moisture" sometimes described as accompanying ignis fatuus.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: The idea of the will-o'-the-wisp phenomena being caused by natural gases can be found as early as 1596, as mentioned in the book "," by Ludwig Lavater, in the chapter titled "That many naturall things are taken to be ghoasts": Many times candles & small fires appeare in the night, and seeme to runne up and downe... Sometime these fires goe alone in the night season, and put such as see them, as they travel by night, in great feare. But these things, and many such lyke have their naturall causes... Natural Philosophers write, that thicke exhilations aryse out of the earth, and are kindled. Mynes full of sulphur and brimstone, if the aire enter unto it, as it lyeth in the holes and veines of the earth, will kindle on fier, and strive to get out. In 1776, Alessandro Volta first proposed that natural electrical phenomena (like lightning) interacting with methane marsh gas may be the cause of ignis fatuus. This was supported by the British polymath Joseph Priestley in his series of works "Experiments and Observations on Different Kinds of Air" (1772–1790); and by the French physicist Pierre Bertholon de Saint-Lazare in "De l’électricité des météores" (1787).


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: Early critics of the marsh gas hypothesis often dismissed it on various grounds including the unlikeliness of spontaneous combustion, the absence of warmth in some observed ignis fatuus, the odd behavior of ignis fatuus receding upon being approached, and the differing accounts of ball lightning (which was also classified as a kind of ignis fatuus). An example of such criticism is the following by the American anthropologist John G. Owens in "Folk-Lore from Buffalo Valley" (1891):


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: This is a name that is sometimes applied to a phenomenon perhaps more frequently called Jack-o'-the-Lantern, or Will-o'-the-Wisp. It seems to be a ball of fire, varying in size from that of a candle-flame to that of a man's head. It is generally observed in damp, marshy places, moving to and fro; but it has been known to stand perfectly still and send off scintillations. As you approach it, it will move on, keeping just beyond your reach; if you retire, it will follow you. That these fireballs do occur, and that they will repeat your motion, seems to be established, but no satisfactory explanation has yet been offered that I have heard. Those who are less superstitious say that it is the ignition of the gases rising from the marsh. But how a light produced from burning gas could have the form described and move as described, advancing as you advance, receding as you recede, and at other times remaining stationary, without having any visible connection with the earth, is not clear to me.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: However, the apparent retreat of ignis fatuus upon being approached might be explained simply by the agitation of the air by nearby moving objects, causing the gases to disperse. This was observed in the very detailed accounts of several close interactions with ignis fatuus published earlier in 1832 by Major Louis Blesson after a series of experiments in various localities where they were known to occur. Of note is his first encounter with ignis fatuus in a marshland between a deep valley in the forest of Gorbitz, Newmark, Germany. Blesson observed that the water was covered by an iridescent film, and during day-time, bubbles could be observed rising abundantly from certain areas. At night, Blesson observed bluish-purple flames in the same areas and concluded that it was connected to the rising gas. He spent several days investigating the phenomenon, finding to his dismay that the flames retreated every time he tried to approach them. He eventually succeeded and was able to confirm that the lights were indeed caused by ignited gas. The British scientist Charles Tomlinson in "On Certain Low-Lying Meteors" (1893) describes Blesson's experiments as thus:


