NPC

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

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Noun

NPC (countable and uncountable, plural NPCs)

2. (roleplaying games, video games) Initialism of non-player character.
   • 2025 January 5, Eleni Thomas, “The Witcher 4 Director reveals how NPCs are evolving like never before”, in Dexerto‎^[1]:

     When it comes to open-world games and larger experiences, NPCs are crucial to immersing the player in the world and allowing them to feel as though the people they meet along their journey aren’t just robots but, in fact, real individuals and smaller but important pieces to the larger puzzles of the title.
     For The Witcher 4, game director Sebastian Kalemba has vowed to make every NPC in the upcoming installment look like “they’re living, with their own story.”

   2. (Internet slang, figuratively) A person with no ability to think for themselves; a sheeple (originally referring to opponents of former US President Donald Trump). [from 2016]
      • [2018 October 16, Kevin Roose, “What Is NPC, the Pro-Trump Internet’s New Favorite Insult?”, in The New York Times‎^[2], archived from the original on 2022-12-30:

        Several months ago, users on 4chan and Reddit, the online message forums, started using the term NPC to refer to liberals. These people, they said, join the anti-Trump crowd not because they are led by independent thought or conscience to oppose President Trump’s policies, but because they’re brainwashed sheep who have been conditioned to parrot left-wing orthodoxy, in the manner of a scripted character.]

      • 2022 July 22, Alec Mullins, “NRG Bucke kicks off after xQc calls him an “NPC” for siding with Andrew Tate”, in Dexerto‎^[3], archived from the original on 2022-09-25:

        While watching the VOD later, xQc insinuated that Fortnite pro Bucke was an "NPC" who was only there to defend Tate and not give Piker a fair shot – and what resulted afterward has caused quite a stir in its own right.

3. (medicine, chiefly attributive) Initialism of no patient care.
4. (medicine) Initialism of Niemann-Pick disease type C.
5. (medicine) Initialism of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
6. (computing) Initialism of non-printing character.
7. (Singapore) Initialism of neighbourhood police center.

Translations

non-player character

• Catalan: PNJ (ca) m
• French: PNJ (fr) m
• Russian: НИП (ru) (NIP), не́пись (népisʹ)
• Swedish: NPC (sv) c

See also

(game character, or person dismissed as peripheral):

• FPV, POV
• main character syndrome

Proper noun

NPC

1. (Philippines) Initialism of National Power Corporation.
2. (Philippines) Initialism of National Privacy Commission.
3. (sports) Initialism of National Paralympic Committee.
4. (Philippine politics) Initialism of Nationalist People's Coalition.
5. (China) Initialism of National People's Congress.
6. (US) Initialism of National Physique Committee.
7. (US) Initialism of National Petroleum Council.
8. (Nigeria) Initialism of Northern People's Congress.
9. (New Zealand) Initialism of National Provincial Championship.

Related terms

(sports):

• IPC (International Paralympic Committee)
• NOC (National Olympic Committee)

See also

• National Paralympic Committee on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Verb

NPC

1. (intransitive) To act as an NPC (“non-player character”) in a game.
   • 2003 November 25, PBM List Autoposter, “New: In the Light and in the Shadows (free, open-ended, email, human, fantasy, rpg)”, in rec.games.pbm‎^[4] (Usenet), message-ID <3fc30f0d$1@news.meer.net>:

     All characters wish to submit to the game must be either netural or good even though the group will have to interact with evil beings as well. To preserve the group from being totally dark and paranoid, I will NPC the evil characters.

   • 2012, Wreck-It Ralph (movie)

     [in a deleted scene, one of the signs used by the homeless Q*bert gang reads as follows]

     "will npc in fps 4 food!"

Anagrams

• CNP, CPN, NCP, PCN, PNC

Swedish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English NPC, initialism of non-player character.

Noun

NPC c

1. (roleplaying games, video games) An NPC (a non-player character)
   • 2025 January 31, Jonny Myrén, “Sandlådespelet Streets of Fortuna demonstrerar imponerande NPC-simulering”, in FZ‎^[5], archived from the original on 11 February 2025:

     Streets of Fortuna ser ut att sikta på något liknande, och i en ny video demonstrerar chefsdesigner Brent Ellison hur systemet som driver spelets NPC:er fungerar.

     Streets of Fortuna seems to be aiming for something similar, and in a new video, lead designer Brent Ellison demonstrates how the system that drives the game's NPCs works.

2. (by comparison) Someone who displays similar traits, such as lack of personality, motivation or will, or repetitive, formulaic speech.
   • 2022 December 5, Kristian Wedel, “Jag är en NPC – Världens gång • För en tonårsförälder räcker det med fem repliker. [I am an NPC – The way of the world • For a teenage parent, five lines are enough.]”, in Göteborgs-Posten‎^[6] (causerie), archived from the original on 8 May 2025:

     Jag gillar dem. Men det var först i söndags – efter en ganska strävsam dag – som jag insåg att denna sympati antagligen kommer sig av att jag i egenskap av tonårsförälder själv är en NPC. Jag har fem repliker

     I like them. But it was only on Sunday – after a rather trying day – that I realised that this sympathy probably stems from the fact that, as a teenage parent, I am an NPC myself. I have five lines

Declension

Declension of NPC

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	NPC	NPC:s
	definite	NPC:n NPC:en	NPC:ns NPC:ens
plural	indefinite	NPC:er	NPC:ers
	definite	NPC:erna	NPC:ernas

Proper noun

NPC c (genitive NPC:s)

1. initialism of Narkotikapolitiskt Center (literally “Narcotics Policy Centre”)