#mcyt meta

[myreputatioooon]

something i've noticed about old mcyt vs new mcyt, at least in my experience--

--is the way that multiple parts of series are titled is written in a way that--at least in my eyes--doesn't expect a real following in a sense, kinda of, it might just me being a picky viewer, but let me explain

Take youtubers like Stampy and LDShadowlady, they have some solo videos with a one and done title like more recent Youtubers

except when these solo videos were under the same category (mod review, minigames, etc.) they were titled as such, like "I Keep Dying! | Adventure Map" so if you were looking for a particular set of videos from a youtuber, you'd find them, like say, Build Battle

And on top of that, series old and new like Lovely World and Empires SMP were series with a chronological order, numbered and named as such in every episode for viewer convenience

Compare this to content smp or lifesteal, everyone I know who does videos on there titles their videos in such a way they all seem like standalones, whcih they are yes, but they're also part of greater series

Instead of something like "[title here] | Content SMP #69" videos are titled [insert shocking phrase here!], so people who want to get into a series as a whole have to figure what videos to watch or find fans who did it for theme, assuming the youtuber hasn't done it themselves, respect to those who do

go to clownpierce or ashswag and you gotta put brainpower to distinguish lifesteal videos from non-lifesteal videos and that's just one example, or maybe i'm a smoothbrained girl idk

If I had to guess, it's an attempt to min-max the audience, grab as many viewers with as eyecatching of a title as possible that makes it look like theres' no series to catch up and the few viewers who do care about the series will hopefully go the extra mile of finding what other fans claim to be the order of videos part of the same series.

Will it cost some casual fans who will become passing viewers? Yes but what is it for even more passing viewers coming by?

It's something Lovely World and Empires viewers didn't have to deal with since the numbering was done for them. People like me who like a series but don't wanna go the extra mile don't having to worry about finding the right order of videos to wach

just something i noticed

and hate

but thats just an opinion

[irrealisms]

everyone in mcyt fandom talks about bad inventories but i feel like we don't talk enough about the different types of bad inventory & the ways that inventories can be characterizing. i took most of these screenshots but one or two of them aren't by me and i've just had them saved for a few months sorry. i'm taking inventories from various people across various servers (wild life, dream smp, hermitcraft, lifesteal, and 2b2t) to illustrate my point here

like there are inventories that are bad because they're empty:

but then there's also inventories that are bad because they're full:

and, like-- the different ways an inventory can be bad are also characterizing? an inventory can be bad because the items aren't stacked; or because it's empty of anything useful; or because it's so full of building/fight supplies that there's no slots left for doing anything else; or because it's full of random junk. it speaks to a character's position (compare tubbo's diamond sword and empty inventory to ranboo's netherite sword or zam's full inventory of potions) and the rules of the server they're on (tubbo's not wearing elytra because elytra aren't allowed on the dsmp; zam's inventory has chorus fruit and wind charges but no ender pearls because ender pearls aren't allowed this season on lifesteal) and what their priorities are (building, pvp, lore) and how organized vs scattered they are and so much more. another inventory i like:

like!!! that's so instantly characterizing, for both the character and the server!!!! 5 stacks of end crystals + obsidian. 6 stacks of tnt. 3 stacks of god apples and a stack of chorus fruit as your only food. the bucket of lava and bucket of water for lavacasting. the fact that the flint and steel is enchanted with unbreaking. that's a STORY--of the character but also of the server! this is not the sort of inventory you have on most servers! it's so focused around griefing--explosions, lavacasts--and pvp, and the stacks of god apples as primary food source are an instant warning sign for widespread duping. the chorus fruit not for fights--ender pearls are strictly better, and he's got some so he clearly has access to them--which means it's for escaping traps, which means that's a live concern. it's got a lot of pvp supplies but it's so wildly different from the lifesteal inventory in ways that speak to the differences in server rules and cultures. like, horrendous inventory in many ways. also, very good inventory in some ways. also also, delightful inventory! fascinating inventory!!! inventories are such a delightful source of instant characterization i love them so so much

[conarcoin]

TW: Unreality, fictional death and violence

Me and my friends started our search for this fic in 2021. It is now 2024, and we have finally found our white whale, courtesy of an anonymous user who sent me a document containing the full text of this work.

SMPRonpa is both a highly controversial and incredibly impactful piece of fanfiction in regards to how the MCYT fandom would evolve in the years past. While the author buried it due to harassment, I believe preserving it is important as it is a huge part of MCYT fandom history. I hope that sharing this finding will help demystify the fic and some of the misconceptions about its content.

Just like with the reconstruction - this is being published with the intentions of media preservation and documentation of fandom history. We ask that you do not attempt to identify or contact the author of this work. They want to be left alone.