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: On visiting the spot at night, the sensitive flames retired as the major advanced; but on standing quite still, they returned, and he tried to light a piece of paper at them, but the current of air produced by his breath kept them at too great a distance. On turning away his head, and screening his breath, he succeeded in setting fire to the paper. He was also able to extinguish the flame by driving it before him to a part of the ground where no gas was produced; then applying a flame to the place whence the gas issued, a kind of explosion was heard over eight or nine square feet of the marsh; a red light was seen, which faded to a blue flame about three feet high and this continued to burn with an unsteady motion. As the morning dawned the flames became pale and they seemed to approach nearer and nearer to the earth, until at last they faded from sight.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: Blesson also observed differences in the colour and heat of the flames in different marshes. The ignis fatuus in Malapane, Upper Silesia (now Ozimek, Poland) could be ignited and extinguished, but were unable to burn pieces of paper or wood shavings. Similarly, the ignis fatuus in another forest in Poland coated pieces of paper and wood shavings with an oily viscous fluid instead of burning them. Blesson also accidentally created ignis fatuus in the marshes of Porta Westfalica, Germany, while launching fireworks.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: One attempt to replicate ignis fatuus under laboratory conditions was in 1980 by British geologist Alan A. Mills of Leicester University. Though he did succeed in creating a cool glowing cloud by mixing crude phosphine and natural gas, the color of the light was green and it produced copious amounts of acrid smoke. This was contrary to most eyewitness accounts of ignis fatuus. As an alternative, Mills proposed in 2000 that ignis fatuus may instead be cold flames. These are luminescent pre-combustion halos that occur when various compounds are heated to just below ignition point. Cold flames are indeed typically bluish in color and as their name suggests, they generate very little heat. Cold flames occur in a wide variety of compounds, including hydrocarbons (including methane), alcohols, aldehydes, oils, acids, and even waxes. However it is unknown if cold flames occur naturally, though a lot of compounds which exhibit cold flames are the natural byproducts of organic decay.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: A related hypothesis involves the natural chemiluminescence of phosphine. In 2008, the Italian chemists Luigi Garlaschelli and Paolo Boschetti attempted to recreate Mills' experiments. They successfully created a faint cool light by mixing phosphine with air and nitrogen. Though the glow was still greenish in colour, Garlaschelli and Boschetti noted that under low-light conditions, the human eye cannot easily distinguish between colours. Furthermore, by adjusting the concentrations of the gases and the environmental conditions (temperature, humidity, etc.), it was possible to eliminate the smoke and smell, or at least render it to undetectable levels. Garlaschelli and Boschetti also agreed with Mills that cold flames may also be a plausible explanation for other instances of ignis fatuus.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: In 1993, professors Derr and Persinger proposed that some ignis fatuus may be geologic in origin, piezoelectrically generated under tectonic strain. The strains that move faults would also heat up the rocks, vaporizing the water in them. Rock or soil containing something piezoelectric, like quartz, silicon, or arsenic, may also produce electricity, channelled up to the surface through the soil via a column of vaporized water, there somehow appearing as earth lights. This would explain why the lights appear electrical, erratic, or even intelligent in their behaviour.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: The will-o'-the-wisp phenomena may occur due to the bioluminescence of various forest dwelling micro-organisms and insects. The eerie glow emitted from certain fungal species, such as the honey fungus, during chemical reactions to form white rot could be mistaken for the mysterious will-o'-the-wisp or foxfire lights. There are many other bioluminescent organisms that could create the illusions of fairy lights, such as fireflies. Light reflecting off larger forest dwelling creatures could explain the phenomenon of will-o'-the-wisp moving and reacting to other lights. The white plumage of Barn owls may reflect enough light from the moon to appear as a will-o'-the-wisp; hence the possibility of the lights moving, reacting to other lights, etc.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: Ignis fatuus sightings are rarely reported today. The decline is believed to be the result of the draining and reclamation of swamplands in recent centuries, such as the formerly vast Fenlands of eastern England which have now been converted to farmlands.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: In literature, will-o'-the-wisp sometimes has a metaphorical meaning, describing a hope or goal that leads one on but is impossible to reach, or something one finds sinister and confounding. In Book IX of John Milton's "Paradise Lost", lines 631–642, Satan is compared to a will-o-the-wisp when he leads Eve to the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: Two Wills-o-the-wisp appear in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's fairy tale "The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily" (1795). They are described as lights which consume gold and are capable of shaking gold pieces again from themselves.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: Emily Dickinson's "Those – dying then," a poem about the absence of God and the abdication of belief, closes with the lines "Better an ignis fatuus / Than no illume at all —".


