Garry's Mod began as a Half-Life 2 mod by Garry Newman in 2004 and was released as a standalone game in 2006, built around physics sandbox play with the Tool Gun and Physics Gun at its centre. Players used the Tool Gun to weld, freeze, duplicate and pose objects, and its distinctive firing sound became shorthand for sandbox creativity in machinima and later YouTube gaming videos. As GMod clips spread into meme edits, the zap escaped the game itself and is now used wherever something is instantly built or altered.