Are you an NPC or a main character?
Are you an NPC or a main character?
Who gets to be "real" in a simulated world?
Amongst swirling theories that we may indeed live in a simulation, conversation online is awash with accusations that we may be surrounded by NPCs, or non-playable characters. Taken from the world of video games, NPC is a term used to label video game characters that populate the universe of the game but are, you guessed it, non-playable. Typically, this means that they are pre-programmed with some basic, repeating dialogue to help you on your quest, or perhaps to just simply race against you in MarioKart or to shoot at you in Call of Duty.
The use of the term has roots in 4chan and NPC Wojak as a way for alt-right trolls to mock liberals who are quick to accept “groupthink.” Today, in more mainstream internet vernacular it is mostly used in a more playful or experimental way. For example, some content creators will go around comically walking like an actual, literal NPC from a game like Grand Theft Auto, or live streamers like the mega-viral PinkyDoll will mimic cutesy NPC behaviors. In addition to these uses, a more conspiratorial vantage point is emerging: perhaps NPCs are actually real and prove that we are living in a simulation.
A quick aside on “simulation theory,” in online discussion, the idea that “life is a simulation” floats between a scientific theory and a conspiracy theory. There are academic papers on the statistical probability of simulation theory and Subreddits with one million members dedicated to looking for glitches in the matrix. Elon Musk is also a famous proponent as well as someone who loves to throw around the term NPC.
While for some simulation theory is a loosely-held curiosity, for others it is a pseudospiritual framework. For those with a more esoteric disposition toward simulation theory, life is seen as a matrix one needs to “wake up” from and NPCs wander the earth to either help or hinder your true awakening. There seems to be a growing contingency online of people who genuinely, truly believe some of the other co-habitants of the world are indeed NPCs, or what influential hypnotherapist Dolores Cannon calls “backdrop people” who are essentially soulless beings with no auras or real internal lives. For example, when a neighbor or a passerby exhibits uncanny or “off” behavior, they might be an NPC.
While this could be considered a fringe belief, it is more pervasive than one might think. On TikTok alone, I’ve watched at least a hundred videos that film strangers to prove they are simulated NPCs or that offer advice on how to talk to NPCs once you are truly “enlightened.” As one TikTok puts it, “There’s people walking around out here that are soulless avatars simply operating on matrix programming. They’re living, but they’re not alive and they’re all around us.” Or, according to a podcast that is a surprising combination of misogynistic Manosphere vibes with numerology, “the world is mostly filled with NPCs and they’re here to keep us in line.” Videos on the subject on YouTube received tens of thousands of views. Reddit threads are dedicated to trying to outline ways to see if someone is an NPC or not.
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So what’s at stake? Generally, this all seems like a combination of an extra-toxic distortion of social media’s “main character energy” colliding with the conspiratorial premise that nothing is “what it seems.” Buying into this framework requires casting doubt on anything outside of your own narrative and perception. This mindset means being willing to not only invalidate other people’s experiences but invalidating their very ability to even truly experience anything. Fundamentally, it is dehumanization in the literal sense of the term.
While diving into this subculture of belief, my mind kept coming back the the viral video of the woman who held up an entire American Airlines flight by screaming that someone on the flight was “not real.” ”I am telling you right now, that motherf***** back there is not real,” she yells, “You can sit on this plane and either die with them or not. I’m not going to.” This woman does indeed seem to be genuinely scared and deeply disturbed by what she experienced. While many would explain this situation as drug or psychosis-induced paranoia, many others seem to have alternate explanations that take her accusations of this “imaginary” person at face value. Reading the YouTube comments of an Australian news account that reposted the video reveals the following sentiments:
“If she acted this way just a few years ago, I would think she’s delusional. Now I’m not so sure.” (325 likes)
“Keep in mind: She went through TSA. They would've stopped her if she had drugs. She saw a shapeshifter.” (330 likes)
”This lady was genuinely scared her voice says it all. She seen something for sure.” (1.2k likes)
“She wasn’t seeing an imaginary person. There was a physical being there. She just meant he’s not human.” (834 likes)
The conversation around this incident has erupted into a whole conspiracy theory across the web as to what really happened. One Reddit thread with 1.4k upvotes suggests she encountered “humanoid artificial intelligence.” Contributing to accusations that the woman in follow-up interviews is not the same woman from the plane, one TikTokker used AI face recognition software to attempt to prove that the woman on the plane and the woman in follow-up interviews are two different people.
The “not real” meltdown scenario, as well as the developing online discussion, offer an idea of how this paranoid disposition of looking for “fake” people is starting to spread. Whether it’s about NPCs, shapeshifters, robots, or aliens, there is a formidable contingency of people questioning whether or not those around them have souls.
As the conspiracy theory community would appreciate, I have more questions than answers on this topic. I can’t help but think about how technology will keep accelerating this phenomenon. In an online world that will be increasingly flooded with bots, deepfakes, and AI companions, how will we decipher who might actually be NPCs in digital spaces? What will stop this necessary skepticism in digital spaces from bleeding into in-person interactions? How will this combination of conspiratorial thinking and technology that blurs the lines between real and fake impact our collective grasp on reality?