Dream SMP

Dream SMP (previously Dream Team SMP) was a private Minecraft survival server. It is a part of a larger group of fandoms called Minecraft YouTube, shortened to MCYT. Dream SMP is named after the YouTuber who owned it, Dream. The fandom is based mainly around the Twitch streams and YouTube videos of the roleplay that took place in the server, with only a handful of Dream SMP fans considering themselves fans of MCYT RPF according to a survey in 2021[Survey & Report MCRP Tagging], serilly. (Accessed 7/9/2023)., with most RPF works of creators not being labelled as Dream SMP. 
Dream SMP was not the first SMP server, and two noteworthy ones directly influenced it in multiple ways - SMPLive, created on March 1, 2019 by CallMeCarson and cscoop, and SMPEarth, created on November 22, 2019 by chippledipple, Wilbur Soot, and JoshA20. SMPLive had a fanbase similar to Dream SMP, with a stan Twitter community known as SMPtwt forming around it,Why SMPLive Stans Were WORSE Than Dream Stans, LumenVale. (Accessed 7/9/2023). but not to the scale of Dream SMP, and SMPEarth, while successful, did not find nearly the same success that either its predecessor or its successor would.
==Canon==
The canon of Dream SMP is established through the streams and YouTube videos by the participants. The roleplay on the server, including any seemingly negative or aggressive relationships, are dramatized and not to be taken as reality, similar to HLVRAI. There are over 30 members on the server, each roleplaying as their own character. The server's roleplay mostly revolves around the ever-changing factions on the server, and both interpersonal and political conflicts between players.
Dream SMP has a spinoff series, Tales from the SMP, which primarily focuses on one-shot adventures in time in the world of the server. Tales from the SMP would then go on to inspire a comic, Time Traveler Tales.
===TommyInnit and The Discs===
One of the earliest, and longest-running, conflicts on the server involves Dream and TommyInnit's squabble over two in-game music discs. This stemmed from Tommy stealing from, griefing, and killing other players over and over, eventually resulting in a conflict with Dream. Dream then confiscated Tommy's music discs as punishment, and a back-and-forth fight between Dream (trying to keep the discs from Tommy) and Tommy (trying to get the discs from Dream) ensued. Tommy's discs would later play a part in the L'Manberg War of Independence.
===Wilbur Soot and L'Manberg===
L'Manberg was an early faction started by Wilbur Soot, along with his friends TommyInnit and Tubbo, and son Fundy. L'Manberg directly opposed the main leadership of the Greater Dream SMP faction, and was subjugated by the Dream SMP leadership. War was declared by the Dream Team after L'Manberg declared its independence. In the end L'Manberg lost, but at the same time was granted its independence, thanks to negotiations between Dream and TommyInnit.
L'Manberg has its own uniform, which Wilbur Soot owns in real life and sometimes wears in Dream SMP streams. L'Manberg citizens wore a similar skin in game during the original revolution. The uniform is depicted often in fanworks. Its flag, on the other hand, gained both fame and notoriety, even beyond the fandom itself, owing to Wilbur Soot's considerable knowledge in vexillology, with the design drawing inspiration from some European nations' own official flags, namely The Netherlands and FranceThe Flag of the Fictional Nation of L'Manburg (Designer looking for feedback) u/wilbursoot. (Published December 26, 2020. Accessed October 1, 2023)..
===Manberg-Pogtopia War===
After gaining "independence," Wilbur Soot and Tommy tried to run a rigged election where they would be the only party running but Quackity discovered their plans and, calling them a threat to democracy, created his own party. While Wilbur's and Tommy's party was called POG2020, Quackity's was called SWAG2020 and his vice was GeorgeNotFound. They all held a presidential debate where they exposed their views on the future of L'Manberg. On the day of the election two other parties also ran, Coconut2020 (Niki and Fundy) and Schlatt2020. Schlatt was supposed to be one of POG2020's endorsements but last minute decided to run by himself. He decided to pool his votes with SWAG2020, and that's how through that coalition they won with 46% of the votes. 
