If you click on the TikTok feed of Madison Ann, better known as 'Frail Victorian Child' (her most famous NPC character) you’ll find something that may seem unconventional, even otherworldly.
WATCH: People react to TikToker receiving food delivery from robot
The Denver-based 25-year-old is known for repeating sing-songs, often nonsensical phrases on TikTok LIVE: her catchphrase “Oh how I miss the garden” has swept the internet, even reaching meme status and becoming a fan favourite.
Ann is one of the thousands of TikTok Creators at the vanguard of the ‘NPC’ trend that has captured the attention of TikTok users. In these Lives, content creators mimic the repetitive actions and use phrases as a non-playable character (NPC) in a video game.
Each Creator has their own unique phrases. For instance, another Creator who has taken over this trend Fedha Sinon popularly known as PinkyDoll has said she’s inspired by the background characters that inhabit the world of the Grand Theft Auto series of games.
The imitated characters, also called “idle animations” are created by video game developers to create the effect of a bustling world.
“These characters in games have few phrases to say or actions to perform and often cycle through them. As such, NPC creators will only cycle through the same phrases and actions while avoiding too many new ones," Jess Maddox, assistant professor at the University of Alabama, US, and an internet culture expert told BBC.
The NPC livestream trend may seem strange but some creators are making cash from it.
Viewers can buy ‘gifts' for the creators within the livestream, which pop up on screen. When the creator sees a gift, they respond with their 'catchy phrase response'. For Ann, gifting a rose will prompt the “A rose, oh how I miss the garden” phrase; food will elicit the response “Please sir, can I have some more”. The Creators receive a portion of the cost of the gift.
READ HERE: Cindy's daughter runs for Miss Universe, fans react
Although the gifts cost little, they can add up in revenue over the course of the Live or Lives the Creator makes.
In one of her Live Streams, Ann admitted that TikTok takes a substantial portion of what she makes and urged interested 'gifters' to use her Cash App and Venmo instead.
And interest keeps rising, Marcus Bösch, a TikTok research fellow at HAW Hamburg, who runs the Understanding TikTok newsletter told BBC. As part of his research into how these trends evolve, he’s gathering an ongoing and growing list of NPC videos. According to BBC, "Creators using the hashtag #NPC uploaded more than 47,000 videos in July, which have been viewed a collective 835 million times."
CHECK OUT: Alpha Ssali resigns from childhood football club via Instagram
Sitting in front of a phone and livestreaming yourself in this trend has turned into a revenue stream for some NPC creators. It common to see questions on the Live asking these creators how much they are making.
Ann's 'Frail Victorian child' NPC, who’s lit by candlelight but often drinks from a modern cup, “got ill working in a match factory” and contracted tuberculosis. Here's what she told dailydot about her revenue.
"For me personally, how much I make depends on a few factors. What time I go live, what character goes live, what gifts are given during lives, and how long I stream on live. I have made as little as $14.63 all the way to $388.21. If anyone is looking to try, I recommend watching other AI/NPC lives and find something you could do that is different," she said.
READ HERE: Martha Kay's AI generated pictures take wrong turn
In July, PinkyDoll told the New York Times that she made between $2,000 and $3,000 per livestream from those in-app gifts that trigger her mechanical responses. This represents a large and highly engaged viewership because individually the gifts are often only worth pennies like an ice cream cone gift which goes for costs $1.30.
Although she’s never studied NPC creators specifically, Maddox says these TikTok creators “have told me they make the bulk of their app income through livestreams”. Maddox also believes it’ll only be a matter of time before brands jump on the bandwagon and get an NPC creator to produce sponsored content, further enhancing these TikTok Creators' earning power.
However, the NPC trend isn’t guaranteed to stick around. In most cases, when the Creator ends the NPC Live Stream, viewership dwindles down so fast from thousands to hundreds. But the experts think the NPC trend could be more than just a flash in the pan.
READ HERE: 'The last paradise on earth' has cut costs for tourists until 2024
“I can definitely see this trend continuing, I’ve spent years studying ASMR on YouTube, and the parallels to NPC TikToks are striking,” Maddox added.
WATCH: People react to TikToker receiving food delivery from robot
Regardless of their staying power, the NPC phenomenon is part of a larger trend which is: creators finding new ways to make money through social media. Even if this trend doesn't stick around, another will take its place, however unconventional the approach may be.