# Quote — Charles Stross, Halting State

> There used to be an old joke in role-playing circles—it isn’t funny these days—that there were only a thousand real people in the UK—everybody else was a non-player character. Now it’s pretty much the reverse.

- Author: [Charles Stross](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-stross.md)
- Book: [Halting State](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-stross/halting-state.md)
- Page: 272
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Stross#Halting_State_(2007)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-stross/halting-state/there-used-to

## More from this book

> You know there’s no advantage to be gained by murdering idiots—it doesn’t teach the idiot anything and it might give onlookers the idea that you take them seriously.

p. 42 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-stross/halting-state/you-know-theres.md)

> Liz isn’t simply not going by the book, she’s just about throwing it in the shredder.

p. 263 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-stross/halting-state/liz-isnt-simply.md)

> Adams fancies himself as a big swinging dick in risk analytics: Leave out the “big” and “swinging” and he’s right.

p. 42 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-stross/halting-state/adams-fancies-himself.md)