“NPC streaming” is the latest trend to capture TikTok. What’s that, you ask? Only what the Washington Post branded the “intersection of gaming culture and sex work.” See for yourself:

Creators speak in robotic tones to simulate NPCs, or “non-player characters,” the types of video-game characters one interacts with in game play. Using TikTok’s tipping feature, users can pay live-streaming creators to perform actions, such as licking an ice-cream cone, popping a bubble, or meowing. Creators act, essentially, as dolls under the control of users. It’s a sick fetish, and one that should get you to leave TikTok (if you haven’t already). From the Post:

It’s impossible to say how much of the viewing audience finds NPC streaming sexually arousing, but it’s hard not to see that these streamers are portraying objectified interactive dolls that do your bidding. Men also stream themselves as part of this trend, but women have gained the most viral attention outside of TikTok. (The Washington Post has put in a request to talk with Pinkydoll.) One of the biggest creators of this trend, Cherry Crush of Florida, is an online sex worker and adult performer.

Media hustlers profit off TikTok users’ short attention spans by stimulating them enough to keep watching. The trend is an extension of gaming culture; that humans are imitating robots for pleasure is unsurprising given our obsession with the digital world.

Let’s hope this trend dies, but since gaming videos yield tremendous profit, NPC videos will likely stick. If this hasn’t convince you to leave the platform for good, there’s also a TikTok-based “fart-jar industry.”