Why NPCs don't interest me

What I love about Zomboid is that I can make up my own story about what's going on for each run, my own motivations for all the characters (one, me). If you add NPCs you're also adding a set of goals and wants/needs. I'm not super interested in giving orders to them, there are lots of other games I can do that with. I'm probably going to disagree with the writers about how people will react (people tend to cooperate rather than fight when there's a crisis). I really don't want a plot or an end-game.

If you want those things, awesome! Just please devs leave me an off switch so I can play in the sandbox I love.

p.s. This is not bait. I intentionally put it as its own thing so people can enjoy threads about other opinions on this...which I have read hundreds of too.