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Dream SMP

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Dream SMP
Dream SMP characters; each skin is used by a different prominent Minecraft personality.
Developer
TypeMinecraft server
Launch dateApril 24, 2020; 4 years ago (2020-04-24)
DiscontinuedApril 10, 2023; 18 months ago (2023-04-10)
Platform(s)Minecraft: Java Edition
StatusDown

The Dream SMP (sometimes referred to as DSMP;[1][2] formerly as the Dream Team SMP[3][4]) was an invite-only survival multiplayer[a] (SMP) Minecraft server. Created by YouTubers Dream and GeorgeNotFound; they roleplayed alongside many fellow Minecraft content creators as fictionalized versions of themselves within a loose overarching storyline. Livestreamed by participants on Twitch and YouTube, it was the subject of one of the most popular Minecraft web series.[5][6] The server was officially shut down on April 10, 2023.[7]

History and plot

The Dream SMP was created by Dream and GeorgeNotFound in April or May 2020[b] as a small server for a few friends. It quickly gained popularity, in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic and collaborations across various Twitch channels.[11] It starred fellow Minecraft YouTubers such as Sapnap and TommyInnit,[11][12] who roleplayed as characters loosely based on themselves. They engaged in lengthy conflicts over political power and rare artifacts.[13]

Most content was improvised, apart from major plot points which were loosely scripted in advance.[6][13] Wilbur Soot, who planned many of the early story arcs, said in an interview for Insider, "I write up a series of plot hooks and points that should tie together, however we improv dialogue and comedy throughout to take us from point to point."[9][14] The server has over 20 "eras" in its plotline and over 30 characters as of August 2021.[15] The server's early storyline was inspired by Hamilton, and the musical was referenced many times by the server members.[14][12]

Within the plot, characters could die up to three times before being permanently dead. Some members played multiple characters, including ghost versions of themselves.[9][6]

The Disc Saga, the server's longest-running story arc, was a series of events centered around two rare music discs belonging to TommyInnit. Throughout the saga, Dream and other characters fought over ownership of the discs,[11][16] and used them as leverage against each other. The Disc Saga concluded in January 2021, with Dream being imprisoned.[9][17] TommyInnit's Twitch broadcast of the events peaked at over 650,000 viewers, making it the third-highest all-time concurrent viewer livestream on the platform.[17][18]

L'Manberg flag

Another conflict broke out when Wilbur Soot founded L'Manberg, an in-game breakaway state for non-American players. It seceded from the Greater Dream SMP nation and won a war for independence.[9][19] L'Manberg would later hold a presidential election, which involved heated roleplay debates between the fictional political parties SWAG2020 and POG2020.[14][10] When SWAG2020 running mate GeorgeNotFound failed to show up, Quackity, the presidential candidate for the party, formed an impromptu coalition party with Jschlatt, SchWAG2020. This coalition party went on to win the election with 46 percent of the vote.[12] In January 2021, L'Manberg would go on to be invaded, destroyed, and permanently disbanded.[9][19]

The heavy emphasis on the roleplaying aspect of the server and their overarching plots attracted a lot of attention. According to Rich Stanton of PC Gamer, "L'Manburg was taken very seriously by its players, to the extent the nation has not only a flag but a national anthem."[19] The plot was likened to live theater by Cecilia D'Anastasio of Wired, describing it as a "Machiavellian political drama".[12] Ryan Broderick of Polygon described the server's plot as being played out like "a silly Game of Thrones with anime pacing", and described the story's characters as being "not unlike how the wrestler John Cena plays the wrestler John Cena inside the narrative of WWE".[15] The Disc Saga was described by Julia Alexander of The Verge as a "dramatic tale of good versus evil" as Dream and TommyInnit fought over dominance in the server.[13]

In a 2022 interview with Variety, Dream said that the Dream SMP was just Minecraft being used as a storytelling medium as opposed to being an actual game, with GeorgeNotFound adding they do not actually "really" play Minecraft when doing Dream SMP streams.[20]

In November 2022, TommyInnit and Tubbo did four consecutive live streams on Twitch, starting on November 10[21] and ending on November 13,[22] describing them as the Dream SMP season 1 finale.[23][24] These four streams concluded with the server being blown up by Tubbo and Jack Manifold.[24] The last part of the stream featured Dream, Tommyinnit, and Tubbo appearing on a new world with no memories of what had happened earlier in the stream.[24] Tubbo later announced that all subsequent finale streams will end in the server blowing up, calling it "The Event."[25] In the same stream, he hinted that season 2 may have references to season 1.[25]

In March 2023, Dream announced that there would likely be no season 2; in response, CaptainPuffy uploaded over 300 images taken of locations on the server at various stages on her website.[26]

Several members streamed together on the SMP on April 10, 2023, after which the server was shut down.[7]

