Izumi:

The MCYT AO3 Tags & How To Fix Them

(I attempted to write this post in a more ND-friendly way, since it’s long. Hopefully it helps? <3)

Hello, MCYTblr! I’ve been seeing many posts around recently about the MCYT tags on Archive of Our Own, and even though this is not a new problem and one that I and others have been trying to fix for years, I think it’s time that we all work together to solve this issue.

But first, what’s wrong with the MCYT tags?

There are three major issues with the current tags, from what I’ve observed. In order of least to most important:

Hermitcraft as a fandom tag is currently Hermitcraft RPF. This is incorrect because most if not all of the works in this tag are not RPF (real person fiction) and instead deal with the Minecraft personas, a subtle difference that Ao3 currently does not recognize. It needs to become Hermitcraft (Web Series).

Dream SMP does not have a fandom tag, and those writing for it are forced to use some combination of Minecraft (Video Game) and Video Blogging RPF. This is similar to the first point in that people are writing about the characters, not the streamers (at least in most cases), and so neither of those tags are actually applicable. It’s messy and disorganized and Dream SMP needs to be separated. This tag should be Dream SMP (Web Series).

Character tags for both fandoms and others contain the real name of the creator in question, as close to their full name as possible. While this is completely logical in fictional fandoms and very useful for avoiding confusion there, for MCYT, these tags are uncomfortable and often more confusing for readers and writers alike. Many creators are not open with their real names, though their names might be out there, and they especially shouldn’t be used in conjunction with the fictional characters they play.

Now, how do we fix these problems?

It’s actually quite simple! Just navigate to Archive of Our Own, scroll down to the bottom of the page, and click Technical Support and Feedback. This will open a feedback form that looks like this.

[Image ID: a screenshot of Archive of Our Own’s feedback form. There is a blue bar at the top that reads ‘our spam filter does collect IP addresses, but we never see them.’ The form asks for your name (optional), your email (required), the language (required), a brief summary (required), and your comment (required).]

But Sy, how do I fill out a good feedback form?

I’m glad you asked! First of all, make the summary short and to-the-point. For example, ‘Dream SMP fandom tag needed’ or ‘Important issues with Video Blogging RPF character tags’. Then, explain the problem clearly and concisely, in terms that someone who doesn’t know MCYT could understand. Finally, go back through and add links. Link anything that supports your claims. Wiki articles, news articles, Twitch clips, things that show that you’re telling the truth. For example, if I was explaining why the tags should be changed back to usernames, not real names, I could link a clip of Wilbur talking about his character on Dream SMP and all the behind-the-scenes writing as evidence for the streamers being separate from the characters we write about.

All we have to do is fill out enough of these forms, with enough evidence to support our requested changes, and then eventually, Ao3 will listen to us. Ao3 is a good site and it’s nobody’s fault that these tags are currently like this–the tag wranglers probably just aren’t familiar with MCYT and are therefore working with what they have available to them.

If you have the time, please fill out a feedback form on one of these three issues (not all three in one, as we want Ao3 to understand–if you want to cover all three, just send in three comments). We want these problems fixed and this is how we do it. We work together.

We’ve done amazing things as a fandom before. Fanfiction is an incredible and valued part of our community. Please, let’s fix this.

Please reblog to spread!

While you make some great points I think you're overlooking some aspects of his character - I don't think either of these voice lines are a part of his facade, and are in fact both a result of it being broken.

X indeed likes to be, or be perceived to be, in control of a situation. You explained this really well and made some points that I didn't even think of before, so I won't touch on this.

X likes to project an image of a goofball, a silly fella, little guy. Someone who is aloof and careless. We can see this in his placing of newspaper clippings in a prominent places of his cabinet in his second story (Something for nothing 40%) - the second headline where he is called a "Foolish Genius" is placed just as prominently as the previous one praising him.

Neither of these responses to being hurt allow him to retain this image very effectively.

I think that he's surprised by being hurt and that breaks through his mask. The second voiceline is indeed probably a more controlled, less vulnerable response, but that doesn't mean it isn't also genuine.

We know that X is very calculating. He's a genius and likes to plan around situations, manipulating chance and other variables in his favour. In Laplace/the suitcase this means inventing new things (and getting praised for it), testing his machines on/with people, being helpful and having mischief/adventures with his friends.

We also know that he can also have pretty violent tendencies and that he killed someone whilst at the orphanage (presumably an abusive caretaker).

