In this episode of Hotel Bar Sessions, co-hosts Rick Lee, Talia Mae Bettcher, and Leigh M. Johnson dive deep into the meme-turned-metaphor of “NPC Energy,” unpacking its cultural roots and existential weight. Originally a gaming term describing non-player characters who move on rails and repeat scripted lines, “NPC Energy” has become a way to call out people who seem disengaged, overly programmed, or existentially asleep. But is it just a meme—or a diagnosis of modern life under systems that drain our agency and originality?

The HBS hosts explore the difference between NPCs and so-called “main characters,” debating whether the capacity for resistance, awareness, or choice really sets us apart from algorithmic behaviors. With references ranging from Dungeons & Dragons to the DMV, they question if we’ve all become NPCs in a system too vast to escape—and whether flashes of resistance, even subtle or psychological, are enough to reclaim player status. Talia proposes that multiple overlapping “games” may offer exits from oppressive scripts, while Rick and Leigh examine whether our insistence on agency is more therapeutic than real.

As AI develops more dynamic NPCs and human lives become increasingly scripted, the line between the player and the played grows fuzzier. Are we walking into walls of our own making? Or are we being marched along paths we didn’t choose? This thoughtful and provocative conversation calls on listeners to pause, self-interrogate, and maybe, just maybe, write their own dialogue before the simulation resets.

References and Additional Readings

Primary Concepts Discussed:

• Non-Player Characters (NPCs) – from roleplaying games (e.g., Dungeons & Dragons) and video games

• Main Character Energy – popular internet meme

• Good Old-Fashioned AI (GOFAI) – symbolic AI systems with hand-coded rules

• Simulation Hypothesis – the idea that reality may be an artificial simulation

• The Insurrection Act – U.S. federal law cited in speculative discussion

Philosophical Works and Thinkers Mentioned:

• Martin Heidegger, Being and Time (1927)

• Judith Butler, Gender Trouble (1990)

• Marilyn Frye, The Politics of Reality: Essays in Feminist Theory (1983)

• Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Phenomenology of Perception (1945) [implied through themes]

• Maria Lugones, “Playfulness, ‘World’-Travelling, and Loving Perception” (1987)

Other Works and Cultural References:

• Westworld (TV Series, 2016–2022)

• Six Degrees of Separation (Film, 1993)

• Intelligent Machines (Podcast)

• Kris Kristofferson and Johnny Cash – American country music artists

• The Matrix (Film, 1999)

• Ms. Pac-Man (Arcade Game, 1981)

Relevant Hotel Bar Sessions Episodes:

• Season 7, Episode 6: The Simulation Hypothesis

• Season 11, Episode 2: Political Language and Bullshit

• Season 11, Episode 162: Matter and Consciousness (with Tuhin Bhattacharjee)