when you think about rek’s character, chances are that if you have any thoughts on it, it’s that his paranoia is his big thing, something that’s a core part of him. the truth is, though, that rek isn’t— and was never— truly paranoid.
“but what about the entirety of season 3? what about his reputation as untrappable?”
for one, which is just something smaller i see people get wrong and is definitely fair if you’re only watching rek videos since it’s a bit difficult to garner the exact timeline: the arc of people trying to trap rek wasn’t actually that long. it didn’t start from the beginning of the season, and it definitely wasn’t season-wide; from the end of the season with decimation and the republic, to the princezam empire and the wall war, and even going all the way to the cleansing, trapping rek was no longer a “thing”.
for two, and my main point: rek’s words and actions aren’t those of a paranoid person.
i see people cite how he acted during season 3 as the primary example for why rek is paranoid, and throughout the arc rek was cautious, yes, but it was always justified. just to list off a few examples:
rek hadn’t been distrustful of vitalasy until the failed dripstone cannon when he went to vi’s meeting. he didn’t trust vitalasy in their next meeting (which is the normal response to someone killing you), and from then on he found evidence of vi trying to trap him again and again. also, he watched vi say he would kill rek to his chat.
despite parrot betraying him in the very beginning of the season and trying to kill him before the end fight even happened, rek hadn’t been distrustful of parrot until he quite literally told rek that he was part of the attempt to trap rek in the end. only from then on did he truly question parrot and his actions— and yet, when given a choice between getting away safely and leaving parrot to die to subz or coming out from where he was hiding into the walls of his castle to help parrot fight, he didn’t hesitate to leave his hiding place. he didn’t hesitate to jump up behind subz and start attacking. this is something i’ll come back to later.
paranoia is irrational suspicion, the unfounded belief that everyone is out to get you when they’re not. in rek’s case, they were. what people tend to take as paranoia is just rek exhibiting reasonable caution— and, honestly, most of the time his caution wasn’t reasonable enough.
rek was always cautious of any traps. but rek never stayed away from traps, not if he could help it. this one is partially due to rek’s real-life views on content, and also just partially because of his curiosity. take parrot’s video, for example, where subz brought rek to two extremely suspicious holes in the ground and told rek to choose one and jump in. and rek does! it’s not like he didn’t know it was probably a trap, the same way that it wasn’t that he just didn’t know when people were trying to trap him. his reputation as “untrappable” came from a mixture of caution and luck, not paranoia.
when i mentioned parrot, i talked about how rek had still come out to save him from subz, and there’s two things i have to say about this.
the first point comes from something that stood out to me against the characterization of rek as essentially a paranoid wreck, back when i was first getting into lifesteal. that notion didn’t match up with how rek acted in zam’s tree pilgramage stream (which happened during the trap arc), because he just wasn’t wary of parrot at all. zam even makes a comment on this to parrot, asking “haven’t you tried to kill this guy like two times”? but rek showed no signs of suspecting parrot had a trap, despite parrot being the one to lead their group to the coordinates. the most wary rek acted was when they were going through the nether portal back to the overworld coordinates, and only because he was worried that the other team had trapped it.
the other point i wanted to bring up with rek’s actions— saving parrot— is that it wasn’t just a one-time “swallow your fear” sort of thing; his actions are consistent. branzy and his plan to test rek by trapping himself is the perfect example: branzy and rek are on opposite teams, and branzy has been trying to trap and kill rek this entire time. he intentionally starts out by messaging rek in an ominous manner, and keeps being intentionally suspicious throughout showing rek to see if rek will still put his trust in branzy. and rek is very much suspicious, yes, but when branzy asks rek to trust him and stay standing directly in one place, he does. when branzy makes his grand speech to rek about how if his best friend rek is still in there, rek would “risk his own life in order to save branzy”, rek is already jumping from one gravel block to another to get to branzy before he even finishes the words.
“that’s season 3, but what about other seasons?”
to be honest, i don’t see as much of a reason for people to use the newer seasons as an example for rek being paranoid; i feel it’s mostly because of his existing reputation, a sort of confirmation bias.
yes, in season 6 he built escape tunnels into his starter base and started doing clownpierce checks, but he wasn’t being paranoid. for instance, he didn’t accept any gear that lifestealers offered to give him, and he set up his starter base aboveground in a village, right in the open. in the face of that, his multiple escape routes are completely reasonable, maybe even too little. and yes, the clownpierce checks were funnily named, but as the season went on they were less for checking for clownpierce specifically and more for checking his surroundings if he thought there might be someone nearby, which is just a reasonable thing to do on a server like lifesteal.
i don’t think there’s too much to be said about season 7, but there’s also not much that needs to be said. rek built his base directly under a nether portal and directly part of a stronghold, with the stone covering the entrance from the portal being only a block thick, leading to his base getting found, and him getting jumped and loosing all of his gear and items. ouch.
it’s true that lifesteal has its own fair share of paranoid players— take poafa as an example, who was completely convinced that rek was flying above to search for him and kill him while the two of them were having a chat, or pili, who built his base so out in the depths of the ocean that nobody would ever find his base unless it was leaked— but despite his reputation amongst both the playerbase and the lifestealers themselves, rekrap2 is not one of them.
