If you’ve spent time on TikTok or Twitter recently, you’ve probably seen clips of PinkyDoll’s TikTok livestreams. PinkyDoll is a TikTok performer and clips of her performances have gone viral in a big way over the past few weeks. Suddenly, everyone was saying “gang gang, mmm, ice cream so good.” It was such a big internet-thing that both the NY Times and Washington Post have done articles about the strange phenomenon and what exactly is going on here. Here’s an explanation for the people who had no f–king clue what was happening, and that includes me: TikTok performers are making money from “tips” in which they act as Non Player Characters (NPCs).
It’s a new trend that has popped up on the internet over the past few months: live-streaming yourself on TikTok while saying strange phrases robotically. During the streams, fans pay to leave the creators monetary tips, and as a tip shows up as an icon in the comments, it prompts the creator to respond. For instance, when you pay for a tip and leave an ice cream cone icon, she says, “Ice cream so good,” and if you pay for a “GG” icon, she says, “Gang gang.” Her robotic tone imitates something called an NPC, or non-playable character, in video games.
In video games, non-playable characters are people whom your character encounters. They’re often programmed to simulate some aspect of everyday life. NPCs are shopkeepers, bystanders, maybe even presidents. They can be window dressing, or sometimes they’re really important. For example, in a Legend of Zelda video game, you don’t play as the titular Princess Zelda; you play as the hero Link, who can talk with Zelda. Thus, Zelda is an NPC. They’re like the robots in the HBO show “Westworld,” created to fulfill an immersive, make-believe fantasy. NPCs often have repetitive speech, programmed to say a few scripted lines.
These streamers who imitate NPCs are often seen bouncing up and down, making repeated movements for certain prompts, such as slurping up ice cream on command. This body movement is meant to imitate NPCs’ “idle animation.” In real life, humans don’t often stand perfectly still, so video game NPCs often fidget, bounce or otherwise make any slight body motions. That also helps indicate that they’re not just a digital mannequin; they are objects players can interact with. When you view these streamers, you’re like a “player” of the game, activating the NPC by tipping them money.
Do you get it? I finally got it as I read this piece. WaPo also discussed whether this is a fetish and whether this would be considered sex work. It’s in the eye of the beholder, I guess – I’m sure some people get off to it, but from what I’ve seen, these NPC performers are not actually doing anything “sexual” in nature. It’s just “attractive women acting like robots for money online.”
For Pinkydoll in particular – and she’s apparently one of the most famous and popular NPC streamers – she’s making up to $7000 a day, depending on how many hours she’s on. I was struggling with her accent, because she drops the NPC character a few times in her live stream – apparently, she lives in Montreal?
😕 i’ve never been more confused in my entire life dawg…… pic.twitter.com/Y43gcySN1k
— God’s Child (@marlolifts) July 12, 2023
PINKYDOLL BREAKING CHARACTER TELLING HER SON SHES GONNA SELL THE DOG?? 😭 IM DYING pic.twitter.com/VzHfi75RfL
— Mars (@GoatKiddo) July 18, 2023
Screencap from Pinkydoll’s TikTok.
This is so strange! It makes no sense. People will pay for anything !
With people acting like digital characters and AI thinking like people, we’re not in Kansas anymore. But hey what’s so great about Kansas anyways?
What fascinates me is how these creators instinctively identify a potential new trend, then package it up as a sellable service. More power to them all. Go Pinkydoll get that💰!
Right?! 7k a day?? I’m in the wrong business.
and people will do anything for money?
i mean, yes? for clothes, food, housing, school, etc.? no reason to shame someone for finding new ways to make money. would you rather she be another office drone grinding out 40-60 hours a week for base pay making barely enough to afford rent these days?
Who are these people that pay for this crap?
I mean, 1 to 10 dollars to see some random real person whom I think is an idiot say/do a specific absurdly stupid/humiliating thing isn’t too out there, I don’t think.
It adds up, though.
I’m, I think I’ve had enough internet for today.
Abby 😂 agreed!
Same. I’m calling it, 955 am, too much, all done.
hahah @Lucy I made the mistake of reading this at 6:15 am and just… felt like shutting off my phone for the day because WTF did I just watch.
I…… Wtf. There is some real stupid shit happening on the internet, lord
I don’t have a judgement to make about sex work, sex work is real work – I do think there is something that is at least fetish adjacent about these performances, and this is why: while there is nothing “sexual” about the actions taking place in the performance I do think it appeals, at least in part, to a demographic of people who enjoy watching people (especially conventionally attractive women) perform responsively on demand like a machine. In the gamer community especially we often talk about men who have NPC syndrome, meaning men who treat women or their partners like NPCs, or characters to interact with when they feel like it, on their terms, without much consideration to the fact that a woman has her own trajectory, story, life, needs etc. entirely outside of the interactions that man wants to have with her. What feels so Black Mirror about these performances is that they will often go on for hours, hours of this sort of dancing bear meets anime sex doll automaton stuff. Again, I don’t have a judgment to make about the performers, they’re making money and it’s their prerogative, and I’m not here to deny anyone’s agency. But I think the fetish element that does sometimes come into play here is that there are people who enjoy watching what they perceive as a person subjugating themselves for others amusement.
Ponsby! This is an incredibly articulate comment and nails everything I was thinking.
Thank you, I really appreciate that. I came across this trend a few days ago and had to really sit with myself about why I felt a sort of uncanny discomfort with it.
This sums it up perfectly. I was so uncomfortable watching these, because she’s really doing what far too many men want from women: a doll with no agency.
What a great post Ponsby. You articulated it better than I could have.
