zillychu:
You know, I think since tripping and falling down the MCYT rabbit hole, I’ve realized something:
There isn’t nearly enough media out there of people just genuinely having fun, supporting and collaborating with each other. Holding each other up. Every content creator’s biggest fans are the friends they play with.
I think that’s why I fell so hard, so fast. Especially with everything going on in the world right now, it’s healing to see regular people being kind and joyful. No corporate fingers digging in to suck the soul out, no twisting things to make it antagonizing (anger sells), no true veneer of fiction (the role-playing is honest and from the heart). Even within competitions like SMPs, it’s not competitive in the ways big media is.
Always, first and foremost, it’s about having fun and connecting with others. Unapologetic with their humanity. I think that’s why it’s so loved.
I’ve had quite a few comments, tags, and asks about MCYT, so lemme give y'all a rundown for newcomers and curious folk!
Important terminology: MCYT = Minecraft YouTube || CCs = content creators || SMP = Survival multiplayer (players can die)
MCYT is a very diverse mega fandom, where Minecraft is the primary medium for various kinds of entrainment. It’s used for everything from LARPing, to competitive gaming, to ARGs (augmented reality games), to creative DIY, and more.
(Another important thing: all the CCs in this corner I expand on are all adults with immense emotional maturity. Everyone is highly respectful to each other, and to their fans. I cannot overstate how amazing this is.)
For the most part, the CCs tend to be very collaborative with one another! It’s a bit like D&D, where players work together and build off of each other. (CCs are also notably separate from their characters, despite having the same name. Yeah it’s confusing. No I don’t know why they don’t just use different names)
Also, most series come with several POVs; one for each player. I love everyone I’ve checked out, but I feel Grian (local chaos gremlin) and Scott tend to have very well-rounded videos overall. Below are links mostly to them, but there are loads of other CCs to check out!
🟩 For testing the waters, I suggest Grian’s Third Life SMP series. There are multiple seasons of the “Life” series, and despite the name, this is actually the first season. It’s a great mix of light silly chaos, collaboration and competition, with a decent sprinkling of tension and drama. There’s some light role-playing, and it can get surprisingly emotional. Fans love to expand on this with their own lore!
🟩 For those more interested in creative builds, relaxed pacing, self-imposed challenges, and watching friends being absolute gremlins to each other, I suggest Hermitcraft! I’ve linked season 11 since it’s going on right now, and there’s no story or anything connecting the seasons.
🟩 If you’re looking for a good story with improv LARPing (live action role-playing), check out Vampires SMP! Owen’s POV is dark and dramatic, Avid’s POV is straight up horror, and Scott’s POV is hilariously chill. I’ll be honest I watched Scott first and he’s what drew me in.
🟩 There’s a bunch of other fun LARPing series! Rats SMP is where everyone plays as tiny rats living in a grand human estate (the players are actually tiny!), Cowboys SMP is fairly self-explanatory, as is Pirates SMP.
🟩 Other series I’ve yet to finish but am currently loving is Empires SMP and Skyblock Kingdoms! They’re both a mix of creative and competitive, with a decent amount of role-playing and lore.
🟩 Also just in general check out Scar, he’s so delightful and funny in literally everything he does.
🟩 Bonus intro to Watcher Lore, which is essentially somewhat canon fan-lore surrounding Grian being an eldritch horror that I’m currently obsessed with. As is Martyn. Most of these CCs are so enthusiastic about fan content, some of them write fanfic themselves!
Just keep in mind that this isn’t an exhaustive list, I’m a total newbie to this fandom, and watch out for the square hole.
(btw if you’ve seen stuff about Dream SMP, uh, none of this is about that. That’s a different, darker corner of YouTube)