Holiday Exchange 2025: General Rules and FAQ
WHAT IS THIS?
MCYTBLR Holiday Exchange is a multi-mcyt gift exchange in its fourth and final year! Because of the size of the exchange, we handle signups and matches through Ao3, including tag nominations.
TIMELINE:
Tag Nominations Open, Discord Opens: Monday 27 October (0:01 EDT)
Sign Ups Open Monday 3 November (0:01 EST)
Sign Ups Close: Monday 17 November, (11:59 EST)
Assignments out by: Friday 21 November (23:59 EST)
Check-in: Saturday 6 December (0:01 EST) through Sunday 7 December (23:59 EST)
Posting Week: Monday 22rd December (0:01) through Sunday 28 December (23:59 EST).
Final Pinch Hit Deadline: Sunday 4 January (23:59 EST)
LINKS
Discord: [here]
Ao3 relationship and holiday tagset [here]
All Ages Collection [here]
18+ Collection [here]
RESOURCES:
Example of how to nominate tags to a tag set. [link]
How to sign up for an Ao3 gift exchange. [link]
A guide to your Sign-up, stage by stage. [link]
Apply for an Ao3 account (currently a 10-day waiting list): [here]
How to add a treat to an Ao3 Collection. [here]
How to image-describe your art. [link1] [link2]
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR GIFTS:
Art (1 drawing, created to a standard you would normally post as “finished”)
Writing (1k+ words, a complete work that stands alone)
Playlist (2 hour-long playlists, accessible without an account)
Moodboard (2 boards, at least 9 elements each, for a total of at minimum 18 elements between both boards. Speak to mods if that really doesn't work for your designs)
Web Weaving (1 board of at least 10 elements, credited)
Podfic (1 podfic of at least 1k words, edited to your normal level of editing)
Rules and Guidelines and FAQ under the cut.
Rules and Guidelines
RULES AND GUIDELINES FOR NOMINATING TAGS:
Example of how to nominate tags [here]
Tag nomination detailed breakdown [here]
For a tag to be used in signup, it must be part of the tag set, and thus, must be nominated and approved before it can be used.
Tag nomination is done through Ao3’s tag set nomination process. You can nominate up to 20 tags per fandom, and up to 10 fandoms. Fandoms do not need to have a canon tag to be nominated, but please use the canon tag if possible.
Please only nominate tags you intend to either offer or request, to help with matching.
Please nominate tags without using the creator’s taxs names, just gamer tags. Do not use the canon tag, as that will be sorted into Video Blogging RPF automatically, (unless you are nominating RPF). Alphabetize the characters by gamer tag within the tags, i.e. GoodTimesWithScar & Grian (3rd Life)
& denotes a platonic relationship, / denotes a romantic and/or sexual relationship. Tommyinnit & Tubbo (DSMP) would be platonic, and Ranboo/Tubbo (DSMP) would be romantic.
You can nominate up to 6 characters within a tag, as long as it fits within Ao3’s character limit (150 characters).
Please disambiguate (include the server name in parentheses after the characters), as that helps us distinguish between creators who’ve been on multiple servers, i.e. Grian could be in YHS, EVO, Hermitcraft, 3rd Life, 100 Hours Hardcore, or Guess the Build, and we need to know which one.
Please distinguish between Empires S1 and Empires S2 if you are nominating Empires. Please do the same for Rats SMP.
If you want a work that focuses on one character instead of a relationship, whether or not other characters are present, you can nominate a solo character as Solo: [Character Name], i.e. Solo: TommyInnit (SMPEarth).
Video Blogging RPF is allowed as a nominated fandom, as long as the creators are all over 18, known as MCYters, and famous in their own right. Mods reserve the right to reject tags they feel to be in bad taste, such as a person accused of misconduct and the person who accused them.
Crossovers are allowed. Please nominate them in the format Grian (Hermitcraft) & Tommyinnit (Dream SMP) (Crossover Fandom), or if you wish a character to be moved to a different canon, please nominate them in the format Technoblade (Origins SMP) in QSMP (Crossover Fandom). Crossover tags do not need to be entirely MCYT, non-MCYT franchises are allowed. All crossovers go under the fandom Crossover Fandom.
This event does not allow Adult/Minor romantic relationships. Minor/Minor romantic shipping is allowed as long as the character is not extremely underage (15 or younger). Minors are defined by their age within the work. If the creator was a minor during the SMP and is now an adult, it is permitted to make an AU or post-canon content where their character is an adult, and then ship them with adults. Conversely, if the character has been aged down for a work (such as in a high school au) prohibitions about adult/minor shipping apply to them, even if both canon characters are adults. If the creator is currently a minor, their character is not permitted to be shipped at all.