Veni. Veni. tell me the Jumper conspiracy is wrong. Tell me I'm dumb and have forgotten something. By my count she has to have been on 13 or 14 hearts before the End Trap.
Jumper should have started the day on 10 hearts as per her appearance in the Pangi video two months ago (1/18), and per my notes saying she did NOT appear on the server since then except for Bing breakup in which she did NOT take the 4 princezam hearts.
She then dies NINE times to lava/SB. And ends on a death screen where she says she sees 3 hearts. I double checked old deaths from this season, and the heart disappears immediately upon death, not upon respawn.
How does she still have 3 hearts. But it gets worse.
She then dies to Mapicc, and then says to the vc "ok i have three hearts". So did she see 3 hearts on the death screen or 4. Why is she lying about her heart count. Sure, the vc has old enemies, and it's classic to lie about heart count. And you always want to buff the heart count just in case someone kills you on 2 thinking youre on 1.
She tells Mapicc she is on 2, despite just saying to the vc she is on 3, bc the vc thinks she's on 2. Mapicc pushes her off the spawn chunk, and a minute later she is intercepted by Spoke. Spoke kills her. 2 left. She tells the vc she is on 1 now.
BUT this implies she was on at minimum 13 hearts at the start of this day, maybe 14 if she was on 2 before spoke killed her the second time. My first thought was that she did pick up zam's hearts after everyone disbursed, but they're dropped at 2:24:28 and zam flies off at 2:31:20. That's more than 5 minutes. They're gone.
Perhaps Pentar landed on them when Jumper punched him off and he logged out to go to class. But When would she have gotten them from him? Unless it happened off camera, but I don't see any stream that could have it. Maybe it is that simple.
When Jumper gave out hearts to Bing before the end border expansion (1/11, before the Pangi recording), she gave 4 to zam, and then asked pentar to just name a number, eventually giving him 5. The way she says it though, it's like he can ask for almost any number. She says she's on 5 before logging off.
She then has 10 during the Pangi recording on 1/18. By this count Pentar simply gave her the 5 hearts back and zam did not (and we know she didn't).
Now. she might've just been stressed. It happens. Maybe she didn't count right. It happens.
But genuinely on a genuine I do not know how she could have died 11 times before saying spoke gave her hearts. EVEN if spoke instantly dropped her hearts she still died a 10th time to Mapicc.
Somehow between 1/18 and 3/18 she has more hearts, above 10. (stupid stupid she is in the overworld with 40 hearts. how could i have been so dumb)
And even then she is sus, she is SILENT for three minutes, presumably in front of spoke (/msging??), then says "if I die, remember me" then mumbles unintelligibly, then excitedly whispers that she is on 5 hearts. Spoke kills her. Yungy asks if that means she's on 4, she says she's on FIVE NOW, that Spoke "gave her 5", then killed her, and passes it off as him trolling. To me, this feels like a faked recording moment. But I'm still shocked she told the vc spoke gave her hearts; when i was watching the mapicc stream i was sure she got hearts from him but never did i guess she just gave that info up freely.
So what is her heart count. And why. Why of all people does it have to be Spoke. not after the s6 finale.
Spoke is on an amount (your count is one?). He kills her (+1), gives "5" (-5), kills her again (+1), dies to Leo in one tap (sharp 4 diamond sword is 6.5 hearts, and looks like Leo only had speed left, so spoke has a maximum of 6 hearts then) (-1). That is a net -4 heart count.
my notes' heart count for spoke is -1 to clown/minute on day one. -1 to starving, -1 to lava, and was about to die to fall damage if logged back on, on 8/26. I think that means he has 7 going into this day, with a final count of 3 if he did give jumper 5. This feels right to me: spoke has multiple times gone down to 3, and then he would've killed her and been at 4 and then leo kills him and back down to 3. idk if he did die to fall damage that time or if he got saved. I also wasn't really paying attention back then. But I do trust your count. who i dont trust is Jumper.
Because Jumper has been hard pushing Zam to be teamed, in a way that is too reminiscent to me of how she hard pushed people into looking under the farm tower during the item war. idk how to describe it, but it's pushy without sounding like she's pushy, giving space for you to come to your own conclusion, but filling in the space by being sad if you don't agree with her, yk? And she has been DEVASTATED that zam doesn't want to be teamed, that she would not log on again. Almost like she might have a video with zam that she's keeping secret.
She probably just cares. I'm just being paranoid. Bing breakup is a sad event that would make anyone sad.
And it's probably not related, but jumper also jokes on 9/28 that she is betraying Bing for mane and spoke bc they're the most inactive members. AND that she is betraying with mane, spoke and wemmbu on 12/13 on pentar's stream. it's all fun and games until someone is not jumping into the void with the rest of the ponies. and until someone is receiving hearts and public deaths from someone they joked about teaming with.
