Who You Calling ‘NPC’?
‘Non-Player Character’ Has Become an Insult. But Its D&D Origins Tell a Different Story
I tripped over the term NPC, quite literally, on my way to an event the other night. Rushing to get there, I fell right in front of the venue. Embarrassed by how many people had just watched me eat concrete, I texted my friend Claire.
“They’re just NPCs,” she wrote back instantly. “Who cares what they think?”
NPC, the acronym for “non-player character,” is a gamer concept that’s been around for 50 years now. Often thought of as a background character—a villager, a barkeep, a shop owner—who helps to flesh out the world …