RULES AND GUIDELINES FOR SIGNING UP:
Instructions for signing up [here]
Must join our Discord for communication. If we cannot find you in the discord at the end of sign-ups, your signup will be deleted.
Must have an Ao3 account for sign-ups, as they happen on Ao3. If you do not have a Ao3 account and need help getting on, please contact the mods as soon as possible.
Because of Tumblr, Ao3 and Discord TOS, you must be 13 to participate.
Signups are divided into Requests (what you want to get as a gift) and Offers (what you’re offering to make). You must request and offer a minimum of three different relationships or solo character tags. They can be from any number of servers and your requests do not need to be the same as your offers. You can offer or request a maximum of 10 servers with 20 tags each.
There are two collections, all-ages and 18+. Signing up in the 18+ collection is opting into NSFW as a possibility. You must be 18 or older to sign up in the 18+ collection, and any under-18 persons found signing up for the 18+ side of the exchange will be banned from this and all future iterations of the exchange.
If you do not want shipping, simply only request & tags. If you do want shipping, request / tags. If you are open to either, request both tags.
Must mention your tumblr blog username in your signup, so your recipient knows how to give you your gift.
You must either write down a DNW (things you Do Not Want) in your gift, or put down DNW: No Restrictions, for each fandom you sign up to.
You must write down at least one like, prompt, or have a letter with more information linked, to give your creator something to work with.
if you are requesting a Solo character tag, you must indicate if you are okay with shipping or not, and any romantic or platonic relationships you don’t want to see in the work, because your creator will be picking from all canon characters as the supporting cast.
Signing up gives mods access to your Ao3 email (it's how we send you your assignment), so make sure the email attached to your AO3 account is one that a) you check regularly, and b) are comfortable with exchange mods seeing. You can verify your email here: archiveofourown.org/users/[your ao3 name here]/change_email
This event does not allow Underage or Adult/Minor relationships. Minor/Minor shipping is allowed as long as the character is not extremely underage (15 or younger), but no NSFW, even if signing up to the 18+ collection. Check back later for specifics of how we are handling the questions of which characters are considered to be canonically minors, as recent epilogues have made that more of a grey area for several canons.
RULES AND GUIDELINES FOR CREATING:
Your gift doesn’t have to contain only requested relationships, but it does have to center on at least one requested relationship or character.
Respect your recipient’s use of / or & in their requested relationship. Ship work must be delivered for a / relationship, and platonic work must be delivered for a & relationship.
If you are a participant in the 18+ collection, you do not have to deliver NSFW, but you can if you want.
If you are a participant in the All-ages collection, you may not deliver an NSFW gift, or a non-NSFW gift that is E-rated. The maximum rating of a gift in the all-ages collection is M-rated.
Respect your giftee's DNW. Any gift found to be in violation of a reasonable DNW is grounds for a ban from future iterations of the exchange.
Must check in at the half-way mark of creation to make sure everything is on-track.
Contact a mod ASAP if you don’t think you’ll get your gift out on time or at all, or you want to withdraw
Your gift must be created by you during the event as a gift for your recipient in response to your recipient's signup.
No AI-created content.
RULES AND GUIDELINES FOR GIFTING
You do not need to post on Ao3. You can if you want, and clicking your assignment button will automatically gift it to your recipient, but this is optional.
You must make a tumblr post and tag your recipient to give them the gift.
Must tag this blog in your gift post so we can keep track of gifts
If you are posting from a blog other than the one you signed up with (an art blog, or a 18+ blog for example), you must inform the mods so we can keep track of gifts.
Dark or Violent themes must be tagged appropriately
MISC:
Your requests will be publicly available, to conform with normal exchange standards, and because of the mechanics of pinch hits and treating. If you have something you do not want to be public, do not request it. Your offers will remain private, and mods will work with you to give a gift on anon if necessary.
You will not necessarily be matched with someone who matches your “offer to create” exactly. If the algorithm can make a better match it will do that, but in cases where there are more obscure requests, you might be matched with someone who only has one ship in common between your Offer and their Request. In that case at least you know what to make pretty quickly!
You do not have to make a gift for every ship or character your recipient requested, even if you offered multiple ships they requested. You only have to pick one and make one gift.