Also Manepear did spear yungy and pentar on 1/18 during the stream, and you can (barely) see him drop yungy 1 heart back when he comes for the stuff. What if bro just gave jumper his hearts. bro.
And that's my conspiracy. Idk if it even makes sense, it barely makes sense to me. But I needed to tell it to someone and youre the first person I thought of. it's probably all wrong and stupid and cope, but it's always been my pipedream for spoke and jumper to end a season together.
-coffeegnomee
UAUAUAAUAUAU IM SO SORRY ive been sitting on this ask for days, trying to think of how to answer it and i genuinely havent thought of a single cohesive response so im js gonna answer LOL. w that said.....
THIS IS SO COOL WHATTTTTT :OOO lowk i am um. a tiny bit of a bing hater (if u have seen my evil af posts im so sorry LMFAO </333) so i dont pay all that much attention to them, so the inconsistency in jumper's heart count is something i completely missed but that is incredibly interesting ^-^ i wouldnt put it past jumper to have heart exploits like that bc she was also on the cash masons side at the end of s6 & even though it didnt really go anywhere, it definitely proved her willingness to work w people who exploit past the shady excuse of it being for the betterment of the server (since she also worked w people who exploited during s5 but she was on the side of good so it was like nuanced LOL)
im very curious as to how jumper would even come across a heart exploit like that and how recent it was discovered/used bc so far this is all you have gathered nd it is relatively recent.
i do know that they recently readded the img2map mod back to ls under the condition that it will not be used to exploit as an honour rule bc there is no realistic way to enforce it with the type of mod it is nd all they can rly do is Ask Nicely for people to not abuse it or they can never have it again but like. idek. i wouldnt put it past spoke to not gaf bc he fully admitted to using a hack client when on mapiccs stream during the end event LOL but its also like . thats under the assumption that hes logged in at all Before the end event day but After the jepexx lag machine video he helped w. which we cant realistically have any sort of idea abt awawawa
some unrelated things i noticed that arent all that interesting on their own but fun to play around w is we know that mapicc had spoke at -99% volume on vc mod for some reason which had to have been done during week 1, during the whole midas thing, or during an unknown login UNLESS vc volume settings for players specifically also transfer between servers.
another interesting thing is that the server seems to have been very laggy for an undetermined amt of time but it seems likey it began much more recently (as in the past day or so ish); yesterday when pangi wanted to login to do his tier list wednesdays the ls server itself was down for some reason. when sb logged in to stream his latest ls plans the server was up and fine UNTIL derap logged in and the entire server went down and rolled back a few minutes. derap mentioned he might be in a corrupted chunk before it went down iirc? which was interesting ig, my best guess for that was that his whole wither spawning plan was having an impact on the server due to the constantly loaded withers that are at spawn constantly shooting stray wither skulls around. or well something like that LMFAO its a server lag issue ive seen on divorce and figured it might be an issue on ls w derap spawning sm withers but idek!
they're both in the wrong. they're both in the right. neither is right. neither is wrong.
The entire damn season has lead to this, from that first fateful day when Mapicc failed to kill a naked princezam. The arrow that symbolized their relationship, Passed from one to the other when they finally resolved their differences with mawn and became teamed, just a team of them two, with their own teams on the side.
The arrow that sat in the prime spot of Mapicc's echest from then on, a constant reminder of Zam's presence. The devotion for each other that can go from being each other's throats shouting "BITCH BITCH BITCH BITCH" as one runs away, can become a comforting reminder of their devotion to always be there for each other.
Now hidden away where it doesn't have to be seen.
How the only reason Mapicc tried to kill him that day was because he believed Zam would forgive him and because he was planning on giving the heart back after he got to 20 for his video.
But how that moment provoked Zam to tell Planet to make fun of him in chat for not being able to kill a naked Zam.
How that moment stung. And when Spoke was killed, he killed Zam 3 times, once for Spoke, once for the mocking, and once for trying to stop him from leaving.
The pain of not having Zam being resolved through blood and murder. Repercussions for mockery being given out swiftly and succinctly.
Because Mapicc will always give out repercussions to actions he finds fault in.
But then he drops it just as quickly. He deals out death until your debt is paid. But then it's over.
And this time the debt that was ensued was far greater than simple mockery in chat. It was helping the enemy. And so the retaliation must be bigger.
So he kills him with his fist, blows up the field, kills him again. But that was supposed to be it. But how could that be it when he just did something so devastatingly huge. So of course Zam keeps coming back, keeps talking, keeps trying to understand, and keeps fighting back. So Mapicc kills him again if he's going to attack him. But he says after the fight that he felt empty that it was over. that it was over. The debt had been paid. Now onto mane.
The actions of one teammate will fall upon all teammates. Mapicc is the lifestealer that says that line the most. Said it immediately before killing Woogie for siding with Zam. And told it to Derap after.
