TikTok's NPCS | an Essay
originally published on 06/09/2023
Before we can begin our examination of why there are NPCs, or what the presence and apparent prevalence of NPCs means for humanity, we must first ask, and answer, a simple question. What are TikTok NPCs?
Prior to any work being done, it is important to remind the reader that this is not going to be an exhaustive examination of the phenomenon of “TikTok NPCs”, nor is it going to present any conclusive evidence, nor is it going to make use of peer-reviewed studies and information. Some such things might be kept in the mind of the author as the work is being unraveled, but there is no pretense that a great scientific contribution is being made. It is simply a set of thoughts and an analysis of the phenomenon.
With that said, it is important to separate these two things - TikTok and NPCs - and explain them individually, for both of those things are vital in the examination at hand.
TikTok
TikTok is a video-sharing platform, intended for use on one’s Smartphone, on which users can upload or watch short videos. Short would almost be an understatement for the duration of the videos in question, but that is what they are, as they can range from as minuscule as fifteen [15] seconds to as long as ten [10] minutes long.
The important part of this - of TikTok - is the way it is used. It is not utilized as a platform which one browses in search of a particular video to watch, due to the shortness of the videos on offer, but rather as a constant stream of videos. Due to the length of the videos, there is no video that can be recommended - after all, how can one recommend a fifteen [15] second clip? Or why would a user bother finding such a clip when it is so insignificantly short that they would spend more time looking for it than watching it?
This introduces a valuable concept - the price of our time, and the price of our effort, compared to the entertainment we derive from watching TikTok videos (TikToks). Our time is so cheap that TikToks play automatically as soon as they are on our screen, and often-times we watch them even if we are left with the impression that they are not very good. In addition to that, we do not engage with them, nor is there any invitation to engage with them, which lessens the effort that we put into the TikToks we consume.
That leads into a situation that features countless TikToks, given to us by TikTok’s algorithm, which we watch and forget almost immediately, because a new TikTok is presented either as soon as the previous ends or as soon as we slide our finger up or down our device’s screen.
Most of these TikToks are, as previously mentioned, not very entertaining - they don’t elicit a chuckle or any reaction from us, they simply are on display, in a manner incredibly similar to something on TV that is being watched and that captivates a person.
Why, then, are these lacking in value (when it comes to how entertaining they are) clips being watched? Well, because they are lacking in such value proportionally to other possible content - however, whereas watching an episode of a serial requires at least twenty [20] minutes of the user’s time, as well as navigating search engines and accessing applications that require payment, most of the time, or dealing with interruptions in the form of advertisements, a TikTok requires fifteen [15] seconds of the user’s time.
Twenty [20] minutes are a lot - a third of an hour - and then the episode might not even be fun. Spending twenty [20] minutes watching something only to conclude it was not worth being watched is a lot worse than spending fifteen [15] seconds watching something to come to the same conclusion about it. Risk and reward, as well as the value of things come in play.
So, we have these short videos that are very bland, most of the time, which are getting fed to us and require no effort from us at all, which are, comparatively, a lot worse than every other form of entertainment, but are, comparatively, more entertaining than our daily lives. As a result of that, we still make use of TikTok and watch TikToks, because people tend to need entertainment, or at least an escape from the mundanity of the way of life that we have supposedly created for ourselves.
We make the calculation that being disappointed by the quarter of a minute we spend watching a TikTok is less unpleasant, or less of a loss, than being disappointed by the third of an hour we spend watching something else, and so we watch TikToks. We also, somehow, come to the conclusion that spending a third of an hour watching many TikToks, and being disappointed by them, is less disappointing than spending a third of an hour watching one episode of a serial show, because the TikToks go by faster, thus presenting us with a far more rapid sense of gratification if we encounter one that is entertaining.
We estimate our time to be very valuable, when comparing a TikTok’s runtime to that of a serial’s episode, but then estimate it to be worthless when it comes to comparing how willing we are to spend as much time watching TikToks as we would need to spend watching a single episode of some serial.
