If Janice the Elder – God rest her soul – were still with us we would have been schooled on this 4chan phenomenon months ago. Gamers were the first to note the birth of the NPC meme, understand and advance the reference. As it is now running the internet - and I note some of you have posted some of the funnier memes here for our enjoyment - it is time we school ourselves thoroughly.
In a nutshell ‘NPC’ stands for non-player character – as in a video game. They serve as bots, programed with algorithms to provide canned responses in given situations in order to retain the real player’s attention and keep the game going. That programmed-response NPC’s have come to represent leftists was inevitable, and hence the basis for the meme.
What Is the ‘NPC’ Meme? Liberals Rage at Cartoons Mocking Their Scripted Thoughts
The new "NPC" meme mocks leftists by depicting them as unthinking and reflexive automatons. The meme has upset the left so much that Twitter is now banning people posting it for "dehumanizing speech," but its humble origins are the computer-controlled characters of limited intelligence found in most video games.
The popular NPC meme trend frames its targets as non-player characters (NPCs) who reflexively spout neo-Marxist axioms in response to real-world events. Actual NPCs are computer-controlled characters in video games with limited scripted responses given the parameters of the games in which they appear. For example, NPCs may assign quests to the player in games like Skyrim, or join the player as a companion in Fallout.
Built on the long-running Wojak meme, the NPC meme mocks leftists as expressionless in appearance and bot-like in behavior. The universal standard appearance illustrates the left's political homogeneity.
Red State has an even more detailed explanation here, summing up thusly:
While I’m in full belief that even SJWs have the capacity for rational and critical thought, the fact that they choose not to employ it, even in the face of brutal facts, earns them the label of NPC. If your entire identity revolves around the superficial, and your entire belief system revolves around instructions from someone else, then you’re about as good as a computer program. If you won’t engage in civil debate, and instead scream tired phrases at people when you run out of things to say, then there’s no person there, just a shell that somebody else is speaking through.
NPCs are often represented as cartoon faces with programming symbols for features:
The meme has garnered a lot of attention recently as Twitter has banned hundreds of right wing accounts posing as soulless, ‘nonplayable’ liberal activists (SJWs). From the NYT:
As an aside, MOTUS herself got thrown off Facebook years ago for “not being a real person” whereupon I embarked on a hilarious online argument with the nameless, faceless goons who control FB.
But I digress, apparently Twitter is busily developing a new policy aimed at NPC triggering:
Zero Hedge has an amusing take on the new steps being taken to contain the insults.
The NPC meme essentially meant to ridicule the post-election perpetual outrage culture in which liberals simply parrot the latest talking points from their favorite pundits, who do their thinking for them.
The 4chan version is a simple greyed out, expressionless face known as "NPC Wojak" - which has triggered the left so hard that Twitter conducted a mass-banning campaign for accounts promoting the meme, and the New York Times wrote an entire article trying to figure it out.
Anything that bores so far under the left’s skin clearly deserves to be applauded and spread far and wide, so give it your best shot people. Halloween is quickly approaching and the NPC-Che costumes are selling out fast.
Back View:
Let’s make this not just the meme of the week, month, or year – this one deserves meme of the decade designation.
Posts
