Hi people, I'm Lani (she/her, adult) and this is my sideblog about Minecraft Youtube. You can find my other stuff @lan1fer.
Hermitcraft is my comfort show and here is where I put my thoughts on blockpeople behaviour. I also follow the Life Series.
I like to do character studies for fun and fanfiction purposes. I enjoy a good ship for the sake of it, mostly ethubs and smallidarity, and I endorse rpf. I am also often wrong.
If you are a mcyt creator or affiliated with one, please leave. This blog is not for you and I have no desire to share it with you.
Here is the tag list for the blog, filter and search to your heart's content!
-> I think you should check out #my writing or #blockpeople studies
Feel free to drop me an ask, I'd love to talk to some people!
Everything around here is very much a work in progress.
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There's this fic idea I've had where Etho feels wrongfully accused for the hermits losing their stuff and I started drafting some months ago, then put it on the side-projects-hiatus-pile and, well. False is now the second person that has lost a shulker in Etho's tree farm, so that makes for a way better reason for people blaming him for their troubles, especially since this plays in season 11. The fact that he could theoretically keep/hide the shulkers actually makes it kinda perfect for the fic. So, that means that I can scrap the one bit that I've drafted so far and I'm sad.
Tango: So um, Etho, have you considered terraforming your base at all?
Etho: I have considered it…
Tango: Uh-huh…?
Etho: It’s not something that’s very high on the priority list right now…
Tango: Ah-ha. Just ‘cause, you know, I tried out your parkours the other day and—
Etho: It was pretty good, right?
Tango: It was, except when I fell, and my bits went splat.
Etho: That does tend to happen when you keep your inventory on a parkours.
Tango: Yeah, and I mean, usually, you then go and pick up the bits—
Etho: Uh-huh.
Tango: —except when you fell from super high altitude, and your stuff splattered literally everywhere. And when there’s trees, and holes, and cowherds, and cliffs, it’s not that easy to find everything.
Gem: What did you lose, Tango?
Tango: My elytra went missing, and a couple of building blocks.
Etho: Uuuh...
Tango: I did have a backup, but I’m just saying—
Gem: See, I could totally see that happen to other hermits too, and they don’t have a full shulker of elytra in their ender chest.
Etho: Hangh. I mean, when you get ready to parkours, you sorta know what you’re in for, and there is a sign and a chest at the beginning…
xB, in chat: scar lost some stacks of moss the other day too
Etho: In my game?
Gem: Hermits can’t read, Etho!
xB: on the parkours
Tango: Gotta make those minigames hermitproof!
Etho, high-pitched and complaining: You know how much time that’s gonna take to terraform the whole base?
Tango: I mean, are you asking me if I know anything about terraforming?
Gem: Yeah, I think Tango’s the wrong person to complain to about that.
i think that mumbo jumbo is a delight. keep opening kitchen cupboards after each build and climbing mountains on the weekend, king. i think he’s some type of fae and i will wait months for his uploads. he builds very cool geese
I have no clue where to put this other than here but i rewatched lady and the tramp while babysitting my cousins recently and i couldnt stop hearing and seeing bdubs in tramp... the speech and mannerism and the whole face of that dog!! and that got me thinking about etho as lady even tho it doesnt suit him lol
i just went back and watched some clips and you're actually so right there's definitely something bdubsesque about tramp's voice. anyway i just spent an hour making this lol:
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one of the most important aspects of life series!etho + bdubs’s situationship is that they’re always kind of bitter and possessive over each other even when they’re working together. they go through a cycle of trying to impress each other and make the other jealous and almost everything else they have going on socially is in service of that. they’re like two of your friends who are married but their relationship is kinda lowkey toxic and they keep making passive-aggressive comments towards each other when you’re hanging out with them but you don’t want to say anything so it’s just awkward now
they call them divorce duo for a reason but to me they aren’t even divorced. they probably should be but they aren’t. to me
any reading of life series ethubs and double life ethubs in particular is incomplete without a full understanding of the themes of the classic 1962 play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and I mean that without a shred of unseriousness
May I offer: Drunk Bdubs at the charity stream afterparty with Etho
---
It turns out that flirt-fighting with your best friend is even more fun and addicting in person than it is without a face involved, and they've indulged heavily during the whole event. The only times Etho or Bdubs are caught looking at the other without smiling stupidly is when they are in-character, pissy or teasing or professional, putting on a show for everyone and themselves.