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: It is seen in Charlotte Brontë's "Jane Eyre" when Jane Eyre is unsure if it is a candle or a Will-o-the-wisp.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: The Will o' the wisp makes an appearance in the first chapter of Bram Stoker's "Dracula", as the Count, masquerading as his own coach driver, takes Jonathan Harker to his castle in the night. The following night, when Harker asks Dracula about the lights, the Count makes reference to a common folk belief about the phenomenon by saying that they mark where treasure is buried.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: In Lewis Carroll's "The Hunting of the Snark" (1876), the term is part of the description of the Snark: "The first is the taste, // Which is meagre and hollow, but crisp: // Like a coat that is rather too tight in the waist, // With a flavour of Will-o’-the-wisp."


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: "Will o' the wisp" was the anonymous author of "Paper Lantern for Puseyites", published in 1843 by Smith, Elder & Co., London. In that anti-Tractarian skit, the hero, the Rev. Hilary Oriel, writes an account to his friend Clement Loyola of his proposed alterations in his church.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: In J. R. R. Tolkien's work "The Lord of the Rings", wills o' the wisp are present in the Dead Marshes outside of Mordor. When Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee make their way through the bogs the spindly creature Gollum tells them "not to follow the lights", meaning the wills o' the wisp. He tells them that if they do, they will "keep the dead company" and "have little candles of their own".


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: The hinkypunk, the name for a will o' the wisp in South West England has achieved fame as a magical beast in JK Rowling's "Harry Potter" series. In the books, a hinkypunk is a one-legged, frail-looking creature that appears to be made of smoke. It is said to carry a lantern and mislead travellers.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: The children's fantasy series "The Spiderwick Chronicles", by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi, includes wills o'the wisp; they are listed in "Arthur Spiderwick's Guide to the Fantastical World Around You." In the series, wills o' the wisp are described as fat fireflies that lead travellers astray.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: The German fantasy novel by Michael Ende The Neverending Story (German: Die unendliche Geschichte 1979 and Ralph Manheim's English translation 1983) begins in Fantastica, when a will-o'-the-wisp goes to ask the Childlike Empress for help against the Nothing, which is spreading over the land. The film based on the book does not contain the Will-o'-the-wisp.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: Civil War Confederate soldier and author Sam Watkins writes in his war memoir, "Co. Aytch", about witnessing "jack-o-lanterns (ignis fatui)" while standing watch late in the night near Corinth, Mississippi in early October 1862.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: In classical music, one of Franz Liszt's most challenging piano studies (the Transcendental Etude No. 5), known for its flighty and mysterious quality, bears the title "Feux Follets" (the French term for Will-o'-the-wisp). The phenomenon also appears in "Canción del fuego fatuo" ('Song of the will-o'-the-wisp') in Manuel de Falla's ballet "El amor brujo," later covered by Miles Davis as "Will-O'-The-Wisp" on Sketches Of Spain. The German name of the phenomenon, "Irrlicht", has been the name of a song by the classical composer Franz Schubert in his song cycle "Winterreise". Additionally, the first solo album of electronic musician Klaus Schulze is named "Irrlicht". Part 3, Scene 12 of Hector Berlioz' "The Damnation of Faust" is entitled "Menuet des follets" - "Minuet of the Wills-o'-the-Wisp". Finally, the second piece in Edward MacDowell's "Woodland Sketches" is titled "Will-o-the-Wisp" and reflects other composer's portrayal of the phenomena as mysterious.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: The 2016 album "Sorceress" by Swedish band Opeth, contains the track "Will O The Wisp", using the term 'wisp' as a short form of whispering.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: Several bands have written songs about or referring to wills-o'-the-wisp, such as K-pop girl groups Aespa and Le Sserafim with their respective songs "Illusion" and "Blue Flame", Magnolia Electric Co., Verdunkeln, Leon Russell and Steve Howe. The will-o'-the-wisp is also referred to during the song "Maria" in "The Sound of Music."


