On NPCs

I have a wide range of friends with all sorts of interests. I always have. I don’t share all their interests, but I enjoy learning how different dynamics work. I’ve always been confused by the assertion that this or that hobby is evil. The same people who will condemn a group of friends sitting around a table playing pretend will happily watch two grown men hit each other until one of them can’t get up, and a group who imagine pillaging and slaying an entire village in search of treasure will condemn another for getting paid too much without contributing to society. I’m not overly fascinated by sports or table top role playing games, but there was a time I enjoyed computer games. Some of my favorites were WarCraft II, StarCraft, and Master of Orion.

There is an aspect that both computer games and tabletop games have in common: non-player characters, also known as NPCs. An NPC is a character in a game that is not under the control of a human player.

I want to briefly discuss two distinct types of NPCs. The first I’m going to call “visible NPCs” The second I’ll call “invisible NPCs.” Visible NPCs actually appear in the game. In a game like WarCraft, these are the automated enemies or allies you fight against our alongside. They operate by predefined rules. Sometimes the rules are complicated or based on a random function, but they’re only doing what’s expected of them. They’re not free and independent thinking.

Invisible NPCs don’t show up in the game as individual characters. They’re presumed to be there, but there’s no way to focus on what one individual character is doing. These are like the scientists or farmers on Master of Orion. You know the aggregate group is doing, but you can’t identify any individual doing any single part of it.

The events of the last few weeks have reminded me of these NPCs. I’m convinced that NPCs are real and a relatively powerful force in our world. We’ve been dealing with the fallout surrounding COVID-19 quarantine. Grocery stores have been sold out of several otherwise mundane products: toilet paper, produce, hand sanitizer.

Now, follow me here: I haven’t heard any who has said, “I hoarded toilet paper.” I’ve heard a lot of people complaining that they can’t get toilet paper. But I don’t know anyone saying, “Oh, it’s fine, I got in early and I loaded up on toilet paper.” Contrast this with hand sanitizer. I know several people that are quite proud of their new sanitizer collection. Whomever it was that was buying up all the toilet paper, they effectively disappeared into the ether after buying it. They’re invisible. Yet they were somehow coordinated. They came out of the woodwork as a group, bought their toilet paper, then disappeared.

In stark contrast, there’s the people going to the beaches, both here in the Northeast (Oregon and Washington) and down in Florida. Young people are following the normal rules of their life. It’s Spring Break. They go to the beach on Spring Break. Therefore, they’re going to the beach. There’s no reasoning with them. They have a way that they live. Don’t bother them with facts or appeal to their compassion. They’re just following their internal rules.

I don’t like being an NPC. I’m not saying I’ve never been an NPC. Realistically, every time I’m in rush hour traffic or show up to the same event week after week I’m an NPC. I think there’s a skill to making sure your life is really a part of the game even in these moments. I haven’t mastered that skill yet. But I think there’s a value in mastering it.

Jesus had mastered it by the age of twelve. When he went to the temple for the yearly celebration and everyone else was just following the regular customs, he manages to get off on his own and show the high priests what a formidable opponent he would be in disputations in the not-distant-enough future. Jesus went to get baptized just like the rest of the crowd, but brings out the Holy Spirit. He goes off to pray, and ends up walking on water to catch up with his disciples. His life was always directly in play by God. And I, for my part, want my life to always be in play as well.