She responds to gifts with repetitive phrases like “mmm ice cream so good,” “gang gang” or, for select viewers, “love you!” In one of her most popular bits, she pretends to pop balloons across the screen with hypnotizing cadence of a practiced ASMR artist.

She pops popcorn kernels with a hair straightener. With neutral facial expressions and mesmerizing consistency, they sway back and forth, utter catchphrases in return for digital currency and above all, stay in character for hours at a time.įedha Sinon, a TikTok creator known as PinkyDoll, became the face of the trend this month when clips of her livestreams went viral on Twitter. In these streams, creators imitate the awkward, stiff movements typically seen in throwaway characters that didn’t get enough design time. The once niche NPC livestreams are gaining popularity as a lucrative genre of content. Online, particularly on TikTok, Reddit and 4chan, NPC is used as a derogatory term for people who aren’t all there.ĭespite the demeaning connotations, NPCs are having their moment in the spotlight. Instead, all interactions with NPCs are preset, which means the characters are limited to repeating their loops with little other substance. The phrase NPC, or “non-playable character,” refers to video game characters whose personalities, dialogue and story lines cannot be controlled by the player. What onlookers actually seem to be mad about is the fact that these creators - most of whom are attractive young women - manage to profit off of being weird online. Sex workers, meanwhile, are unfairly dragged into dehumanizing conversations about the genre. Snippets of these creators’ livestreams keep going viral, and because the internet loves to hate on women, the nonsensical mannerisms that these creators use in their content has been written off as disturbing, cringe and definitely a sex thing. It’s a symptom of the anti-sex moral panic sweeping pop culture - and this time, it’s coming for TikTok’s NPC creators. Every time a woman monetizes the absurd, she’s accused of making fetish content.

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