But when Zam attacks Hannah for the actions of Mapicc, of how Mapicc used him especially for the creaking trap, suddenly that reality of lifesteal shouldn't count. You should only be going after me for my own actions, not my teammate, he says that day. It makes a new debt, one that must be paid in blood again.
I think Mapicc doesn't believe his own actions should have consequences, because they're not really his own actions, they're repercussions for other's actions. He is vengeance.
So he hunts Zam down again.
But through and before it all, the day he chose to let his wrath be known and he blew up the flower field, Mapicc chose to use Zam for his video. He went in knowing that that was what it was. He said it out loud on stream. And again while telling Bacon about the day when setting up the flower field with tnt. He knew that he used Zam for his own selfish gain.
So he was in the wrong. He deserved a repercussion for that.
But it would hardly be the first time Mapicc has pulls shit like it. The prep days for the Pangi crown battle in s4 will forever rotate in my head. The height of the castle arc, and Mapicc needs pvpers on his side so that he can defeat Pangi and his 3 teammates. It's just him and Parrot who are available. They're going to be crushed in defeat. They need Zam and Subz to help.
So Mapicc strongarms Zam into dropping his beef. The castle arc beef. THAT beef. Says if you just want to kill me, here come to spawn and I'll take my armor off and you can get your kill and then we can team up and your lore will be satisfied. Zam hesitates, but ultimately does it. And I've always loved that scene because it is one of the key moments where we see Zam choosing the functionality of the server over his own personal lore. The same thing he's just gotten into again.
He chose to even out the teams, help Mapicc, so that the fight would be a fair battle. For the good of the server, he killed a naked Mapicc and joined his side. Even though Mapicc was using him for his own content and not caring about Zam's.
And after? Mapicc asked for the lent hearts back. And tried to murder him with Parrot and Ro not minutes later. A perfect case of using Zam for the video, and then throwing him to the side after. And their castle arc beef continues until the final 1v1 where Zam wins.
But Mapicc uses Zam's willingness to help out to get what he needs. So similar to using dupes to get an upper hand in fights he otherwise would loose. So similar to calling in teammates to finish off a 1v1 so he doesn't loose.
When Mapicc faces failure down the barrel of a gun he saves himself.
Call it a massive insecurity for not being good enough. If he fails, he is bad. He cannot fail.
He's in the wrong for that one. But in the right for dolling out repercussions, for fighting against those who would go behind teammate's backs to help enemies. For those who would kill his teammates, protecting those whom he promised himself he would protect. Getting hearts for his teammates so they can stand in this world that will cut you down if you don't cut it down first.
And then there's his jealousy. What was love has turned to possession. Jealousy has rotted the relationship to the core. And especially from Zam's pov, Mapicc being mad that he went to Derap IS unfair. Mapicc is controlling his actions, who he can hang out with.
But Mapicc's devotion has no outlet. His love is so strong and complete, his mind always going back to Zam and where is Zam and why won't he come back to Mawn and Zam is strong and capable and all these huge and confusing emotions that don't make sense. He's a strong and independent Mape who doesn't need anyone. He's fine. He's fine alone. He doesn't need anyone.
He can't articulate it. Doesn't even know or see what is so clearly there by his actions.
And through the seasons Zam has always been there.
Except for that one time he wasn't. The one time Zam left.
And that time? Zam left Team Awesome because he didn't like the dupes. And Mapicc took it to heart. It was his own fault that Zam left. He pushed him too far to do what he wanted the team to do, all those fights, and Zam wasn't happy and Mapicc didn't see it, couldn't fix it until it was too late. and Zam left.
He mentioned it once to Bacon in s5. How he wanted to make sure Zam was okay with all their team plans bc last time he betrayed bc he didn't like the plans. And all s5 was a soliloquy of Mapicc never pushing his own ideas too hard, being gentle with Zam's thoughts and opinions, doing his utmost to not push Zam into betraying the team.
And Zam still betrayed him. Blessing Minute. Zam still didn't prioritize the team even though Mapicc always prioritizes his teammates.
A core ideal of Mapicc's: the teammates over everyone else.
So once again he tries not to push. Right before the end of the stalking arc he realizes he likes having Zam as a friend rather than an enemy. And chooses, willfully, to be friends. The situationship is born because he knows, oh he knows, that Zam would not be happy on the Empire bc the Empire is going to be evil and Zam has proven to Mapicc that he doesn't want to be evil.
So he doesn't push the Empire on to Zam. But, like he said in his stalking video, he realized "Zam is my only real friend on this server". His closest friend. And he doesn't want to loose Zam.
So he forms the allyship. Because his devotion runs too deep to just end neutral. And his real team isn't logging on almost ever. It's not about using Zam, it's not about taking advantage of him. It's about getting to team with his best friend. It's about devotion.
And for the next months, time and time again, Mapicc puts aside his bloodlust for Zam. He puts aside dealing out the repercussions he fundamentally is driven to dole out, his core ideal on this server, for Zam.
Core ideal vs core ideal. Dealing repercussions vs keeping the server functioning.
