Dream (YouTuber)
Dream | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | |||||||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||||||
Nationality | American | ||||||||||||
Occupation | YouTuber | ||||||||||||
YouTube information | |||||||||||||
Also known as | DreamWasTaken | ||||||||||||
Channels | |||||||||||||
Years active | 2014–present | ||||||||||||
Genre | |||||||||||||
Subscribers |
| ||||||||||||
Total views | 2.18 billion (combined)[a] | ||||||||||||
Associated acts | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
Last updated: May 11, 2021 |
Dream is an American YouTuber known primarily for Minecraft content and speedrun videos. He began his YouTube career in 2014 and gained substantial popularity in 2019 and 2020 having uploaded videos based around the game Minecraft, and is well known for his YouTube series Minecraft Manhunt. As of April 2021[update], his seven YouTube channels have collectively reached over 31.2 million subscribers and over 2.18 billion views. YouTube listed Dream as the breakout creator of 2020. At the end of 2020, Dream was accused of cheating following an investigation by a major speedrun website.
Career
YouTube
Dream created his YouTube account on February 8, 2014.[1]
In a video from January 2020, Dream and another YouTuber, GeorgeNotFound, connected an Arduino board to an electric dog collar which emitted an electric shock whenever a player lost health in the game Minecraft.[2]
In December 2020, in place of their annual YouTube Rewind series, YouTube released a list of their top-trending videos and creators. On the U.S. list, YouTube ranked Dream's "Minecraft Speedrunner VS 3 Hunters GRAND FINALE" video as the number seven "Top Trending Video", and ranked Dream as the number two "Top Creator" and number one "Breakout Creator".[3] A livestream by Dream on YouTube in November 2020 with around 700,000 peak viewers was the 6th highest viewed gaming stream of all time as of January 2021.[4] A December 2020 Polygon article stated that "2020 has been a tremendous year for Dream", describing him as "YouTube's biggest gaming channel of the moment".[5]
Minecraft Manhunt
Dream's most well-known and most-watched series is Minecraft Manhunt. In Minecraft Manhunt one player—usually Dream—attempts to finish the game as fast as possible without dying, while another player or team of players (the "Hunters") attempts to stop this player from beating the game by killing them. The hunters each possess a compass pointed towards the player's location and are allowed to respawn whenever they die. The hunters win the game if the player dies before beating Minecraft.[6]
On December 26, 2019, Dream uploaded the first video in this series, titled "Beating Minecraft But My Friend Tries to Stop Me".[7] Dream would subsequently repeat this style of video on many occasions, increasing the number of Hunters over time.[6] Many of the videos have received tens of millions of views.[8] One of his Manhunt videos was sixth in YouTube's Top Trending Videos of 2020.[9]
Nicolas Perez, writing in Paste, described Minecraft Manhunt as "an experience that leaves me slack-jawed every time", stating that the format of Minecraft Manhunt "seems to guarantee the hunters come out on top. But more often than not, Dream pulls just enough aces out of his sleeve to narrowly beat the hunters, and eventually the game."[6]
Dream SMP
The Dream SMP server is a private Survival Multiplayer Minecraft server owned by Dream, started on April 25, 2020. It is played on by Dream and other prominent Minecraft content creators. The server is divided into factions and includes heavy roleplay[10] with major events being loosely scripted in advance, most other elements being improvisation, performed live on YouTube and Twitch. Cecilia D'Anastasio, writing in Wired, described the Dream SMP as a form of live theatre and as a "Macchiavellian political drama", with over 1 million people tuning in to the livestreams during January 2021.[11]
Minecraft competitions
Throughout 2020, Dream was a prominent participant in Minecraft Championship, a monthly Minecraft competition organized by Noxcrew. In 2020, Dream came first in the 8th and 11th Minecraft Championships.[12] In September 2020, during the 10th Minecraft Championship, he played for charity, raising around $3,400.[13]
Speedrun cheating accusations
In early October 2020, Dream livestreamed a speedrun of Minecraft in the "1.16+" category, and submitted his time to Speedrun.com. He was awarded 5th place for the record.[5]
On December 11, 2020, following a two-month investigation, Speedrun.com's Minecraft verification team removed his run from the boards. The team published a 14-minute video to YouTube and a report analyzing six archived livestreams of speedrunning sessions by Dream from around the time of the record; they concluded that the game had been modified to make the chance of obtaining certain items needed to complete the game higher than normal. The report found that the odds of obtaining the items legitimately were 1 in 7.5 trillion.[5][14][15] Dream denied the accusations in a YouTube video and responded with a commissioned report written by an anonymous statistician, who he claimed was an astrophysicist.[8] Dot Esports said the report did not exonerate him, and "at most" suggested it was not impossible that he was lucky. The moderation team stood by their ruling. In a tweet, Dream indicated that he would accept their decision, without admitting fault.[14][16]
Discography
Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
CAN [17] |
IRE [18] |
UK [19] | |||
"Roadtrip" (featuring PmBata) |
2021 | 87 | 70 | 75 | TBA |
Awards and nominations
Year | Award | Category | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2020 | Streamy Awards | Gaming | Won | [20] |
Breakout Creator | Nominated |
See also
- List of YouTubers
- List of most-followed Twitch channels
- Cheating in video games
- List of video games notable for speedrunning
References
- ^ Dream. "About". YouTube. Archived from the original on December 12, 2020. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
- ^ Livingston, Christopher (January 13, 2020). "Watch this Minecraft player get shocked by a dog collar whenever he takes damage". PC Gamer. Future plc. Archived from the original on January 6, 2021. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
- ^ Allocca, Kevin (December 1, 2020). "2020's top-trending videos and creators". YouTube Official Blog. Archived from the original on January 6, 2021. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
- ^ "Here Are The Biggest Twitch And YouTube Livestreams Ever". GameSpot. Archived from the original on January 13, 2021. Retrieved January 18, 2021.