-

From the interview with UTTU in his story: Life Is Filled with Surprises (80% bond)

Pandora Wilson: Please introduce this exquisite mechanical ball you're holding.

X: It's just a toy I made for fun. Instead, I'd like to introduce this Auto-Seduction Lipstick I've just invented. Have a look! Is there anyone in the world better suited to test this out?

Pandora Wilson: That's alright. What an impressive invention.

Pandora Wilson: Let's talk about something else. There was an accident at an orphanage a few years ago and I heard you were present.

X: Oh? If you want to discuss topics that have nothing to do with the interview, you have to test this Bubble Gum Spraying Alarm Clock in exchange, okay?

Pandora Wilson: The deceased appeared to have been killed by a loose shingle from the roof. The angle, wind speed and power it had was incredibly precise.

X: Oh, such is life. It's filled with coincidences and accidents.

X: Don't be sad. Now, let's try this Mini Priest Bouncer and pray for him, shall we?

Pandora Wilson: Please excuse me.

X: ～♪～

Pandora Wilson: Ouch! Don't pull me!

X: ～♪～

Pandora Wilson: ...♪

-

He refers to any casualties in battle as an accident in voicelines and claims that there are no such thing in others.

He's also been stated to be a hitman by a Twitter post from the developers, but whether this is outright stating that he worked as an assassin or just a translation issue or metaphor, I don't know (It is also in several places of the wiki, but I'm not too sure on the sources for these).

His Green Lake garment described him as being the perfect killer and that all the cases go unsolved (though how cannon this and the other garments are I'm not sure, so take it with a pinch of salt).

Fortunately this is supported by his Portray/Artifice description: Sometimes, he has to shed some blood for the sake of others. Fortunately, he has machines to do that for him.

He doesn't want people to know about this violent part of himself.

I also think his use of the seduction lipstick is very interesting as it's his response to Pandora's persistence in her line of questioning when redirection fails. (Also did he just grab her and kiss her??)

Anyway I think the idea of identity, morality and choice are very central to X's character - can any actions be considered fake if you are still choosing to act in that way?

From an item description for the Green Lake garment:

A broken white mask that likely came from a corner store having a Halloween sale. The respondent raised a question with a smile: "Does the mask need the face that wears it, or does the face need the meaning the mask gives it?"

Very very disorganized X thoughts

Based on mostly voicelines

His incoming lines make me think a lot, honestly

X is a liar, as it's stated several times in-game. He hides in his Goldberg machines and creates his own reality for fun, and quite possibly to feel safe from the external world. All of his confidence shows in times where he knows he has the full control of the situation ("Haha... I got you! I won't let you go, unless you agree to join my experiment!"). He likes to push people into his own world, but he's also dependent on them; he needs people to show them his machines, no matter how much he tries to satisfy his own desires with his creations, if there's nobody to test them on or show them to, what's the point?

"Try my new inventions... Ah! I had never prepared for a plan B in your absence..."

"Can I borrow you tonight? I really need your help for my new machine... please?"

"It's so nice to meet you! I've been waiting for so long!"

So, despite the confident and self sufficient facade he likes to put on, X is constantly referencing and asking for the attention of those around him ("Please live up to my expectations, colleagues!" "Ah, I seem to have grown a bit taller recently. Can you tell?"). If he ever takes an "imposing" role, it's when he's 100% sure he has enough power to enforce it, and he does want to have that power and confidence permanently and don't depend on other people and the external world anymore ("The day I've waited for has finally come. Welcome to my world."; Bottom of Insight line).

He reaffirms everyone likes him although of his eyes, something that caused a lot of rejection from people his age ("My eyes.. a little scary, aren't they? Kids new to the orphanage were a little afraid of them, but in the end everyone likes me."), and possibly the adults in charge of them themselves. He's dealt with a lot of rejection and mistreatment since he was a kid, and he looks for validation constantly, hiding under fake confidence and acting rebellious and chaotic on purpose to reaffirm said facade. He references his orphanage quite often in his voicelines, only when he's talking to Vertin, a friend he presumably can trust.

Going back to his Incoming voicelines, the first one really sticks out. They're both completely different reactions to the same threat, and one if them is most likely an act. My point is: considering X's facade mostly consists on appearing capable of anything, in control and smarter and more powerful than other people I don't know why he'd pretend to be scared.