TikTok, naturally, wants to keep the user on TikTok, making use of the platform, and while most users do spend impressive amounts of time drooling at their phone screens, watching TikToks, they do manage to stop themselves after a bit of time. Thus, TikTok seeks to find a means of diversifying the content it offers - and here come streams.
Streams are key here, as they are the way TikTok NPCs came into being, so they will also be examined. A stream is a live recording that is being broadcast to the platform, which can be watched by anyone who so choses. It can be called a one-way video call, and that is an important factor, for the one performing the stream is most likely going to be interacting with the audience.
The audience has the opportunity to either post messages in the stream’s dedicated chat, which is a conventional means of interaction, or they can interact through “Gifts” and “Diamonds”. Those latter two are the important element when it comes to the phenomenon of the TikTok NPC, so we will examine them a bit more closely.
Gifts and Diamonds are means of giving the streamer money - the audience sends some money their way, and TikTok of course takes some percent of that money, but the key thing here is that people can give the streamer money. By doing so, they often elicit a response - one of gratitude. That creates two things - a drive for the streamer to please the audience, thus potentially making the stream more entertaining, and the idea that there are certain thresholds of quality that can be passed, and when passed, members of the audience should reward that overcoming of the threshold.
The key thing here is that this creates a pseudo-relationship between the one who sends a Gift or a Diamond and the recipient, the streamer. The streamer will react to the Gift, they might read out the user’s name, they might thank them, and, by merit of now knowing the user’s name, might read the user’s chat messages and respond to them. This is a parasocial relationship, but more on that will be revealed later.
TikTok streams (called TikTok LIVEs on the platform) last a lot longer than a single TikTok, or even ten [10], but they feature the potential for a type of entertainment that is not found in ordinary TikToks, and most often they prey on a user’s knowledge of the streamer, as well as a willingness to engage with a stream. Thus, TikTok streams are, essentially, an advanced type of TikTok, which last longer and also offer a similarly mediocre amount of entertainment, meant for the people who have fallen prey to the misconception, sought to be instilled within them by TikTok, that their time is worthless.
So these people spend outrageous amounts of time watching TikToks or TikTok streams, because they have concluded that doing something else with their time would be less entertaining or pleasant, which could only be achieved if their means of spending their time otherwise are incredibly limited and feature the doing of things that the person in question has no desire to do.
The NPC
Now that we have gleaned some understanding of what TikTok is, and how it might come in handy in examining the TikTok NPC, let us direct our attention to the other elephant in the room - the NPC itself.
NPC is an abbreviation that stands for “non-Player Character” and stems from video games, in which there are often many Characters with a very important distinction between them - there are those characters that are Player Characters (often that is only one [1] character) and then there are many other characters (all other characters) who are non-Player Characters.
The important thing here is that the Player Character is controlled by the Player, thus having “real” intelligence and agency, while the NPC is controlled by a set of “IF…THEN” statements (an algorithm, for lack of a better term), which decrees how the NPC reacts to certain actions performed by the Player (through the Player Character). The NPC can be said to know how to react to a number of things, but it also does not know how to react to many other things, as a result of which it either does not react to them or attempts to use one of the solutions presented by the algorithm for other situations.
Another key difference here is that the NPC is not important when compared to the Player Character. After all, the Player Character is how the Player gets to experience whatever game they are playing, and if the Player Character dies, the game ends. If an NPC dies, the game continues (almost unimpeded).
In addition to that, an NPC is characterized by its inhuman nature, by its uncanniness. It might look very realistic, but it will move in a manner that is markedly not normal - it will gyrate while standing in place, it will emulate the slight movements of a human’s body as the human breathes in and out, but will exaggerate them tremendously so as to showcase that they are being done. NPCs also move in set patterns and follow predefined routes, whereas the Player can walk however they desire and in whatever direction they want.
