Don't Be An NPC

An NPC is a non-player character in a video game. Essentially, it’s any character who’s being controlled by a computer instead of a human.

Whether they want to admit it or not, people have a lot in common with NPCs. That’s why the concept of the NPC was such a huge meme during the 2016 US presidential election: people were being robotic and predictable.

And this applies to all aspects of life, not just politics.

Think about it. After someone finishes high school, what’s the first thought they have? College.

What about when people get married? First thought on people’s minds? Kids.

Now, these decisions aren’t inherently negative, but they illustrate the fact that there is a societal “life script” that people follow.

How do you create NPCs? With code! In other words, with programming and scripts.

And if you think it’s ridiculous that people would follow a life script, try telling someone that you don’t want to go to college or have kids, and see how upset or combative they get.

Most people don’t think for themselves, so they follow the script (movie or code script—either one works).

If you go against programming, you’ll be considered “wrong,” “weird,” and in need of having your mind changed.

And this even includes Past Me!

I used to think that whichever path was laid out for me was the one I should stick to. I mean, it’s already been laid out for me, right?

This happened with my career and with children.

I went to a trade high school, and my major was a mix of computer network and electrical engineering.

I entered college with the intention of continuing along those lines, but choosing game computer science over electrical engineering.

And with children, as I mentioned above, the assumption is that you’ll need to get married after college and have kids.

At a certain point, I had a massive realization: Once you turn 18, as long as you pay your bills and don’t break the law, you can do whatever the fuck you want.

And I didn’t want the above.

So, I veered off the default path: I changed my major (ironically, I work in IT now, so my time in high school was actually helpful) and decided not to have kids.

Just like with the above example, these decisions are not inherently positive or negative, but they were made by thinking about the decisions rather than following the default path because “it’s just what you do.”

If you just do what you’re expected to (aggressively) encouraged to do, there may be some problems:

• You will become part of a hivemind. Mob mentality is a dangerous echo chamber.

• You’ll miss out on what you truly want because not only will you follow the default path, but you literally won’t know any better because you’ve never tried to think for yourself.

• The default path is usually the default due to outdated traditions or because a profit-focused organization chose it. In other words, it’s meant to benefit someone other than yourself.

What if escaping your programming seems too challenging? What might you say as a rebuttal to all this?

• “But I truly want to do what most people do.” (Fair enough. But I’d strongly recommend considering the alternatives before coming back around to that decision.)

• “I wouldn’t even know what to choose, if not the default path.” (Maybe you’d be happy on it, then. Or maybe you should stop being lazy and expand your mind. Read. Explore. Ask around.)

• “Defaulting to college, marriage, kids, and retiring at 69 is fine, you contrarian. It works.” (This is what NPCs sound like when their way of life is called into question. You can safely ignore it.)

Honestly, being an NPC is lame. You’re boxed into choices that you never made for yourself.

Be the main character of your life. There are perks:

• You can guide yourself towards a life that you actually want.

• You can sidestep many problems that NPCs will have along their default life script. (For example, if you step away from the default Starbucks and/or McDonald’s lunch, you can avoid a higher risk of diabetes and/or heart disease(the biggest cause of death in the world).)

• Being a slave is lame.

How can you ascend from being an NPC to being the protagonist of your life? Check this out:

1. For every important choice in your life, figure out:

   1. Who came up with it.

   2. If you want to go through with it.

2. Consider and explore alternatives.

3. Remember that just because something is popular, doesn’t mean that it’s right for you (or anyone).

Okay, bye.