POG2020 	SWAG2020 	Coconut2020 	Schlatt2020
45% of the votes	30% of the votes	9% of the votes	16% of the votes
Schlatt became L'Manberg's president, with Quackity as his vice president. His first decree was to exile Wilbur and Tommy from the country. He also changed the name to Manberg to make it sound "less European", demolished the walls it had around, and changed the flag. On exile, Wilbur and Tommy are joined by Technoblade who had just joined the server. Together they created Pogtopia, an underground faction with the objective to get L'Manberg back. Wilbur slowly went mad and decided the only possible outcome was to blow the country to smithereens, with the help of Dream, who provided the TNT. Meanwhile, in Manberg, Schlatt hosted the "Red Festival" which ended up being known as "The Manberg Massacre" because of its tragic end. During the festival, Schlatt decided to publicly execute Tubbo for being a spy for Pogtopia and had Technoblade do it. After following his orders he proceeded to kill everyone in the audience too, with his fireworks crossbow. Because of this execution, most of the SMP members joined Pogtopia, including Quackity, now ex-vice president, and Eret, who is dethroned as king of the SMP for not maintaining neutrality. Dream joined Manberg, saying that Schlatt had offered him something more valuable than anything Pogtopia could ever offer him.
On November 16th, 2020, The Second Great War occurred. After some fighting, Dream announced that Manberg surrendered and guided everyone to where Schlatt was hiding. Schlatt then dies of a heart attack. Pogtopia wins the war.
Wilbur then elected Tommy as the new president, but Tommy refused and gave the title to Tubbo. Manberg became L'Manberg and the flag was changed again. While a speech was given, Wilbur decided to follow up with his original plan and blew up the TNT and so the newly restored L'Manberg exploded. After, he asked Philza to kill him, and he complied.
===TommyInnit and Exile===
Following the Manberg-Pogtopia War, Tubbo took over as president of L'Manberg. It is worth noting that around this time, content creator Wilbur stepped down as main writer of the SMP. Wilbur would instead play the character of Ghostbur, the ghost of his now deceased character, who struggled with dissociative amnesia.
After another skirmishes between Dream and Tommy, Dream gave Tubbo and the rest of L'Manberg an ultimatum - either they banish Tommy or Dream would build a huge obsidian wall around L'Manberg. Viewers would vote on Tommy's fate, and as a result, Tommy was exiled. Ghostbur gave Tommy a compass that always pointed to "his Tubbo" and gave Tubbo a similar one which pointed to "his Tommy," since the two were best friends. These compasses are a common element of fanworks involving the two.
Dream would visit lonely Tommy frequently, and always made him throw away and burn his items so Tommy would gain no meaningful progress. After finding out that Tommy had made a secret stash of goodies, Dream blew up Tommy's base and he was forced to start over again. Tommy ended up moving in beneath Technoblade's secret base after Technoblade had an attempt on his life by the "Butcher Army," (Tubbo, Quackity, Fundy, and Ranboo). The two decided to team up, with Tommy wanting his discs back from Dream and Techno wanting to dismantle L'Manberg's government.
===Final Confrontation With Dream and the Doomsday War===
Having failed in their attempts to kill or control Technoblade and Philza, The Butcher Army turned their sights on Dream. They decided, due to Dream's armed strength, to disguise their attempts with a celebratory winter festival, to increase the chances of catching Dream without armor or weapons. Meanwhile Tommy and Techno go forward with their plans to infiltrate L'Manberg, despite Tommy and Techno still being legally exiled, and seek out and repossess Tommy's music discs. Dream showed up to the festival in armor, confusing many, and led many people to witness the Community House, now in its blown-up state - which he blamed on Tommy. Tommy's presence in L'Manberg while using invisibility potions made the situation look even worse, and Tubbo and Tommy saw each other for the first time in a long while. Dream demands Tommy's disc from Tubbo for more leverage over Tommy, and the two former best friends state their new distrust towards each other and begin to physically fight. After realizing the broken state of their friendship, Tommy apologizes and asks Tubbo to give Dream his disc. 
Having gained the disc, Dream makes plans to wage war against L'Manberg with the now highly angered Technoblade and Philza, giving everyone a one-day lead time to the start of the conflict, known as the Doomsday War.
Tommy removes his invisibility and rallies many people in the server around him in defense of L'Manberg. Some characters, such as Niki, HBomb, Jack Manifold, Ranboo, and Fundy, question what L'Manberg has been doing recently and decide that they cannot support either side based on what they had seen of Techno's arrest. Doomsday goes off and L'Manberg is extremely outmatched technologically and is melted down for miles below the surface. Niki turns her back on L'Manberg and most other people decide they will not rebuild it either, leaving the nation to be abandoned forever.
