Dr. Gordon Freeman is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the Half-Life video game series, created by Marc Laidlaw and Gabe Newell of Valve Corporation. His first appearance is in Half-Life. Gordon Freeman is a silent white American man from Seattle, who graduated from MIT with a PhD in Theoretical Physics. He was an employee at Black Mesa Research Facility. Controlled by the player, Gordon is often tasked with using a wide range of weapons and tools to fight alien creatures such as headcrabs, as well as Combine machines and soldiers. Gordon Freeman's character has been well received by critics, and various gaming websites often consider him to be one of the greatest video game characters of all time, including UGO and GameSpot.