Civilian Class

About

The Civilian is an unused class in Team Fortress 2. He is the unfinished equivalent of the Civilian class from the Team Fortress classic series of games.

Civilian class

By default, the Civilian class uses the Scout class model, though this can be changed to other class models. He possesses very low health – the lowest of any class – and the same as the Civilian from the Team Fortress classic series of game. He does not have any weapons or form of attack, lacks both voice commands and taunts, and uses generic speech files when he is wounded or killed. Civilians do not possess animations except for the ragdoll or gibbing effect upon dying, and therefore appear to glide along the ground in a reference pose when moving. The Civilian was originally able to be selected by typing join_class civilian into the console upon joining a game.

The existence of the Civilian class seems to indicate a planned updated version of the VIP Escort game mode from the Team Fortress classic series of games. Alternatively, the class may have been included in the game files so that independent map makers and modders could add this feature. Additionally, the Administrator possesses a sound file in the GCF in which she commands the team to "Stop the courier!", suggesting an official Hunted game mode was in the works at some point.
The reference pose

The reference pose is often referred to as "the Civilian". It places the player in a "reference pose" without animations or the use of weapons. It does not change the player's health or movement speed, and as a Scout the player is still able to double jump.

Entering the reference pose

There are glitches which allow the player to enter the reference pose, giving them a similar appearance to the original placeholder Civilian model.

While sv_cheats is set to 1, using addcond 0 will force the player into the reference pose.
As any class with a weapon the player can't equip, such as the Sniper with the Razorback, equip the other unlock for that weapon's slot; in this case Jarate. Walk outside the respawn area holding said item, equip the unusable weapon, the Razorback, and die. You should now be in the "reference pose". Make sure "Remember current item" is checked in 'Options' before the player begins.
Update history

Starts to play at 6:23

December 20, 2007 Patch

Prevented players from playing the Civilian class

July 22, 2011 Patch

Fixed players going in the reference pose when changing the currently-held weapon and taunting near a resupply locker. Players still can do the Reference pose in the same way.

August 23, 2011 Patch

Fixed supply closets regenerating players while they are taunting.

or did they…

Trivia

The Sniper keeps a bobblehead of the Civilian from the Team Fortress classic series of games in his RV. This made a brief cameo appearance in the beginning of Meet the Sniper.

The original "Scout" Civilian possesses completely unique death screams. These sounds can still be found in the game files under crit_death1-5.wav in the player folder. These were also the death sounds for all classes before they were given unique voice acting.

It is possible to enter civilian mode on other multiple source based games such as Insurgency as shown below from minute 2:12 to 2:40 and 3:07 and 3:39