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: "Will-o-the-wisp" is the opening track on the Pet Shop Boys 2020 album "Hotspot", in which the narrator (Neil Tennant) describes visions of a phantom lover from the past riding on an elevated train overhead.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: Will-o'-the-wisp phenomena have appeared in numerous computer games (such as "Ori and the Will of the Wisps", "Castlevania", "Runescape", "Ultima", "EverQuest", the "Quest for Glory" series, "Warcraft" series and the "Elder Scrolls" series) and tabletop games (including "Dungeons & Dragons", "" and "Small World Underground"), frequently with reference to folklore of the phenomena misleading or harming travellers. The "Final Fantasy" series also pays tribute to the tradition of a will-o'-the-wisp being a lantern-carrying individual, with the Tonberry creature. The Will o the Wisp is also a monster in "Chrono Cross" that either moves away from the character as they approach or follows them when they walk away. It is seen in areas relating to the dead. In the "Pokémon" game series, the Fire-type move "Will-O-Wisp", introduced in Generation III, can inflict a burn on the opponent and is often learned by Ghost types. The character of Wisp from the "Animal Crossing" series is also named after the Will-o'-the-Wisp and references the phenomenon by being a ghost. In the "Mana" series, Wisp is one of the eight Mana spirits, representing the element of light. In "Secret of Evermore", a spin-off of the "Mana" series, Wills-o'-the-Wisp are small flame enemies located in a swamp area that move erratically toward the player.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: In television, "Willo the Wisp" appeared as a short cartoon series on BBC TV in the 1980s, voiced by Kenneth Williams.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: In "Lost Girl" season one episode two, Bo and Kenzi meet a Will of the wisp who appears as a shaggy hobo and uses blue fire (foxfire) to confuse trespassers in his forest home.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: "Will O' The Wisp" is also the name of the 13th episode in season one of Disney channel's "So Weird" in which one of the main characters, Jack, is possessed by a will-o'-the-wisp while visiting the ghost lights festival in Marfa, Texas.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: The Disney/Pixar short "Mater and the Ghostlight" features a Will-o'-the-wisp aptly named "the Ghostlight", described as a glowing orb of blue light.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: Wills-o'-the-wisp play a prominent role in the Disney/Pixar film "Brave". In a break from the usual characterization, these wills-o'-the-wisp appear benevolent or at least neutral in nature. They are hinted to be spirits of the dead, who aid the living by leading them towards their destinies.


title: Will-o'-the-wisp

text: Will-o'-the-wisp (renamed to Isaribi) is also the name of the reddish ship owned by Tekadan in the Japanese anime series "".


title: Gamergate (harassment campaign)

text: Gamergate or GamerGate (GG) was a loosely organized misogynistic online harassment campaign and a right-wing backlash against feminism, diversity, and progressivism in video game culture. It was conducted using the hashtag "#Gamergate" primarily in 2014 and 2015. Beginning in August 2014, Gamergate targeted women in the video game industry, most notably feminist media critic Anita Sarkeesian and video game developers Zoë Quinn and Brianna Wu, among others. The harassment campaign included doxing, rape threats, and death threats. Gamergate proponents ("Gamergaters") stated that they were a social movement, but lacked well-defined goals, a coherent message, and leaders, making Gamergate difficult to define. Gamergaters claimed to promote ethics in video games journalism, claimed to be protecting the "gamer" identity, and opposed what they asserted as "political correctness" in video games.


title: Gamergate (harassment campaign)

text: Gamergaters created conspiracy theories falsely accusing Quinn of an unethical relationship with video game journalist Nathan Grayson. More broadly, they alleged unethical collusion between the press and feminists, progressives, and social critics. These claims were widely dismissed as trivial, conspiracy theories, baseless, or unrelated to actual issues of ethics in gaming and journalism. Gamergate supporters frequently denied that the harassment took place, falsely claiming it to be manufactured by the victims.


title: Gamergate (harassment campaign)

text: Gamergate has been described as a culture war over cultural diversification, artistic recognition, feminism in video games, social criticism in video games, and the social identity of gamers. Many supporters of Gamergate opposed the increasing influence of feminism and so-called "social justice warriors" on video game culture. Gamergate led figures both inside and outside the gaming industry to focus on methods of addressing online harassment, ways to minimize harm, and prevent similar events. Gamergate has been viewed as a contributor to the alt-right and other right-wing movements.