However, what is key here is that the NPC reacts to what the Player does, even if it only does so in certain situations. Another important factor is that the NPC can not avoid reacting to what the Player does, nor can it be doing something else - as the NPC has no agency and must follow its programming. That combines with the general unimportance of the NPC itself and leads into the conclusion that the NPC exists to make the Player feel something - whether it be to feel special, or to simply be entertained by the NPC’s existence, is not important.
The main thing is that NPCs exist purely for the Player’s sake, and without the Player they would have no meaning, there would be no sense to their existence.
TikTok NPC
So, we now know what an NPC is, and we know what TikTok is (as well as what it is all about, supposedly) and we can combine them into the amalgamation that is the TikTok NPC.
The TikTok NPC is a person who is live on TikTok, streaming, and who has devised a set of particular reactions reserved for Gifts and Diamonds, and that is the only means of communication that the NPC employs. Whenever a Gift or a Diamond is presented to the NPC, the NPC reacts - saying a couple of words and maybe performing a movement. While not reacting to a Gift or a Diamond, the NPC is going to emulate an “idle” animation (as discussed, the exaggerated motion of breathing, or the gyration of one standing in place, which are common for NPCs in games).
In short, that is the TikTok NPC. It is a person who has decided that they would like to spend their time doing that - reciting the same four or five lines of text and moving in the same manner, showing zero emotion aside from whatever is required by the reaction to a Gift or a Diamond - in hopes of receiving a big enough paycheck.
But how is this a trend? What is it that has allowed these two things - TikTok and the concept of an NPC - to mix so, supposedly, well? I’d say it is the very thing that characterizes the NPC, as well as that same thing that makes streams enticing - the interaction.
Normally, when a person is streaming and they receive a donation (a Gift or a Diamond, in the case of TikTok) they might fail to notice it. They might also purposefully ignore it. They might have also disabled whatever bits of user interface exist to indicate that a donation has been made. That leads into the possibility that they will fail to react to the donation, thus failing to react to the user who made that donation, thus failing to nurture the “relationship” between them.
And, as previously stated, that pseudo-relationship between streamer and viewer is very important when it comes to the viewer’s justification for watching the stream. If there is a risk that the viewer spends money to get a reaction out of the streamer, and does not get that reaction, then there is no reward, and the viewer has not only wasted their time, thus losing money indirectly, they have lost money directly.
TikTok NPCs, on the other hand, exist solely to react to Gifts and Donations. They do nothing else… So, how does it work? Why does it work? What does it mean for humanity’s current situation?
Those questions can be answered in a plethora of ways. As an example, we can look at the problems plaguing young people - the loneliness epidemic - and tie that to the “relationship” the viewer develops with the NPC.
Alternatively, the reaction that the NPC provides, which is often enthusiastic, although scripted, might be the reason for a person’s engagement with it - maybe the reactions to their deeds in everyday life are so muted and tempered that they feel as though nothing they do is recognized by their acquaintances?
Perhaps that reaction plays a key role in another manner - the fact that it is going to happen no matter what, and the fact that it happens because of the user’s input, might give the user some sense of agency, which is otherwise lacking?
Those will need to be looked at in more detail, while considering everything else that has, so far, been said about TikTok, NPCs and TikTok NPCs.
A Friend
How could an NPC streamer, a person who clearly is only doing whatever they are doing for the money that comes from it, wind up being considered a friend? Well, if the person sending a Gift or Diamond to that NPC has no friends, or has a very limited circle of friends, or does not feel as though their friends are really their friends, or maybe has a diluted perception of what friendship is, the NPC might appear genuine enough to be capable of falling into whatever proverbial net the word friend is (for the person making the Gift).
Considering the fact that according to some recently revealed to me (in a dream) studies, nearly half of all young people (in western countries) have less than five [5] close friends, and a decent chunk of those only have one [1] or have none at all, it becomes easy to understand how some people might be experiencing some kind of perceived relationship with the NPC.
But even if we do not target the marginal as our test subject, and we approach those who do have a healthy number of close friends, there is still something that eludes them - in their day-to-day activities - which can be found in what the NPC offers. The simplest approach to solving that conundrum - as to what it is that the NPC does offer - is to look at the fact that the NPC constantly talks.
