That's really powerful imagery! The cardboard mall is incredibly disturbing, but... yeah... oddly accurate. I guess the cardboard cutouts are analog to the concept of NPCs. Why are people non-playable characters? Because you can't activate them to accomplish something. They're like part of the scenery.

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Having the same thoughts and opinions as the majority locks you into some sort of mental pattern where you can’t deviate. You become locked like an npc, but it also becomes easy to route around you.
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