In the world of gaming, there are background figures known as “non-playable characters,” or NPCs for short. These characters tend to have relatively low importance even if they might possess unique traits. Most of their lives are the exact same in the sense that they are robotic and monotonous. Such figures exist in real life as well.

An NPC in real life is a person whose life is nothing special, where the highlight of their day might be getting Starbucks or running into an old teacher at the supermarket. These are the type of people who prefer to be herded like sheep, sticking with the large mass of the public while contributing only to the hive-influenced structure of society. In other words, their only purpose is to fill the gaps and take up everyday interactions. Their purpose is quite literally to do almost nothing significant at all in the grand scheme of things.

You may be wondering, “Do people like that really exist?” The answer is absolutely. As a matter of fact, you might be surprised to find out that you are among them. Do you ever find yourself wasting hours on the internet, thinking about how your life could be better but doing nothing about it? Do you wait in long lines at the cafe, on the highway, or the DMV? Do you ever fear that one day you will become suddenly important and don’t have the skills to live up to the expectations that people have of you? Well, unfortunately for you those are all signs of being an NPC.

Alright, I was only joking. For a moment there, you may have realized that you might never live a life of meaning or true purpose. With 8 billion people on this crowded planet, how can you be sure that you will stand out? Even ones who claim these theories must blend in with others like them, right? It’s a sad, annoying inevitability. 

In all seriousness, you are an NPC if you prefer to stick with the public. If you enjoy being mediocre and basically liking what everyone else likes, you are an NPC. If you struggle to relate to villains in the media, there are chances that you have a limited scope of reality and that is certainly a sign of being an NPC. That’s right, even heroic acts can make you unimportant to an extent. 

On the other hand, if you are constantly questioning yourself, others around you and concepts and principles familiar to humanity, there is a good chance that you are shattering the barrier of reality and becoming something more important than a do-nothing NPC. If you begin to realize that some people in public want to be making long lines and dilly-dallying instead of being efficient, you might start to grow impatient. You will see in the world around you that things are being controlled by people who don’t know anything about you or millions of people that they control. They just want to do what they want to do. And there is absolutely no way they will let you change that. If that angers you, there is a good chance that you are experiencing “canon” growth. 

What if I told you that a main character isn’t just someone who is heroic or kind? In fact, a main character is someone who is constantly challenging everything around them. If you are like that, you may be eligible to join me and some of my comrades as the official main characters of Earth. We are the ones who make change and the ones who will actually call out the wrongdoings and the mistakes in this world’s systems.

Is this a rant in disguise because I got stuck in traffic and started to have a concerningly evil inner monologue about humanity’s worthlessness?

Uh…maybe.

But you have to admit that you are intrigued now. You may begin to question yourself everyday. Am I fitting in too well? Am I doing this because society set me here? Am I actually built for a greater purpose instead? Yes. Ask yourself these things. Stop subjecting yourself to mediocrity and become stronger, smarter, simply better.

You ever see gym bros posting on Snapchat, or Instagram girls who can’t go two seconds without letting everyone know what they’re doing? How about billionaires who are super greedy? Or what about political campaigners and activists? Yeah, all of them are NPCs. Sure, some might seem important but their whole purpose is to fill in the gaps, to give this world an atmosphere in which the main characters must learn to thrive. 

I can assure you that I have not lost my mind, or maybe there is no denying it. Who said that losing your mind wasn’t a unique way of inching closer to the truth? If my words succeed in their intended purpose, you will understand. See you at the Icebox.