And Mapicc is shit at expressing what he's feeling. He tried. Oh he tried over and over. Multiple confrontations with Zam about how Zam stopped him from being himself, from getting the kill he hand picked out. And they always ended with Zam apologizing, and it seemed resolved. It seemed like Zam would change.
But it's just like in s4, but the roles have been reversed. Faced with a teammate who is doing something that fundamentally goes against everything he believes should be done on the server, they talk and talk and talk, but when it becomes proven that they did something even worse behind your back, you snap, twist the knife, and murder them.
I've said before Mapicc is having a Zam s4 of a season. And this was the eclipse federation. He thought Zam was good, he thought he wasn't doing the one thing he would never do, the one thing he has betrayed over in the past; working with the enemy, but then it was proven that Zam was doing just that.
For Zam it was about vitalasy hiding the extent of the exploits, for Mapicc it was about working with the enemy. Just like killing Spoke in the dupe war.
And one of the things Mapicc has brought up time and again recently, before he killed Zam, was wanting to finally feel free from doing what Zam wanted. How he has felt like Zam just uses him for pvp, but only in the ways that benefit Zam, and never let him get the kills he wants he wants to do.
But did he not walk into this situation, with eyes open? He knew Zam wouldn't kill, that he wanted to protect the server, but he still teamed with him.
So he feels trapped.
And then there's the side team. There's Derap. A player who had outstanding debts of repercussions to receive. Whom Zam was protecting from those repercussions. Stopping him from doing his core ideal on the server.
And Mapicc tried to say, over and over and over and over, how he would not team with Derap, how he would never team with Derap.
Is it not so similar to what he just said to Minute and Hannah, what he complained about to Bacon - he is clear with his boundary on who he will team with and they still keep telling him to team with Zam. He's trying, desperately trying, to express his opinions, to stand up for himself. And it's failing.
Trapped between wanting to make a team happy and wanting to do what he knows is right.
And not only that, but he lamented to Bacon about how he wished destroying Zam could be a passion project for them all. He's forever trapped with the worry that his team won't like his idea.
Zam would leave the team to do a solo arc, but Mapicc needs a duo. He needs a team.
So when Zam joins Derap, it cuts him to the heart. His devotion of Zam is being ripped out. His need for company is ripped away. His safety and security is gone.
Oh the two sides of a story. Love that doesn't allow for free will is not love at all. But he's so blinded by love and need that he can't see what he is doing to Zam. That what once was wholesome love has turned to something toxic.
And so the emotions simmer. Bubble away on the back burner. Until all this pain and trappedness and unmet need slams into the stove and everything falls apart. Love turns to wrath.
And it's crazy how Zam is not at fault, he's doing his own plan for the season. He, like everyone, deserves the freedom of choice.
And yet he is endlessly devoted to Mapicc too. And knows everything that makes Mapicc move and breathe. He knows Mapicc's bloodlust, his unending need for revenge when he sees slights.
But he failed to see just how much of a core this is for Mapicc.
He idealized him, put him on a pedestal of perfection, projected his own moralities on Mapicc, believing that he could convince Mapicc to be different, to not be so bloodlusty. That maybe Mapicc could go down a similar path he just did, that everything could be okay and their ideals could align.
Love blinded him to the reality of what Mapicc is.
Just as love blinded Mapicc to the reality of who Zam is.
Zam didn't see Mapicc will only love spawn because Zam loves spawn. Otherwise he just sees it as a tool for power.
Zam didn't see how his devotion became one sided as he threw himself at Mapicc over and over to make him happy, without realizing how upset Mapicc was already and how deep it really went. How unresolved.
Zam knows Mapicc values loyalty, but never once did he suspect that Mapicc would think giving hearts to the enemy was betrayal. Even though blessing Minute was a betrayal and he didn't see it then either.
Their core ideals on the server will never align. Not in the long run. Zam will be who he is: someone who will balance the server to allow every player to thrive. And Mapicc will be who he is: someone who will deal out vengeance on behalf of the server and the repercussions the other players incur.
So close to being similar. Both dedicated to the server's function. But diametrically opposed. Zam will aid. Mapicc will destroy.
Can they learn to let each other go? Can they learn to not be codependent? Can they have the confidence in themselves to not loose it the second the other does what they believe is right? Can they learn to accept the fullness of who the other is?
Because there's something about the other that relentlessly makes them devoted to the other. Something that has nothing to do with the other's actions or what they bring to the relationship. It's just who the other person is. They simply love each other.
It needed to boil over. It needed to go to fists and destruction. It's all too packed down to resolve without explosion. They can't take the other seriously for the grievance until their blood is on their sword. Until all the words have been spoken. Until they feel the repercussions have been dealt out, and there are a lot of repercussions to be had.
I was originally going to cite Clown and Spoke’s line during the Cleansing in S3 about the inherent cyclic nature of Lifesteal but I really don’t think that’s the answer you’d want to hear, or the answer I’d like to give, to be honest.
