NPC streamers are the latest content creators to go viral on TikTok. Non-player characters are usually background video game characters present in video games that the players cannot interact with. Their phrases and movements are often repetitive and formulaic – characteristics that some streamers have been inspired by and have incorporated into their content.
This is the case with PinkyDoll, a TikTok content creator who has recently gone viral on the platform. She is known to repeat phrases such as “ice cream so good” and for her emotes, which include her noisily pretending to lick a cone and other cartoon-like expressions.
The music producer Timbaland is one of her fans. He recently reposted a video of the TikToker breaking character as she noticed him watching one of her livestreams. Timbaland is ranked as the top viewer of PinkyDoll’s streams, according to Popcrave.
@timbaland 🎤🔥🤖YES yes YES
PinkyDoll, whose real name is Fedha Sinon, lives in Montreal and has turned this activity into her job. She mimics video game characters as viewers send her digital gifts such as roses, dinosaurs and ice cream cones. Each item converts into money transferred to her via TikTok.
“I was just being cute,” she told The New York Times about how she started off on the social media platform. “I remember someone saying, ‘Oh my God, you look like an NPC. And then they start sending me, like, crazy money.”
Sinon says she makes between $2,000 and $3,000 per stream. She adds that her earnings can go up to $7,000 per day by combining her revenue across all platforms, which include Instagram and OnlyFans.
The content creator previously worked as a stripper and owned a cleaning business. She started livestreaming on TikTok earlier this year as a way to make money. She was first inspired by NPCs in the video game “Grand Theft Auto.”
“I was like, ‘I’m going to try to do it like them,’” she said, although she still is “not really sure” what an NPC is.
Sinon says she has fun coming up with different reactions for each gift.
“I could sit here all day, but I can’t because I have a son and I got to eat,” she added.
@pinkydollreal @Cardi B a real one ❤️ #viral #ptp #fyp #pourtoipage #trending #trending #pinkydoll ♬ Put It On Da Floor Again – Latto
For some viewers, her livestreams can be characterized as fetish content, where they can control her every word and gesture by sending her various gifts.
“It’s no coincidence that the streamers involved are all good-looking young women,” DAZED writes in an article.
For other viewers, Sinon’s livestreams are simply entertaining to watch. The content creator is unbothered by the plethora of online reactions to her job.
“I don’t really care what people say about me,” she told The New York Times. “If they want to think I am this or that, it’s fine with me.”
“At the end of the day,” she added, “I’m winning.”
