NPC
noun
Someone who lacks any capacity for original thought
What does NPC mean?
NPC is an abbreviation of non-player character. It may be used literally, in which it refers to a character in a video game, or role-playing game, whose actions are automated, and cannot be manipulated players of the game. It is also, and increasingly, used insultingly in a non-literal fashion, as a way of describing a person viewed as lacking any capacity for original thought.
Examples of NPC
Several months ago, users on 4chan and Reddit, the online message forums, started using the term NPC to refer to liberals. These people, they said, join the anti-Trump crowd not because they are led by independent thought or conscience to oppose President Trump’s policies, but because they’re brainwashed sheep who have been conditioned to parrot left-wing orthodoxy, in the manner of a scripted character.
—Kevin Roose, The New York Times, 16 October. 2018
Today, “NPC” has become a catch-all term that is generally used to call someone irrelevant, unintelligent, or unoriginal.
—They're lawmakers facing competitive re-election races. They're members of the old guard. And they were stalwart allies of McCarthy when he was speaker. They are what Gaetz has derisively deemed "NPCs" — an insult and video game reference that means "non-playable character" — due to their mild tempers and avoidance of bombast.
—
Where does NPC come from?
NPC has been in use since the 1970s, as an abbreviated form of non-playing character; its earliest use was in role-playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons. The figurative and insulting use is considerably more recent, dating from 2010s.
How is NPC used?
NPC may be used dismissively of anyone who exhibits sheeplike behavior. However, in recent years it is often employed by conservatives, of liberals.
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