right, this comes close to rejecting the frame, which I think you could fairly do. viewing npc as a category of person is inherently an ego driven, narcissisti

right, this comes close to rejecting the frame, which I think you could fairly do. viewing npc as a category of person is inherently an ego driven, narcissistic way of looking at things. It is a viewpoint that lacks a theory of mind. This essay implicitly supposes that the npc has a mind + motivations and that those motivations are more important to the npc than the player character. I'd extend it to say that if you are an npc you are a player character; you're just in a different game. Village Blacksmith Simulator, where you make horshoes, fend off pickpockets and sometimes a hero's dragon fight flattens your shop and you start over. The flaw is assuming the player character is always the same.