Personality

Will is generally a grumpy individual who gets on with his life. He can be a control freak overly concerned with minor details, likes to correct people, and can beat himself up over mistakes. When he's stressed, he can say things he doesn't mean, and feels guilty after. He also tends to turn to unhealthy behaviour to deal with his anxiety, which includes vaping, binge eating, alcohol and pornography. When his anxiety isn't so high, Will is a quiet and analytical person, often in his own head.

Will can be misanthropic, and doesn't trust people easily. He finds social gatherings annoying and if he desperately craves interaction, he has a group of closely knit friends that he occasionally gets in touch with. As he gets to know Percy and works through some of his internal issues through therapy, he becomes more hopeful and easygoing. While he's still quite introverted and his social battery is lower than his peers, he's able to cope.

Story

Backstory/History

Will was an only child of 2 older parents, and had a sheltered childhood which was mostly incited by his mother. His first contact with computers was through Cody - the two would make projects, which Will would have to keep secret since he wasn't allowed to use or have a computer. Will would continue to escape to Cody's place to spend time, or just to borrow his computer. Near the end of high school, Cody distanced and started being unnecessarily cruel to Will, and one day he just pretended Will didn't exist, despite Will's attempts to talk to him.

Before Will got to consider college, his mother fell sick and died, but through this his relationship with his father improved. He helped get Will his first laptop and encourage his interest in computing. When Will joined college, he struggled to find community. An arts student called Gabriel would often come up to him and start conversation, and they slowly became friends, bonding over video games and wanting to work on them. When Will left school, he wanted to eventually become a games developer.

Present

Will focused on his social skills and eventually got an in-person job that was closer to his dreams than ever before. It was ok at first, albeit tiring, but then his father died suddenly. Even after time off to grieve, Will would be anxious most days and have angry verbal outbursts at work. He was fired from his job for some things he said and found remote work, still feeling miserable.

COVID pandemic is announced and Will's anxiety would skyrocket in response. He started washing his hands excessively and getting apprehensive about leaving home. Slowly he would start take measures to avoid having to leave, and indulging in bad habits. Things change the day he pirates a survival blocky sandbox game, and Percy enters his life. He made a deal and got his files back, but at the cost of having Percy around as his virus roommate. Percy encourages him to take steps to recover, and he's able to manage his anxiety to leave the house.

Trivia

• The voice I imagine for Will is DankPods.
• There is a running joke where people ask for Will's long-form name (like William, Willis, Wilson, Wilfred) despite the fact Will's given name is just Will. Percy often teases him by calling him these longer names.

Design Notes

• Will's design is inspired by Windows 95.