What are NPCs?

The term Non Player Character is fairly self-explanatory. They are characters that aren’t normal players. They are operated by other forces such as a gamemaster or in the case of video games a pre-programmed script. The term has also made its way into popular culture, especially online, with people using it as an insult. It’s used to refer to people who supposedly lack their own thoughts, emotions or drive and are easily controlled by others such as the media. Let’s move on to discuss NPCs in fiction. As a fan of horror and sci-fi one popular twist that I see all the time involves leading the main characters to believe that another character or group are not human. They are sometimes explicitly told that a specific person or group are NPCs. These so-called NPCs may be portrayed as monsters, demons, AIs, etc. The main characters are then pitted against these beings only to learn much later that the creatures they’ve been harming were humans all along. Will they care? Perhaps grappling…