About

William Hobbs Has Left The Game refers to a screenshot from the video game Town of Salem in which a character named William Hobbs tells a player via in-game text chat not to worry, that they have a plan, then leaves the game. The screenshot was first uploaded as early as 2016, and saw use as a reaction image and in image macros in the following years.

Origin

On January 15th, 2016, an Imgur^[1] user uploaded a cropped screenshot from Town of Salem consisting of a chatbox with three messages from a character named William Hobbs, one of the default names given to ToS players if they don't choose a name themselves. The messages read, "don't worry guys," "i have a plan," and finally an exit message reading, "William Hobbs has left the game" (shown below).

Spread

The screenshot spread gradually over the following years, seeing significant use on Reddit. On April 12th, 2018, the screenshot was shared to /r/gaming,^[5] gaining over 92,000 upvotes in three years.

On May 14th, Redditor u/CasualFan25 reposted a meme to /r/HistoryMemes,^[4] originally by u/SirT4co, using a photoshopped version of the screenshot to /r/memes comparing William Hobbs to Italy in both world wars, gaining over 25,700 upvotes in three years (shown below).

The photoshopped version inspired further photoshops changing the "William Hobbs" names and other words to alter the context throughout 2018. For example, on August 20th, Redditor u/SupemeLeaderSmeagol posted a photoshopped version to /r/SequelMemes,^[6] gaining over 5,100 upvotes in three years (shown below, left). On August 27th, u/OfficialNamvia posted another photoshop to r/HistoryMemes,^[7] gaining over 100 upvotes in the same span of time (shown below, right).

On July 1st, 2019, Redditor u/ChampionOfChaos posted the screenshot to /r/gaming,^[3] gaining over 3,400 upvotes

On August 18th, 2021, Redditor u/BigGaybowser69 posted an image macro referencing the 2021 Taliban Offensive in Afghanistan using the screenshot to /r/dankmemes,^[2] gaining over 62,600 upvotes in under 10 hours (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References