Dream invites Tommy and Tubbo for one final battle for the discs, allowing them to gain the discs before threatening Tubbo's life and taking their armor. He shows them a place where he has stored things or animals people are attached to for leverage, and claims he has "cut all attachments" because those are what give people power over each other. At the last second, one of Dream's colleagues Punz decides to accept a bribe from Tommy and leads everyone to their location to defend them. Tommy takes all but one of Dream's lives, and because of people's hesitancy to kill him (but mostly because Dream holds a "revival book" they hope to be able to use later), the group chooses to tell Awesamdude to imprison Dream in his own maximum security prison. 
===Imprisonment and the Rise of Las Nevadas===
Dream then is imprisoned in Pandora's Vault Prison, which was built on Sam at Dream's own request. In the meantime, Quackity has been building up a new country known as Las Nevadas with himself as the head, using harsh tactics to recruit people to serve under him. Tubbo and Ranboo form Snowchester with Tubbo as president, and the two marry and adopt a kid, a zombie piglin named Michael. Tubbo develops a nuclear program with Snowchester and there is a Cold War. 
Sam treats Dream badly during his imprisonment - notably starving him. Several people visit Dream during this period. Tommy is caught with Dream during a security issue, which allows Dream to kill him and revive him using the revival book, leaving Tommy scarred by the events, which he vents to Connor about post being freed. Ghostbur is also caught in an event, which leads to Ghostbur being killed and Wilbur revived. Sam steps away from the prison out of guilt, and may have been re-thinking his situation, but Quackity uses Sam's extreme guilt at Tommy's death to let him into the prison to torture Dream illegally - for the purpose of getting info about the revive book.
Technoblade is also imprisoned, and is released with help from Philza. They make plans to break Dream and other prisoners out of the prison in order to return a favor to Dream.
==Fandom==
The fandom for Dream SMP is substanstially video and animation heavy, being that the source material itself both hails from YouTube and Twitch. However, plenty of fanart is also found on art sharing and social media sites such as Tumblr, Twitter, and DeviantART. Dream SMP has a total of 77,944 works on Archive of Our Own as of July 2023, though that number may be misleading due to the fandom only being split into its own fandom tag in 2022, long after the fandom had begun writing for the series.
Though the fandom does recognize that the content creators are real people, the main focus of the fandom is on the server's fictional roleplay. People who create fanworks based on the creators themselves tend not to tag their works as Dream SMP, rather just opting to use Video Blogging RPF (and occasionally Minecraft). Some members of the server, such as the Dream Team, have their own dedicated RPF fandoms that usually do not tend to overlap with Dream SMP, which sometimes can cause conflict between fans.
=== Division Between Content Creators and Characters===
Both fans and content creators alike have adopted the use of the "c!" tag to refer to the fictional roleplay characters of the server. It is believed that this can be traced back to a request made by Dream on Twitter in 2020:
In the earlier days of the fandom, this separation was a bit of a hot button issue, even among content creators, with Eret saying:
However, as of 2022 Eret's opinion on the topic has changed, and is more in line with what other content creators tend to say on the matter, using the c! marker themself in several posts to refer to their character.
Fans in 2021 debated this topic heavily.
When players are used as characters (in the same vein as actors), fanfic writers frequently write family dynamics between the adult characters and the minors. For example, during Tommy's exile arc after he began living with Technoblade, fanfic writers began writing the two as having a familial bond. Ph1lza is also a popular person used as a familial bond to the younger characters, and has even been used similarly as a fatherly figure or older brother figure towards Wilbur Soot, due to Philza being the oldest of the Dream SMP in his 30s. (It is worth noting that c!Philza is canonically the father of c!Wilbur.) In the fanfic "I want to hold you in my arms and burn", Tommy is the youngest son of Philza, with both Technoblade and Wilbur Soot being his older siblings.I want to hold you in my arms and burn, Archive of Our Own. Apr 26, 2021 (Accessed 5/31/2021)
==Shipping==
=== Ship Names ===
Some of the most popular romantic pairings for Dream SMP include:
*DreamNotFound (Dream/GeorgeNotFound) - Frequently also shipped as an RPF pairing, along with Dreamnap (Dream/Sapnap), Georgenap (GeorgeNotFound/Sapnap) and DreamNotNap (Dream/GeorgeNotFound/Sapnap).
*Karlnapity (Karl Jacobs/Quackity/Sapnap) - A canonical pairing in the fandom, and very common as a result.
*Awesamponk (Awesamdude/DropsByPonk) - Another canonical pairing, though unhealthy in canon. Also common is the poly ship, Foolsamponk (Awesamdude/DropsByPonk/Foolish Gamers).