Whenever a person is out with friends, they engage in talking. Unfortunately, there are often moments that present themselves as unpleasant - be they periods of silence while both people gather their thoughts or even just having to come up with a topic of discussion, if the conversation is threatening to go nowhere. The NPC does not have that kind of issue and just yammers on constantly.
While the noise that an NPC creates does not really substitute human to human conversations, it actually manages to act as an illusory substitution, for in most cases a conversation truly becomes meaningful and enjoyable only after ten [10], twenty [20] or even thirty [30] minutes have passed in threading the needle, in figuring out what to talk about (which half hour is filled with small talk, which is most often noise of the caliber produced by the NPC).
As a result of that - the fact that talking for thirty minutes can yield almost nothing - it becomes easy to understand why folks who are used to that kind of “nothing conversation” can subconsciously, or maybe completely consciously, find an NPC’s jabbering to be a satisfactory substitution for that not-entirely-pleasant part of speaking with others.
Thus, the NPC becomes more desirable, because the amount of time that needs to be spent getting to that friend and then getting back home, is nearly non-existent, whereas meeting up with a real person will cost at least thirty [30] minutes extra, those needed to reach the destination of the meeting and those needed to return to one’s dwelling.
Not only that, but the NPC is also a more pleasant friend than the average friend, due to the fact that the NPC is always in an incredibly cheerful mood, or, at the very least, is not “down in the dumps”. When people encounter other people and talk about things, engage in the aforementioned small talk, they go through the motions of sharing their recent life-related escapades. And the answer: “Same old, same old” is so common, because it is. People do not have interesting lives - because they need to go to work as often as possible, and then they do not have the time to do anything else.
That monotony makes their lives remarkably bland, and then whenever something unfortunate happens, there is no fortunate event to balance it out, leading to every recollection of the past, that is nearly mandatory when one engages in small-talk, to be somewhat sad. The NPC does not have that problem - it is either outright cheerful or the things it says are not unpleasant. In addition to that, the NPC speaks in an affectionate manner, whether it would call the viewer “bro” or it would be a slew of “thank yous”, or it would simply be the tone of their voice, NPCs are fake and meant to be pleasant on the surface.
Since the surface is all that most people have time for - as depth indicates a submersion that takes time and effort, and people are tired as well as poor on time - the surface is all that tends to matter… And it is not important that the NPC is fake, because people are also fake.
Genuinely False
Another reason as to why the TikTok NPC could be gaining traction is the lack of genuine expression that people experience from their conversational partners. There is something incredibly odd about the way contemporary people talk to one another, following the rules of an etiquette that has not been explicitly established prior to the beginning of the conversation, yet one that must be followed regardless.
As a result of that, the people engaging in that conversation cannot be genuine most of the time and need to temper their statements and reactions, for, otherwise, they might cross the bounds of “propriety” and can appear brash, harsh, rude and so on. Appearing as such a person is never a good thing, because those are all traits that fall on the bad side of any qualitative scale, and when someone has those bad traits, or are perceived to, they are not going to be sought out for future conversation.
Thus, it is only with close friends that one can be honest and genuine, but, as previously stated, people are not having many close friends. In addition to that, it is quite difficult to figure out how a friend becomes a close friend - as “a friend” is a concept that is unique to every person and that, which is associated with the idea of “a friend” can vastly differ from one person to another, including two supposed friends.
Not being certain about whether or not one’s friends qualify as close friends, or whether or not that individual qualifies as being a close friend in their eyes, means that that individual will also temper themselves so as to avoid potentially losing their friends over making a mistake and expressing something that might have been improper to express.
As a result of that, people are fake, though they pretend not to be in front of others, even while being fake. They put on a facade, as is well known, and wield multiple “personalities”, using the appropriate personality for the appropriate setting. In all that, there is a genuine person, but whether that genuine person is allowed to express themselves or not is an entirely different matter. Most often, what happens is that the genuine expression is subdued and limited only to activities on the internet, due to the fact it provides a sort of anonymity.
