#milkberry

SURVEY LINK

During my time in mcyt fandom, I've watched as the fandom's perception of creator boundaries has grown and shifted into a cornerstone of our fandom, and yet we don't actually have any good data on how the fandom as a whole perceives them outside of discourse posts.

The goal of this unofficial study NOT to make a value judgement on whether creator boundaries should be respected - it is to understand how the fandom currently perceives and interacts with them.* Is respecting creator boundaries important to you? Has your favorite creator made a boundary list or spoken about it on stream? Do you find some boundaries acceptable and others not? Have you ever been the target of hate for engaging with boundary-breaking content? Whether you think boundaries should always be respected or you think they're being used as tools of censorship, I want to hear from you. What are boundaries, and why do they matter so much to us?

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This survey is a mix of multiple choice and optional long-response questions. It should take about 15 minutes if you’re only doing the required questions, and much longer if you choose to answer the optional questions.**

If you are able, please reblog and share this survey link around. Feel free to post it on any platform, as I am currently only on Tumblr, which is not representative of the fandom as a whole. In fact, I’d love it if it reached Twitter. The more responses, the more accurate the results will be for the whole of mcyt.*** Anyone in mcyt spaces, including creators, are welcome to take the survey to share their thoughts. However, I ask that for the comfort of content creators and the spirit of good fandom etiquete, please do not directly share the survey with any creator or post the link in any creators’ official communities. Thoughtful discussion is always valued over reactionary comments.

The survey is set to close at 11:59pm EST on August 1, 2026 - I may extend this date if there is still a high volume of responses coming in, or if there aren’t enough responses yet for meaningful data. I will aim to publish the results within a month of the survey’s close, and keep you updated on the timeline if that’s not feasible for any reason.

A huge thank you to everyone who helped beta this survey- you all gave such wonderful suggestions! I wish I could’ve kept every question, but in the end a lot needed to be cut to make this manageable. Please know that I appreciate every one of you, as this survey would not exist today without you.

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* Why I think this data is important to collect: The idea for this survey came to me almost a year ago, and I started developing it around February of this year. I’ve spoken with dozens of people about this topic with diverse opinions, read and catalogued hundreds of tumblr posts, rewatched streams and videos by creators and fans, and watched as opinions have shifted across fandoms in real time. I feel extremely confident in saying that every person on every side cares deeply about respecting others and creating safe, welcoming communities in all mcyt spaces. Where they differ is on how to show that respect, which kinds of expectations they think are reasonable in different spaces, and beliefs on how those in power should be using their influence. I don’t expect this survey’s results to fundamentally change anything - this debate has been going on longer than mcyt has existed. But I think it’s still important to analyze the actual arguments people are making and how they affect our communities, instead of focusing on expected behavior from others based on our own values, so we can see the varying expressions of humanity in each other and work towards a better future for our fandom. I don’t think we’re as different as the discourse may have us believe.

** This survey is designed to encourage all participants to think critically about their position and the effects it has. I am aware that I have my own personal biases, so I have taken steps to ensure that the survey is as bipartisan as possible and also gives participants the opportunity to explain their answers for every question if they feel the need. Because of this, there may be questions that make some participants uncomfortable. While I would appreciate knowing why a question has made someone uncomfortable, participants are always free to skip such long-response questions.

I already wrote a post about how the Vampires SMP story stimulated a writing muse for me that I thought I might never get back. I've done a lot of soul searching about fanfic as a creative outlet compared to more socially respected art forms. I've decided I don't want to try to live in the hell of professional publishing, but I still struggle with what to say to my peers when they ask what I write, and the answer is that I write novels set in a world of gay vampires based in Minecraft that they've never heard of. I am proud of this work. It's the best I've ever written. I think it can be appealing outside this niche fandom. I just don't know how to have that conversation.

I'm also discovering that I like writing fanfiction better than completely original settings. Fanfic is filled with story hooks and ideas in canon that each of us can play with and take in different directions. I love looking at VSMP fics and seeing what Abolish's org is or who Louis is.

It never occurred to me in all that soul searching that the community I write in might take my work away from me.

Then the AvidMC bomb dropped. It's done irreparable damage to VSMP fandom in general, and my novels feature his character. But the drive to eliminate the character came from the fans, and it was accepted that fan creators would make their own decision about what to do with their art. The character is not the creator. The creator is gone. My work is now tainted by bad associations with a creator I don't support, but it's my art that is very important to me. I'm still writing it, and I've weathered the storm with enough readers that I don't feel like I'm shouting into the void.

Today, I found myself holding my 15yo daughter while she cried. She has written one chapter of long-form VSMP fanfic with a plot that includes v!Majorscythe. VSMP inspired her to the most ambitious fiction she's attempted to date, and now she's faced with giving it up

This can't be what we want for the fandom

Unlike the last crisis, Jack Pyroscythe and Maddie Milkberry are not manipulative dirtbags using lies to damage and control other creators. From everything I've seen, they look like very good people. Pyroscythe's a great storyteller. I'm less familiar with Milkberry's work. There seems to be some real, heartfelt trauma at the center of this boundary change. My heart goes out to them. I want to support them. I don't want them to suffer.

