When you venture out for some fresh experiences this summer, you might opt for hitting some national parks, historical sites, and generally vibey places where you can soak up some atmosphere alongside the rays.
On occasion you might find some paid actors milling about to give an impression of what life might have been like for people living in those places through the ages, and herein we’ll – lovingly – refer to them as non-player characters (NPCs).
An NPC is basically a character in a video game that you don’t control, and they might wander about fulfilling prescribed tasks or stop you in your tracks to offer you a quest.
For people paid to add flavour to local environments, it’s an apt term, and it turns out that being a professional NPC can be relatively lucrative. Finding a gig, however, is easier said than done.
Over in China’s Hubei province, however, it seems there are plenty of such jobs going. An advert has recently gone out to recruit ‘wild men’ on a 500 yuan per day wage (£52), and it’s reportedly attracted over 10,000 applicants.
The job is based in Shennongjia Forestry District’s National Park, famous for legends of wild men of two-metres in height and covered in red hair. They were believed to be quick-footed and likely to make a low ‘woo woo’ call.
Per The Straits Times, the wild men NPCs will wear wild men clothing whilst venturing around the park, and may be required to enact some unusual dance routines.
They will also be prohibited from speaking with tourists in any many other than a ‘woo woo’ – get your mind out of the gutter, Sims fans – and they ‘should be able to live in the wild for a long time and accept being fed by visitors, with a preference for those willing to eat raw food’.
As acting jobs go, it sounds pretty method. £52 per day sounds pretty meagre for that kind of commitment. The job is open to people of any age or gender provided they’re in good health and, presumably lean shape. After all, wild men aren’t known for the same high-calorie, low-movement lifestyles common to the modern world.
‘Those who are under great pressure, want to act out their real nature or simply find a place to zone out are welcomed,’ the post said, according to The Straits Times. That’s an interesting way to put it: if you’ve ever dreamed of escaping society and living in the woods, now’s your chance to get paid to do it.
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Rachael Davis