Changes

{{Cquote|Last week, ''The [[New York Times]]'' published a piece about an insular 4chan meme that had started to bleed over into political [[Twitter]]. At the time, NPC — an acronym for the gaming term “non-playable character” — had been weaponized.. in an attempt to “[[Owning the libs|own the libs]]” by calling them automatons, but it was still a relatively niche meme very few outlets had touched.

{{Cquote|Last week, ''The [[New York Times]]'' published a piece about an insular 4chan meme that had started to bleed over into political [[Twitter]]. At the time, NPC — an acronym for the gaming term “non-playable character” — had been weaponized.. in an attempt to “[[Owning the libs|own the libs]]” by calling them automatons, but it was still a relatively niche meme very few outlets had touched.

Along with a couple of stories before it, the Times’ article kicked off a domino effect: its publication prompted popular members of the [[alt-right]] — including [[Paul Joseph Watson]] and [[Infowars]] — to amplify the meme to their audiences through YouTube videos, articles, and tweets. Search results for “NPC” increased, according to Google Trends.<ref>[https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/23/17991274/npc-meme-4chan-press-coverage-viral The NPC meme went viral when the media gave it oxygen], The Verge, 2018</ref>}}

Along with a couple of stories before it, the Times’ article kicked off a domino effect: its publication prompted popular members of the [[alt-right]] — including [[Paul Joseph Watson]] and [[Infowars]] — to amplify the meme to their audiences through YouTube videos, articles, and tweets. Search results for “NPC” increased, according to Google Trends...

 

<ref>[https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/23/17991274/npc-meme-4chan-press-coverage-viral The NPC meme went viral when the media gave it oxygen], The Verge, 2018</ref>}}

== The rise of the NPC internet meme ==

== The rise of the NPC internet meme ==