But I think we need to have a serious discussion about what is appropriate for creator boundaries. Before now, romantic fan works involving Pyroscythe's characters were endorsed and even encouraged by the creator. His situation has changed, but ours has not. Animatics can take weeks or months to finish. Long form fanfic can take years.

There are very few fandoms where creators could expect what Pyro and Maddie are expecting. I submit that it is crossing a line that should not be crossed. I am a devoted reader of some unfinished v!Pyro long-form romance fics that have been in process since the SMP concluded. I don't know what the authors are going to do with this new boundary. I'll be honest -- I support them in continuing to write. I will read them if I'm the only reader left, and I would continue to write my stories if it were me.

Our art is ours. It is inspired by works by these content creators, but it is not owned by them. As a fan community, we need to be able to create without the fear that a creator will suddenly tell us we can't have it anymore.

Fandom is an ecosystem. Content creators create. We fans get excited and make inspired art and share it with each other. That generates buzz and more attention on the work of creators. We want the ecosystem to be healthy, and for that to be true, fan activities must also be respected. Our feelings don't stop when a creator does an about face, no matter how understandable the creator's situation is.

I'm left wondering if this is a safe fandom to engage with at all. I don't think MCYT wants that for its fans.

We’ve got creators posting full designs, little sneak peeks, armor shots, color palettes, personality blurbs everything. The range is wild too: soft characters, dramatic characters, chaotic ones, elegant ones… everyone is cooking their own flavor and it’s so fun to watch.

Aimsey gave a small teaser with all those straps and bandages very “mysterious adventurer” energy.

Milkberry dropped her FULL design and ITS SO GOOD and the ART of it already!? So so good

BoaRoo also revealed a full design her whimsical, character and she’s adorable in the soft greens and purples.

Scott also showed off a full character design his clean, polished blue accented design calm, collected, and quietly powerful. AND it seems like HES NOT EVIL YAY(but also I was kinda hoping he would be..)

Pyro as well dropped his full character design his red and black design and it seems like he’ll just be himself lol 😭

Cambam also indeed revealed his whole character design his bold red and gold hero look sword out, cape flowing, dramatic as ever.

He also dropped his mc design

1. Roscucmber

2. Princess Zam

3. Pyroscythe

4. Lukey

5. Falsesymmetry

6. Scott Smajor

7. InfiniteDrift

8. Snifferish

9. MythicalSausage

10. JoJoSolos

11. KaraCorvus

12. Melinks

13. Ashswag

14. Avidmc

15. Martyn Inthelittlewood

16. Clownpierce

17. Seapeekay

18. Highkeyoli

19. Soupforeliose

20. Aimsley

21. Megiibyte

22. Watermunch

23. Legundo

24. Marmalade

25. Maddy Milkberry

26. Heygracie

27. Squiddo

28. BoaRoo

29. Shelby Shubble

30. Captain Sparkles

31. Cambam

32. Michalea

33. Elianaexe

34. Gumiho

35. Theambear

It is okay to have boundaries. In fact, it's good to be able to set boundaries. However.

Creators have power. Doesn't matter how big or small their community is, they have power. They need to remember to be very careful to never say anything that fans could easily interpret to mean "go make sure people don't do this". And should they accidentally say something of that nature, they need to address it real damn quick.

Setting boundaries is fine, but watchdogs/spies and censorship do not belong in fandom.

I don't give a shit how uncomfortable something makes you. You need to recognize that, short of outright illegal/disallowed content (ie blatant porn on websites that do not allow porn), you don't get to dictate what can and cannot be posted. You can set out what you don't want to see so people know not to tag you in it, but you do not have the right to tell people in fandom spaces what they can and cannot post (obviously this isn't referring to shit like death threats).

I'm asexual and I don't like seeing people be horny on my dash. But I don't hop in their DMs and go "hey this post made me uncomfortable, can you take it down." No, I block it and move on because that's what you do on the Internet.

I personally find it uncomfortable that people write about/depict rape, but I also understand that censorship will always disproportionately harm minorities, and that some people write about topics like that in order to work through things. But again, I don't harass anyone who writes about that, because they've never tagged me in it or done anything to make sure that I specifically saw it. I block what I need to and if I've missed something, that's on me.

What I'm saying is that it's fine that Maddy is no longer comfortable with her or Jack's characters being shipped with characters other than each other. But when it comes to the content that those two see, that's up to them. They are the ones who choose what they do and do not see. It's perfectly fine that they no longer want to see shipping content of themselves with other creators, but as far as I'm concerned, that means "don't force us to see content that we do not wish to see".