NPC Wojak

thinking about Sari Camparis tumblr blog - she takes a critical look at memes of Bob Ross :)

link to her tumblr: https://sari-campari.tumblr.com/

in this meme a macro of Bob Ross drawing a picture is transformed into a npc meme, where he is unrealisticaly drawing wojak npc faces with a way too big brush. also his face is poorly painted over with the typical black eyes and nose of a npc.

a npc character thinks about a golem as his ancestor.

Golems are figurs of Jewish folklore, which are created out of mud or clay. they used to be anthromorphic, that means that human traits, emotions, or intentions are attributed to non-human entities. mostly golems are controlled by the ones who summoned them. golems are not able to think and make decisions on their own.

a pretty abstract image of the original wojak macro which is here transformed into a golem by a character that most likely represents a rabbi. the transformation occurs with a piece of parchment which is stuck into the head of wojak.

in Jewish folklore the golem´s mission is written on a piece of parchment and put into the golems mouth. if this piece of parchment is removed, the golem is “disabled” and cannot act anymore.

as you can see in this image a children´s book is repainted into a “Guide to Political Discussion”.

first image: this macro is connected to a famous scene of “Batman: The Dark Knight” with the character Joker in it. Relating the insults to someone being a Russian Bot to the insult of being a NPC in online discussions.

second image: another “Batman: The Dark Knight” macro, where Joker is burning all the mafia money. his character in the movie is pretty chaotic, a famous quote regarding Jokers behaviour is as follows:  

Alfred Pennyworth: “Well, because he thought it was good sport. Because some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.”

the npc meme is now a GIF, too!

On September 10th, 2018, Twitter user @SpookyStirnman tweeted a comic in which Wojak is changed into a NPC, along with the message "All will be converted" (knowyourmeme.com)

In the image an “original” white Wojak illustration is positioned in the middle of five NPC Wojaks. One of the grey NPC Wojaks removes the heart of the white Wojak and turns him into a NPC Wojak by this. After the removal the white Wojak turns grey and his facial expression changes to a blank face and stare.

This implies that all NPC Wojaks are missing a heart and following this line of thought they also miss emotions and feelings.

What can be questioned here is that only the heart is removed and not the brain. When looking at NPC characters in games, those characters do also miss a human brain. They are controlled by the computer or an AI. Reactions are based on algorithms and not on thoughts.

As stated before “NPC Wojak” (right illustration) is a modification of the original “Wojak” meme (left illustration) . He is characterised by a blank stare and a blank facial expression, his face and body is also grey instead of white. In comparison to the “original Wojak”, the viewer is not able to determine the feelings or thoughts of the “NPC Wojak” image.

“NPC” stands for “Non Player Character”, it refers to video games, where a NPC is any character which is not controlled by a real player. Considering this, NPCs are controlled by the computer (or an algorithm). 

Any behavior or respone given by a NPC is programmed beforehand. Those behaviors or responses are triggered by special actions by a player character on which the NPC automatically reacts in a prescripted way.