Please ask in the discord if you need information. You could also send an ask here, or if it is something you do not feel comfortable sending in an ask, you can message the head mod at @antimony-medusa
Mods reserve the right to ban people for being assholes.
FAQ:
-I changed my mind about my sign-up, I want to add something, what do I do? You can edit your sign-up right until the sign-ups close! As soon as the sign-ups close, everything locks and you’ll be unable to edit it any more.
-I added my fic to the Ao3 collection, but I can’t see it? The collection is currently set to ‘unrevealed’, so works can be added but won’t be visible before reveal day, so it’s all a surprise.
- I don’t have an Ao3 account, what do I do? Speak to the mods— we can help you sign up (there is a waiting list), or we might be able to give you an instant sign-up link (we have a limited number of these).
-I need to contact my recipient, but they have anon off! What do I do? Talk to us, we’ll contact them for you.
-I can’t finish my gift by the deadline, what do I do? You have two options. Option one is to consider if you can still finish it within a couple days, and ask the mods if you can get an extension (you can get an extension of up to two days if necessary). Option two is to drop entirely, in which case you tell a mod, and we will assign your gift to a pinch-hitter so your recipient still gets something. In both cases, the important thing is that you get in contact with a mod as soon as possible— discord is best, but @antimony-medusa can be contacted here if discord is not an option— to figure out a plan.
- My recipient requested 10 different fandoms, do I have to make a gift for each of them? You only have to make one gift! Just pick one fandom and one ship that you like and focus on that one.
-If I want to make more than one gift, can I? You can make as many gifts as you'd like! If you really enjoy making gifts, we suggest signing up as a Pinch Hitter in the discord, and there is also Treating, if you want to look for signups that really catch your eye!
-I don't celebrate Christmas, can I sign up? This exchange welcomes all holidays (even a complete lack of holidays), and people will have an opportunity to opt in to what events they want represented in their gift, whether that's real-world holidays, imaginary minecraft events, or no holidays at all.
-I'm only a fan of a small server, can I sign up? You are very welcome to sign up even if your fandom doesn't have the most active tag, this is a broad MCYT exchange. We will do our best to match you with someone else who also likes your block people, pinch hitting it if possible. If your fandom has less than a thousand fics on the archive, we recommend that you try and recruit friends into the exchange too, so you know that there are people who like the same characters as you in the matching pool. We can't absolutely promise to match on smaller characters, but we have run this exchange three times and we haven't had anyone be entirely unmatchable yet, so fingers crossed that continues.
-Is RPF allowed? While this is intended as a character-focused exchange, we know the lines for that are fuzzy when it comes to off-server events the creators have also done, such as the GIGS Phasmaphobia streams, and MCYT RPF is also a long-standing tradition in MCYT fandom, so we are not restricting this event to only server-set content. As we are now able to distinguish between RPF and the server creators using Ao3’s tag sets, so matching is no longer a difficulty, you will be able to request or offer direct RPF from this exchange.
-Is shipping allowed? Yes. Because there is no broad fandom-wide consensus about the appropriateness of that in specific cases (whether it's okay to write beeduo as /r or /p is an obvious case) or between specific fandoms (Lifesteal approach to shipping is different from Empires is different from DSMP), and because of the impossibility of being aware of everyone’s boundaries across the entire internet, the mods will not be policing any specific understanding of boundaries across the event. The event will operate on Don't Like Don't Read, in that everyone will have the chance to opt in for themselves as to if they are comfortable with shipping or NSFW for each specific character relationship they want to work with, and they will be matched based on that.
-Is NSFW allowed? Yes, NSFW is permitted as long as both characters are 18+ and both the giver and the recipient are participating in the 18+ collection. You will only match to people who want NSFW if you have signed up to the 18+ collection. To comply with Tumblr’s TOS and Discord's Community Guidelines, nothing that would warrant the tags Underage Sex or Adult/Minor Relationship is permitted.
- Are major archive warnings (noncon/graphic depictions of violence/MCD) allowed? Aside from the content rules governing NSFW (no Underage Sex), major archive warnings are allowed. Depictions of real life horrors such as genocide and slavery are not-uncommon motifs in MCYT fics, along with torture, executions, and abuse in the source material, and the mod team is not interested in legislating which types of horrors, griefs or abuses are inherently worse than others and are therefore off-limits. Because holding writing to a quality standard or saying only survivors can write atrocities is unworkable from a moderation standpoint, the three mentioned major archive warnings (MCD, Graphic Depictions of Violence, Noncon), are permitted to be included in the 18+ collection. The all-ages collection permits MCD and Graphic Depictions of Violence as possible warnings, though gifts cannot go over an M rating if delivered in the all-ages collection, even if your recipient has opted into Graphic Depictions of Violence.
