dreamsmp-megaritz - Tumblr blog

[dreamsmp-megaritz]

I haven’t been keeping up with the recent story in Dream SMP. Is there a canon explanation for why Technoblade disappeared?

RIP Technoblade </3

[dreamsmp-megaritz]

Against Against Dream

Dream and his crowd (GeorgeNotFound, Sapnap, TommyInnit, Tubbo, WilburSoot, Quackity, etc.) take so much flack, largely for very weak reasons. They make some mildly-to-moderately problematic jokes, they occasionally have some minor scandal that crops up on Twitter, and their fanbases of teenagers are really annoying and obsessive. They’re always trending on Twitter for silly reasons. Dream and a few others have also sometimes soft-pedaled some of the problems among their “stans,” which is certainly criticizeable.

But overall, really, the popular condemnation is very unfair and unreasonable.

(There are two main strands of condemnation of Dream et al. One strand is by critical fans. Much of this is also out-of-proportion and driven by a misguided pseudo-activist quest to complain about as many “problematic” things as possible-- but it at least tends to be reasonably informed and sympathetic. Here I am mainly criticizing the other strand of condemnation, i.e. the dismissive condemnation by non-fans.)

One thing to note is that Dream and company make generally good content-- by the standards that are appropriate to apply to that sort of thing (e.g. clever gimmicky Minecraft videos). Some of his crowd, like TommyInnit, have undeniably very funny personalities and are very talented. You’d have to be seriously biased to deny this.

And I think you’ve got to look at this comparatively.

More significantly, if you compare Dream and company to like 80% of other internet celebrities who are popular among the same demographic of teenagers, there is kind of a stark contrast. Maybe like 80% of other internet celebrities of similar size are shittier people, who are involved in worse scandals, who are worse influences on young people, who make much more problematic jokes, who have worse (albeit perhaps somehow lower-profile) fanbases, etc.

Tons of mega-popular people such as PewDiePie, Logan and Jake Paul, etc., are a lot worse than Dream et al. If teenagers weren’t watching Dream et al, they’d mostly be watching worse content-creators instead, not better ones.

In short, even if you think Dream et al are bad by absolute standards, nevertheless they are good by the appropriate comparative standards of evaluation. The critics need a sense of perspective.

Most of the “scandals” are very minor, albeit with a few exceptions; and these exceptions are also minor by the comparative standards of internet celebrities (not to mention non-internet celebrities, who also seem to be mostly shitty people and also worse). Some of the criticisms are legitimate, but most are not very damning.

Here’s an issue (one of many) which seems representative of a lot of the hostility: Some people have a problem with the fact that many people in the Dream crowd are okay with their fans shipping them. I simply do not take this objection seriously. If someone is okay with their fans engaging in real-person shipping (fanart, fanfic, etc.), then that’s the end of the matter-- there’s no objection. Many people object to this practice on ostensibly moral grounds, but really it’s pretty blatantly based on the most superficial and sheer aesthetic cringing. I don’t respect this sort of hostile reaction-- it’s obviously unreasonable. There can be a real problem when fans ship people who aren’t okay with it, or ship minors-- but most non-fans do not give adequate credit to the fact that the fans are mostly respectful enough not to do this. And it’s unreasonable to lump these distinct issues together (i.e. real-person shipping per se vs. certain bad kinds of real-person shipping).

One of the few scandals I took seriously was the allegation that Dream cheated at speedrunning, which I researched a lot in 2021. Dream handled this allegation very badly (as has been widely admitted, including by him, since then), and a lot of his fanbase was in denial about the evidence. This is largely because they didn’t understand the math. I was convinced Dream cheated, because the mathematical evidence was overwhelming that his ingame drop rates could not be legitimate. I was long upset at the fact that he must have been lying continually, including by making pseudo-mathematical defenses of himself. Then, when Dream finally admitted to cheating “by accident,” this sounded for all the world like total bullshit, and I didn’t believe it. However, to my shock, Karl Jobst finally did the definitive analysis, more thorough than anyone else by far, which showed that it was highly plausible that Dream indeed cheated by accident.