*BeeDuo (Ranboo/Tubbo) - A canonical married couple with a child, commonly shipped in all manner of ways (romantic, platonic and queerplatonic) due to ambiguity.
*Phistin (Kristin/Philza) - Married in real life and in the roleplay, they are frequently a background pairing in works. Typically depicted as the Goddess of Death and her angel.
*Puffychu (CaptainPuffy/Nihachu) - One of the few notable femslash pairings in the fandom, and also canonical to an extent.
*Quackbur (Quackity/Wilbur Soot) - One of the most popular pairings in the entire fandom due to their "psycho-competitive rivalry".
*Skephalo (BadBoyHalo/Skeppy) - Extremely popular both in Dream SMP and RPF due to their close friendship. In Dream SMP, often focuses on the tragic element of their relationship caused by the Egg.
*Schlackity (Jschlatt/Quackity) - A canonical unhealthy relationship, most frequently presented as such in fanworks.
*Dreamnoblade (Dream/Technoblade) - Commonly paired together due to their rivalry.
*Quackcicle (Quackity/Slimecicle) - The last of the four big Quackity pairings in the fandom. Sometimes viewed as problematic due to some fans thinking they have a father-son relationship, but fans of the ship and c!Slimecicle in general argue that this is infantilizing to c!Slimecicle, who is often seen as an autistic-coded character.
*Schlattbur (Jschlatt/Wilbur Soot) - Sometimes paired up due to their status as political rivals. However, it is frequently an RPF pairing as well.
*Techza (Philza/Technoblade) - Best friends who are frequently shipped as a queerplatonic couple, and occasionally as a romantic pairing.
*Salbur (Sally the Salmon/Wilbur Soot) - c!Fundy's parents. The source of the infamous "Wilbur fucked a fish" meme.
*XDNF (DreamXD/GeorgeNotFound) - The pairing of Dream's god character with c!George.
*Drunz (Dream/Punz) - A common Dream SMP pairing for Dream due to their characters close friendship and collaboration.
*FundyWasTaken (Dream/Fundy) - Was popular mainly in 2020 and 2021 due to Fundy's "I Married Dream..." video, which was for some time considered canon to Dream SMP. However, it has been retconned by Dream.
===Feelings on Shipping===
A Tumblr blog was made in 2019 specifically to discuss the boundaries between the content creators of the three major SMPs at the time, including Dream SMP. It includes a post pinned to the top, which has a list of links that lead one to information on how that creator feels about shipping and NSFW shipping.smp-boundaries, Tumblr. (Accessed 4/22/2021) This blog is largely considered out-of-date and a unreliable source by the modern fandom, as it has not been either updated since 2021 and many of the clips are out-of-context, predate Dream SMP entirely, or have since been contradicted by more recent statements by the creators themselves.
The Dream SMP fandom, especially on Tumblr, as of 2023, is largely more tolerant of shipping of roleplay characters and tends to view a lot of the boundary discourse as tiring and unnecessary, especially because of fans who assert non-existent "creator boundaries" to oppose content they personally dislike. This is a wider issue in MCYT, with ZombieCleo of Hermitcraft being harassed off of Tumblr over shipping discourse in 2019 by anti-shippers.Regarding ZombieCleo and Tumblr. (Accessed 7/9/2023)
Some content creators, like Tubbo, have even mocked the whole "boundary" discourse.
