TikTok Live's bizarre NPC trend explained

When it comes to maintaining an online presence, creators are always looking to be ahead of the curve.

Currently, the latest trend that has popped up all over people's For You page is NPC streaming.

The basis of this trend is that streamers bizarrely repeat actions over and over again - so what is it all about?

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Here is a breakdown of everything you need to know about the NPC streaming trend.

What is NPC streaming?

NPC streaming is where the streamers appear animated through their actions, hence being comparable to gaming NPCs, where they often repeat their movements or sayings.

In this context, TikTok streamers only interact, speak or perform a specific action when they receive a gift from a viewer, the type of interaction can be dependent on the type of gift.

Viewers can send a variety of different options such as emotes to the streamer to respond to.

For instance, a viewer sends an ice cream and in response, the streamer's reaction would be to pretend to lick it and say “Oh ice cream yum”.

Where did this trend begin?

Last year, NPC streaming began to rise in popularity, according to Know Your Meme where it all started from Japanese TikToker @natuecoco.

She has collaborated with TikToker Satoyu0704 the two of them pretended to be NPCs as they went on to see who could get the most prizes.

Over the past year more creators such as Cherry Crush TV, PinkyDollReal and Trisha Paytas have been doing popular NPC live streams.

Why is this a trend?

Perhaps, the reason for the rising popularity of NPC streaming is people's curiosity to see the creator acting like an AI or a character for a video game and want to see if they can keep this act up.

Also compared to your average stream, NPC streaming requires increased interaction from the viewer as the streamer is constantly responding to what is being said and sent to them.

The trend appears to have celebrity fans, with music producer Timberland reportedly being the #1 viewer on a recent TikTok Live from 19-year-old viral content creator Pinkydoll, according to Pop Crave.

Pinkydoll has recently been going viral in July 2023 with her NPC streams where she does things such as popping popcorn with a hair straightener.

As a result of Timberland's presence, it caused Pinkydoll to break character.

In an interview with Vice, Pinkydoll said that she streams for six hours a day, adding: "I kinda love to go live and reacting to gifts. There are so many and the views going up is boosting me."

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