[proudfreakmetarusonikku]

i forgot bro had sbahj as like the first thing on his terrible content aggregator app like. on one hand that's genuinely very sweet the… everything else about bro being the Worst Parent Known To Man aside but on the other. just like. i want to scream bc like! even at this point bro and dave's whole thing is very obviously abusive even at this point! like it’s not played seriously bc Dave still thinks bro is cool and could never do wrong but like, Dave is also very obviously written as being desperately trying to justify that to himself constantly. it’s pretty clearly not healthy if you think about it. but also even here back before the comic became the nightmare of characterisation it would turn into there’s already depth and nuance here. dave has reasons for thinking bro is cool, because he’s not some caricatured monster. i mean, he got into a lot of his hobbies seemingly bc bro introduced him to them, he does spend time with dave that Isn’t abusive and that dave genuinely enjoys, things are fine until they aren’t and that’s what allows dave to justify being physically abused regularly as just a brotherly thing and the neglect as more an annoyance than everything and bro recording him for his weird puppet kink site as just an ironic joke. because abusers are just evil people deep down, right? and bro isn’t evil, dave knows that. bro cares about him, so really it’s fine. but the thing is- bro can care about dave, and i think that’s pretty undeniable from what we see in the comic, he thinks he’s doing the right thing for his adoptive brother he loves. and that does not make what he’s doing any less abusive or traumatic. like i don’t know how much of this was intentional or not but it’s a surprisingly realistic portrayal of abuse from a mostly lighthearted (at this point) comic and it’s something i really appreciate. dave isn’t a perfect victim, bro isn’t a monster, and that does not make what happened to dave any less horrific.

[concidineart]

“What did you do?!” Was feeling some way about fWhip and his salmon. He put the souls of the slaughtered into mechs and no one talks about it.

[a-moth-called-mof]

No actually I'm going to say. I honestly think that was such a satisfying and fitting epilogue for something as unqiue as the dream smp. Maybe its vague about certain things and maybe it wasn't a picture perfect happy ending but it felt so satisfying, not just because of the original shit nuke ending and the way the server originally just slowly faded (although that contributes) but also, because it's a representation of the dream smp itself saying goodbye to its fans. Jack being the point of the view character is so fitting because he's been there since the early days and it makes it so that for once, we get to see C! Tommy from someone else's point of view without his own perspective offered. And that's so fucking impactful. When C! Tommy asked Jack where he'd been and that he hadn't seen him in a long time, he was talking to C! Jack sure but he was also talking to the viewers themselves by extension. The image of C! Tommy silently standing there and treating Jack, the point of view character of the viewers, like an old friend is so haunting and comforting in a way words can't express.

And then there's just the entire theme of grief and moving on that's present throughout the entire thing? C! Jack and Tommy both reminisce about how much the SMP impacted both of them. They look on at C! TECHNO'S HOUSE as they talk about how despite all the shit it put them through, a part of them misses it and longs to be back there again because there were things there that were fun and that meant something to them. It's so fitting on a metatextual levels. The characters are reminiscing about the SMP's old days "before everyone left" and so are the content creators through the characters but also, so is the audience. The viewers. The old fans who clung on. The fans who who didn't. The fans who, despite everything the server put them through, still wanted to tune into a livestream for even a chance of seeing it again.

I just feel like the stream represented so many of us. When C! Jack says he didn't like the person he was back then but that doesnt mean he was bad, I just feel like that encapsulates so many of us during the pandemic. Like many (I think?), I used the dream smp as escapism. I was in a really bad place and I was avoiding most of my irl friends. I hate who I became during those times. But also. I had so much fun. I would tune into streams every day and scroll tumblr and the fandom made me feel so happy and included and I loved the inside jokes and I loved the characters and I loved the streams and I loved everything and a part of me still misses that. I was avoiding everything in my life and I was so isolated but I was so full of excitement and bliss and fun when I would tune into those streams. I've kinda spent the past 2 years lowkey hating who I was. But this stream, C! Jack's line and reflection specifically, genuinely made me realise that maybe I shouldn't idk view my old self so negative and that he (who I was) was probably just trying his best during a tough time even if his choices weren't always the most functional. That I've improved and that that's okay and good even. And that maybe just because I like who I am now doesn't mean he was bad.

