Joseph is named after the computer scientist Joseph Weizenbaum (with "Weizenbaum" meaning "wheat tree" in German), who created [[wikipedia:ELIZA|ELIZA]] (which was named after ''[[wikipedia:Pygmalion (play)|Pygmalion]]'''s Eliza Doolittle), a computer program that took on the persona of a psychotherapist – notably similar to the "Psychotherapist" game found on Joseph's computer at Equus Oils); this program had a large influence on the development of text adventure games.
Per the {{V&A}}, along with the Weizenbaum inspiration, Joseph is also modeled after real-life psychologist [[wikipedia:Carl Rogers|Carl Rogers]] and the psychiatrist Martin Dysart from the play ''[[wikipedia:Equus (play)|Equus]]''. The exhibition also reveals that Joseph's niece, at various points throughout the game, was originally intended to install games on his computer which players could interact with.
[[Category:Characters]]