# Npc Non Playable Character NPC, short for non-playable character, is a gaming term for any character in a video game or tabletop RPG that is run by the computer or a game master instead of a player. Late in the 2010s the label jumped from gaming talk into a Twitter and 4chan insult aimed at people seen as thoughtless conformists, pairing tightly with the NPC Wojak drawing. ## Overview NPC, short for non-playable character, describes any character in a video game or tabletop RPG that is controlled by the computer or the game master rather than a player[2]. The label started as gaming jargon before jumping into wider internet vocabulary in the late 2010s, when posters started using it to mock people they viewed as thoughtless followers[3]. The insult version pairs closely with the NPC Wojak drawing, a gray-faced cartoon meant to picture someone without an internal monologue. By the time the term hit mainstream Twitter, calling someone an NPC meant accusing them of running on scripted lines, holding predictable opinions, and lacking any spark of independent thought[1]. ## How It Spread Around 2018 the NPC label crossed over from strictly gaming talk into a Twitter and 4chan pejorative aimed at real people. On October 25, 2018, @JackChunko tweeted, "son just called me an NPC so I gave him the quest to get the fuck out of my home," which pulled more than 44,000 likes[1]. The next August, @seupodead posted a short line about "NPC energy" that ran up over 90,000 likes[4]. The slang got real-world attention in March 2023 when a 29-year-old man in Mill Creek, Washington allegedly chased and stabbed an 11-year-old boy after the child heckled him with the word NPC[3]. Coverage of the assault ran through mid-April 2023 and set off a wave of jokes, reactions, and hot takes about how far the insult had drifted from its RPG roots. ## How to Use Typical usage is to drop "NPC" on someone whose opinions sound scripted, whose replies feel canned, or whose politics look inherited rather than thought through. It often shows up next to the NPC Wojak image or with joking references to dialogue trees, side quests, and "assigning quests" back to the person who used the insult[3]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Npc Non Playable Character? NPC is short for non-playable character, meaning any character in a video game or tabletop RPG that is run by the computer or a game master instead of a human player[2]. ### Where did Npc Non Playable Character come from? The term goes back to pen-and-paper role-playing games and was described in a 1996 issue of NEXT Generation magazine, then moved into video game vocabulary in the 1990s and 2000s[5]. ### What does Npc Non Playable Character mean? As internet slang it means a person seen as thoughtless, easily led, or lacking an internal monologue, and it is tied to the NPC Wojak drawing that pictures that same idea[3]. ### How do you use Npc Non Playable Character? People typically use "NPC" as an insult on Twitter or in group chats to mock scripted-sounding takes, as in @JackChunko's 2018 tweet about being called an NPC by his son[1]. ### Is Npc Non Playable Character still popular? It stayed part of everyday online slang through the early 2020s and drew a fresh round of coverage in April 2023 after the Mill Creek stabbing case brought the term back into headlines[3]. ## References 1. [https://twitter.com/JackChunko/status/1055705330049441792]() 2. [https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=NPC]() 3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/npc-non-playable-character]() 4. [https://twitter.com/seupodead/status/1160419006889529344]() 5. [https://archive.org/details/nextgen-issue-023]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/npc-non-playable-character Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library