title: Gamergate (harassment campaign)

text: In 2013, Zoë Quinn, an independent game developer, released "Depression Quest", a text-focused game designed to convey the experience of depression through a series of fictional scenarios, based in part on Quinn's own experience with the illness. The game received positive reviews in the gaming media, but faced backlash online from gamers who disliked its departure from typical game formats emphasizing violence and skill and who opposed "political" intrusions into gamer culture. Quinn was subjected to several months of harassment after its release, including rape and death threats. Quinn documented the harassment they received and spoke openly to the media about it, which led to even more intense abuse against them, including the posting of their home address online. They ultimately fled their house out of fear for their safety.


title: Gamergate (harassment campaign)

text: The controversies and events that would come to be known as Gamergate began in August 2014 as a personal attack on Quinn, incited by a blog post by Quinn's former boyfriend, Eron Gjoni. Called "The Zoe Post", it was a lengthy, detailed account of their relationship and breakup that included copies of personal chat logs, emails, and text messages. The blog falsely implied that Quinn received a favorable review of "Depression Quest" in exchange for their sexual relationship with Nathan Grayson, a reporter for the gaming websites "Kotaku" and "Rock Paper Shotgun". Gjoni later said that he had "no evidence" of a sexual conflict of interest on Quinn's part. Grayson never actually reviewed any of Quinn's games, and his only "Kotaku" article mentioning them was published before their relationship began. Nonetheless, as reported by "The Daily Dot", gamers online used Gjoni's blog to accuse Quinn, without evidence, of trading sex for professional advancement. A link to the blog was posted to 4chan, where many users had previously been highly critical of "Depression Quest", which led to renewed attacks on Quinn.


title: Gamergate (harassment campaign)

text: After Gjoni's blog post, Quinn and their family were subjected to a virulent and often misogynistic harassment campaign. Online attackers of Quinn at first used the label "Quinnspiracy", later adopting the hashtag "#Gamergate" after it was coined by the actor Adam Baldwin, whose nearly 190,000 Twitter followers helped the spread of the hashtag. Harassment of Gamergate targets was coordinated via Internet Relay Chat (IRC), spreading rapidly over imageboards and forums like 4chan and Reddit.


title: Gamergate (harassment campaign)

text: Less than four months after Gamergate began, Quinn's record of threats they had received had grown 1,000-fold. At a conference Quinn said, "I used to go to game events and feel like I was going home[...] Now it's just like... are any of the people I'm currently in the room with ones that said they wanted to beat me to death?". One anonymous 4chan user threatened to give them "a crippling injury that's never going to fully heal". Commentators both inside and outside the video game industry condemned the attacks against Quinn. The attacks included doxing (researching and broadcasting personally identifiable information about an individual) and hacking of their Tumblr, Dropbox, and Skype accounts; they were again subjected to rape and death threats. Quinn again fled their home to stay with friends. Quinn wrote that "the Internet spent the last month spreading my personal information around, sending me threats, hacking anyone suspected of being friends with me, calling my dad and telling him I'm a whore, sending nude photos of me to colleagues, and basically giving me the 'burn the witch' treatment".


title: Gamergate (harassment campaign)

text: Gamergate expanded to include renewed harassment of prominent feminist media critic Anita Sarkeesian, who had previously been a target of online harassment in 2012 due in part to her YouTube video series "Tropes vs. Women in Video Games", which analyzes sexist portrayals of women. After a new episode of "Tropes vs. Women" was released on August 24, 2014, Sarkeesian received rape and death threats, and private information including her home address was leaked; she was compelled to flee her home. At the XOXO arts and technology conference in Portland, Oregon, she said, in regard to the accusations that high-profile women were making up the threats against them, that "one of the most radical things you can do is to actually believe women when they talk about their experiences". "The perpetrators", Sarkeesian went on to say, "do not see themselves as perpetrators at all [...] They see themselves as noble warriors".


