_Corey Davidson is a junior journalism major at MU. He is an opinion columnist who writes about student life and politics for The Maneater._
Being born in the ‘90s but growing up in the ‘00s was truly a magical time. In particular, 2007 was debatably the peak of the famous online game of Runescape. For many, Runescape was their first computer game and first mass multiplayer experience. Old-School Runescape had great multiplayer features like trading, questing and chat. However, what always stuck out was the non-player characters, otherwise known as NPCs.
NPCs exist solely to progress the story or do certain actions for the player characters. Runescape’s NPCs had no independent thought, walked or stood in predetermined places, and had only a few lines of dialogue available. In other words, everything they did was scripted.
Recently, there’s been a good amount of Twitter beef surrounding a new meme that some would say is the greatest since Pepe the Frog. You may have heard of “The NPC Meme” or “NPC Wojak.”
The brunt of the joke is that many political activists behave like an NPC would: They stay in the same echo chambers on Twitter or Reddit, have the exact same opinions as many in their camp and offer the same retorts over and over in political arguments.
A big drawing point of the NPC meme is that it seems pretty plausible. When you see John Oliver spout an opinion on Last Week Tonight and verified profiles on Twitter say the same thing the next day, it seems uninspired.
To someone not in that circle, it looks like everyone is copying each other and not having independent thoughts. This can apply to both sides of the aisle, but has mainly targeted the left. The best solution here is to get your news and opinions from multiple sources and form your own arguments. After all, the best decisions to make are informed ones. Obviously, nobody walking around campus is necessarily an NPC. However, I think it brings up a larger conversation about intrinsic motivation and how we navigate our daily lives.
When was the last time you actually thought to yourself? As in, do you ever engage in an inner monologue? Or do you go about your day, doing the same things and saying the same things without thinking about it?
Only about 26 percent of sampled students self-reported that they conduct inner speech, according to a 2011 Psychology Today article.
This isn’t very surprising, as college doesn’t quite foster intrinsic motivation.
Instead of being completely motivated by one’s own interest and enjoyment, students are motivated by trying to get a certain GPA, fulfilling their graduation plan requirements or trying to appease their peers.
While there is autonomy in picking some of the classes you take or the major you pursue, much of the college experience is controlled by what the administration requires.
With all of this in mind, it’s easy to get in a rut. It’s easy to feel like an NPC if you’re going to the same classes every day, doing the same thing every weekend and seeing the same people over and over.
This can be helped by changing it up: park in a different spot tomorrow, take a different walk to class or try hitting up someone you haven’t hung out with in a bit. Having a routine can be good, but shaking it up is healthy.
Whether or not everyone is running on scripts, the NPC meme should serve as a good opportunity to look in the mirror. Instead of acting like a quest-giver, start your own quest to lead an exciting life.
