npc

What it means

Someone who seems to act without original thought, just following the crowd or repeating scripted-sounding lines. Borrowed from gaming's 'non-player characters,' it's an insult implying a person has no independent personality or awareness.

Examples

• He just repeats whatever's trending, total NPC behavior.
• Stop being an NPC and form your own opinion for once.
• The way she said the exact same thing as everyone, NPC.
• I felt like an NPC just nodding along the whole meeting.

Where it comes from

From video game term 'non-player character,' it became a popular internet insult on 4chan and Reddit around 2016 and spread on TikTok, especially with the 2023 'NPC streamer' trend.

Related slang