Cultural impact

The Dream SMP has garnered a large following and a popular fandom,[13][27] with hundreds of thousands of viewers turning up for live events.[5] Its storylines are analyzed in documentary-style videos, such as those of MatPat, who describes the series as "narrative storytelling through the lens of gaming".[28] Broderick also attributes the Dream SMP's unprecedented success to how its story is showcased, describing it as being "a profound idea [that] essentially turns viewers into their own directors, hopping through streams to see which version of the story they want to focus on".[15] In September 2021, Benjamin Herold of The Hechinger Report said that the Dream SMP "helped millions of kids stay connected to the social world" during the COVID-19 pandemic.[14]

The server's storylines have inspired fan art, fan fiction, animations, and online musicals.[6][13] Although unusual for an online creator, Dream has encouraged fan fiction to be written about him, stating that it ultimately helps his career.[29] One notable fan creator is SAD-ist, an animator from the Philippines who illustrates events from the server's story set to music and dialogue clips.[14]

An offhand joke post on Tumblr made at the expense of the Dream SMP fandom led to the creation of a fan-made server with its own plot and lore, known as "Penis SMP".[15]

On July 24, 2021, the flag of L'Manberg was spotted at an anti-vaccine protest in London, next to a Donald Trump flag.[19][30]

The Verge has described the Dream SMP as a "worldwide phenomenon", with Dream SMP fans creating mass amounts of fan fiction, fan art and fan songs. A notable fan work, Heat Waves, which is a Dream SMP-related fan fiction series hosted on Archive of Our Own, reached the top three in kudos on the website. It is named after the song "Heat Waves" by Glass Animals, and is suggested to be one of the reasons the song topped the 2020 Triple J Hottest 100 countdown in Australia.[13][31]

"Dream SMP" was listed as a genre in Spotify Wrapped in late 2021. The genre encompasses fan-created music about the events of the server, music made by Dream SMP members, and music used in Dream SMP streams, but largely was used as a catch all for "Youtuber Music". The artists that are part of the genre include Glass Animals, Wilbur Soot, Toby Fox, and Alec Benjamin.[32][33][34] It has recently been renamed to "Pixel".[35][better source needed]

The server was visited by several notable guest stars, including KSI,[15] Vikkstar123, LazarBeam,[36] Ninja, Lil Nas X, Pokimane, Corpse Husband, and MrBeast.[6] MrBeast staged a game on the server by hiding gift cards worth $100,000 for Dream SMP members to find.[37]

Notes

  1. ^ In Minecraft, "Survival Mode" denotes the main game mode, where the player starts out with no items, has health and can die, as opposed to "Creative Mode" where players are immortal and can spawn in infinite items.
  2. ^ Game Rant and Business Insider approximate its forming in April 2020,[6][8] while Insider and Dot Esports claim its forming date as May 2020.[9][10]

