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NPC (; each letter separately; also known as the NPC Wojak), derived from ''
non-player character
A non-player character (NPC), or non-playable character, is any character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster o ...
'', is an
internet meme
An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...
that represents people who do not think for themselves or do not make their own decisions; those who lack
intrapersonal communication
Intrapersonal communication is the process by which an individual communicates within themselves, acting as both sender and receiver of messages, and encompasses the use of unspoken words to consciously engage in self-talk and inner speech.
Intr ...
.
The NPC meme, which graphically is based on the
Wojak
Wojak (; , from Polish , loosely 'soldier' or 'fighter'), also known as Feels Guy, is an Internet meme that is, in its original form, a simple, black-outlined cartoon drawing of a bald man with a wistful expression. The origin of the Wojak illus ...
meme, was created in July 2016 by an anonymous author and first published on the
imageboard
An imageboard is a type of Internet forum that focuses on the posting of images, often alongside text and discussion. The first imageboards were created in Japan as an extension of the textboard concept. These sites later inspired the creation of ...
4chan
4chan is an anonymous English-language imageboard website. Launched by Christopher "moot" Poole in October 2003, the site hosts boards dedicated to a wide variety of topics, from anime and manga to video games, cooking, weapons, television, ...
, where the idea and inspiration behind the meme were introduced.
The NPC meme gained widespread attention and in October 2018 was covered in numerous news outlets, including ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'',
''
The Verge
''The Verge'' is an American technology news website operated by Vox Media, publishing news, feature stories, guidebooks, product reviews, consumer electronics news, and podcasts.
The website launched on November 1, 2011, and uses Vox Media' ...
'',
and the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
. In 2022, the meme garnered popularity on video sharing service
TikTok
TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes.
TikTok is an international version ...
.
History
The concept of the NPC first appeared in
reddit post from January 2012, titled, ''NPCs in real life'' which gained little traction. In 2016, the concept was revived in a 4chan post by an anonymous user who initiated the NPC meme, titled "Are you an NPC?", detailing the behavior of individuals acting similarly to non-player characters in video games by repeatedly using phrases such as "JUST BE YOURSELF",
and ended the post with the following description of people the NPC meme intends to depict.
The design of the NPC meme character is based on
Wojak
Wojak (; , from Polish , loosely 'soldier' or 'fighter'), also known as Feels Guy, is an Internet meme that is, in its original form, a simple, black-outlined cartoon drawing of a bald man with a wistful expression. The origin of the Wojak illus ...
(, ),
a meme created in
Microsoft Paint
Microsoft Paint is a simple raster graphics editor that has been included with all versions of Microsoft Windows. The program opens and saves files in Windows bitmap (BMP), JPEG, GIF, PNG, and single-page TIFF formats. The program can be in ...
in 2010.
Unlike the NPC meme, the Wojak meme (also known as Feels Guy
) appeared first on the image hosting website vichan and has mainly been used for expression of feelings, most often melancholy or regret.
During the weeks leading up to the
2018 midterm elections
The 2018 United States elections were held on Tuesday, November 6, 2018. These midterm elections occurred during Republican Donald Trump's term. Democrats made a net gain of 41 seats in the United States House of Representatives, gaining a majo ...
in the United States, the NPC meme gained remarkable attention, with relatively high media coverage, publication of new NPC memes online, and several noticeable events. A large number of animated videos based on the NPC meme were uploaded to YouTube in the second half of October 2018,
and Google searches for the term "NPC Wojak" peaked around the same time.
In October 2018, a large number of
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
accounts were created which presented themselves as NPCs, and more than 1,500 such accounts were subsequently banned by Twitter.
In November, ''
InfoWars
''InfoWars'' is an American far-right conspiracy theory and fake news website owned by Alex Jones. It was founded in 1999, and operates under Free Speech Systems LLC.
Talk shows and other content for the site are created primarily in studi ...
'' held a competition promoting creation of NPC memes. The winning entry, by a Twitter user named "Carpe Donktum", was later retweeted by then-
U.S. President
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
on February 2019 before it was removed for copyright infringement. The re-election campaign for then-
Iowa
Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...
Representative
Representative may refer to:
Politics
* Representative democracy, type of democracy in which elected officials represent a group of people
* House of Representatives, legislative body in various countries or sub-national entities
* Legislator, som ...
Steve King
Steven Arnold King (born May 28, 1949) is an American far-right politician and businessman who served as a U.S. representative from Iowa from 2003 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, he represented Iowa's 5th congressional district u ...
also tweeted an NPC meme around the same time, aimed at the sitting
Democratic members of
Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...
.
The number of searches for the search term "NPC Wojak" remained relatively constant during 2019, though at a level significantly lower than its peak from early October through mid November 2018.