Once they're done working, Bdubs is worn out and overstimulated. Etho's holding up better, thanks to the adrenaline, and goes easy on the drink. Bdubs doesn't. He wants to stay out, this time, so neurotoxin it is.
Over the course of the evening, he never stops sticking to Etho, but he deviates from their script more and more. First he's more touchy and less avoidant of personal topics, then he's needy and demanding attention, then he starts riling Etho up with their antics again—except that now, he's playing dirty. He's treating Etho like the spouse that's holding out on him. The innuendo crosses into sexual, repeatedly and with increasing boldness, and Etho is having a very hard time.
He can handle drunk behaviour, he can gloss over the questions that hit too close to home, play along, laugh things off, but this is still Bdubs, and he's hitting Etho's weak spot with pinpoint accuracy and an ignorance that can only be described as cruel.
The mood at the party is exuberant and loud, and Bdubs is certainly not the only one that's had a glass too many. The hermits find the guy hilarious, even more so when he's taking this joke to unprecedented levels.
"Why don't you give him a kiss, Etho, don't you see how he's pleading?"
"I think he deserves some love, don't you agree?"
"Awww, I feel so bad for Bdubs."
Bdubs' hand has come to rest on Etho's neck, tugging on a strand of hair in the nape.
"Ethooo," he drawls, and Etho can smell the red the table's been sharing nauseatingly close to his face.
Bdubs has him pinned. Etho staunchly fixates on the flimsy dried flowers that stand between their glasses, hands scrunched in the low-hanging table cloth. Then, suddenly, he hears "I'm starting to think you don't like me". It's just a bit too quiet, too vulnerable for the situation to ignore, and he turns to search the face he's been mapping out greedily over the last days.
"I d—" He doesn't get any further, nor does he get a look. Bdubs slips right into the opening he's created.
The man's wet lips take hold of Etho's like it's easy. A walk in the park. To Etho, it's more like a sled ride down a rugged hill. Scratchy stubble presses into his face; the taste is foreign, of dinner, grapes and flesh. They've had the same. The kiss stretches time, yet it's over in a breath.
When they part, Etho gasps incredulously, the crowd is howling, and Bdubs whispers "gotcha!" before he leans back in laughter.
Etho stands. "I think it's time to leave."
"I agree," Bdubs declares merrily, "perfect opportunity to end this night with you wonderful people on a high note. Take me home, Etho!"
A beat passes. Their exchange happens wordlessly. Then, Etho extends his hand, palm side up.
Yesterday's late night entertainment was Survival of the Fittest 1 from Bdubs' perspective, and goodness, ethubs were already down bad, huh? Bdubs being all protective? Etho comparing himself to a little girl? Bdubs repositioning the chopper so that Etho can get in more easily? "Oh, dude, but I don't want you to take any damage"? What is going on???
In 2014, i was busy shipping German Minecraft people, so idk what was going on over here, but the babygirl treatment from Bdubs is insane. Insane! And Etho is feeding into it!
Like, Etho's maknae energy in the older videos i've watched so far often manifests as him being a little shit, or just a little guy, but with Bdubs in this scenario it's making him twirl his hair and answer all his questions like a good kid. Insanity.
Also. With Genny, Bdubs makes every effort not to show weakness. He never lets himself fall into a position where he's following. It's a rivalry. One shootout later and he has a new partner and a completely different dynamic. He cuffs Etho to avoid an escalation and it fucking works. Etho is instantly docile after that and Bdubs takes charge, but constantly checks in. He never just decides things, he's building Etho up. Once they've teamed, he's in friendship-building mode. Or courtship mode, with the amount of 'look at all the nice things I have to offer' he does. Guns. Game knowledge. Chopper rides. Somebody play A Whole New World please.
E: "I like how you sacrificed Genny there just so that we could be together."
B: "That's what I wanted"
E: "Yeah."
B: "The whole time. I told 'im—I was like, dude, go over here, go over here."
Bdubs reframing his actions for his benefit will never get old. Neither will Etho baiting for it.
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The thing with Bdubs is that he doesn’t seem to care about the truth. He’s no liar, not recreationally, but where Etho—most people—need to push through some sort of inner barrier to say something false, Bdubs can just go with the flow. He will simply say whatever with a smiling face and his jaunty Bdubs-cadence and Etho will be none the wiser. The ambiguity has him hooked. He’s learned how to play, but it’s always been Bdubs’ game. When he’s at his best, when he’s confident and focussed, Bdubs could trick Etho into anything. Except, he never does.