References

  1. ^ Asarch, Steven. "Minecraft's top streamers are taking over the internet with their exclusive roleplaying server called Dream SMP". Insider. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
  2. ^ Seo, Rachel (October 13, 2022). "Content Creators Dream and GeorgeNotFound on Possible MrBeast Collaboration, First TwitchCon Together and Whether a Minecraft Movie Would Be 'Cringe'". Variety. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
  3. ^ Ledohowski, Devon (May 3, 2022). "What is Dream's net worth?". Dot Esports. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
  4. ^ Wilson, Shania (October 26, 2021). "Jikishi removed from Dream's private SMP server amid accusations". HITC. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
  5. ^ a b Fairfax, Zackerie (March 4, 2021). "Which Minecraft SMP Video Series Is Right For You?". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on May 23, 2021. Retrieved May 28, 2021.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Finley, Brittni (May 7, 2021). "The Dream SMP Minecraft Server Explained". Game Rant. Archived from the original on May 7, 2021. Retrieved May 28, 2021.
  7. ^ a b "Minecraft stars say goodbye to Dream SMP server in emotional farewell stream". Tubefilter. April 12, 2023. Archived from the original on April 29, 2023. Retrieved April 28, 2023.
  8. ^ Espinosa, Michael (June 24, 2021). "A new list of the most talked about gaming creators shows the power of Minecraft's 'Dream SMP'". Business Insider. Archived from the original on August 4, 2021. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
  9. ^ a b c d e f Asarch, Steven (February 16, 2021). "Inside YouTube's Minecraft boom: how an exclusive roleplay server helped a group of streamers dominate the platform's charts". Insider. Archived from the original on July 10, 2021. Retrieved May 28, 2021.
  10. ^ a b Çakır, Gökhan (December 31, 2020). "What is the Dream SMP?". Dot Esports. GAMURS Group. Archived from the original on January 6, 2021. Retrieved May 28, 2021.
  11. ^ a b c Asarch, 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 August 18, 2022. Retrieved May 28, 2021.
  12. ^ a b c d D'Anastasio, Cecilia (January 12, 2021). "In Minecraft's Dream SMP, All the Server's a Stage". WIRED. ISSN 1059-1028. Archived from the original on January 13, 2021. Retrieved May 28, 2021.
  13. ^ a b c d e f Alexander, Julia (March 19, 2021). "Living the Dream SMP". The Verge. Archived from the original on March 19, 2021. Retrieved May 28, 2021.
  14. ^ a b c d e Herold, Benjamin (September 8, 2021). "How Minecraft YouTubers made me a better parent during the pandemic". The Hechinger Report. Teachers College, Columbia University. Archived from the original on September 8, 2021. Retrieved September 18, 2021.
  15. ^ a b c d e Broderick, Ryan (August 9, 2021). "The bizarre Minecraft meme Penis SMP has spawned a world of its own". Polygon. Archived from the original on August 9, 2021. Retrieved August 9, 2021.
  16. ^ Lerner, Jamie (March 1, 2021). "This Major Character Just Died on the Dream SMP, and Fans Are Not Happy About It (SPOILERS)". Distractify. Archived from the original on April 22, 2021. Retrieved October 2, 2021.
  17. ^ a b Michael, Cale (January 20, 2021). "Tommyinnit peaks at over 650,000 viewers in Dream SMP finale". Dot Esports. GAMURS Group. Archived from the original on January 21, 2021. Retrieved September 28, 2021.
  18. ^ 3lissy (January 20, 2021). "Dream SMP Finale: 600K viewers tune in to watch TommyInnit take down Dream". GINX Esports TV. Archived from the original on January 20, 2021. Retrieved September 28, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  19. ^ a b c d Stanton, Rich (July 26, 2021). "Why a 'freedom flag' from Dream's Minecraft server waved over a London anti-vax rally". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on July 26, 2021. Retrieved July 27, 2021.
  20. ^ Seo, Rachel (October 13, 2022). "Content Creators Dream and GeorgeNotFound on Possible MrBeast Collaboration, First TwitchCon Together and Whether a Minecraft Movie Would Be 'Cringe'". Variety. Archived from the original on October 14, 2022. Retrieved October 14, 2022.
  21. ^ Dream SMP - One Last Time. - tommyinnit on Twitch, November 10, 2022, archived from the original on November 14, 2022, retrieved November 14, 2022
  22. ^ Dream SMP - The Last Stream. (NEW MERCH tommyinnit.store) - tommyinnit on Twitch, November 13, 2022, archived from the original on November 14, 2022, retrieved November 14, 2022
  23. ^ Dream SMP - One Last Time, archived from the original on November 14, 2022, retrieved November 14, 2022
  24. ^ a b c Dream SMP - The Last Stream, archived from the original on November 14, 2022, retrieved November 14, 2022
  25. ^ a b Tubbo Leaks Dream SMP Syndicate Finale!, archived from the original on November 22, 2022, retrieved November 22, 2022
  26. ^ "Puffy". puffy.gg. Archived from the original on March 14, 2023. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
  27. ^ Diaz, Ana (October 4, 2022). "Why Dream kept his face hidden — and why he revealed it". Polygon. Archived from the original on October 7, 2022. Retrieved October 7, 2022.
  28. ^ Alexander, Julia (March 19, 2021). "MatPat looks at YouTube's biggest changes over the last decade — and what lies ahead". The Verge. Archived from the original on March 19, 2021. Retrieved May 28, 2021.
  29. ^ Castello, Jay (March 1, 2021). "Fanfiction about real people is flourishing". Polygon. Archived from the original on March 1, 2021. Retrieved May 28, 2021.
  30. ^ Zwiezen, Zack (July 24, 2021). "Someone Brought A Dream SMP Minecraft Flag To An Anti-Vax Rally". Kotaku. Archived from the original on July 25, 2021. Retrieved July 25, 2021.
  31. ^ Newstead, Al (January 23, 2021). "Glass Animals' Hottest 100 win: 'Heat Waves' and the power of online fandom". triple j. Archived from the original on January 23, 2021. Retrieved May 18, 2021.
  32. ^ Amos, Andrew (December 2, 2021). "Dream SMP is apparently a Spotify Wrapped music genre and fans are totally confused". Dexerto. Archived from the original on December 2, 2021. Retrieved December 5, 2021.
  33. ^ Priyadarshini, Manisha (December 2, 2021). "What Is Dream SMP Music Genre On Spotify Wrapped?". DualShockers. Archived from the original on December 2, 2021. Retrieved December 5, 2021.
  34. ^ Beaumont, Mark (December 6, 2021). "The WTF genre from this year's Spotify Wrapped, Dream SMP, reveals the service's real motives". NME Asia. Archived from the original on December 7, 2021. Retrieved December 9, 2021.
  35. ^ "Merged with undertale and minecraft and some other things to cover the larger community of music by/from/about this sort of game, roughly. Named roughly to match". Twitter. Archived from the original on April 22, 2023. Retrieved February 13, 2023.
  36. ^ Çakır, Gökhan (December 31, 2020). "Who is a part of the Dream SMP Minecraft Server?". Dot Esports. GAMURS Group. Archived from the original on February 27, 2021. Retrieved October 2, 2021.
  37. ^ Belcher, Sara (February 11, 2021). "MrBeast Just Gave Away $100,000 on the Dream SMP — Here's Who Won". Distractify. Archived from the original on January 12, 2021. Retrieved May 28, 2021.
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