An 11-year-old in Mill Creek, Washington was stabbed multiple times at a Dollar Tree after calling a 29-year-old man an "NPC." NPC stands for non-player character, used to describe any character in a video game that isn't controlled by the player. Friendly NPCs typically engage in repetitive, predictable behavior, which has led to the term "NPC" being used as an insult when used to describe another person. While NPC being used as an insult is nothing new, it seems to have become more popular recently.
Since NPCs are forced to do whatever they're programmed to do and are not smart enough to truly make their own decisions, the term is used to insult someone's intelligence. Social media is full of people slinging "NPC" at each other as an insult, or even people purposefully acting like NPCs in real life for prank and comedy videos.
On Wednesday, March 22, Joshua Federov and his 11-year-old friend yelled at a stranger, identified as 29-year-old Joshua David Pence in a report by Fox 13 Seattle. The kids called Pence an "NPC," and Pence allegedly responded by brandishing a knife and chasing the kids into a Dollar Tree store. According to the report, Pence stabbed the 11-year-old multiple times, injuring his lung and liver. The 11-year-old was hospitalized but has survived the attack and is back home. The family has set up a GoFundMe for those interested in donating. Meanwhile, Pence has been arrested and charged with two counts of assault, one for assault with a weapon and another for assault of a child.
Whenever there are news reports about real-world violence involving video games in some way, they typically revolve around sales gone wrong, as opposed to someone using a video game-related insult. Over the years, there have been multiple reports of people being attacked while trying to sell or buy video game consoles after meeting up with someone they met through places like Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace.
In other cases, people have been assaulted over video games themselves. For example, there was a reported incident in Malaysia where a teenager was assaulted by an angry father when they allegedly pocketed a bribe to let the man's son win in a game they were playing at a gaming store, but still won regardless. In another incident, a Pokemon GO player was sentenced to seven years in prison for assaulting a fellow player by hitting them with a metal pole.
https://gamerant.com/npc-stabbing/ (Archive)