Idk there's also something about C! Tommy telling C! Jack he might never see him again and C! Jack telling him that that's okay (also again image of C! Tommy looking at the viewer's point of view and telling them he'll probably never see them again...). There's just something about growing up and how you kind of lose contact with some people and how that's normal and it's okay and it happens and how that ties back into some of the dream smp's themes about growing up. But also there's a bit of grief there and that's okay. Idk there's something so visceral about the last piece of media about the dream smp literally being about grief and moving on and about how the characters literally say goodbye to eachother after everything but also about how that's okay. Idk I wonder how many people feel similarly

To conclude this, I feel like the moment in the stream that hit me the most was CC! Jack being happy he let go of the manishroom (and the server by extension) and that he's moving on but then later saying "I didn't like letting go of the mushroom. Felt like I wanted to cling onto it forever" and something about that just hits. Idk there's something how the characters both feel such a unique pain and longing for the old times in universe and how that reflects how the audience and streamers themselves feel and there's something about how I genuinely don't think something that wasn't as accidental and beautiful and messy and painful and earnest and flawed and unique as the dream smp could ever capture that feeling. And I think I love it for that. And I think I love the epilogue for representing that. And I think the dream smp said I love you and goodbye to its viewers with that epilogue and I think I said it back.

[nomsfaultau]

“I like who I am now! Probably more than who I was. But that doesn’t mean he was bad.”

This line chokes me up. The distance of calling your past self with a third person pronoun, marking how far you’ve come, the progress of healing simultaneously making the past seem foreign, distant. And yet at the same time there’s this unending grace for that past self, giving mercy to a younger you for being hurting and scared and lashing out. Looking back having grown so much it can be easy to loath that distant, other you. But instead you show that past you kindness he because he wasn’t given kindness then, either.

Giving mercy to something imperfect and aching just feels so right for the end of the dsmp. We can’t go back. But we can miss it, and forgive.

[zeb-z]

I'm actually unbelievably unwell about Etoiles character you don't understand. He's always been a sword, protecting by attacking first, by fighting back, offense as the best defense. He jokes a lot about dying for the island, dramatic and half sarcastic, but there's truth in his jests. He would kill, and he would die, for his daughter, for the rest of the eggs, for the safety of everyone on the island. He does not hesitate, for what good would that do him?

Then he gets the shield, and it changes the entire game. And while he can still kill to protect the island, he can no longer truly die for them.

His role is functionally the same - he draws attention to himself, he's just as ready for a fight as he's always been, he fights the codes to protect the island - but its the difference between a sword and a shield, because of his literal shield.

He's the only solid defense between the codes and the island, and all the eggs. The only one who can tank the hits and negate the effects of their crazy powerful swords.

A sword cannot hesitate, but a shield must consider it - he cannot take risks when he’s fighting in the Colosseum, because if he dies he’d lose the shield. He cannot risk attacking the fake Pomme without hesitation, not until he’s sure beyond a shadow of a doubt that it’s not his real daughter.

A shield must be sturdy. It must hold up under pressure. It must stay strong and reliable, no matter the circumstance - as the eggs go missing and everyone else crumbles, Etoiles cannot follow suit. He will play his part and defend the island, shouldering what the others cannot, because who else will do what he does?

To lose the shield would not only mean to lose himself, but to lose his family. He cannot fall without failing the entire island, his loss would mean disaster, for who is he if he’s not standing between the ones he loves and the monsters that threaten them?

He's as much a shield as the one he carries.

[diamonds-at-y11]

This stream had the same feeling as when you randomly decide to clean out your room and accidentally stumble across something from your childhood and so you stop everything just to sprawl across the floor for 30 minutes staring at it and reminiscing. I thought I almost forgot you. I think I wanted to forget you, but I change my mind now

[tubboscored]

ok but has anyone else considered shirtless ghostboo the way i did when i first saw his skin and thought he DIDNT have a shirt... and the parallels between cranboo (who, in his body-dysmorphia-induced fashion, kept up such a well-manicured appearance/outfit even after his job in a presidential cabinet was long finished) and his ghost (who's lost all of cranboo's inhibitions, to the point of wandering around in half-dress with no self-consciousness). listennnn i just think ghostboo smiling and floating around listlessly, belittling cranboo the way he did... hair that cranboo used to take care of so meticulously hanging unkempt in ratty curtains around dull eyes. and worst of all the sword wound gaping and oozing down his chest. everyone who used to know cranboo (and who tried to respect his distaste for eye contact) trying out of habit to turn their gazes away from ghostboo's eyes (no matter how much he seems to stare) but they try to turn their eyes downward and it's just CARNAGE, carnage on this skinny frame and suddenly you can't look at him at all. does anyone ever think about beeduo

[antimony-medusa]

Okay so, the thing about Boundaries, and why people keep bringing them up over and over again to creators, is I think there's a bit of a desire for what people are doing here to not be weird. Cause like, the creator signed off on it, so like, I'm fine and you can't make fun of me or get mad at me.

