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Insanity. I'm not putting in the effort required to live just to be an NPC.
Fortunately there is no protagonist. Everyone is the centre of their own story and a participant in everyone else's.
It's just an oversimplified position. I think you can want very little (quantity wise, as number of desires), but exercise massive amounts of will to achieve it. And then you can live with more or less ego, or more or less empathy and care.
I'm sure there's dozens of other ways to do it. You just can't get there with "NPC" and "not NPC".
Some people are much more the protagonist in their story than other people. And then there's the degree to which the story actually overlaps with reality. You can make it all up and not follow up on it, or you can make it come true, and everything in between, human reality does allow for that.
I think the whole point is that being an NPC takes less effort and the older one gets, the more one realizes this.
I understand that. My point is that the lessened effort isn't worth the complete lack of agency.
I suspect that whether or not the juice is worth the squeeze is highly variable from person to person, and depends on a whole host of internal and external variables. For most, they eventually come to the conclusion that it isn't, but only after squeezing very hard for a very long time.
If you get older that stance may change. Hustle if you want, don't if you don't.
As an older gamer I enjoy games, even shooters, for their scenery or vehicles (love to race around with no destination) or subtle jokes - and all that can be enjoyed best by behaving backgroundly like a NPC.
Same. Don't need to be a protagonist, but I will definitely not stop thinking all the massive thoughts. I will Peter Quill my way to growth and pulling others up around me.