I guess I’d have to say to me Lifesteal’s greatest flaw as a long-form content smp would be that they’re real people
Lifesteal exists in an interesting vacuum within the MCYT content space, in that it’s charm almost entirely lies in its ability to function as both a rp smp and a rewarding competitive gameplay loop—there are players who play to tell a story, and players that play to PvP.
The medium of their content requires a large of amount interpretation and creative liberties—while juggling both essentially scriptwriting, playtime (not to mention training, which requires time away from content to get better at the game), and the upkeep of real life. Through this, it can become especially difficult to hit every category expected of a MCYT in a way that means these content creators can also make their living. Naturally, sacrifices have to be made. Even in a scripted SMP server like Unstable Universe, it can feel lacking in a certain luster—that unshakeable feeling that these conflicts are real, as much as you, the viewer, are assured otherwise. It is that quality of real that attract a large number of fans to Lifesteal; and in that same way, the reason many are driven away.
Unlike UU, Lifesteal is streamed almost in its entirety. For creators like PrinceZam, Woogiex, Yungwill, Mapicc, HannahxxRose, Baconwaffles0 it is with an almost uncomfortable dedication that we are familiarized with their (in-game) lives. For those afforded the opportunity to catch these long hours, we see love and friendship created as often as it is destroyed. What should be a punishing cycle of presence and absence—love and loss—is chased after so vigorously not only by the fans, but by its creators as well. As true as it is that Lifesteal remains almost entirely unscripted, it is also a truth that many streamers will often play up personas to the point where personalities completely removed from its original can be formed. It’s theatrical and yet somehow manages to preserve its emotional depth—a product of love not only for content, but for the payoff months-worth of late nights and consistency that only an impassioned story arc can pull off. It is through the same medium that we are allowed one of the most compelling shows of the bounds of human thought and creativity, that we are also unable to experience the fundamentals of good storytelling; coordination. Large production narratives are not constructed this way. There is not any one good carefully crafted character who could have half the mind of any character born of the Lifesteal SMP. This has its flaws.
You cannot make a rewarding story when every character is entirely responsible for what they choose to do, we’ve seen this happen so many times before. With Pangi and Derapchu as early as S6’s orbital cannon plot line (leaking its coords and ruining Yungwills content), or even way the audience itself chooses to interact with these creators (leaking in stream chat). We’ve seen compromises been made in good faith to preserve the integrity of the story, but there is always this underlying feeling of disappointment.
Things are good, but they could’ve been better.
For players like Vitalasy and Planet, who, on the Lifesteal SMP gained a loved for the art of storytelling—it’s disheartening to have content like that tossed aside so easily. But if I were to be specific, I think it’s the emotional demands of such content that doom it so wonderfully. I wouldn’t call it unhealthy exactly; but it is in that same way you grimace at actors who so uncomfortable align themselves with their role for authenticity that we see Lifestealers embody the characters that they play for the audience on stream. I think there are players like Zam or Bacon who do this wonderfully—understand that their conflicts are nothing more than content, who chase and thrive in the never ending suffering—but contrarily, there are also players like Planet and Vitalasy for whom this practice doesn’t prevent this conflict from transcending beyond in-game into real life—who want to make Lifesteal something it is not, a place of friendship and fun, and are throughly narratively punished for it.
I guess the way I see it, Lifesteal is entertainment in that same branch as Hunger Games—a never ending tragedy, capitalizing on the interest in human suffering.
And while I don’t think Zam was wrong in saying back in S4 that all Lifesteal would ever be was suffering, I also don’t think that Vitalasy was wrong in correcting her that Lifesteal could be whatever you made it be. Lifesteal can only exist with the power that you give it, and it’s for that same reason Vitalasy logs off that Zam continues to choose to log on.
I’ve been on a month long trip to Italy and there’s one thing Jesus wants you to know:
He loves you. Completely. Your full self. Who you are when nobody else is around. He loves you deeply and completely, and He’s always with you, no matter what you’ve been through. Just reach out.
I'm reading through my s6 notes and like, Derapchu's ability to detective out what is going on correctly is like, scary.
And as a Zam main, that's so annoying bc when Zam goes sleuthing it's a slow build up and his natural naivety makes it delightful to uncover things, but Derap just instantly comes to a conclusion and it's right so many times. And he never doubts himself.
Derap is almost always wrong about the emotional motivations, the interpersonal reasonings for things, but when it comes to "who did this" or "what is this person planning" he's always right. Like a stupid amount of times. And even with the emotional motivators usually he ends up with the right conclusion but for the wrong reasons.
And that's so interesting to have a character like that. And it hurts him far more than it helps him. Like with the subz wardens, him detectiving out what subz was up to gave him such a big head that he was the one to solve everything that he failed to ever include or count anyone else's contribution to stopping the wardens.
Or realizing Zam gave Bacon hearts made him so much more paranoid of Zam, and the timing of that with the Truman show and Mapicc's creakings made it even worse. And then evidently he never properly allowed himself to process his thoughts on that reality, just let it sit pent up until he went to Minutetech.