TikTok NPCs are, on the other hand, unapologetically fake. They do not pretend that they are genuine, they are earnestly being fake. They are honest with what they are doing - they want the user’s money, and they will provide a reaction in return. A simple transaction. In addition to that, they will react in a manner that suggests genuine enthusiasm and excitement about whatever it is that they are reacting to.
There appears to be no filter of etiquette, no tempering agent to stifle the joy that they can exhibit and the mirth that can be displayed. That showcase of apparently genuine excitement, even if it is explicitly fake, is something that people do not see every day. In fact, it is such a rare occurrence that it would be a safe bet to assume it does not get seen even once a month!
But even if it is fake, this excitement for things is wondrous. People love being excited about things, and they want to be excited about those things. But the culture that has spawned itself around humanity is one that violently assaults those who express excitement, whether through explicit ridicule or an equation to a child, even if people crave the chance to be genuine about their feelings regarding things.
The NPC is fake, but it also exhibits that kind of enthusiasm and excitement about things, that genuine joy at something that the viewer craves to be able to express. As a result of that, the NPC is valuable and worthwhile, due to the fact that it presents a vicarious life for the user - they can find a faint substitution to their earnest expression in this falsehood that plays the role of one who is expressing themselves earnestly.
When a person has no agency, they like watching people who have agency, because that way they can vicariously assume agency, and when a person has no agency to be genuine, a person seeks others who are genuine, so that they may experience some shred of genuineness.
Agency
More on that should be said, though. As was mentioned earlier in this text, people have boring lives. Wake up, have breakfast, make oneself proper, commute to work, work, commute home, have dinner, go to sleep. Occasionally, once every seven days, there might be some shift in that, but then it also might not occur, because the mountainous amounts of exhaustion that have piled onto the person in question will make it hard to enjoy the weekend, forcing them to rest instead of engaging in other activities.
People, working class people (of course, who else?) have no agency. Their schedule is decided not by them, but by their workplace. Their weeks, their months, their years - they are decided by someone else, not by them. Their spending? Decided by someone else - the amount of money they possess. Their behavior, as previously discussed, is also dictated by something other than themselves. It would appear that people have no agency - they have no power over anything in their own lives, they have no means of exerting any influence over anything.
Quite the opposite, in fact - they are the subjects who get influenced. Nearly every waking moment of one’s life is a constant storm of influences being slammed into the person going through their day - advertisements, so deviously designed that they are clearly advertising falsehoods, yet they are allowed to exist because the influence of the companies behind them is so great it extends to even those people who supposedly have influence.
Just that is enough to indicate to a person, an ordinary person who does not wield massive amounts of capital or occupy a position of political importance, that they are nothing and have no influence or agency in anything. IF even the politicians who supposedly rule the country are not able to exert their agency over these things - corporations - then what agency or influence can I, a single, ordinary person from the working class, have?
The answer is, of course, none (as that is the desired conclusion the person is being influenced to come to), even if in reality agency has a cumulative effect, so if one comes together with many others they suddenly start being a lot more influential (strikes work because of that, or at least should work because of that).
Regardless of that previous statement, a single person is constantly reminded they have no agency or influence and that they are unable to exert any agency over anything. Then comes the TikTok NPC, who will do exactly what the user wants it to do. The user is granted agency over the actions of the NPC - those which the NPC can perform, of course - and that is more agency than the user normally has over their own life, let alone the life of others. Making another person do whatever one wants grants (to the one making the other act) an incredible feeling of agency.
The Jester-Clown
At the same time, the NPC is an object of ridicule. The people who perform in these TikTok streams, those who take on the roles of NPCs, put on a show. Not only do they put on a show, they demean themselves incredibly much, making themselves astonishingly pathetic in the process.
That is reminiscent of the role a clown plays. The clown is a funny character, someone who does silly goofs for the entertainment of others. Half of the fun from watching a clown originates from the absurdity of their outfit - shoes too big to be comfortable, make-up in such gratuitous amounts that it’s ridiculous, an outfit that is quite odd… The clown looks silly. He embodies some sort of stupidity.
