Video Games and Writers
I love talking with teenagers; they have a perspective on the world that is refreshingly different than those of us who are older (and, as a result, perhaps more jaded…).
My teen daughter: We’re just NPCs in the world.
Me: NPCs?
Teen: Non-player characters, you know?
Me: You mean in a video game?
Teen: Yeah. Characters that you can’t play; they’re part of the game, but they’re just… there.
I don’t play video games, but I know enough to appreciate that NPCs are important to the story but you don’t control them. Sometimes, the slang use of NPCs is to call someone out for being predictable or not thinking for themselves, but in this case, my daughter meant that in the wider world of eight billion plus people, not all of us are going to fundamentally change the world like Newton, Einstein or Shakespeare.
Me: That sounds depressingly nihilistic.
Teen: (shrugs) Not really; we’re each just one part of the mosaic.
Then I got it. She didn’t mean we’re all purposeless; she meant that we all play our part, no matter how big or small. It’s a great reminder that we writers most likely won’t become the next Jane Austen—and that’s okay. Our stories, no matter how big or how small, make up our world.
Because even NPCs have their own backstories.