title: Gamergate (harassment campaign)

text: Sarkeesian canceled an October 2014 speaking appearance at Utah State University (USU) after the school received three anonymous threats, the second of which claimed affiliation with Gamergate. The initial threat proposed that "a Montreal Massacre style attack will be carried out against the attendees, as well as the students and staff at the nearby Women's Center", alluding to the École Polytechnique massacre, a 1989 mass shooting motivated by antifeminism. USU's president and provost released a joint statement saying that USU, in consultation with state and federal law enforcement agencies, had assessed that there was no credible threat to students, staff, or the speaker. Requests for additional security measures were declined because of Utah's open carry laws, leading to the cancellation. The threats drew the attention of mainstream media to the Gamergate situation. Nick Wingfield of "The New York Times" referred to the threat as "the most noxious example of a weeks long campaign to discredit or intimidate outspoken critics of the male-dominated gaming industry and its culture". The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigated the threat to attack Sarkeesian and other Gamergate-related threats. The investigations, which were plagued with jurisdictional issues, ultimately closed with the FBI failing to identify the perpetrators of some threats and declining to prosecute others.


title: Gamergate (harassment campaign)

text: In mid-October Brianna Wu, another independent game developer and co-founder of video game studio Giant Spacekat, saw her home address and other identifying information posted on 8chan as retaliation for mocking Gamergate. Wu then became the target of rape and death threats on Twitter and elsewhere. After contacting police, Wu fled her home with her husband, saying she would not allow the threats to intimidate her into silence. Wu announced an reward for information leading to a conviction for those involved in her harassment, and set up a legal fund to help other game developers who have been harassed online. As of April 2016, Wu was still receiving threats in such volume that she employed full-time staff to document them.


title: Gamergate (harassment campaign)

text: In August 2021, "The Washington Post" described Wu as "a vocal proponent of forgiveness" for those harassers "who apologize and show they have grown" despite the extensive harassment she endured. However, "insults and continued harassment" still outnumbered apologies "10-to-1". As a result of the harassment, Wu said that she was diagnosed with Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).


title: Gamergate (harassment campaign)

text: Gamergate supporters subjected others to similar harassment, doxing, and death threats. Those who came to the victims' defense were ridiculed as "white knights", or "social justice warriors" (SJWs); this characterization was intended, according to Heron, Belford and Goker, to neutralize any opposition by questioning their motives. The term "social justice warrior" emerged as the favored term of Gamergate proponents, resulting in its pejorative use becoming mainstream. Shortly after the Gamergate hashtag was coined, video game developer Phil Fish had his personal information, including various accounts and passwords, hacked and publicly posted in retaliation for defending Quinn and attacking her detractors. The hacks and doxing also exposed documents relating to Fish's company, Polytron. As a result, Fish left the gaming industry and put Polytron up for sale, calling the situation "unacceptable" and saying, "it's not worth it".


title: Gamergate (harassment campaign)

text: Harassment related to Gamergate continued for several months after the onset of the controversy. Two critics of Gamergate were targets of attempted "swatting"—hoaxed reports to emergency services intended to provoke a SWAT team response at the target's home. "The Guardian" reported that both swatting attempts were coordinated through the "baphomet" subforum of 8chan. After the initial rush of threats that caused her to flee her home, Wu documented receiving roughly 45 death threats by April 2015; Silicon Valley investor Marc Andreessen offered up to a $10,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of those who made the threats. Wu's studio, Giant Spacekat, withdrew from the Expo Hall of PAX East 2015. Wu cited security concerns, lack of confidence in the management and their failure to return calls.


title: Gamergate (harassment campaign)

text: Actress and gamer Felicia Day wrote a blog post about her concerns over Gamergate and her fear of retaliation if she spoke against it. Almost immediately her home address and phone number were posted online, leading to harassing letters and phone calls. Actor Wil Wheaton and former NFL player Chris Kluwe also posted criticisms of Gamergate. Stephen Colbert questioned why men like Kluwe had not been threatened by Gamergate, noting that the targets were almost entirely women.