And like, I understand the desire to not be made fun of or have people get mad at you, believe me, I know, but I think we have all just gotta accept that what we're doing is— it's a little weird, bro.

Like by definition what fandom is is getting a little too much into your thing. Fan comes from Fanatic. We all saw some block men and we went way too hard with it. And I think that sufficiently viewed from the outside, there is just no way to do any kind of transformational creation and it not be weird to the wrong people.

Like, taking a character and making them miserable? One of the honourable fandom traditions, whether you're whumping them or if you go hard into comfort at the end. For someone entirely outside of fandom, that's just like why are you DOING that, bro, and when you add in the fact that we're using people's real names (well, gamer tags), there's no way for that not to be odd. "The creator said it was okay" is not going to make people go ??? any less. (Let me emphasize that this is fine, it's just like, also, you bring that up on the bus and peope go ????)

Let's look at fluff. You want to write about your characters in a coffee shop au? You want to write about your characters in a cuddly family dynamic, taking care of each other? You want to age down characters and write kid fic where they learn to face the challenges of the world and it's just so cute and you love them so much even if nothing really bad happens? I promise you that my non-fandom parents are gonna be like "why are you spending your time on that" and again, if you throw in the "is this real people" (it isn't, but that is a delicate thing to explain), you're looking at people staring at you in discomprehension and backing away.

Shippy stuff. Again, one of the honourable fandom traditions. You just love your guys and you want to write about how much they love each other (or maybe make it tragic about how only one person can make it out of the cactus ring). You spent all this time thinking about their feelings writing it out. You write out a kiss scene. It makes you flail happily. Most people don't do that! Absolutely fun to do? Yes! Something you can bring up as an ice breaker at the company potluck? Probably not! We are too much into the characters, and that's fine, but it's still gonna look a bit odd from the outside!

Plotty gen. You're writing an entire new story, but you're taking existing characters for it? Like it's original fiction, but you're using existing characters? Why not just write original fiction <I have had this conversation. Oh, you're writing a story about minecraft characters, and they— they get tortured? Like it starts with them being tortured? <also a fun conversation to be in.

I'm mostly thinking about this from the fanfiction side, but art, meta— we are just getting into things way too much. We're spending hours on this stuff. We drew the creators minecraft sonas in maid dresses. There are millions of words of fiction on the archive about every conceivable universe of good/bad things happeing to the characters. It is a primary hobby, where I could be learning piano or paying attention to sports. And I'm not, and like, that's fine.

I am here to tell you that people absolutely might find what we're doing weird, and also it's entirely fine. I just ran a poll about the sexiest minecraft character that got 68k votes on the most voted poll. And then I had to explain that to my doctor to explain why I didn't really have a normal baseline for the past week to compare to. (Doctor visibly thought it was weird but he was also like "you go" because he's a good doctor, but I had to start with explaining minecraft because he knew NOTHING about what I was talking about.) You just gotta accept that fandom is for a small segment of the population, we are all having fun with ourselves, and it's for us, it's not for the general population, and stop trying to make it palatable to people who don't care to understand. People on this site keep saying "racist white boys" and then they don't have the intellectual curiosity to pursue further as to why maybe that's not true, having a boundaries post is not going to make them nicer. It's fine. They're being jerks, we're just having fun.

And like, stop trying to get the creator to sign off on it. Accept that sometimes we're being weird and they can look at it if they want to see the weird fanatics going too hard with the characters. They will tell us if we're doing something they want to stop associating with their name, and up until that point, just accept that what we're doing is weird, and have fun with it.

We're weird.

Be more weird 2k23.

Have fun with it.

I wrote a time travel AU in DMs with a friend last night about a bird man and a minecraft piglin. Not normal. It's FINE.

[quacktities]

I feel like the appeal of C! Quackbur (to me at least) is just how versatile it is as a ship and the range it has.

You want a subtle rivals to lovers, mutual pinning and longing but one of them is repressing his own feelings because he hates himself too much to let someone get attached to him ship dynamic with a political backdrop? You want longing gazes, knowing looks and the unspoken truth that, maybe, just maybe this relationship and understanding between them goes deeper than either of them let on or want to admit? BOOM. Lmanburg election arc Quackbur!

You want all of that but with more tension, high stakes, mental illness, a very "forbidden romance" vibe with an enemies that have been in love with eachother for a long time but can now finally be on the same side and possibly act on their feelings dynamic (but theyre doomed by the narrative so it was never going to work out. Or maybe it will, who knows. Maybe this time they find solace in eachother. Maybe this time Quackity stops him before its too late. Maybe this time it doesnt end in flames. Who knows. Its up to you really, if you keep telling the story over and over again, maybe this time they get their happy ending here and it doesnt have to be a tragedy. Your choice really). Pogtopia era C! Quackbur!