And like, the most recent example of how much he was like "i told you guys spoke was up to something!! we should never have been fighting mapicc" (paraphrase) in the finale.
He has this massive need to be right, and it's backed up with a genuine ability to be right, but it shots himself in the foot bc he isn't the only member to be able to understand and read the flow of the server. And one of the marks of an old gen player is that they might know that someone is up to something but until that person logs on and actually does something, the sleuthing has no real outlet and that's okay. Instead of ego, it's just keeping it in the back of the mind.
So even if they know what might happen, they continue to play the server based on what is right in front of them, dealing with the conflicts that are actively brewing and allowing them to take their time even if it "makes more sense" to make up and be friends bc there's a bigger threat looming. None of that matters to old players.
It's just. I'm so intrigued as to how that skill of Derap's is going to continue. Bc his perceptiveness felt like a real detriment at times for the livelihood of the slow story. And I'm so curious to see if it'll be harnessed to make the story more interesting (now that he's lived a whole season) or if it will continue to cause conflict (which i also find interesting). Probably both tbh.
Derap being able to figure out what is going on is fascinating, and so scary in my opinion, because of how people downplay it and don't expect him to figure these things out. They're set up to play into the predictability of other Lifestealers thinking however, because he is a new player who also doesn't play Lifesteal like a traditional Lifesteal Player with more experience, it makes it harder to prevent him from finding and figuring these things out!
I can totally get how as a Zam main honestly it is frustrating to see the juxtaposition of how they both fundementally Figure Things Out, and how Zam avoids brute forcing problems into making sense for him or figuring them out. From what I've seen and in my opinion, Zam follows a train of thought, and one single lead, at once and eventualy sees how they come together, focusing on the 'Smaller Picture', whereas Derapchu looks at the Bigger Picture. I feel like saying he instantly comes to a conclusion is a hyperbolic (Which is probably intentional and I am just being insuferable) and accidently downplays how much work Derap puts into brute forcing things, and working on getting to the correct conclusions that he gets too. I do agree however that he does come to the right conclusion each time! And that he never doubts himself!
I think in my opinion they both do have this natural naivety, its just that they use it differently. Zam is not as naturally naive as I think he presents himself, honestly. He is a very unreliable narrator I've noticed from watching his POV and I think his naivety isn't natural I think it is a product of how neurotic he is. I do agree however that this is what makes it so delightful, when I watch Zam, to uncover things. They are both very Naive, and In my opinion being Naive is actually Deraps overarching story on Lifesteal Season 6 and will roll into Season 7 due to how he teamed with Pangi. I said a little while ago that Zam and Derap are simultaneously one in the same and Far Too Different, and this is one of those situations.
Derapchu being so wrong about emotional motivations and it taking him a lot longer to understand that over the actual Happenings of situations, is I think because he does use brute force but also he only uses Logic. I don't think that we see Derap think about the emotionally driven logistics of events and struggles to even take the emotional part into account, and not just that but there is also that I think Derap doesn't understand other players emotionally, like at all. It is one of his big 3 flaws in my opinion is that while he can logically see what people need (Zam needing to be selfish for example) he really struggles to emotionally connect and understand players (Using Zam as a example again, understanding the Devotion Duo related Emotions) on a deep level beyond someone being something like Angry or Upset.
HOWEVER! When it comes to the Subz Wardens situation I feel like (it was, partially, ego however it was mainly) the reason why Derapchu was behaving the way that he was is because it WAS Mainly him. He was the one who put hours into it, to prevent it and solve what was going on, and to try do damage control. Derap did more work than everyone else objectively so, and worked very hard to get to the conclusion he did and to understand how to prevent it and how to handle the wardens. I think he thought this would be what got him respect and acknowledgement on the server, something which he has been missing all season, and then he just doesn't get it. He keeps talking about it, trying to get people to listen about all the work he did, because he is lonely and thinks getting peoples respect means getting allies. Bacon, who was in my opinion unresonably upset about Derap taking more credit than he should have (Which also we need to remember Bacon only instigates. He loves instigating, especially instigating to Zam. Bacon is my favourite ragebaiter, crashouter and instigator) and Bacon also fails to give any credit to Derap, too.
I definitely think this post is a product of its time when it comes to discussing Derap going to Minute and it is definetly Derapchus fault and if I'm honest if I have to rehash betraying discussions about Derap/Zam/Minute/Bacon again I will become a recluse who lives in the woods alone and eats bears for breakfast lunch and dinner, Sorry OP
I think that the reason why Derap fails to fall into how players usually interact with the mysteries on the server is that he has an innate need for knowledge and a need to Know. It sometimes feels like hes scared to NOT know what is happening on the server with how involved he is in majority of the things happening on the server. Like I said, I do think in a way it is a ego thing, but I also think it is mainly to do with other reasons. Ego is something everyone on Lifesteal struggles with and has as a core flaw, to some extent. It is always a ego with a nice mix of something else. While sluething really does have no real outlet, Derap thinks and honestly hopes that it does. He thinks it will help his lonliness, and help his inability to be respected on the server, even if it never does.
