i do think that a significant part of the disgust towards dsmp fans is because people aren’t aware that the content creators are genuinely writing and playing characters in a legitimate roleplay story and not a bunch of teens unwarrantedly making violent fanfics of real people

every time i see a tweet or account that expresses concern and alarm over a particularly intense scene in the roleplay, not knowing that it’s roleplay, i think “man, someone should probably tell them that this is a legit campaign and not boundary violating fan content” but then

no one’s willing to sit down and explain because holy shit how do you even explain the dream smp

“this one casual funny roleplay they did with their own names and self inserts that very quickly spiraled out of control, to the point where the self inserts are very different and

distinct characters as opposed to the streamers, and something the streamers are well aware of and deliberately write, develop and play on. and fan content and creativity is something the streamers are genuinely excited and encourage because it’s a roleplay. and that, sue to

the intersection of their roleplay with their public image and brand, there are clear boundaries the streamers set with for ‘fan content i am okay with being made and fan content i am not okay with being made’ and boundaries a majority of fans follow and carefully ensure others

are following as well. and that any objectification of the Real Streamers (as opposed to fan content for their roleplay characters) is a different topic entirely and something the content creators and fanbase generally work out efficiently and peacefully”

like that shit isn’t gonna fit in 280 characters to a stranger online yakno

and obviously the dream smp fandom should watch their content and make sure to tag everything properly, explain everything clearly, and stray away from content that is too heavy or uncomfortable for the roleplay (such as shipping). and for the heavy content that *is* present in

the roleplay (such as abuse and suicide) we need to treat respectfully and be very aware of how they may be perceived

still. the CCs chose not to change the names of the characters from their usernames because they were already invested by that point. the CCs went “don’t ship

things that we aren’t okay with being shipped and have common sense” and their fans agree and many also choose to not make excessive violence too

like. it’s A Genuine Roleplay Story with Themes and Characters and Plot, of course there’s gonna be fan content yakno

and even in the case of early season 1 (aka when wilbur joined) it’s clear that it was roleplay that just bounced off their existing friendships. not with characters so distinct as they are now, but the whole “let’s start a drug empire hehe ” was definitely casual roleplay that

the CCs initiated, and the whole fandom kinda vibed and made content and went with the flow

it just started getting Serious and More Developed and Distinct once the creators realized “wow fans like this. hey wait *I* really like this” and started writing the story as it is today

by the way, if someone sent you this thread-

that’s what “/dsmp” and “/rp” means. since the CCs use their usernames as their character names, it can get confusing to know if a tweet’s about the creator or the character, so one of the writers proposed roleplay tone indicators

so people can quickly tell the difference

(that’s also what people mean by “dream smp roleplay” and [name]’s character - they’re talking about the in-lore and canon roleplay as opposed to the actor behind the character)

TL;DR

a bunch of streamers were doing casual funny roleplay and then got seriously invested, so they developed it into a genuine series with distinct story, character, and themes and never bothered to change the characters’ names and appearances from their MC usernames and skins