==Fan Creations==
===Visual===
File:Ups1gbt3f7op3dr dreamSMP.png|by Ups1gbt3f7op3dr
File:Mal-a-l-aise dreamSMP.jpg|by mal-a-l-aise
File:King-psycholyze dreamSMP.png|by king-psycholyze
File:Tnt duo.png|TNT Duo Kiss by olla.exe
===Videos===
*Sadist Dream SMP Animatics by SAD-ist
*Dream SMP Finale Animated
*Let’s Go To War || Completed MAP || FLASH WARNING, a Dream SMP Multi Animator Project
*the entire history of the dream smp, i guess, History of Dream SMP as of Feb 2021
*Dramaturgy (Dream SMP) by Roseartemis (2021)
*Welcome Wilbur, a compiled trilogy of animatics focusing on Wilbur's rise and fall from grace, by NagalieArt (2021)
*The story of how I spent 4 months rebuilding L'manberg from DreamSMP, by LopliCraft (2021)
*Hurt | A DreamSMP/Quackity Animatic by Screwave (2021)
*If Wilbur Blew up L’Manburg, a YouTube compilation of the first 50 hand drawn TikTok animatics of a 58 part series by RosealinaHeart (2020-2021)
===Fan Songs (Aural)===
*Ain't No Crying - by Derivakat; about the Doomsday War that downed L'Manberg for the second, and final time
*An Ode To L'manburg - by beetlebug; about the events of the Manberg-Pogtopia war
*Heart - by Precious Jewel Amor and Fishy Mom; Philza-centric song
*Oh Adult, Oh Child || DREAM SMP ANIMATIC (Original Song), by Halfy & Winks; Dream and TommyInnit-centric song
*Vantage - by Halfy & Winks and others; a massive, collaborative cinematic song extolling all of the events in the Dream SMP thus far, both good and bad (which can also be applied outside the fandom)
===Fanfiction (Written)===
*Bishop's Knifetrick - Tales from the SMP fic focusing on Ran and Jackie from The Pit. It was abandoned and left unfinished after controversy occurred surrounding the romantic portrayal of the main two characters and concerns about the plot unintentionally paralleling blood libel.
*The Friends We Refuse to Abandon - A series of ConnorEatsPants-centric fics centering around his relationships with other SMP characters, notably Jschlatt, Quackity, and Karl Jacobs.
*the lights go out (my heart goes still)- Dream SMP fic with a focus on TommyInnit and Technoblade
*Defying Gravity - Dream SMP fanfic that is Technoblade-centric
*a monster with cold veins - Dream SMP fanfic about Dream's imprisonment
*I want to hold you in my arms and burn - Dream SMP fanfic with Tommy, Wilbur, and Techno being siblings
*Hush Now (You Were Lost but Now You’re Found) - Superhero AU in which Tommy loses his superhero status due to saving a villain's life
*The Nation That Got Better - by lb1412 - A Dream SMP alternate-reality fic focusing on L'manberg's other fate, as well as a time-hopping oracle Karl Jacobs warning Schlatt about the canon predicament early on. On hiatus since 2022.
*TommyInnit's unbeatable method of avoiding sudden death (TUMOASD) by Eneli - one of, if not the, fanfiction that popularized Superhero AUs in the fandom. (2021)
===Fan Games===
*Good Luck, Minutes Man!Link to the official itch.io page of said fan game. (Published August 2022; accessed October 14, 2023). (2022) - by AsterHours - A Dream SMP fan visual novel, coded in ren.py, which has Ranboo interact with various main characters within the world, following the events after the fall of the first L'manberg Republic and Tommy's eventual exile.
*Good Morning, Gogy (2023)Link to the Itch.io page - by AsterHours - A Dream SMP fan visual novel focusing on the original three-member Dream Team.
*This is Not A Love Letter (2023)Link to the Itch.io page - by AsterHours - Much in the same vein as the above earlier two fan games, albeit focusing on c!Wilbur prior to his canon exit from the Dream SMP.
===Zines===
*Benchtrio Zine (2022)
*Wine and Dine (2022)
*Dream SMP Tarot (2022)
*XDivination (2022)
*SMPrismatic (2022)
*Safeguard (2022)
*Unfinished Symphony (2022)
*Filming the Dream SMP (2022)
*Anthem of Freedom (2022)
*Revolution (2022)
*Las Nevadas (2022)
*Greetings from Snowchester (2022)
*Forged in Flora (2022-2023)
*Free Dsmp Poetry Zine (2023)
*Dreamoire Zine (2023)
*The DSMP Comics Zine (2023)
*Meant to Be (2023)
*Flamekeeper (2023-)
=== Memes ===
* The Tapeworm Post (2020)
* Crafting Table Meme (2020)
* Penis SMP (2021)
* TnT Duo Kiss (2021)
===Meta===
*You can tell how much the members of the SMP genuinely love one another. (Apr 5, 2021)
*The DreamSMP Iceberg Explained by Screwave (Feb 11, 2021) An Iceberg Tiers video
*RPF History: DNP vs DNF by Ruby (March 2022)
==Links and resources==
*Dream SMP on the Dream Team Wiki
*Dream SMP - The Complete Story
*Dream SMP | Season 1
*Dream SMP Archives - fannish site dedicated to archiving and curating all known lore-related VODs of the Dream SMP storyline
==References==
 
Category:Minecraft
Category:MCYT
Category:Minecraft Server