title: Gamergate (harassment campaign)

text: Gamergate harassment was coordinated primarily in 2014 and 2015. The harassment was orchestrated largely through anonymous message boards such as 4chan, 8chan, and Reddit, particularly the "KotakuInAction" subreddit. "Ars Technica" reported that a series of 4chan discussion logs suggests that Twitter sockpuppet accounts were used to popularize the Gamergate hashtag. Early Gamergate IRC discussions focused on coordinating the harassment of Quinn by using astroturf campaigns to push attacks against her into mainstream view, while initial organizers attempted to cultivate a palatable narrative for public consumption, internally focusing on personal grudges against Quinn and aggressive sexual imagery. Gamergaters circulated a blacklist of publications along with email templates and phone scripts to use in lobbying companies to pull advertisements from sites critical of Gamergate. Media scholar Torill Mortensen wrote in "Games and Culture" that Gamergate's structure as an anonymous swarm allowed it to create an environment where anyone who criticized it or became its target was at risk, while allowing them to avoid individual responsibility for harassment.


title: Gamergate (harassment campaign)

text: There has been considerable discussion of self-policing and the responsibility supporters of Gamergate share when the hashtag is used for harassment. A number of websites have blocked users, removed posts, and created policies to prevent their users from threatening Quinn and others with doxing, assault, rape and murder, and planning and coordinating such threats. In September 2014, 4chan founder Christopher Poole banned all discussion of Gamergate on the site as more attacks occurred, leading to Gamergate supporters using 8chan as their central hub.


title: Gamergate (harassment campaign)

text: Many Gamergate supporters have denied that the harassment took place, or falsely accused victims of fabricating the evidence. Gamergate supporters have used the term "Literally Who" to refer to victims of harassment such as Quinn, saying they are not relevant to Gamergate's goals and purposes. Several commentators have decried the use of such terminology as dehumanizing, and said that discussions on Gamergate forums often focus on those referred to as "Literally Who".


title: Gamergate (harassment campaign)

text: By September 24, 2014, over one million Twitter messages incorporating the Gamergate hashtag had been sent. A "Newsweek" and Brandwatch analysis found more than two million Twitter messages between September and October 2014. Software developer Andy Baio also produced an analysis of #Gamergate tweets showing a discussion that was polarized between pro- and anti-Gamergate factions. One quarter of the tweets sampled were produced by users new to Twitter, most of whom were pro-Gamergate.


title: Gamergate (harassment campaign)

text: While the number of Gamergate supporters is unclear, in October 2014, "Deadspin" estimated 10,000 supporters based on the number of users discussing Gamergate on Reddit. According to "The Washington Post", "Both mainstream gaming critics and many Gamergate supporters insist the brutal trolls are just a small, vocal minority. There's plenty of social science to back that up, too: We know that people are more aggressive, more argumentative and more nasty when they're permitted to comment on something without using their real name."


title: Gamergate (harassment campaign)

text: Katherine Cross, a sociologist, game critic and target of harassment from Gamergate, noted that "For a long time, Gamergate adamantly resisted that [far right] characterization", adding that "They said that notions that they were conservatives were slander and dismissed them. They posted straw polls that they've taken in KiA that demonstrate this. I've said time and time again that that largely means nothing." "Vice News" noted that "The obvious problem here is that th[ese are] unscientific internet poll[s], which can be easily gamed by a community that often games polls." and that "the threads on [r/KotakuinAction] tell a different story. On February 8, for example, all the off-topic threads had a clear, far-right bent, claiming that Facebook is censoring crimes committed by immigrants, complaining about college professors who criticize Trump, and more. In the eyes of Gamergaters fighting against 'political correctness' doesn't necessarily conflict with liberal politics, but I also couldn't find any threads that could be construed as liberal." "Vice News" also noted that "while the majority of Gamergaters resent the affiliation [of alt-right], many of the movement's leading figures, who were right wing pundits before Gamergate, have graduated from rallying against political correctness in games to supporting Trump and the alt-right.", including Mike Cernovich and Milo Yiannopoulos.


title: Gamergate (harassment campaign)

text: The series of events that came to be known as Gamergate has been described as "torturously complex". As a movement, it had no official leaders or clearly defined agenda. Because of its anonymous membership, lack of organization and leaderless nature, sources differ as to the goals or mission of Gamergate and defining it has been difficult. Frank Lantz of NYU's Game Center wrote that he could not find "a single explanation of a coherent Gamergate position". Christopher Grant, editor-in-chief of "Polygon", told the "Columbia Journalism Review": "The closest thing we've been able to divine is that it's noise. It's chaos [...] all you can do is find patterns. And ultimately Gamergate will be defined—I think has been defined—by some of its basest elements."


