Are You A Non-Player Character?
Photo by Branden Skeli on Unsplash
Non-Player Characters (NPCs) are those characters in video games that cannot be controlled and are driven by the program itself to deliver specific pre-defined lines or actions, either playing a very specific role or no role at all. They don’t participate in any meaningful way, can’t be directed and more often than not, are there to simply make up the numbers.
I’ve heard the term NPC used in real life - mostly on social media and by kids - to refer to those individuals in their social environments who just exist. That is, they play no defining role in their interactions, they don’t have any strong opinions, nor do they dictate the state of play in any material way. Oh, I didn’t even realize so and so was around...he’s a bit of an NPC.
That sounds harsh and, yes, it is. No one in the real world is really an NPC - we all have our choices, our state of mind and our ability to do, at our disposal.
Thing is, though, that, in a way, NPCs actually do exist in our world, including in our adult lives. In fact, we may well be one in aspects of our own lives.
To the extent that the foundation of our beliefs is built on someone else’s worldview that we’ve simply accepted.
To the extent that we simply go along with what our peers, friends or family want us to think, believe and do.
To the extent that we don’t exercise real, critical thought in what we do, what we believe in and what we consider ourselves to be.
To the extent that we feel consistently helpless.
To the extent we believe we have no control over where our lives are going.
In the movie, Free Guy, Ryan Reynold’s character is an NPC in an open-world video game who, via the Artificial Intelligence that the game’s creators baked into the game, develops a mind of his own and transforms himself from an NPC into someone who is the hero of his own story. Not everything goes his way, but plenty of things (enough) do.
Yes, it’s a movie and yes, it’s fiction. But the underlying message holds.
We display characteristics of NPCs all the time - when we say we’re biding our time, when we’re not; when we believe this is just the way things are, but they aren’t; or, when we consistently blame someone or something else for the things that are happening to us.
The reality is that we have choices.
Do we have the courage to make them?
