On TikTok, life is really is a simulation. Look no further than the NPC trend going viral on TikTok Live.
TikTok creators have been taking to the app’s Live feature to mimic NPCs or “non-playable characters”: the characters in video games that have been pre-programmed and cannot be controlled by players.
Take PinkyDoll(opens in a new tab), a TikToker with skyrocketing views, who is now known for her NPC streaming performances on the app. Often using the catchphrases, “Ice cream so good” and “Yes, yes, yes!”, there is a meticulously curated, eerily lifeless repetition to PinkyDoll’s movements and glitching words, much like NPCs might do awaiting interaction in a game. Often, her character does randomly nonsensical things like using a hair straightener to heat popcorn kernels.
Needless to say, the internet has become equally mesmerized and confused by these videos. It’s almost like cosplay, as the New York Times‘ (opens in a new tab)Madison Malone Kircher writes in a profile of PinkyDoll.(opens in a new tab) The 27-year-old Montreal-resident, whose real name is Fedha Sinon, told the NYT that she starting streaming on TikTok as a way to make money.
And it turns out PinkyDoll’s streams, and those of other NPC performing creators, have paid off, thanks to a TikTok Live feature that allows users to pass on “gifts”(opens in a new tab) that turn into monetary rewards. TikTok users can send these little virtual coins — which come in various forms like dinosaurs, ice cream cones, and roses – to creators while watching livestreams, and they can be redeemed for payment(opens in a new tab). One TikTok coin is worth around $0.01. PinkyDoll reportedly(opens in a new tab) makes anything from $2,000 to 3,000 per stream, and counts Timbaland as one of her biggest supporters(opens in a new tab).
Creator natuecoco(opens in a new tab), who boasts 1.5 million followers on TikTok, has been credited with starting the NPC performance trend. There are other streamers, like Jay Monique(opens in a new tab) and Regena(opens in a new tab), each with hundreds and thousands of followers, who have jumped onto the trend since PinkyDoll’s recent rise. Both released(opens in a new tab) videos(opens in a new tab) discussing PinkyDoll’s virality but have since have decided to give it a try on their own accounts, largely because of the money PinkyDoll reigned in.
While NPC has now been transformed by creators into a trend, the term has gone through a history of its own. In 2018, for example, 4chan and Reddit boards were flooded with the use of “NPC” as a right-wing slur for liberals(opens in a new tab). On Twitter, too, hundreds of accounts were banned(opens in a new tab) for posing as NPCs and liberal activists, creating fake content.
The TikTok trend has so far escaped any kind of large controversy, but it does sort of illustrate a growing desire for mindless content. The creators cosplaying as NPCs are almost AI-like, and watching the videos feels like a concrete shift from reality. But as PinkyDoll told Vice, she doesn’t care what people think(opens in a new tab). TikTok loves her.
