TikTok’s strange trend of humans playing robots spurs hope for US shopping

Crystal Alana Bennett gets money for acting like a non-playable character, or NPC. (Image: TikTok)

Sat, 19 Aug 2023

By Alex BarinkaA woman in an ash-blond wavy wig bounces robotically, smiling and slightly out of breath, in front of a green-screened image of a bedroom room lit by pink fluorescent lights. Thousands of people are watching her on their phones via TikTok live when a small cartoon hot dog flashes up on the side of the screen.“Thank you for the glizzy. Bing bong,” Crystal Alana Bennett says to the fan who had just spent the equivalent of 7 cents to send her a virtual frankfurter, known as a “glizzy” in intern...

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