He goes there around once a month, and he's found a guy he's comfortable talking to and trusts to do a good job. Bdubs is happy to let a pro handle his appearance. He's vain like that, or insecure, whichever way his confidence swings at any given moment.
His stylist is a great guy, a meticulous craftsman and a natural conversationalist. Charismatic, but never overbearing. They talk, about work, about artistic vision and about life. Bdubs finds that it's easier to tell somebody about his home life that doesn't know his family and won't give advice where none is requested. Likewise, he finds space to talk about his work life without feeling like he's infringing on private time with his friends or family. It's a relief to have somebody that simply listens to recollections from both worlds that Bdubs inhabits without judgement or consequences. His stylist has no horse in the race of Bdubs' life. He's a friend, professionally, and that is just what Bdubs needs.
Over the months, hair guy hears about Bdubs' life as told by Bdubs. He never checks out the channel, he doesn't really get the microcosm of online gaming videos, but he learns about the hermits, nevertheless. How Bdubs admires Scar for his vision, hard work and resilience. How Grian always pushes to keep things moving and interesting. How he feels the pressure from everybody consistently stepping up their game and how he gets frustrated with himself sometimes.
Then there's this guy, Etho, the alleged genius. Bdubs mentions him at least once every visit. When he talks about him, there's pride in his words, and a familiar fondness. When the stylist asks about him however, Bdubs often can't answer the simplest questions, despite their years of shared time. Evidently, he's smitten. Etho is the mystery that caught his attention once that he then spent his lifetime trying to solve. It turned him into the type of expert that can tell you precisely how much he doesn't know. It's difficult to say if he likes Etho so much because he teaches him new things about the game, or if he enjoys the game more because it teaches him new things about Etho. It's sweet, in a way, but also sort of heart-wrenching.
At the end of the day, the hair stylist doesn't need to care. He doesn't have a horse in the race of Bdubs' life. Online entertainment is a strange world, and Bdubs is a great client.
typing from memory so I'm bound to miss or misremember something but: a couple of my favourite Etho moments from LimLife are exclusive to povs that aren't his because they're largely just moments of Etho expressing frustration.
The first is when Gem (as Cleo) unceremoniously kills him maybe a second time after he goes to the clockers for 'family dinner'. Bdubs does warn Etho about his impending death but what bothers Etho is that he was playing into a creative roleplay angle and essentially got punished for playing along. The second is similar, when he tells Scar he's about to break character, because again he's playing into the dad character trying to play around with his sons and is instead being hit a bunch for it in ways he doesn't see as befitting the scene or framework. I think this tells us a bit about Etho's concept for the function of improv in the series and its relationship to the death game competition they are all participating in.
It's also further substantiated by Wild Life, where Etho talks to both allies and enemies about events from his perspective and the upcoming plans, namely that he will go along with riding Scar's very-obviously-a-trap 'rollercoaster'. iirc Etho doesn't actually call out the game being played here explicitly, but he evidently wants to give Scar a payoff for what has largely been a season-long plan with team skin theming that hasn't really amounted to a substantial effect. Etho knows the rollercoaster is likely to kill him, knows Scar in particular likes to kill him, and still chooses to play along because of the value Etho has placed on improv and creativity for the series.
The LimLife death frustration isn't from dying, but from how rote, uncreative, and therefore meaningless it is. I think these moments of minor frustration are really interesting to me because it's reflective of Etho's thoughts for what the life series is, where it's value is, and what his place in it 'should' be - it isn't just a logistical or detached choice but instead a mindset he plays in that can drive emotions in him if things get misaligned, negative emotions which he doesn't want to indulge in as part of a character development, which i dont think is necessarily true of everyone.
really good examples that didn't immediately come to mind!! I think what's telling through all of these is that Etho is an active collaborator who sets up scenarios to be knocked down. I think when I've seen some people discuss Scar's play they refer to this as somewhat intentional manipulation of the social setting in order to have people "yes, and" to their death, and while I really can see that read I think it's worth saying that in Etho's case it's clear that he also lets himself be the one disadvantaged by it very often, confirming that this isn't just to get ahead in the game. I imagine Scar would also feel similarly about this. I also like that Etho's sense of good sport, as Jon put it, is something he has feelings about! It's a social contract within a game that has explicit and implicit social rules, and when he felt that it was broken, it became frustrating. It speaks to his sense of fair play and improv collaboration, because it is something you have to actively work at rather than let passively become just hitting each other with swords (as much as I think we're due some more of that especially in the end game).