[dreamsmp-megaritz]

when Tommy told Tubbo to ask Schlatt his thoughts on women

When Schlatt first visited the Dream SMP for one day in summer 2020 (the day he got banned), Tommy tried to get Tubbo to ask Schlatt his thoughts on women. Meanwhile, Schlatt and Wilbur were having a conversation about food.

I have clipped this moment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THfJ1koQl44

[dreamsmp-megaritz]

my dream smp clips channel

My YouTube channel is still trying to be a Dream SMP clips channel, though I’m still procrastinating on doing what I want to do with it. After the clips, I plan to do a few analysis video essays, including one on Schlatt and his villain arc from late 2020. I have a list of like 40 pre-November-2020 clips that I plan to upload, odd clips that I find notable for one reason or another.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCozIkKtY6YKH0rTO0LKH9WQ

[dreamsmp-megaritz]

Clip of Technoblade playing his outro for the first time. This is from an early stream on the Dream SMP in September 2020, shortly after he joined Wilbur and TommyInnit. I was watching Techno’s old VODs, and this moment really stood out to me. Goodbye, Technoblade.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7x9YC7qoEs

[dreamsmp-megaritz]

yes ok while i get where youre coming from this argument that like "cwilbur wasnt in the right mind, he wouldnt have done it in other circumstances" is something thats true for a lot of real life abusive situations too. a lot of people dont abuse people on purpose. having been abusive in a relationship isnt inherently this irredeemable moral failing especially not if the person in question holds themselves accountable. its fine if you personally dont like reading ccrime boys as abusive, but making these distinctions that "well, it wasn't intentional,", "well, he was unwell" doesnt really say much to me, because honestly this is just true for a lot of real life abuse too regardless. i get where youre coming from but im not a huge fan of this reasoning.

Okay, let me just say, I firmly agree with you. This is what I was talking about, where my thoughts get hard to express and not invalidate c!Tommy's hurt while acknowledging why c!Wilbur did it, because there is value in exploring that. I also believe that most abusers don't do it on purpose. They don't get up in the morning and go "hm today I will abuse someone," it's more of a core belief of theirs that leads them to feel entitled to their behaviour towards the victim. (I'm not gonna get into this more because it's heavy and I'm not at all qualified to speak on it, but I'd highly recommend reading Why Does He Do That. There's a free pdf going around somewhere on this site.)

I said I wouldn't speak more about it for a while because my thoughts are messy so I might reblog this later with further elaboration when they clear up, but I did want to clarify this point. I'm not at all discounting how real abuse works, nor c!Tommy's hurt, but I do feel as literary analysis, it's important to not disregard c!Wilbur's perspective, nor his reasoning. And if his reasoning happens to make him more sympathetic, well then maybe that's the way the story is meant to be interpreted.

idk. Maybe my issue is that I'm interpreting this as a narrative discussion, while everyone else is speaking as though these are irl people, or of the implications upon real life. If that's the case, then I fully agree with you. irl, it would be abuse. irl, the priority would be on c!Tommy, with separating them, and getting c!Wilbur individual mental help. (irl, I would not have brought up those reasons because of this. Because the focus should be on the victim.) We should take more care to acknowledge this and not send a bad message when discussing c!Crimeboys. But narratively, I don't see any abuse, and I think it's a disservice to Pogtopia c!Crimeboys to canonically interpret them in that way.

[dreamsmp-megaritz]

my brain is mush when it comes to the pogtopia abuse discussion, and quick disclaimer this is all /rp and this is not meant to be taken about how real-life abuse can look because honestly? it’s so nuanced and it can look like anything. but in regards to the story itself, and how it was framed, i will say that like. while it is undeniable that it was because he was clearly going through a mental health crisis, deeply suffering, and unable to get the help he needed at all, a bunch of the times when wilbur talked to tommy in pogtopia made me feel very uncomfy in the sense that there was this distinct realization that their relationship had become something toxic and unhealthy AND wil’s power over tommy was used as this negative thing in a way it hadn’t been before. cause in l’manberg, it’s clear that they are the President and Right-Hand Man, and there is a power imbalance there. however, it was never framed as negative, almost endearing and reliable, like, “oh tommy looks up to wilbur so much, wilbur looks after tommy. they will always be there for each other.” but in pogtopia, it’s clear that the power imbalance is there, only this time the fact that they are not equals is harmful. it’s clear that tommy still sees wilbur as his Leader (and his family) and looks to him for guidance and defers to him and feels very lost when he has to go it alone because he’s simply so used to following wil’s lead. this is something that ksusha also mentioned, but the isolation aspect it also so important. they pretty much only had each other. it didn’t matter if he talked to tubbo or left to scout manberg — wil and tommy were exiled. he’d always have to come back and spend the most time in that ravine with wil. not to mention that tommy wouldn’t leave wilbur for anything, even if he had a choice. he felt an immense responsibility to stay by wilbur’s side no matter what, for many reasons. 

