WTF is up with real life NPCs

[Hobbes]

On the TikTok I’ve started to see more people pretending to be NPCs as in they are pretending to be not real and reacting the same way to different prompts (like liking them or whatever).  Most of them are attractive women with big boobs, but that’s almost everything on the internet—but what is the appeal of this specific phenomenon?

[Darth Krawlie]

I try my hardest to not pay attention to anything on or about TikTok. I only have the app because my wife sends me funny shit on it sometimes, but I could go weeks without thinking about it once if it wasn’t brought up so damn much. This is one area I’m 100% an old man.

[Zathras]

I'm too old for Tick Tock.  The culture surrounding it is alien to me.  

[Hobbes]

2 hours ago, Darth Krawlie said:

I try my hardest to not pay attention to anything on or about TikTok. I only have the app because my wife sends me funny shit on it sometimes, but I could go weeks without thinking about it once if it wasn’t brought up so damn much. This is one area I’m 100% an old man.

 

2 hours ago, Zathras said:

I'm too old for Tick Tock.  The culture surrounding it is alien to me.  

 

[Darth Krawlie]

The point is you’re too old for it too

[Jacen123]

The name is literally the seconds of modern culture quickly passing us by.

[Chalcedony]

I've seen people post a couple of these types of videos and dismissed the fad as one of the most idiotic things of the 21st century. In fact, I've dismissed pretty much the whole of TikTok as worthless. The only time I ever see TikTok vids is when they show up on Facebook or someplace.

[Hobbes]

I disagree  Sure, there is a lot of nonsense on TikTok, but no different that the internet as a whole.  The internet brought people, especially our generation, together in the 90s and 00s and was dismissed in a similar fashion to every comment in this thread.  As a teen my less techie peers would tell me to get a life and my grandma would tell me to talk to "real people" instead of posting on the internet because it was filled with child molesters.

TikTok gives a platform to people that wouldn't otherwise due to a disability, poverty, a lack of connections, an interest or skill that is too niche, etc.  It is the exact opposite of mass produced media people complain about. 

Once the algorithm is set to stuff you like it's great.  For example, a lot of my feed is other education professionals with lots of cool ideas for schools and classrooms, comedians I like, new sci-fi books (Blindspot) and podcasts (Quinn's ideas) I never would have known about, one woman who posts nothing but EXCEL shortcuts, , a guy that walks people through SAT math questions, a physically disabled guy runs his own dungeons and dragons tavern (Quincy's Tavern-this guy, whom would likely struggle to make a decent living without the platform, is thriving financially and is an inspiration to so many people and even wrote his own fantasy cookbook), daily updates on the James Webb telescope images, I am trying to help my dad start a channel to help older people like him with MS, I would like to start my own channel for the highlights and challenges of running a charter school, etc. 

I love people who live stream where they live and work from different parts of the world: a marketplace in Vietnam, a retired couple living on a longboat in Britain, a kitchen in Brooklyn, driving a truck cross county, a woman  documents her life as a captain running and living on an international cargo ship or a chairlift operator at Vail.  It is amazing to see other people's daily life from all over the world. 

I could go on, but if you are judging it based on how it is perceived in general (teenagers doing dances, pranks, just generally being obnoxious) you are missing out.  It is just like anything else, whether it be internet message boards or political commentary or whatever, it is always the most outrageous and ridiculous aspects that get the attention. No grandma, those other people on the message board are real people and they are not child molesters--I like to post there because there's really no one else like me where I live that likes the same kind of stuff I like that I can talk to.

But back to the topic, there is stuff like real life NPCs that could be considered crazy, but I think it is fascinating to understand why some people like it.  For example, is it similar to cartoons that many people with autism enjoy because the reactions and emotions and clearly shown predictable, and easy to understand because of a lack of nuance?

[Darth Krawlie]

I've cracked the case.

Lyra and Eli are playing right now and she says she's gonna be an NPC. After watching for a few minutes I ask her why was she doing that, what's the point of acting like that. She says "I don't know, why not?"

[Jacen123]

Was she at least a Majora’s Mask style NPC with three game days worth of storyline?

[CoLA]

I have seen a few videos of that girl and her boyfriend that are funny, the ice cream one in that link in the OP.