NPC

NPC stands for “non-player character,” a character in a video game controlled by the computer rather than a person. As slang, calling someone an NPC means they seem to act on autopilot, without original thoughts, like a background character repeating the same lines.

What does NPC mean?

In games, NPCs are the shopkeepers, villagers and guards who stand in one place and say the same thing every time you talk to them. Online, people borrowed the idea to describe humans who seem just as scripted: following trends without thinking, repeating opinions they heard somewhere, or going through the day on autopilot.

It can be harsh, but it is also often self-deprecating: “I was such an NPC at that party, I just stood by the snacks.”

How to use it

• “Everyone in the comments is saying the exact same thing. NPC behavior.”
• “I’m in full NPC mode before my first coffee.”
• “He just nodded and repeated what his boss said. Total NPC.”
• “Main character at the wedding, NPC at work.”

Where the slang comes from

The insult took shape around 2016 on 4chan, using a blank-faced grey cartoon that became known as the NPC Wojak, and it went mainstream in 2018 as a political meme about people accused of groupthink. In the early 2020s, a TikTok trend of “NPC streamers,” creators who act out repetitive, robotic reactions on livestreams, gave the word a second wave of attention.

NPC vs. main character

They are opposites. The main character drives the story and gets the attention. An NPC fades into the background. Lots of jokes play on switching between the two.

Related terms

• main character: acting like the star of your own story
• side quest: a detour from your main plans
• main quest: your main goal
• basic: unoriginal and predictable
• touch grass: go outside and log off

See more terms like this in our gaming slang dictionary.