#dreamtraps

[kucherovv]

Tales from the SMP was so good, and it brings up a lot of questions/adds a lot of lore to both Karl and Dream’s characters.

Karl’s character is now established as an ages old, reincarnated or perhaps immortal being. I saw some takes about him being a time traveler, which could also be true. Somehow, someway, he was there for these stories- not as a character, but as the narrator. It wasn’t a character who is similar to him, it’s him. He is incredibly old, and outlasts the SMP as a whole. He’s been there since the beginning, and maybe even longer.

Dream too. This event expanded the Dreamon lore so much, just because of Dream forgetting to change his skin, lol. Dreamons are now established to live in the same bodies for hundreds of thousands of years. It also shows why Dream chose the SMP land specifically and why he’s so protective of it- he’s lived there forever.

I think that Tales from the SMP is Karl’s way of teaching the SMP members about stories he’s lived through- and Dream just decided to tag along. Maybe Karl’s even a time traveler, physically going back and cataloguing these stories? I’m not sure exactly, but I am super excited to see what happens next week with the Beach episode and where it all goes from here.

[kucherovv]

With Epic SMP starting and a whole bunch of lore-based SMPs involving smaller streamers existing (and trying to capture some of Dream SMP’s audience), I think it’s important to highlight exactly why the two really successful SMPs (SMPLive and Dream SMP) work- and why newer SMPs probably won’t.

I’m not entirely negative on Epic SMP- I really enjoyed Charlie’s stream on it today- but I just don’t think it’ll last long. And, as someone who has been an MCYT fan since SMPLive started and has lived through so many failed SMPs, I think I’m qualified to give my two cents.

1. Friendship and Members  DreamSMP and SMPLive were both magical to watch from the beginning, because it started out as a small group of friends who got closer, and slowly added more people. DreamSMP wasn’t even intended to be a creator SMP- it was literally just for Dream’s friends to play on, and one day on a whim he invited Tommy, and the rest is history. 

These friend groups are allowed to get closer, and then given time to get to know each new person added. It’s not a bunch of new people who barely know each other put together. This is the main problem I see in Epic SMP- there’s groups of friends (Slimecicle, Ted, and Traves, or Minx, Finn, and Meowriza) who will likely stay close together and mostly make content with each other. It isn’t a true collaboration, because there are few unexpected duos that interact. On the DreamSMP, there’s SBI, yeah, but there’s also Techno, Phil, and Ranboo, and Tommy, Wilbur, and Tubbo, and Tommy and Dream, and Tommy and Schlatt, and.. I could go on forever. DSMP is very intermingled and everyone knows everyone- so no one is uncomfortable with the idea of interacting with anyone else.

Especially on Epic SMP, there’s a hierarchy of members- they’re cold-cutting smaller streamers like Krinios with Finn Wolfhard and Jacksfilms. That would make anyone nervous, and it’ll inevitably cause stunted, awkward conversations, IMO.

2. Purpose for Existence A huge problem with Epic SMP is that no one knows what it wants to be. Is there lore? Is it just a streamer SMP? I absolutely could not tell you. DreamSMP is The Roleplay Minecraft Server- just as SMPLive was the Streamer SMP. This same problem happened with SMPEarth. 

In order for an SMP to really, really work, it has to have a dedicated fanbase that knows what it wants. Every single successful SMP has fans that know what to expect when they watch the videos- from Dream SMP’s lore to SMPLive’s fucking around to Hermitcraft’s sophisticated Minecraft. No one really sticks around to a wild card, and building an audience requires a purpose. You need something that people can tell their friends when they recommend it to them. I’m a lot more inclined to watch something if someone tells me exactly what it’s about, instead of just “Oh it’s this SMP with (people) on it!”

3. Time and the Lore

The main thing about DreamSMP’s lore is the time it took to form. DSMP’s lore was allowed to fester; it took time to happen, and even more time to evolve into what it is today. The early lore was messy, nearly incomprehensible, and so quintessentially Tommy, but it became something so much greater. It became an actual story, that has a wiki and a Game Theory video. But it built up naturally, in a way that no one was expecting.

You can’t force that- or lore. You can’t force an SMP to have lore, because if no one is attached to the members before the lore happens, no one will care. This is also why a smaller, friends-only start is beneficial- and why waiting to add people during breaks in lore and giving them time to bond with everyone else works too. You can’t just put a group of people cold-turkey into a world and say “hey, let’s make lore.”

Also- people need to be friends in order to communicate what the lore is, and to know people’s limits, and characters. I’m afraid Epic SMP will turn into a mess of character arcs that make no sense, and a jumbled plot, like SMPEarth was, because no one will communicate on what they really want to do.

Anyways, that’s just my thoughts. I would definitely prefer if Epic SMP survived- maybe with the removal of some of it’s, *ahem*, slurrier members, but this is just my thoughts as a long time Minecraft SMP fan who has seen some shit- and some failed SMPs.

[kucherovv]

George’s stream today was so fun, but I’m left with one question: what was that scene at the end?

At the end of the stream, George was jokingly breaking Dream out of prison. He broke the first blackstone block, and then became incredibly shocked, looking at the obsidian behind it with a surprised expression. It’s like he realized just how easy it would be to actually break Dream out; like he realized that it’s possible to get him back. The stream then ended abruptly. 

TBH? If anyone is poised to break Dream out, it’s George. He has interests in breaking Dream out. He also wasn’t incredibly hurt by Dream in the past. George probably wants to be king again, and releasing Dream from prison is the only way to do this. He could also just want his friend back.

It would also be easier on Dream for George to do it, too. Dream is making Ranboo do it (or at least, that’s what it looks like) whereas George is willing to do it for free, no strings attached. He’s completely ready and willing- potentially already under Dream’s control after so many years as his friend. George will break Dream out himself, with no influence from Dream himself- and will probably take the fall for it too.

[kucherovv]

Karl’s new stream was absolutely fucking insane, and it means SO much for the lore.

First of all, we have established time traveler Karl. He wants to stop the bad things that are happening (i.e. stop Dream) by going back in time and influencing things, but every time he travels he forgets a little bit more about himself. That is so incredibly tragic. I would put Karl in contention for saddest character background, TBH. It also brings up some questions about other characters- is teleporting all the time the reason for Ranboo’s memory loss? Does Dream know about Karl’s time travelling? Is Dream behind it?

It also creates so many predictions about the future of the SMP. Every story told was theoretically the opposite of what really happened, shown by Tubbo being placed as the leader of ‘Manburg’ with Tommy as his sidekick. This means that every prediction that hasn’t happened yet can be reversed. I think that Ranboo will end up killing Phil and Techno, and George will end up killing Eret to become a tyrant.

Overall, it was just an exceptionally crafted stream that was well worth the wait. It was so much fun, and the best episode of Tales from the SMP yet. You can see how much love Karl put into it- and it was well worth it. I hope we see expansion of his SMP character in this way more- the lore at the end was genuinely soul-crushing and the most intense character building we’ve seen for Karl, and maybe some of the intense we’ve seen on the entirety of the SMP.