You want fucked up grief and angst and reminiscing on the past and being haunted by what could have been? You want seeing the spectre of your dead friend (if he was truly your old enemy, why does he feel like a past lover to you) and wondering if maybe he remembers everything you both went through the same way you do and if maybe his heart aches when he sees you the same way yours aches when you see him but you know he isn't the same and you'll never see the old verison of him ever again... but hes here... as a ghost.. and that has to be worth something right. (Is it a miracle you can still see him or are you forever being tormented by what you can never have?). BOOM, Butcher arc C! Quackity and Ghostbur (or Aftermath C! Quackbur as I call them)

You want all of that, but hey. What if we brought back the guy. What if it didn't have to end in death? What if they could reunite and speak again after everything? Would they even get along? You want the culmination of years of pinning, grief, hurt, and mutual obsession? Do they truly love each other, or have they fallen in love with the idealised verisons of each other they have in their own heads? Maybe this time, they'll actually get their shit together and talk. There really isn't anything stopping them now, other than themselves and each other. Maybe C! Quackity finally finds someone who respects him, is dedicated to him, and can engage with him on the same intellectual level in C! Wilbur. Maybe C! Wilbur finally finds someone who makes him feel human and can challenge him and his more self-destructive behaviours while still loving him in C! Quackity. Maybe this time, they get to understand each other, and they get to heal. Maybe this time, it's not too late, and sure, they dont have the healthiest relationship, but they're working on it, and they're okay for once. Just this once. Maybe. Or maybe you don't want that. Maybe it is too late for them. Maybe they'll never have what they once had, and they're both left with bitter hatred and longing for the past that grows weaker by the day as the rose tinted filter starts to fade. Maybe they make each other worse. Maybe the closest they ever get to being close to each other is by hurting each other. Maybe the only times they hold hands are when they're catching each other's bloody fists. Maybe they're both too far gone now. Maybe they've hurt each other too much to ever be vulnerable with each other. Maybe it's just too late for them. Maybe it was never meant to be. You want a joker card ship dynamic that can either end in healing and a happy ending or in an even more fucked up tragedy? Or both! Why not. BOOM. Post revival C! Quackbur

[bronzetomatoes]

I feel insane when I see people complaining about the supposed fan woobification of cTommy, because like. Back in the day it was a common fandom opinion that Tommy was abusive and cruel and deserved any hurt he received for being a hateful two-timing bitch. We were BEGGING people not to treat him as a villain for his trauma response to being abused. There were people who thought Niki and Jack were right in trying to kill him (LITERALLY CANONICALLY MISPLACED ANGER ON THE SAFEST TARGET) like I feel like im going crazy when I see folks nowadays call him fanon's perfect angel who can do no wrong. You weren't with us in the trenches

[conarcoin]

the concept of "lore" ruined discussion of mcrp because like. people use it to mean some kind of weird hybrid of plotline and worldbuilding but ONLY if the server is drama-focused otherwise it doesn't count i guess.

so you get people saying like. hermitcraft isn't a lore server. smplive isn't a lore server. sdmp isn't a lore server. and it's like yeah this is true because "lore server" is a meaningless slop category you guys made up. they very much have plotlines and worldbuilding though 💀

[xelidonia]

Here it is: The Venn diagram of the comparison that made me get into TMA!

Spoilers for ALL of the Magnus Archives:

I tried to stick to canon facts, but it's hard for a character as based in fanon as Watcher Grian. Originally, I assumed the reason they were so similar was that the Archivist was just so popular on Tumblr that bits of his storyline made their way into Watcher Grian fanon... but actually, the EVO finale took place nearly a year before MAG 160, though 3rd Life began after TMA ended. It really does seem to be parallel evolution (no pun intended.)

[zeta-in-de-walls]

Hey there, as you may or may not know, a couple years ago I started a little subreddit for DSMP fanfiction. https://www.reddit.com/r/DreamSMPfanfic/

I don't personally run it anymore, I stepped away away when my interest in the fandom fizzled.

Anyway, the mods are highly considering a rename to MCYTfanfic in order to be more general. (All mcyt fic recs are already allowed but it is predominantly DSMP. It's always been very SBI leaning particularly.)

As always if you have any interest in dsmp fanfiction, I highly encourage you to check it out. You can recommend your favourite stories, get recommendations or just discuss the fanfic community. Searching older recs is an awesome way to discover some hidden gems and it feels good to share your favourite stories.