I love how you said his perceptiveness was a detriment at times because I think that is a wonderful way to word it and I agree wholeheartedly. I am also REALLY EXCITED For Season Seven to see where he goes which is probably expected. I personally think we might actually see him use how good he is logically at problem sluething, and backwards engineer it to cause a lot of the Chaos and Mayhem he has implied he wants to do to make it untraceable and have the biggest damage raidus he can get it to have. I also think that, because he is teamed with Pangi he will be forced into facing how emotionally innept he is.
Thank you OP I really loved this post about him I found it very intresting to read from someone who is a Derapchu main POV and see someone who isn't be Normal discussing him and I feel like it helped me understand how other POVs might see him more I actually really appreciate that1!!!11!
I can't think about Parrot helping Spoke end the world even after leaving the server entirely without feeling lighteheaded. This havoc duo shit is lethal, their friendship and love for each other despite all that they've been through, and done to each other means so much to me.
literally so lethal. takes two minutes before *head in hands* they mean so much to each other but neither can fulfill that love in story anymore, both pull each other back, but endlessly separated, except in momentary moments where one can show up for the other
has anyone else started thinking abt how spoke making himself into a god during the wormhole permanently changed how others view him, and robbed him of his ability to be seen as an actual person by a vast majority of other people— whether it be other lsers, fans, or spoke himself lately? or is that js me......
can i suggest "poppyrose" for mapicc and hannah's duo name? with poppies being originally roses, hannah still considering them roses, and poppies being mapicc's flower
baconwaffles is actually the best teammate you can have not because he himself is good but because he has a permanent buff of 90% chance of bringing Mapicc along with him and Mapicc's the actual best teammate you can have
The most important thing to remember about Lifesteal is that everything is about the Wormhole and because everything is about the Wormhole that means everything is about Planetlord, which means the first thing you should ask yourself whenever something happens on the server is ‘How does this relate to Planetlord?’ Of course, if everything is about Planetlord, naturally that means everything is about Season Four and if everything is about Season Four, then everything is about Vitalasy, so once you’ve answered the first question (and there is always an answer to the first question. Do not move on until you find it) then you can move on to the second question, that being ‘How does this relate to Vitalasy?’ Once you’ve cleared those two questions you’re free to move on to other important topics such as ‘How can I make this Mapicc’s fault?’ ‘What would ItzSubz think?’ and, of course, ‘Where is Spepticle in all of this?’
Minutetech has been a proper member of the server for two whole seasons and still has yet to do anything even half as cool as the time he withdrew all his hearts during the final few minutes of Wormhole and threw himself at 1-heart Planet in a desperate sacrifice that still wasn’t enough to save them
I feel like zam is often discredited when it comes to his actions on maintaining the server. It's kind of funny to me that even after all this time, the whole of season 5 even, trying to protect the server, people just still can't see that. That he has been trying to protect the server and that has always always encompassed the players along with the holy like entity zam devotes himself to.
Abyss started off as something fun to do, yeah, but it eventually did turn into something The Void Ponies used to encourage server activity. Every single action they made after Planet's death, after the solidification of their goal, was aimed at bringing more people online.
Every conversation they had throughout the scavenger hunt week was spent deliberating- did we get enough people on, will they log on after this, have we sparked any form of life back into the server? Questions questions questions.
They were constantly initiating the players to do more; off server on discord, guiding Red and his news crew towards Minute, and discouraging people from joining their side.
Yet once the arc was over, once they were betrayed and Jumper stood above them all and declared them "the bad guys" their motivations to create server activity were completely cast aside and their successes villainized.
They spent that entire season arguing with everyone, trying to prove that what they did was for the good of the server. That if anything Jumper was the "bad guy" for betraying them because their goal was righteous.
Ever since season 4 there definitely have been fourth wall breaks, off server activity has slowly integrated with on server activity. The lines are blurred. But not enough because in the end The Abyss were merely the villains who failed to destroy the server- even though their goal was to be stopped- they were the villains who got what they deserved in the end.
Zam never uploaded a video on his motivations that season. Most people viewed the void arc through Jumpers video. Their goals, their motives, the extent they went to to reignite the server- to produce those videos- none of that is shown and now all these months later Zam thinks of it as a "failure". I think the biggest argument to that idea is the fact videos were produced at all during this time.
The players thrived, the server thrived. That week lifesteal was alive, the weeks after were less dead than the weeks prior. They had maintained the server that season.
Mapicc: Wait- turn.
Zam: Wait, turn? Okay.
Mapicc: Let's have a rainy battle!
Zam: Yeah, okay.
Mapicc: They're gonna be making edits about this one.
Zam: They better!
Mane: Zam, are you out? 'cuz I just got out.
Zam: Oh! Um.. [pause] Yeah, I'll do that!
Mapicc: NOOO!!!!
Zam: [Laughs]
Mapicc: Come back!!!