Major Archive Warnings must be explicitly opted into by your recipient in their signup, and gifters are free to not include major archive warnings that their recipient has permitted. Delivering un-asked for major archive warnings is grounds for a ban from this event. The mod team reserves the right to warn other mod teams on both the MCYT and Multi-fandom side about your bad behavior.
-Do you allow dark or violent content? Yes. The lore of many mcyt servers includes death games, abuse, cannibalism, murder-for-hire, and other dark or violent themes. However, all potentially triggering content must be tagged for so viewers and giftees can make an informed choice to get involved or not. We would recommend that you not include particularly dark topics unless requested to by your giftee.
-If I want to opt into e-rated gore, but I don’t want to opt into sexual NSFW, can I do that? To opt into e-rated gore or violence you must be part of the 18+ collection, but you can do so and then say you Do Not Want smut. Note that you cannot demand e-rated gore, in the same way that you cannot demand e-rated smut (or fluff, or anything else for that matter), it is simply an option you are offering your gifter.
-My person requested characters I don't want to write, and one of them is a ship I don't like. What do I do? You are only expected to create a gift for the characters you matched on. If you offered to create for GoodTimesWithScar & Grian (Hermitcraft), Docm77/Rendog (Hermitcraft), and Grian & PearlescentMoon (Hermitcraft), and you matched to someone requesting GoodTimesWithScar/Grian (Hermitcraft), Docm77/Rendog (Hermitcraft), and PearlescentMoon/ZombieCleo (Hermitcraft), you are only expected to make a gift with the characters and relationships you matched on, in this case, RenDoc. If you are entirely uncomfortable with your match, you can tell a mod, and we can take it off your hands and get it pinch-hit. You will still receive a gift.
-What is a Pinch Hitter? A pinch hitter is a person who saves the day and steps in when the original creator is unable to deliver their work for whatever reason, making a new work on an accelerated timeline. You can sign up to be a Pinch Hitter in the discord.
-What is a DNW? All participants will have the opportunity to fill out a DNW, which stands for Do Not Want. This is anything that has the potential to ruin a gift for you. DNWs must be phrased politely, (so no "No foster aus because they suck and you suck if you like them"), and they must be reasonable, (so no attempting to box someone into a specific gift, i.e. "DNW anything that isn't a space au where Tommy is a dinosaur-hybrid and Tubbo is a ghost bee and they rampage through the living ship named Las Nevadas"), and they must be clear and defined (so no “no dark kinks”— that is too subjective for someone to try and interpret), but they can be as petty (disliking specific art styles) or as broad-reaching (no modern aus, no specific ships, no crossovers with specific servers) as you like. Deliberately breaking someone's DNW is grounds for a ban from the exchange.
-When do I have to join the discord? You have the option to join the discord and hang out as soon as tag nominations starts on October 27, and you must join the discord so we can communicate with you by November 16. Anyone not in the discord once we start matching will have their sign-ups deleted.
-Is the discord a social server? Can I expect game nights? The discord is primarily an event server, we are not going to be hosting events.
-What are Treats? Treats are optional bonus gifts that people give once they are done with their original gift! All of the sign-ups are available for people to browse through, and they can find prompts they like and make an extra gift for that person! They are completely optional for someone to make and you cannot ask for treats.
-What's a check-in and how do they work? Check-ins are there to make sure everyone is on track to finish their piece in time, and to communicate any issues with the mods! They take place through a google form and will require a short list of information— your name and if you think you will make the deadline, mostly. If you know that you won’t be able to check in on a specific date (lack of internet, etc), please contact the mods in advance.
-What if I need to drop out? It is your responsibility to communicate with us if you need to drop out of the event for any reason, and we do need that communication. We know that life is no respecter of fic and art deadlines, so no hard feelings if something happens. However, we would hate for anyone to end up having no gift, so please think about this if you are thinking of dropping out close to reveals. Please inform us in advance if you must drop out or think you will not be able to complete your gift on time. Dropping out after the last check-in without informing the mods will result in not being permitted to take part in further events run by this mod team.
I have a question not answered here? Ask us in the discord, send us an ask on tumblr, or contact @antimony-medusa on tumblr or discord!
