Oh hell yeah! NPCs trick my players all the time. Commanders, strangers, witnesses, priests, anybody might have an ulterior motive or secret agenda.

Best advice I have is just trust. Player characters don’t need to trust every non-player character but the human players at the table absolutely have to know they can trust you the human GM.

When my NPCs pull some shady stuff, like the reveal last session that leader of the crusade has been plotting to betray the PC crusaders for the entire campaign, that reveal always comes with a huge smile from me. “Yeah y’all, this dude is terrible! But now your characters are on to him and I can’t wait to see how they take him down!”

I’m not pulling one over on my players, I’m inviting them to a party I’ve been planning for ages and now we all get to find out what happens next.

I appreciate the example and I think I see your point. I agree with the underlying logic, in general, but applying it to the N in NPD seems an over extension.

Dictionary definitions for the two terms, as records of common usage, are notably different. Autism refers solely to the condition so your example sentence would be an inappropriate use. Acceptable and understandable in the language, but an uncommon application of the word. On the other hand, narcissism is used for general egoism and self importance first and for NPD second.

This of course doesn’t invalidate your feelings when hearing the word or desire to protect others from the same, but maybe this can offer some comfort if the most common usage is not intended or even understood as a slur or even a reference to folks with NPD.

Serious question: isn’t the word separate from the disorder though?

We can describe people doing antisocial, paranoid, or dependent things even when they don’t have the associated personality disorders. We can also describe someone generally as antisocial or paranoid if they display those traits regularly, regardless of any underlying diagnosis. Is it different with NPD?

No need to nitpick. We are two humans communicating so obviously this is a social activity. A community theater is social media by the loosest definition, but the term “social media” now commonly means the big centralized commercial product platforms of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.

There are worlds of difference between the manipulative ads and algorithms of social media and the activity feeds on Lemmy. It’s the difference between a shopping mall and a community yard sale.

Right on! We won the game. 🍻

Then I’m the third half and I have a friend that makes the 4th half. I feel like okcupid’s early days was peak dating tech before the enshittification set in.