Keep reading

[dreamsmp-megaritz]

Schlatt & Wilbur discuss China

I have uploaded a classic Dream SMP clip, the time Schlatt and Wilbur discussed China and politics during the first visit by Schlatt to the Dream SMP in summer 2020.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dgf4wq8UqWI

[dreamsmp-megaritz]

Now idk about you all but, tag ban aside, Dream would do miles on Tumblr. He'd argue with everyone. His reblog threads would spread to all facets of the platform. And we'd get the legendary moment where someone would legitimately say op is a Dream stan though and he'll be like "that's me?????"

[dreamsmp-megaritz]

this, but for my roommate’s cat, and my friends’ cats

c!connor

[dreamsmp-megaritz]

now that schlatts banned all the dsmp usernames in order to pull the funniest move of all time he should go live with lore

[dreamsmp-megaritz]

I sometimes think of clever jokes that combine references to things such that there simply is no possible audience who is familiar with both of the things you’d need to know about in order to get the joke.

For instance, I thought of a funny joke which combines [A] a reference to an anti-theocracy argument one of my professors makes in his upcoming book, with [B] a reference to a joke by JSchlatt, a comedy YouTuber (and now streamer). Nobody other than my colleagues has read the book draft so far. And none of my colleagues watches JSchlatt.

I am possibly the only person who knows both of these references. So there literally is nobody in the world except me who would get the joke, even though I am pretty sure it is funny.

[dreamsmp-megaritz]

The pastebin has gone down. I'll see if anyone else has re-uploaded it in a little while. Luckily, I saved a copy. It is 53 pages long. If nobody else re-uploads it soon, I'll see about doing it myself. Not without some hesitation, of course. But, for good or for ill, the world deserves to have this document preserved!

I also think it might be fun to do a video of me reading all the names out loud (my YouTube account *cough*), if I have several straight hours to spare sometime during winter break.

list of ALL users banned by Schlatt

Here is the list of every user Schlatt banned. I have to say, reading over this, it further confirms that he made the right decision. Dear lord!

https://pastebin.com/raw/x0LseQr2

[dreamsmp-megaritz]

I’ve copied it into a Word document, so that I can preserve it in case the Pastebin goes down. It is 53 pages long!

list of ALL users banned by Schlatt

Here is the list of every user Schlatt banned. I have to say, reading over this, it further confirms that he made the right decision. Dear lord!

https://pastebin.com/raw/x0LseQr2

[dreamsmp-megaritz]

Wait, are these actually all real Twitch accounts, or did Schlatt add in some fake ones as a jebait? I need to get to the bottom of this.

list of ALL users banned by Schlatt

Here is the list of every user Schlatt banned. I have to say, reading over this, it further confirms that he made the right decision. Dear lord!

https://pastebin.com/raw/x0LseQr2

[dreamsmp-megaritz]

The very first one on the list is gogypissinmydreammask

gogypissinmydreammask

...

GOGYPISSINMYDREAMMASK

That is literally the very first username.

list of ALL users banned by Schlatt

Here is the list of every user Schlatt banned. I have to say, reading over this, it further confirms that he made the right decision. Dear lord!

https://pastebin.com/raw/x0LseQr2

[dreamsmp-megaritz]

list of ALL users banned by Schlatt

Here is the list of every user Schlatt banned. I have to say, reading over this, it further confirms that he made the right decision. Dear lord!

https://pastebin.com/raw/x0LseQr2