One of the most common questions surrounding the simulation hypothesis is, “Are there NPCs?” The term comes from video games, where a Non-Player Character (NPC) is a computer-controlled character that exists to populate the world, guide the player, or move the story forward. But perhaps that’s the wrong question. A more interesting question is:
How do you know you aren’t one?
Before dismissing the idea, consider how every role-playing game begins. Before the player ever takes control, the character has already been created. Their starting location, appearance, abilities, strengths, weaknesses, and background have all been determined. The player is free to make choices, but only within the boundaries established by the game’s creator.
What if life works in a similar way?
None of us chose where we were born. We didn’t choose our parents. We didn’t choose our race, our genetics, or the body we inhabit. We didn’t choose our native language, our socioeconomic status, or the culture into which we were introduced. Many of us didn’t choose our disabilities, our fears, our attractions, or the events that would shape us throughout life.
If this were a role-playing game, these would simply be our starting attributes.
The Simulation Hypothesis asks us to consider whether those starting conditions were random, inevitable, or intentionally assigned. Our lives are also defined by pivotal moments. A childhood friendship. The loss of a loved one. An illness. A betrayal. A chance encounter that changed everything. These experiences become the foundation of who we are.
But what if those moments were part of the simulation itself?
Could our greatest traumas have been introduced to shape our character? Could the people who entered and exited our lives have served a purpose within a larger narrative? If every memory feels authentic, does it matter whether it occurred naturally or was part of the system that created you? This isn’t an argument that our experiences are fake. Quite the opposite. Pain still hurts. Love still changes us. Loss still leaves its mark.
Whether those experiences arise from biology, chance, or simulation, their effects remain undeniably real. The question isn’t whether your life matters. The question is how much of it was yours to choose.
Perhaps free will doesn’t mean unlimited freedom. Perhaps it exists only within the parameters we were given, much like a player navigating the rules of a game. We may not choose our starting attributes, but we make countless decisions within them. Every role-playing game asks the player one simple question:
Now that you’ve been given this character… what will you do with it?
Maybe that’s the same question life is asking us. The Simulation Theory Society isn’t interested in labeling people as NPCs. Instead, we invite a different perspective. If our personalities, memories, and life stories were shaped by variables beyond our control, where does programming end and free will begin?
Perhaps everyone believes they’re the main character. Perhaps everyone is. Or perhaps we’re all participants in something far larger than we currently understand. So before asking whether someone else is an NPC, ask yourself one final question:
Who assigned your starting attributes?