About

Real Life NPC refers to a concept, conspiracy theory and video trend related to non-playable characters within video games existing in real life as if reality is a simulation. The idea is inspired by video games that have prominent NPC features such as Elder Scrolls games, like Oblivion and Skyrim, or Elden Ring and Grand Theft Auto (GTA), among others. It relates to variant memes and concepts like I'm The Main Character, NPC Wojak and the catchphrases "We Are Living In A Simulation" or "We Live In A Simulation."

Origin

Oblivion NPC Dialogue Parodies

Oblivion NPC Dialogue Parodies are among the first videos online to use NPCs as a comedic reference in IRL interactions. They refer to videos mocking the awkward dialogues with non-player characters found in the 2006 Bethesda Softworks role-playing game The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and later in 2011 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

On May 17th, 2007, YouTuber Jax Reads uploaded a video titled "Real Oblivion," featuring a parody of dialogue sequences in the game (shown below). Within 10 years, the video received more than 614,000 views and 1,400 comments.

Spread

On January 24th, 2011, Twitter^[1] user unsmith posted a tweet that made a joke about them feeling like, "a real life NPC," stating as evidence, "I don't initiate conversations but if people talk to me I tend to say the same things." The tweet (shown below) earned 80 likes in 11 years. It is the first known tweet using the real-life NPC concept in online humor.

On July 1st, 2017, the /r/NPC_irl^[7] subreddit was created, a subreddit dedicated to reposting videos and pictures of NPCs in real life. Over the course of five years, the subreddit amassed roughly 17,600 members.

Daylyt's "We Live In A Video Game World" Viral Video

In early May 2016, notable rapper and hip-hop artist Daylyt posted a video to his Facebook account in which he was taking a walk in a park. He decided to record as a man in an orange shirt was walking towards him down the sidewalk. He started talking to the camera, using the man as proof that we live in a video game world, noting that the man "is clearly a Grand Theft Auto created character" and that "he like look like he get hit by a car and continue to walk."

Although the video has since been taken off Facebook, it was reposted to YouTube on May 9th, 2016, by the channel 1SPAWNONLY, where over the course of seven years, it received roughly 170,000 views and 14,000 likes (shown below).

Bruh, I be tryna tell niggas. We live in a video game world, bruh. Half of these niggas ain't even real people, bro! Watch this… You know that though! Bruh, that can't be a real nigga. That nigga is clearly a Grand Theft Auto created character. He like look like he get hit by a car and continue to walk.

In May 2016, Daylyt posted similar videos with a similar editing and comedic style to the one shown above to his Facebook, providing more evidence of the timeframe and origin of the "video game world" video. For instance, he posted a Facebook^[1] video on May 7th, 2016, that also used GTA sound effects.

Skyrim TikTok Parodies

On November 27th, 2019, TikToker jinnkid posted an NPC parody featuring a courier (shown below, left). The video gained over 389,700 likes in 14 days. The TikToker continued to post five more Skyrim parodies, the most popular being part 2 featuring Jin-Ra post on November 30th (shown below, center). The video garnered over 1.4 million likes in 10 days. The sound clip was used in more TikTok parodies. For example, on December 8th, TikToker @erinisconfuced posted a parody using jinnkid's sound clip (shown below, right).

Continued Spread

On February 15th, 2020, YouTuber MR. OBVIOUS posted a video titled, "Do Real Life NPCs Exist? An Interview With a Real Life NPC Explained," in which he analyzed real-life NPC footage he'd found. The video (shown below) earned roughly 192,400 views in two years.

On January 7th, 2021, YouTuber Meme Tycoon posted a video titled, "NPC rides his bike into the mayor," earning roughly 11.2 million views in one year (shown below).

Going into 2020, real-life NPC content continued to spread on TikTok where users continued to use music from Elder Scrolls as the exploitable audio in the background. For instance, on November 14th, 2020, TikToker^[3] gameconnoisseur posted a part 2 to their series, "NPCs in Real Life," earning roughly 2 million plays and 266,600 likes in two years (shown below, left). In late 2021, real-life NPC content saw another spike in engagement, with people like TikToker^[4] lekieru posting a video on November 19th, 2021 that received roughly 1.9 million plays and 315,200 likes in four months (shown below, right).

In 2022, NPC interactions continued to trend, with the creators behind the camera becomingly increasingly aggressive with outing the non-playable characters. A primary culprit of the trend was TikToker fun.jokez1 who made a habit of approaching NPCs in stores like Walmart and Target. For instance, on March 1st, 2022, TikToker^[5] fun.jokez1 posted a video that had text overlay reading, "NPC Interaction Gone Wrong," earning roughly 2.1 million plays in 24 days (shown below, left).

Telling NPCs weird things became another trend on TikTok in 2022. As evidence, on February 26th, 2022, TikToker^[6] bigcthedon posted a video in which he screamed at NPCs in a public park, earning roughly 135,800 plays in one month (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References