SMPLive

Fandom
Name:	SMPLive
Abbreviation(s):	SMPL
Creator:	CallMeCarson, cscoop
Date(s):	March 1, 2019 - January 1, 2020
Medium:	Minecraft server
Country of Origin:
External Links:	r/smplive (Closed)
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

SMPLive was a SMP server created by CallMeCarson and cscoop on March 1, 2019. It is frequently cited as having sparked the popularization of livestreamed SMPs as a medium, as it become notably popular at a time when Minecraft content was considered dead on YouTube, and many of its influences would be seen in its spiritual successor SMPEarth and eventually in Dream SMP, which would surpass it in popularity.

Canon

Every week it becomes more and more mind-boggling, that nothing on this server has ever been scripted.

Jschlatt

SMPLive was created on March 1, 2019, and by the server's end in January 2020 had over 100 members in total. The server's central gimmick was that if you were online on the server, you were required to be livestreaming, meaning every moment of the server from every perspective was available for fans to see. This has caused much of SMPLive to become lost media due to the server's age and lack of VOD archival in 2019, though most players have highlight videos on their channels and some VODs have been saved.

In addition to the livestreaming gimmick, players on the server could recieve "hits" from viewers, where they would take donations of real world money to prank or kill other members of the server. This mechanic drove many of the main conflicts of the server and built up comedic drama for the audience.

Unlike the SMPs that would come after it, SMPLive's primary focus was always comedy, though roleplay was still a major element as many streamers play exaggerated characters and would get into humorous shenanigans and fights.

It is retroactively canon to Dream SMP, at least in part, through Jschlatt and ConnorEatsPants's characters, who are the same characters across both series - with their past as co-workers in SMPLive being explicitly stated in Tales from the SMP.

Plot

The server has no main overarching plotline, but players would often get into their own various plots.

Every once in a while players are chosen to be the server police, and this usually results in misuse of power, as well as collecting illegal contraband such as potions and golden apples.

Schlatt & Co. is a company founded by Jschlatt and ConnorEatsPants, and a frequent annoyance for other server members as they try to rope them into their scheme. Some of their exploits include blackmailing Wilbur into stealing from the police, kidnapping YoItsGold's pet parrot, creating a coffee shop to cover up a drug operation, making a teenaged IAmTy work as their unpaid intern, and much more. However, their primary goal is to get players to buy into their Schlattcoin cryptocurrency scam.

Jschlatt and AntVenom had a rivalry over their differing opinions on the music disc Stal, which became a meme. The two would eventually put their differences aside to fight the Ender Dragon together.

Ted Nivison created a cult based around "the void" and recruited many players into it.

TekkitLive

TekkitLive is the fan name for an unnamed spinoff server using the Tekkit Classic modpack, which was more roleplay-focused than the main series. It focuses on four pairs of players - Sun Whale Defense Solutions (Cooper & Travis), Schlatt & Co. (Schlatt & Connor), Exploding Babies Inc. (Poke & Sneeg), Clout Co. (Fitz & Kryoz) - that form corporations and war with each other over supplies and trade, while recruiting other players into their group. Highlight videos are frequently spliced with the perspective of the streamer's other teammate(s).

One of the most memorable moments in TekkitLive is Technoblade's arrival as a hitman hired by Schlatt & Co.

Fandom

There are 276 works in SMPLive on Archive of Our Own as of August 2023, though it's worth noting that the fandom tag did not exist until May 2022.

2019 SMPLive fandom primarily focused on the content creators behind the screen rather than the server happenings, and it was probably closest to a proper RPF fandom out of any SMPs that would come after it or predecessors like Mianite and Yogscast's series. The fandom primarily gathered on Twitter and Tumblr, though being two very distinct groups. SMPtwt was a stan community first and foremost, and one of the primary origins of stan culture in MCYT fandom, while SMPblr was primarily an offshoot of Mineblr with some surprising overlap with Hermitblr. Much of the stan side of the fandom identified primarily as Lunch Club stans until the group's demise in 2020, rather than SMPLive stans.

Modern SMPLive fandom is much quieter due to the age of the server and the fallout that would happen. Stan culture is no longer the main element, or even a major one, as most fans that remain are nostalgic for the Minecraft series itself or are fans coming from later series like Dream SMP. Because of this, it is treated more like any other SMP series, as a work of improvised fiction in Minecraft, rather than a group of streamers, causing the fandom to shift back towards FPF when it comes to fanworks made after around 2021 or so.

Additionally, as it is retroactively canonical to the explicitly fictional Dream SMP, it is an interesting case study for meta on the topic of MCRP and at what point a server becomes a work of fiction.

Shipping

While SMPLive was ongoing, shipping was largely looked down upon as RPF was a contentious topic in the fandom. Callout posts were sometimes made for shippers.

Recent fandom spaces are usually calmer about the topic due to the age of the series and thus distance from creators, as well as fan content becoming less focused on the people and more focused on the server itself.

The most tagged romantic pairings for SMPLive on AO3 as of December 2023 are Connor/Schlatt, Schlatt/Wilbur, Cooper/Travis and Cooper/Joko.

Example Fanworks

Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples.

Visual

• 

  by kureijei

• 

  by crossssky

• 

  by malewifeph1lza

• 

  by astralbarzz

• 

  by boxille

• 

  by rexlottie

Video

• Business Man: A ConnorEatsPants and Jschlatt Fan Animation (Multi Animator Project)
• new magic wand | gacha club "animation" meme (after effects) | ft. 3/3 schlatt & co
• Dessert Meme (Schlatt & Co.)
• reposted in the wrong schlattcoin - animation
• Kasane Territory -meme- (smplive traves)
• Psycho meme [Jschlatt]

Fanfiction

• SMPRonpa - An infamous Danganronpa crossover fanfiction
• Golden - Fantasy AU fic with 100k+ words
• and the universe said i love you - Connor-centric Puella Magi Madoka Magica AU involving time travel
• and in our separate worlds, we sleep alone - Old friends from SMPLive visit President Schlatt
• the moon is bright enough
• The Audio Diary of Ted Nivison - Hermitcraft crossover fic that centers on Ted
• the definition of a dwarf planet
• chimera - Schlatt is revived in Dream SMP as a teenager and Connor has to take care of him
• In October, We Thrive - Autumn themed oneshot collection
• your favorite sidekick - Relationship study comparing Schlatt and Connor in SMPLive and Quackity and Schlatt in Dream SMP
• american pie - Series of largely Connor-centric (but not entirely) fics
• angelfish / fish whisperer - Empires SMP crossover fic where Cooper is estranged Ocean Empire royalty

Meta

• The Story of SMPLive (video)
• Why SMPLive Stans Were WORSE Than Dream Stans (video)

Other

• SMPLive Musical
• A Tribute to SMPLive - A Carrd tribute site to the series.

Links and Resources

• SMPLive on Wikitubia
• SMPLive Wiki
• SMPLive on TV Tropes
• SMPLive tag on Archive of Our Own
• #smplive tag on Tumblr
• SMP Live on Know Your Meme