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we need to reintroduce the concept of a "content play" to mcyt fandom because there are a lot of people unclear on why saying something behind the scenes ≠actually changing behavior onscreen and why people almost never outright veto onstream bits even if they're uncomfortable
Okay, so: the Content Play is something we first saw demonstrated outright in an old Legundo video -- it's the Game of Thrones scenario,* y'know, pretty much one of the single best ones? Anyway. We're sure the term saw use before as well, but for us this is the first time we saw it acknowledged directly and by name.
* We will be returning to Legundo's run of Scenario SMP a few different times in this essay. It has been a long enough time that we feel its worth as a case study outweighs the risk of offending anyone involved.
The Content Play is based on the following principle: competitive MCYT series have the stated primary goal of "win the game", but the implicit goal is "make a good video". This is important for one reason -- playing a death game optimally is boring. The optimal play is either to slaughter everyone in a single go if you're good at PVP (which, to be fair, does look cool... if you're the person doing the killing), or to simply hunker down like a mole in a branch mine and skitter around the walls until you've reached critical resource mass and everyone has killed each other off, all while never speaking to another person.
Hence, the Content Play -- "telling a story takes precedent over optimal gameplay". This extends past the realm of death games, too -- building competitions, challenge runs, and even just "people hanging out" videos are subject to the whims of the Content Play.
Let's return to Scenario for a bit, though, since it's frequently at its most obvious form in the series. Instead of focusing on the actual namedropping of the term in GoT, though, we'll go back to an earlier one -- Zombie Apocalypse.
Partway through Zombie Apocalypse, everyone's comms light up with the following announcement: Sean/Forge Labs (serial backstabber) has Kim, who has been tormenting everyone the entire Scenario thus far, trapped in a box. He calls out a location and tells people to meet him there if they want revenge.
Legundo, onscreen, says he is torn. On the one hand, Forge backstabs people like he has a quota to meet and he's behind for the month, and Legs has already experienced what that means for him at least twice now. On the other hand, Sean has put him in a very tricky situation from a storytelling perspective -- he alludes to this, but doesn't state it outright.
What Sean is doing here is setting up a situation in which the only story-viable move is to do something incredibly tactically unsound. The "smart" move would be not to play and simply to go find something else to do. Unfortunately, that turns the person denying the content play into the jerk -- there is a story beat that has been set up, and they are saying "no" and walking away for the sake of playing safer.
Legundo has a choice mechanically, but he doesn't have a choice narratively. He has to go see whatever Forge is up to, or he might miss out on an important plot beat for a video that is supposed to be more entertaining than it is supposed to be a candid recording of someone playing on a pseudo-anarchy server. As player, he can do whatever he wants to win the game provided it's within the established ruleset. As storyteller, the stakes are high enough that walking away would be insensitive or even outright rude -- and there is no alternative action that would be as interesting.
Forcing a content play is sometimes bit of a jerk move. People do it all the time, mind, and it is quite tactically advantageous to do so, but it is still a jerk move when done in excess. When someone "forces" a content play, they set up a situation in which the only "right thing to do" from a story perspective is exactly what they want other people to do, and anything else results in a "less compelling" story (or at least seems to do so in the moment).
In addition to innumerable times Forge does this throughout the course of Legundo's Scenario run, we might also consider Scott setting up a narrative arc for his character last-minute in Vampires SMP that seems to make killing him an unsatisfying conclusion, or Grian offering a life debt to Scar in Third Life, or the obstacle course the dead folks set up in the original S6 run of Hermitcraft's Demise, or every single one of Branzy's redstone games during Lifesteal. In less high-stakes situations this can also be as simple as flirting with another person onstream, or Doovid approaching someone with a ridiculous bit, or offering to pay someone with an IOU instead of tangible ingame currency.
And this is where things get tricky -- often, this is not done with intent to be rude. It is done with tactical intent, maybe, but it also might just be someone who's figured out an interesting plot beat they can hit and wants to approach someone with respect to that beat. But everyone in a series or stream group is keeping up the appearance of doing things consistent with their character -- (most) people (allegedly) don't like seeing the exposed artifice of kayfabe built on social convention.