Although the NPC meme was created 6 years after the Wojak meme, the NPC meme rapidly gained attention in comparison with the Wojak meme. On the website of the meme community ''
Know Your Meme
''Know Your Meme'' (''KYM'') is a website and video series which uses wiki software to document various Internet memes and other online phenomena, such as viral videos, image macros, catchphrases, Internet celebrities and more. It also invest ...
'', the NPC meme has 858,000 page views, 33 videos, 597 images and 749 comments as of December 31, 2019.
This can be compared to the Wojak meme on which NPC is based, which has 787,000 page views, 6 videos, 332 images and 47 comments as of December 31, 2019.
A
Subreddit
Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, images ...
exclusively for "right wing, political" NPC memes without "extremist content" called r/NPCMemes was created on October 10, 2018.
In 2022, a variation of the NPC meme called "I Support The Current Thing" was popularized. According to ''
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
'', the meme is mainly used by the political right to mock liberals for "perceived conformism, frivolousness, and distractibility" who "blindly flit from news story to news story, issue to issue, changing their Facebook profile pics and Twitter display names to 'support' whatever 'Current Thing' dominates news and commentary. The current thing has been
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
,
essential workers
A key worker, critical worker or essential worker is a public-sector or private-sector employee who is considered to provide an essential service. The term has been used in the United Kingdom in the context of workers who may find it difficult ...
, the
Women's March Women's March may refer to:
* Women's March on Versailles, a 1789 march in Paris
* Women's Sunday, a 1908 suffragette march in London
* Woman Suffrage Procession, a 1913 march and rally in Washington, D.C.
* Women's March (South Africa), a 1956 mar ...
,
Notre Dame after it
caught on fire, etc." In March 2022,
Elon Musk
Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a business magnate and investor. He is the founder, CEO and chief engineer of SpaceX; angel investor, CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; owner and CEO of Twitter, Inc.; founder of The Bori ...
tweeted a version of the meme.
Characteristics
In appearance, the NPC character is
gray
Grey (more common in British English) or gray (more common in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning literally that it is "without color", because it can be composed o ...
in color, and usually short in stature simple in its design,
with an expressionless face,
a triangular nose
and a blank stare.
The shape of the NPC face resembles that of Wojak, and is drawn crudely.
The initial ''NPC'' refers to
non-player character
A non-player character (NPC), or non-playable character, is any character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster o ...
, a term used in video-games for characters the player cannot control.
As such, a non-player character in a game is controlled by the computer, and typically interacts with the player through simple and repetitive actions, such as communicating the same sentence each time the player approaches the NPC. As such, NPCs have "no internality, agency, or capacity for critical thought",
they rely on scripted lines
and do not think by themselves.
Following the analogy of non-player characters, the NPC meme is used to mock individuals the maker perceives as lacking those attributes, generally political opponents. The NPC responds using simple dialogue resembling video game NPCs, with no capability for discussion.
Due to NPC memes' greater popularity among the political right, the NPC is generally portrayed as parroting left-wing positions.
Despite being co-opted
by right-wing movements to "mock leftists," both left- and right-wing NPC variants exist.
•⎳• is an
emoticon
An emoticon (, , rarely , ), short for "emotion icon", also known simply as an emote, is a pictorial representation of a facial expression using Character (symbol), characters—usually punctuation marks, numbers, and letters—to express a ...
version of the NPC meme.
Media coverage
The NPC meme has been featured in major and minor news outlets alike, with frequent coverage during the peak of the NPCs popularity in fall 2018. According to ''The Verge'', a few articles (including one by ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' published on October 16, 2018) sparked a "domino effect" and led to increased spread of the meme on Twitter, YouTube and through articles.
Notable events
Twitter mass ban
In October 2018, users of
r/The_Donald
r/The_Donald was a subreddit where participants created discussions and Internet memes in support of former President of the United States, U.S. president Donald Trump. Initially created in June 2015 following the announcement of Donald Trump ...
, a large subreddit that supported United States President
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
, coordinated in creating accounts presented as NPCs on the American microblogging and social networking service Twitter.
According to ''The Week'', the accounts spread "bland, politically correct messages intended to mimic and provoke liberal pronouncements".
Following the mass creation of NPC Twitter accounts, the term "NPC" was used over 30,000 times on Twitter in a time span of 24 hours.
Twitter responded to the event by banning more than 1,500 of its users presenting themselves as NPCs.
The created accounts typically used profile pictures of NPC with slight modifications, such as colorful hair or partially covering masks.
According to one or more anonymous sources quoted by ''The Week'' and ''The New York Times'', the users were banned for violating a term of use by Twitter against "intentionally misleading election-related content", ahead of the United States 2018 midterm election.
The claim that NPC memes were used to spread misinformation about the 2018 United States midterm election is also reported by other news agencies, including ''
The Verge
''The Verge'' is an American technology news website operated by Vox Media, publishing news, feature stories, guidebooks, product reviews, consumer electronics news, and podcasts.
The website launched on November 1, 2011, and uses Vox Media' ...
'',
''
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
''