What Is NPC Streaming? The Viral TikTok Trend Featuring Pinkydoll & Trisha Paytas, Explained

There’s a new trend going around TikTok, but it’s making some users very confused.

Recently, creators have started livestreaming themselves acting like an “NPC” – aka a non-playable character – and using pre-written dialogue in response to gifts from their audience.

During these livestreams, a creator will get cartoon gifts like an ice cream cone or a rose from their viewers and react in real time. Often they respond with some kind of catchphrase that reflects whatever gift they received. One of the most viral NPC streamers, Pinkydoll, says “Ice cream so good” when given an ice cream gift, “You got me feeling like a cowgirl” when given a cowboy hat, and “Gang gang” when given a GG icon.

Keep reading to find out more…

An important part of the trend is also how quickly a creator can react to the gifts they receive without breaking character. However, when they do break character, it can go viral: A clip of Pinkydoll counting down and telling a child to go to bed has more than 230,000 likes.

In an interview with Vice, Pinkydoll shared that she spends at least six hours a day on TikTok making NPC content, often making $7,000 a day or more through her livestreams.

As a result, other creators from the platform have hopped on the trend and started creating NPC content of their own, including Trisha Paytas.

But the trend has also caused some confusion on other parts of the internet, with many finding NPC content strange or off-putting. “I’ve never been more confused in my entire life dawg…” reads one viral tweet, which contains a video of Pinkydoll’s livestream. Check out the clip down below.

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