Given how he talks about the orphanage, being a place where kids weren't even fed enough, didn't have winter clothes, weren't even allowed to exit the building, how much he liked to cause trouble, even trying to scape once, and how orphanages were in that period of time, it's highly possible kids faced physical violence from the adults in charge of them. Imo, the first line is genuine. He's recognized a threat, he knows he lacks enough power to face it, and he's scared of getting hurt. The second one is just another attempt at looking like he's in control of the situation. As I've said before, these lines are specially interesting to me because he is in battle, where he isn't in perfect control of everything, that's not his world completely and he can't drag people into it like he does at Laplace, so it makes perfect sense that he drops the facade for a moment facing a real threat.

Maybe this was all really obvious but whatever. I like him a lot

How sad to watch him grow

Fanfiction isn’t written for you, it’s shared with you.

also it is with a heavy heart that i must inform you that tumblr isnt inherently better than twitter and having the ability to use More Words has not done anything in the past to give people on this hellsite any reading comprehension. we’re just lucky 😔

word of the day: “woowoo”

definition:

I went for a walk and I found some little houses!

That is not my dog, but he was very polite and friendly :D

Reblog if it is okay for people to randomly pop into your ask with questions about your fanfic(s)

/dsmp /rp

I,, wanted to make this post because I’ve seen a certain take floating around, especially on twitter, that is very… interesting.

The take goes as follows:

C!Dream was locked up in the prison because he has the revival book. The members of the SMP consider the knowledge he has too valuable to lose, so they put him in jail.

Now, this isn’t wrong, per say, but it implies a completely different motive and series of events than what actually happened in the canon story.

Here’s the events as they are implied to have happened from that sentence alone:

- c!Dream obtains the revival book. He doesn’t share it with anyone, and destroys the physical book so it can’t be stolen from him.

- After a while, someone finds out about the book.

- The rest of the server agrees that this knowledge is too valuable to lose.

- They lock c!Dream up in the prison to either keep him (and thereby the knowledge of revival) safely contained, or to torture him so badly he blabs and gives it up.

Meanwhile, here’s what actually happened:

- c!Dream obtains the revival book. He doesn’t share it with anyone, and destroys the physical book so it can’t be stolen from him.

- Months later, c!Dream holds c!Tommy’s discs hostage to force him and c!Tubbo to come meet him out in the middle of nowhere to fight.

- c!Punz rallies the server together to stop him after c!Tommy gives him all of his savings in a last ditch attempt to get someone to intervene.

- They all catch c!Dream red fucking handed trying to murder c!Tubbo (and they would probably assume c!Tommy as well), to the point where c!Sapnap and c!Puffy had to physically block him from going after the kids once they started running for safety.

- They find the Vault of Attachments, a massive room filled with spaces for everything that anyone is attached to, up to and including a tiny little cage for c!Skeppy.

- c!Tommy forces c!Dream to drop all of his items, then kills him twice.

- As c!Tommy goes in for the third kill, c!Dream desperately screams that he can revive people. He even elaborates that if he dies, death will be permanent.

- c!Tommy traps c!Dream in obsidian. c!Dream confesses to blowing up the Community House. C!Tommy tries to get him to tell everyone about what happened in exile, but c!Dream stays silent, though everyone can pretty easily see that something bad happened there.

- They deliberate over what to do. Nobody wants c!Dream to roam free considering all the shit he’d done over the past few months (waged wars against L'Manburg, Pogtopia, and El Rapids/Mexican L'Manburg, orchestrated c!Tommy’s exile and drove a wedge between c!Clingyduo, manipulated c!Tubbo into giving him c!Tommy’s second disc, destroyed L'Manburg permanently and killed a lot of people), but considering the knowledge he has, they can’t just kill him.

- C!Sam suggests locking him up in the prison. That way, he’ll still be able to revive people if needed, but he won’t be free to hurt people anymore.

So yes, it is technically true that c!Dream was locked up because he has the revival book. Except, that statement is missing the very important context that the only other option was death. He’d proven himself to be such a danger to everyone around him, nobody on the server felt safe knowing that he was just roaming the server freely.

The main purpose of him being locked up there is to ensure that he won’t hurt anyone ever again. The knowledge he has makes him too valuable to kill, but that doesn’t mean he did nothing to deserve being isolated from the rest of the server’s population, considering what he has done and tried to do to that population.