On a recent episode of HBO’s Looking, currently airing in its second season, the show tackled the issue of Gordon Freeman’s enduring legacy from the Half-Life video game series. Judging from his outfit — you know, the one in the picture above — is Gordon supposed to be a character, or just some construct of the player? In this episode (2.06, Looking for Gordon Freeman), series star Jonathan Groff dons his Gordon Freeman costume in preparation for a Halloween party, but is met instantly with criticism from his friend Agustín who asks “what are you supposed to be, a mailman from the future?”

Groff, who plays game developer Patrick in the show, reacts with saying, “No! He’s one of the most popular videogame characters of all time. He revolutionized first-person shooter games because you so rarely saw or heard him that you could better imagine yourself in the game.” His friend Agustín responds with “So your idea of being fun is a character with so little personality that he’s basically nothing?”

Ouch.