- ^ a b c Hernandez, Patricia (December 15, 2020). "YouTube's big Minecraft cheating scandal, explained". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on December 15, 2020. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
- ^ a b c Perez, Nicolas (October 23, 2020). "Why Watching Dream Beat Minecraft Against the Odds Is So Addicting". Paste Magazine. Archived from the original on January 7, 2021. Retrieved January 4, 2021.
- ^ Dream (December 26, 2019). "Beating Minecraft, But My Friend Tries To Stop Me". YouTube. Archived from the original on January 6, 2021. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
- ^ a b Boier, Peter (December 29, 2020). "Populær youtuber fanget i massivt stormvejr: Har han snydt?" [Popular YouTuber caught in massive storm: Has he cheated?]. DR (in Danish). Archived from the original on January 11, 2021. Retrieved January 9, 2021.
- ^ Matt Patches (December 1, 2020). "YouTube announces the top videos and creators of 2020". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on January 6, 2021. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
- ^ Arsach, Steven (January 25, 2021). "Minecraft's top streamers are taking over the internet with their exclusive roleplaying server called Dream SMP". Insider. Archived from the original on March 18, 2021. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
- ^ D'Anastasio, Cecilia (January 12, 2021). "In Minecraft's Dream SMP, All the Server's a Stage". Wired. Condé Nast. Archived from the original on January 13, 2021. Retrieved January 13, 2021.
- ^ Michael, Cale (September 26, 2020). "Minecraft – All MC Championship Winners". Dot Esports. Gamurs. Archived from the original on January 6, 2021. Retrieved January 2, 2021.
- ^ Michael, Cale (September 26, 2020). "The best of MC Championship 10: Pokimane learns the game, Dream plays for charity, and more". Dot Esports. Gamurs. Archived from the original on January 3, 2021. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
- ^ a b Watts, Rachel (January 7, 2021). "A brief summary of the cheating scandal surrounding YouTube's biggest Minecraft speedrunner". PC Gamer. Future plc. Archived from the original on January 7, 2021. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
- ^ Asarch, Steven (January 27, 2021). "Meet Dream, the mysterious Minecraft YouTuber who's one of the fastest-growing creators on the platform". Insider. Archived from the original on March 18, 2021. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
- ^ Alford, Aaron (January 1, 2021). "Dream Minecraft speedrun controversy: A history of events". Dot Esports. Gamurs. Archived from the original on January 6, 2021. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
- ^ "Billboard Canadian Hot 100 Chart: Week of February 20, 2021". Billboard. Archived from the original on March 18, 2021. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
- ^ "Discography Dream". irish-charts.com. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
- ^ "Dream | full Official Charts History". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on June 30, 2019. Retrieved February 12, 2021.
- ^ "10th Annual Streamy Nominees". The Streamy Awards. 2020. Archived from the original on December 14, 2020. Retrieved October 21, 2020.
Notes
- ^ Views, broken down by channel:
- 1.862 billion (Dream)
- 169.7 million (DreamXD)
- 28.0 million (Dream Team)
- 101.0 million (Dream Shorts)
- 15.4 million (Dream Music)
- 1.29 million (Minecraft Manhunt)
- 3.55 million (Dream Tech)
- ^ Subscribers, broken down by channel:
- 22.1 million (Dream)
- 3.7 million (DreamXD)
- 2.08 million (Dream Team)
- 1.52 million (Dream Shorts)
- 830,000 (Dream Music)
- 637,000 (Minecraft Manhunt)
- 362,000 (Dream Tech)
External links
- Living people
- 21st-century American artists
- 21st-century American male musicians
- 21st-century American people
- 2014 establishments in the United States
- American YouTubers
- American male singers
- English-language YouTube channels
- Gaming-related YouTube channels
- Gaming YouTubers
- Internet memes introduced in 2019
- Internet-related controversies
- Male YouTubers
- Streamy Award winners
- Twitch (service) streamers
- Video game controversies
- Video game speedrunners
- YouTube channels launched in 2014
- YouTube controversies
- Minecraft YouTubers