Ponsby! PERFECT COMMENT. Like you, I had to sit with why it made me uncomfortable. I initially thought it was funny and there was a FLEETING thought of trying it myself. After viewing a few of the newer Tiktok performers do it and the look of exhaustion and kind of embarrassment to be doing it — I couldn’t watch them anymore. I mean, get your bag, I’m not going to hate on it but you nailed it on the head. But what makes it different than Jackass or actors?? I’m going to noodle on this some more.
Thank you guys for the kind words, I left a career in the legal field and have been trying to find a way to write full time about the issues that mean most to me, but under-employment is hard and I really appreciate the kind words and encouragement, truly.
@Mindy_ I think if I *had* to pick one of these weird sex-adjacent side gigs, I’d rather be like the woman who did a tiktok about being a feet girl for a day. Seems like less work on my end.
Ponsby, you put your finger on everything that is so disquieting about this work. My hat’s off to her for identifying a business niche, and I’m glad she’s making good money to send her kid to good schools, but it’s unnerving AF.
@ponsby This is the kind of comment I look for. You have articulated what I felt. Thank you
Thank you so much, I used to litigate, but I was laid off during Covid and so wish I could find a way to write full time about issues I felt passionately about.
Super-insightful and thoughtful commentary.
“men who have NPC syndrome, meaning men who treat women or their partners like NPCs, or characters to interact with when they feel like it, on their terms, without much consideration to the fact that a woman has her own trajectory, story, life, needs etc. entirely outside of the interactions that man wants to have with her.”
I like that the gamer community came up with a name for it, but men have been engaging in this type of behavior for as long as I can remember. Very interesting to read what you say here about how that pertains to gaming. It makes me wonder if the NPC stuff just further exacerbates men’s inability to have a reciprocal, healthy relationship with a woman.
I absolutely agree, it’s a pervasive and enduring component of misogyny, and it’s definitely not singular to the gaming community. I’m a woman who has unintentionally found herself in a lot of male dominated fields and interests (law, academia, gaming, backpacking etc.) and what I have found to be true of my own experiences is that this kind of commodification and simplification of women seems to persist for some percentage of people no matter what, and so it’s hard to know what one thing makes it better or worse – it’s like turning on a light and realizing what’s crawling in the dark.
“But I think the fetish element that does sometimes come into play here is that there are people who enjoy watching what they perceive as a person subjugating themselves for others amusement”
This hits the nail on the head. It’s not always about people finding things sexual, but instead an ego boost that they get to watch another human being controlled. It’s like domestic violence, but on a large, social scale.
She’s getting hers but you literally couldn’t pay me enough to do this, I would go insane having to do this over and over for hours.
I have nothing for respect for her; I don’t make 7000 a day! I never thought to do weird repetitive noises for money.
What’s up with the flat iron, what is she doing with her hands?
She’s popping a single kernel of corn in the flat iron. She pops it and then puts it down and puts another kernel in lol.
Thanks for clarifying!
Follow up question: why?
Why is she popping a kernel of corn? Does it represent something?
I see on the news people flocking to food banks because they can’t afford groceries, or can’t afford rent. Who are the people paying her to do this? Must be young men who live at home and have no bills? I mean good for her for making so much money doing something so ummm well I don’t know how to describe it but hey she’s not slaving away at a 9 to 5 and makes way more money, and she keeps her clothes on.
I mean, she has 553K followers on TikTok. All she needs is a little over 1% of her followers to give her a buck and she makes that $7K in a day. Like, I don’t think anyone is going broke giving tokens to these creators or anything. And it’s actually a pretty good business model: cheap for her customers and lucrative for her.
I didn’t check to see how many followers she has. Is there not a minimum you have to donate or anything? Like can someone literally donate 50 cents? Are the same people donating over and over again? I know nothing about tiktok.
All cute until she abuses her kid in front of the camera & people just “lol”. Neglect your kid while you preform for the camera, then threaten to sell the dog that the kid is actually creating a connection with??? We are doomed.
Abuses her kid? She said her kid was doing something TO the dog. She was interrupting what he was doing.
All you heard was ‘dog’ and started making up stories.
C’mon now. Let’s not go overboard with “abusing the kid.” I guess everyone who works from home and has a kid there is abusing their kid.
Get your bag, hun!
I thought I’d read that the $7000 figure includes her Tik Tok, Instagram and Only Fans pages. Anyway, this NPC thing is spreading like wildfire because guys are getting in on it now. There’s also a lady with an old TV frame on her head. Everyone has an affinity for something.
I’ve been playing MMOs for over 20 years and recognized the NPC vibes the second I saw the first clip that started doing the rounds on the bird app despite not knowing it was a trend.
Because of those experiences I found her performance extremely gratifying and familiar in some strange way, though I am not following any of the content.
I hope she makes a ton of money, it’s certainly an original bit and talent.
It’s a kink.
After watching this, my (very small) faith in humanity is totally lost…
It’s too weird. She’s making money, good for her, out of a trend (ever present but more so) which sees people engage in technorised behaviour that detaches them from real life. I’ve noticed that a lot of young men are becoming more and more one step beyond real interaction. For example: When a young guy goes out and round on the pavement, to avoid me and the kids, I’ll say thank you. He looks but does not respond. Similarly, if I say a brief “hello”, they often don’t reply. (I only say hello because we are a metre apart and they are looking at me.) These men are making eye contact but aren’t acknowledging my existence; it’s as if I’m part of their world but not. Other people, esp 6women, are talking of the same experience these days. I look at my boys and think, please don’t reach a level of interaction where other people, particularly women, are just moving parts in your eyeline, at which point they are just entities that get out of your way or act for your entertainment, including your objectification of them.