‘the Whole City Is Running On The Same Daily Script’: Local Asks Anyone Else Feel Like Singapore Is An Npc City Sometimes

SINGAPORE: Whenever people talk about the “top cities in Asia,” Singapore is usually one of the first places that pops up. It is known as the Garden City and a land of opportunity, a safe, well-developed place where many believe one can build a good life.

However, for outsiders looking in, there is often a lingering curiosity about what everyday life in such a polished city actually feels like.

In a recent Reddit post, one local offered a rather unexpected answer. According to him, living in Singapore can sometimes feel like living in an “NPC city.”

For those unfamiliar with gaming terms, NPC stands for “Non-Playable Character.” In video games, NPCs are the background characters who appear in the game world, usually repeating the same lines and going through the same routines every day, the local explained.

Recently, he said he started noticing how Singapore sometimes feels strangely similar.

“Honestly, Singapore sometimes feels like that,” he wrote. “Sometimes it feels like the whole city is running on the same daily script.”

He explained that many parts of his day seem to play out in almost the exact same way.

Whenever he goes to the kopi stall, the same uncle would ask him the familiar question, “Take away ah?”

When he takes the MRT, he often sees an auntie watching TikTok at full volume on her phone.

Out on the streets, he regularly spots a “CBD guy speed-walking like he’s late for a meeting that started in 2015.”

His mornings also tend to follow a predictable pattern. At the park, he often sees an auntie power-walking at 6 am with such intensity that he jokes, “it looks like she is training for the Olympics.”

After noticing these small but familiar moments repeating day after day, the Reddit user said the city can sometimes feel like a video game world running on a loop.

“Sometimes I feel like if I go to the same hawker centre at the same time every day, I’ll unlock the same characters again,” he wrote. “Anyone else notice this, or am I just the NPC in someone else’s game?”

“Start talking to them like humans.”

In the comments, many people surprisingly said that they have sometimes felt like they are just characters in a game as well.

One said, “Te cai png and coffeeshop aunties can both predict my order already. Am I the NPC or are they the NPCs?”

Another shared, “The most NPC encounter I’ve ever had was taking the MRT. The train arrived at the platform, and the doors opened, but only the station doors at my cabin didn’t. There are red levers that literally say ‘Pull to open door,’ so I pulled it to exit.

“People stared at me like I was out of my mind; one of them even asked me, ‘Are you sure you’re supposed to do that?’ How brain-dead do you have to be to ignore instructions to solve a problem literally in front of you?!”

A third explained, “Singapore is also very efficient and routine-oriented, so daily life can feel predictable compared to more chaotic cities. but those little repeated moments are also part of what gives the city its personality.”

Others, however, told the author that he could ‘break out of this’ by simply talking to the people he comes across.

“Then you break the mould and start talking to them like humans, la. If you see them so often, ask them how their day is, take an interest in their lives, and make friends,” one comment read.

In other news, a domestic helper has turned to the internet for advice after her employers not only asked her to do housework at their relatives’ home during an overseas trip but also borrowed money from her to support their business.

In an anonymous post on the Direct Hire Transfer Singapore Maid / Domestic Helper Facebook group, the helper said her “sir and ma’am” required her to do household chores at their relatives’ home during the day and care for their children at night, a schedule that has started to seriously affect her health.

Read more: Maid seeks advice after employers made her work at relatives’ house overseas and took loans from her

This article (‘The whole city is running on the same daily script’: Local asks anyone else feel like Singapore is an NPC city sometimes) first appeared on The Independent Singapore News.