Warning: unmarked spoilers are present.
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Eric Taylor
The titular human pet and captive to Sam Deercot, who has crafted his twisted game around keeping Eric alive. The viewers must vote on what he will eat, among other things. Gradually, we begin to learn more about his past.
- Distressed Dude: The premise of the series is that he is being held captive by Sam Deercot, who is recording him in his house and playing twisted games with him.
- Nice Guy: In the personal vlogs, Eric comes off as a kind if irresponsible young man who cared deeply for his lover Sue, even when things took a turn for the worst.
- Sleeping with the Boss's Wife: The Codemaster uploaded a series a vlogs from Eric's computer detailing how he met and eventually started a relationship with the wife of the director of a movie Eric was auditioning for. Who initiated it and what happened after the affair is unclear, but it ended in someone's death and it's why The Codemaster is targeting Eric.
- Too Desperate to Be Picky: Eric gets so hungry and thirsty while he's trapped that he scarfs down the cat food and drinks bleached pond-water, despite the humiliation and risk. It's especially dangerous because the "menu" was chosen by the viewers; if he was given the wrong thing, it'd kill him anyway.
Sam Deercot/The Codemaster
The kidnapper of Eric Taylor and owner of the thehumanpet1 YouTube channel. A mysterious man in a white mask, he challenges the viewers to keep Eric alive. As with Eric, we gradually learn more about this man's past- and that Eric is far from his first victim.
- Bad Santa: He briefly dresses in a Santa outfit when giving Eric a "present"- a bottle of bleach to disinfect the dirty pond water that is Eric's only source of quenching Eric's thirst.
- Big Bad: He is Eric's kidnapper and the host of the Deadly Game.
- Creepy Child: As a kid, the poor treatment Sam received from his parents eventually drove him mad and caused him to kill them. When a child psychologist is sent to the scene after the murders, they find him in his room singing a children's song, and after he attacks and presumably kills the psychologist, the screen goes black and manic child laughter plays.
- Evil All Along: As Tom D. Caesar, he pretends to be on the side of the viewers, helping them find Eric, but is actually Sam leading them on a wild goose chase.
- Freudian Excuse: The last upload reveals Sam's motivation for his kidnapping, murdering and torture is that his parents were horribly abusive to the point of driving him insane.
- Malevolent Masked Man: He is always wearing a White Mask of Doom, with the exception of the flashback video to him as a child. Even then, we never see his face, adding to the horror.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: We never learn what his real name is- Sam Deercot, being a Significant Anagram of Codemaster, is likely an alias, as is his other identity, Tom D. Caesar.
- Themed Aliases: The Codemaster's aliases- Sam Deercot and (briefly) Tom D. Caesar- were both anagrams of The Codemaster; of course, "The Codemaster" is an alias in and of itself.
- Self-Made Orphan: The last video reveals that Sam killed his parents after snapping thanks to their abusive nature.
- Serial Killer: Sam has been murdering and torturing people since the 70s — Eric is merely the first victim he posted online.
- Troll: Sam enjoyed messing with both Eric and the audience, including donning a Santa costume to give Eric bleach to clean the dirty pond water with and misleading the audience on multiple occasions, going so far as to create an alternate alias, Tom D. Caesar, and pretending to be the Big Good helping the audience track down Eric for an entire year.
- Two Aliases, One Character: Tom D. Caesar, the supposed Big Good who helps the viewers to find Eric and gives info on Sam, is Sam himself using another alias.
- Villain Protagonist: He is the owner of the thehumanpet1 YouTube channel that he uses to film Eric in his captivity, so the videos follow him and his life as much as they follow Eric.
Michael Taylor
Eric's father and the owner of the finderictaylor YouTube channel. He created the channel to plead with the viewers to find his kidnapped son.
Tom D. Caesar (spoilers)
An even more mysterious man who claims to know about Sam Deercot and helps the viewers in locating him. See Sam Deercot for more.