title: Gamergate (harassment campaign)

text: As the threats expanded, international media focused on Gamergate's violent, misogynistic element and its inability to present a coherent message. Bob Stuart, in "The Daily Telegraph," reported that "Gamergate has since swelled into an unwieldy movement with no apparent leaders, mission statement, or aims beyond calling out 'social justice warriors'. [...] When members of the games industry are being driven from their houses and jobs, threatened, or abused, it makes Gamergate's claim that it is engaged in an ethical campaign appear laughable." The campaign's focus broadened to take on other targets in the news media, as with Hulk Hogan's lawsuit against Gawker Media.


title: Gamergate (harassment campaign)

text: Jesse Singal, in "New York", stated that he had spoken to several Gamergate supporters to try to understand their concerns, but found conflicting ideals and incoherent messages. Singal observed Gamergate supporters making a constant series of attacks on Quinn, Sarkeesian, and other people, while frequently stating that Gamergate "is not about" them. Chris Ip of the "Columbia Journalism Review" said that Gamergate supporters espousing critiques of ethics in journalism could not be separated from harassers. With anyone able to tweet under the hashtag and no single person willing or able to represent the hashtag and take responsibility for its actions, Ip said it is not possible for journalists to neatly separate abusers from those seeking reasonable debate.


title: Gamergate (harassment campaign)

text: Jon Stone wrote in "The Guardian" that readjusts and reinvents itself in response to attempts to disarm and disperse its noxiousness, subsuming disaffected voices in an act of continual regeneration, cycling through targets, pretexts, manifestoes, and moralisms". "Polygon"s Grant said that as of October 2014, Gamergate had remained amorphous and leaderless so that the harassment can be conducted without any culpability.


title: Gamergate (harassment campaign)

text: Gamergaters attacked gaming websites that criticized Gamergate and gaming websites that expressed support for diversity in gaming culture, including "Kotaku", "Gamasutra", "Ars Technica", "Polygon", and "Gawker".


title: Gamergate (harassment campaign)

text: While organized through anonymous message boards such as 4chan and Reddit, Gamergate harassment was most prominent on Twitter. Michael Salter, a University of Western Sydney criminologist, writes that Twitter's design and architecture was "highly conducive" to such abuse campaigns, allowing Gamergaters to overwhelm users' ability to individually block the large numbers of fake or "sockpuppet" accounts used to send abusive and harassing messages.


title: Gamergate (harassment campaign)

text: Twitter was criticized for its inability to respond quickly and prevent harassment over the service. Within the United States, Twitter and other social media sites are not liable for content posted by third-parties of their service under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (1996), and so have no legal obligation to police malicious content such as harassment and threats. Brianna Wu, shortly after becoming a target of harassment, stated that Twitter facilitated harassment by the ease with which anyone could make a new account even after having an earlier account blocked, and challenged the service to improve its responsiveness to complaints. Robinson Meyer of "The Atlantic" said Gamergate is an "identity crisis" for Twitter, and by not dealing with harassing users, the platform is failing to protect victims.


title: Gamergate (harassment campaign)

text: Early on during Gamergate, software developer Randi Harper started the "Good Game Auto Blocker" or "ggautoblocker", an expanding list of known Twitter accounts that were tied to the Gamergate hashtag which could be automatically blocked, therefore reducing the degree of harassment received. In November 2014, Twitter announced a collaboration with the non-profit group "Women, Action & the Media" (WAM), in which users of Twitter can report harassment to a tool monitored by WAM members, who would forward affirmed issues to Twitter within 24 hours. The move, while arising in the wake of the Gamergate harassment, was due to general issues of the harassment of women on the Internet. In May 2015, WAM reported that of 512 reported harassment instances by the tool during the month of November 2014, 12% of those were tied to the Gamergate controversy based on the ggautoblocker list, with most harassment occurring from single-instance accounts targeting a single person.