The TikTok NPC possesses the same charm as the clown. These performers take on stances that are clearly unnatural, they act in a manner that is unnatural, and they do ridiculous things - pop popcorn with hair straighteners, pretend to be on a battlefield while brandishing a toy gun, embody a “tough guy” persona and simultaneously react in an incredibly “feminine” manner to a Rose being gifted to them. That ridiculousness is key to the entertainment they provide.
The clown in this situation does not seek to provoke thought, the clown only seeks to make the audience laugh at himself. And the TikTok NPC does just that, the TikTok NPC demeans itself so gratuitously that it becomes laughable. A very fortunate trait that these NPC performers have is that they pass off as conventionally attractive, which, when coupled with the absurdities of their performance, winds up presenting a comedic picture to the viewer.
People who are conventionally attractive are shallow and stupid, there is such a stereotype, and these NPCs play upon that stereotype by reinforcing it in a clearly ironic manner. And even if it is so, the fact that this otherwise empowered, by circumstance, individual is placed at the bottom, being a virtual beggar and performing funky tricks for the virtual passers-by, is gratifying for the viewer.
Simultaneously, though, the clown is also saddening. Those who fail to be entertained in a comedic manner by the activities performed by the TikTok NPC often-times experience the sensation of cringe. Discomfort brought about by second-hand embarrassment courses through the viewer, who is entertained by the sight in a manner similar to that of a car crash.
One cannot look away, even if the sight is horrible to behold.
Lastly, the TikTok NPC, although a funny clown, is also a jester. For at the expense of their dignity, these people are granted incredible boon - the jester is the only individual who has the right to ridicule and make fun of the king, whereas the TikTok NPC, appearing silly and pathetic, generates income unlike anything the average US citizen has seen.
The minimum hourly wage in the USA is seven [7] dollars and fifty [50] cents, with some more libertarian states managing to bump it up to fifteen [15] dollars per hour. The TikTok NPC easily makes that much money off of one [1] minute of streaming, if not less. What winds up happening is that the viewer laughs at the NPC for the latter’s silly antics, but that viewer fails to realize that they, themselves, are in such a situation - if not a worse one.
For whose dignity is more thoroughly marred? That of the worker, toiling away for eight [8] or more hours a day, commuting to work for two [2] hours a day, and having almost no time for themselves, who must struggle with making ends meet, who sells themselves in just the same way a prostitute would sell herself, so that they can make money… Or that of the TikTok NPC, who pretends to be a clown for one [1] hour per day, if not rarer than that, and makes off with a fortune that would take some people entire weeks to amass?
Who sells themselves and, by extension, demeans themselves more? The TikTok NPC, who spends an hour doing silly things, or the worker, who sacrifices physical and mental health so that they can afford the bare necessities required for the continuation of life - a life devoid of joy or meaning?
In Conclusion
The TikTok NPC is a fascinating phenomenon. Much like that of the ordinary streamer, the person filling that role pretends to be a funny clown, and allows the viewers to laugh at them, only for that same funny clown to then wind up being the one laughing in the long run. In the end, though, the sheer existence of such a position to be filled is very unnerving.
It shows a lack of sufficiently satisfying communication, it speaks of a pronounced lack of companionship and an incredible desire for human connection, it reveals that the powerlessness of the average person is starting to affect them negatively, it exposes the willingness of people to do anything for money, and so much more that it would be improper to list it all.
Unfortunate as it is, this is yet another resultant thing to come from our current way of life and the many efforts made to both keep it as it is, to force it into a regression and to lead it into changing (and improving).
With that said, I would not recommend an NPC stream to anyone. Not even as a crutch that provides some human speech, not even as a substitute for a friend (a proper streamer would do better), and definitely not as a means of going through a power fantasy or wielding agency. It is not entertaining in the slightest, and the only sensation it fills me with is dread at the prospect of what it might signify to come, if an effort is not made to deal with the issues that have contributed to making it possible.