NPC Livestreams: Montreal TikToker PinkyDoll, Becomes Internet Sensation With ‘Ice Cream So Good’

Fedha Sinon, better known as PinkyDoll, has become a social media celebrity this month thanks to her eccentric livestreams in which she mimics video game characters.

In a typical performance, Ms. Sinon, who is 27 and lives in Montreal, stares into the camera lens while delivering a set of canned phrases. As she streams, viewers send her digital gifts in the form of cartoon items like roses, dinosaurs and ice cream cones. Each item translates to a cash payment for Ms. Sinon. The gifts float onto the screen and Ms. Sinon reacts to each one with the same cartoonish mannerisms.

Her reaction to the ice cream cones has become a meme, with many people posting images of President Biden with his favorite snack along with the words “Ice cream so good.”

Ms. Sinon speaks in a singsong voice that might be described as “sexy baby.” Sometimes she pops corn kernels one at a time using a hot-hair flat iron. The effect is mesmerizing, nestled deep within the uncanny valley.

Ms. Sinon is what is known online as an NPC streamer. NPC stands for “non-player character,” a video game character that comes preprogrammed and typically cannot be manipulated by the person at the controls. As such, an NPC’s phrases and movements are often formulaic and repetitive. Ms. Sinon brings these rather mechanical characters to life.

She found herself playing the internet’s main character when screen recordings of her streams went viral on Twitter last week. The producer and rapper Timbaland appears to be a fan, recently reposting a video to his personal TikTok account of Ms. Sinon breaking character during a livestream after noticing he was watching. Popcrave, a pop culture news account on Twitter, reported that Timbaland was ranked the top viewer of the PinkyDoll stream, based on gifts sent and time spent viewing.

What Ms. Sinon is doing is considered by some to be fetish content. For certain viewers, there’s something sexual about being able to control her every word and gesture by sending her this or that gift. For other viewers, she is just plain fascinating to watch.

“It’s very stimulating, because it’s fast and very repetitive, so people sit and watch it to see the next reaction or if I will break character or mess up somehow from too many gifts,” Cherry Crush, another NPC streamer, said in a direct-message interview.

Ms. Sinon said she made between $2,000 and $3,000 per stream. Across all her social media accounts, which include Instagram and OnlyFans, she puts that number at $7,000 per day.

“I don’t really care what people say about me,” she said. “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.”

The Rise of NPC Streaming

NPC streaming is a relatively new phenomenon, but it is growing in popularity. There are now dozens of NPC streamers on TikTok, YouTube and other platforms.

Some viewers find NPC streaming to be fetish content, while others simply enjoy watching the characters interact with each other and with the viewers.

“It’s very stimulating, because it’s fast and very repetitive, so people sit and watch it to see the next reaction or if I will break character or mess up somehow from too many gifts,” said Cherry Crush, another NPC streamer.

Whatever the reason, NPC streaming is clearly here to stay. And with creators like PinkyDoll making thousands of dollars per day, it’s no wonder that more and more people are getting into the game.