Can you say no to a Doovid bit? Yes, but you've just turned down the ability for your viewers to experience The Doovid Difference. Can you say "hey, stop that" to someone flirting with you in-character? Yes, but you're very abruptly breaking kayfabe in a way nobody will have fun with. Can you walk away from a mutual enemy trapped in a basement? Yes, but you'll never find out what those folks were actually planning. Can you simply not run the deadly obstacle course? Yes, but then your viewers never get to see the deadly obstacle course people put time and effort into creating. Can you not play the obviously deadly murdergame Branzy has created? Yes, but then you don't get to see the obviously deadly murdergame or figure out how he's planning to cheat you this time, the rascal.
The flip-side of this is, of course, that there are ways to set up content play opportunities that aren't forced. In more narrative-driven series, a character might have a planned ending that works regardless of when and if they die, or deliver an ultimatum in such a way that someone attempting to ignore it becomes phenomenally compelling. In more tactically-driven series, you might set up a situation where someone can feasibly make multiple alliances and it's ultimately their choice who to team up with, or offer an obviously bad "deal" to someone where turning it down provides an interesting opportunity for a growing rivalry.
Doovid, despite his earlier mention, is actually very good at leaving people opportunities to do interesting bits in denying him the ability to do a bit. Squiddo's concept of "Squiddo's Law" may seem forced in some cases, but it also provides a failsafe opt-out in that it is equally funny for the ridiculous thing to not happen to an absolutely comedic degree. Scar's "friendship points" and offhanded threats in Third Life make an equally compelling story whether you buy in or refuse to do so.
For many people, this is enough. But sometimes, there are cases where the tactically-minded rush of getting people to do things that help you "win" in one way or another outweighs any guilt over making someone do something they may not want to.
In the second Purge scenario, Forge and Legundo are allied for a time. Legundo, knowing that Sean is probably going to backstab him, pleads his case narratively -- you always do the same thing to me, think about how interesting it'd be if we actually worked together for a change. He is making a counter-bid to the usual content play Scenario people choose of backstabbing Legundo and framing it as "he's playing smart, so I need to do this before he inevitably does it to me."
Sean, predictably, betrays him anyway. There's no tactical reason to keep someone around when you know exactly what they're going to do because they've said it out loud, and the ultimate "interesting story" is about how you win the game you're playing. Legundo is known by many of the Scenario cast members as an intelligent player who plans ahead, someone who plays the game smart. And because the smart thing to do in Scenario, the winning Content Play -- is to betray your friends and allies when it becomes advantageous to do so, Legundo must be a serial betrayer in his own right.
The only winning move against a forced content play is, frequently, to set up a situation in which it is disadvantageous both practically/mechanically and narratively/comedically to force your hand into a bit. Talking these things out behind the scenes only goes so far; people are relying on instinct when they get behind the camera, and fall back on habits they have (whether or not those are good habits at all).
Frequently, these reactions can look drastic with no context: blowing up your own base and/or farms, playing a character that's rougher around the edges or canonically unattractive to most people, locking off the End, retconning one or more major plot beats, ending a series early, lying about being related to someone else.
But, as we've hopefully established, the only way out of an obvious trap is to make it more interesting to avoid that trap than it is to jump into it. And sometimes, in order to do that, you either have to pull something pretty drastic... or live with just walking away and not knowing what happens.
what's your ideal edited mcyt video length for watching? inclusive of shorts, clips, tiktoks, &c
1 minute or less
2 to 4 minutes
5 to 9 minutes
~10 minutes
~15 minutes
~20 minutes
~30 minutes
~45 minutes
~1 hour
~1 hr 15 mins
~1 hr 30 mins to ~2 hours
over 2 hours
Voting ended onApr 28
feel free to elaborate on why! if it varies depending on the content of the video, vote for length of video you tend to watch the most often or whatever aligns with the content you are most compelled by
I only have 12 poll options; if your preferred length is not exactly represented, please round to the nearest option. my sincerest apologies
restating from poll title: this is about edited videos—i include clips because even though they are much closer to raw footage than, say, an episode of the life series, cutting the clip and framing it in a particular way is editing imo. think of this as inclusive of everything that is not raw, uncut stream footage and/or framed as a vod (e.g. if a 2 hour single-take video is uploaded /as a video/ and not as, for example, part 1/2 of a vod, it counts)
if you encounter this poll after the voting period has ended, please feel free to reblog and reply anyway! I'm always interested in how people think about mcyt