“Queen” of NPC streams reveals why she started TikTok trend

Japanese content creator Natuecoco is said to be the first ever NPC streamer as she’s been doing NPC content for over a year and a half. But how did she think of the idea? Here’s everything you need to know.

In July 2023, a video of TikToker pinkydoll broke Twitter as she was seen regurgitating phrases like “ice cream so good” and “got me feelin’ like a cowgirl” which stirred a frenzy of questions.

Answers came soon after when the wider internet was introduced to the formerly niche TikTok trend of NPC streaming and its associated fetish. TikTok users with control kinks were paying pinkydoll and other NPC streamers monetary tokens to behave like living dolls.

Since then, more and more people have started to make their own NPC content and join in with the streams, especially after fellow NPC streamer Nerdywinter revealed the mouthwatering paycheck she received for her first-ever NPC broadcast.

But how did the trend start? And who came up with the bizarre idea?

Who was the first NPC streamer on TikTok?

Japanese streamer Natuecoco, whose real name is Natsue Coco, is said to be the original NPC streamer on TikTok after going viral in 2021 for her NPC videos with fellow TikToker Satoyu727.

Natuecoco started her online career on Twitch and Instagram in 2019, with the majority of her content revolving around her cosplays.

In February 2022, Natsue Coco retired from Twitch and shifted her streaming focus to TikTok Live

She began livestreaming on TikTok in October 2021 and soon grew a large following, and now has over 1.5 million followers and 7.1 million likes across her videos.

On February 4th, 2022, Satoyu0704, also known as the Ohio Final Boss, posted a video that showed a screen recording of a collab Live between him and Natuecoco in which they pretended to be NPCs and battled for prizes.

As her NPC videos quickly grew popular, she started doing livestreams while in her NPC character, which is how the trend grew more popular.

Natuecoco reveals reason why she started NPC streams

In a recent video, Natuecoco revealed her reason for continuing her NPC content and streams. She revealed her NPC livestreaming is an ongoing experiment of figuring out what makes people tick.

“I wanted to stimulate the audience and see what reactions they would have to the different motions I performed,” Natuecoco told Insider via a translator. “So I created different motions and built a bridge of communication through the audience’s reactions.”

She began experimenting with different movements and phrases to see how her audience responded to them. What struck Natuecoco was how people had completely different interpretations of the same action.

“In one of my earlier streams, I noticed a lot of people in the audience started coming up with really weird ideas about what I could be. One person said I was a bot sent by a foreign government to spy on them,” Natuecoco told Insider. “I became so intrigued by how people could come up with such ridiculous ideas.”

The TikToker is aware that her videos make some people baffled or uneasy — and that’s the point.

“It’s important to always leave some curiosity because the audience can figure it out for themselves,” she said. “They become more invested when they try to figure out what this all means. It’s a way to build that connection.”