#30day smp analysis

[elytrafemme]

i made a mistake in saying i would write an analysis about 30 day SMP because, despite hyperfixating and being a writer, when i talk about my special interests my brain either allows me to write a lot of words on the subject, or absolutely none because it distracts itself. so i am going to cross my fingers and hope that this is like, somewhat decent?

anyway, i am just thinking about 30 day SMP, man. because while i really like a lot of other minecraft roleplays circulating right now (most notably dreamSMP, as i’m planning on getting into third life and hermitcraft when i have more time in around a month), there’s something about 30 day SMP that just... resonates. see, i really like complex narratives and the like, but what i enjoy about 30 day SMP is that it is a smaller selection of people that are, oftentimes, always interacting, and generally have to be very active due to the time constraint. and it is improv lore that is, questionable, even if it is lore, because while they’re roleplaying nobody’s declared that yet, so take this with a grain of salt.

but i think this makes 30 day SMP very interesting narratively. because unlike dreamSMP, where there are so many different protagonists and antagonists and scopes depending on the lens you view it through, 30 day SMP, at large, has one central sort of plot line. in my perspective which may be biased and is undeniably rather stupid. 

so, you have the set. from memory, forgive me for those i forget, we have: wilbur, tommy, philza, tubbo, ranboo, sneeg, jack, and charlie. these characters quickly settle into their own roles when we look at it from a plot and relationship perspective. 

let’s start with the protagonist: ranboo. also one of the protagonists in dreamSMP (in my opinion, though i think all of benchtrio are arguably the protagonists there), i think it is undeniable that he takes the protagonist role simply due to his character being one of the most active ones, and his character relationships. 

then we have tubbo. the instant sidekick, so to speak, who is considerably more powerful than the other people (and undeniably much more than ranboo himself) and is thusly cursed to exist for a very select period of time. he is reckless and defiant, and ranboo often slots himself into a protective role. we’ll cycle back to this. 

philza, next. because phil is an interesting character, but for now, until i later revisit him, i will simply consider him a mentor character. he is well versed in hardcore world, and him and ranboo work well together to form their underground base and salvage resources. 

last character i will specifically address before unpacking the lore and its impact is tommy. tommy, i would argue, is the primary antagonist. the antagonist that is closer to home, so to speak. he is friendly with the others in a sense, but he holds power over all of them, and he is directly what opposes ranboo’s prime desire-- to protect those he cares for, which ultimately resolves to protecting tubbo fairly quickly-- due to his restrictions he places. tommy is not an evil character in any sense, but from ranboo’s pov he is undeniably one of two antagonists. and i think he’s a very very interesting one.

now, plot develops. and we find charlie to be the first victim-- and a perfect first victim at that, amicable and unassuming yet startilingly ominous, in a way first read as a joke but after his death is more haunting. and his killer? jack. jack, who always had views that defied tommy, defied everyone. jack, who had a bloodlust underneath him. jack, who isolates himself and quickly becomes the madman, who killed a man once and won’t hesitate to repeat his actions. 

then, we have the next sequence of deaths. the tragedy that was unwritten in a way that solidified it. wilbur accidentally murders his father and is griefstricken, going as far as to sacrifice his own life for philza, as he believed his father had more he could offer than he ever could. but philza was not willing to accept that, and even as tommy altered the laws of the universe to revive them both, only wilbur accepted that position. 

and then, of course, the incident happens. what kills ranboo’s innocence, so to speak. this, here, is when i establish one critical fact about this SMP that i love: ranboo is not just a hero. ranboo is a tragic hero, plagued by his tragic flaw of overprotection. you see it in everything he does: the way he drops what he’s doing to find tubbo when the other is out of sight and quiet, the way he searches for resources and devotes hours of time to that task, the way he kills phantoms and mobs to protect the other-- everything. and this overprotection is what kills wilbur in the end, this foresight and innocent act that drew wilbur closer to the enemy than farther away, that kills wilbur permanently and leaves ranboo riddled with guilt as the ghost of wilbur instructs him on what he inherited, and what he must do to honor wilbur’s death. 

it’s the first time, but not the last time, that ranboo is mentored with ghosts. conclusively, though, it is the first time that ranboo’s image is altered-- though not drastic, sneeg and jack see him as a murderer, and both have very different reactions. ranboo is quick to lie to the others, like philza and tubbo, and state that it was the creeper’s fault, slyly leaving out his own part and continuing his ventures in protecting tubbo and the others he cares for. 

this is the launch of ranboo being a tragic hero. and this is the launch of philza not only being a mentor character, but a catalyst. see, philza encourages ranboo to start acting violently, specifically against jack, who is pegged as the antagonist because he is the easiest antagonist there. he’s bloodthirsty, he thought he was akin to ranboo despite the circumstances being different, and philza has a disdain for him that he does not have for tommy. philza speaks to ranboo’s language when ranboo denies this path, saying that philza didn’t want his friends to die, which is the same line of thinking ranboo has; he doesn’t want himself, tubbo, or anyone else-- hell, even jack himself-- to die. in the end, philza’s words just haunt him, but he continues fishing. be it in company, or in solitude. 

we’ve gone an impressive amount of paragraphs before directly hitting the mare staple, so i may as well clear it out here. yes, a lot of this is a comparison drawn to macbeth. you’re welcome. one of these days, i’ll compare these roleplays to another shakespeare play, but for now all you get is this. 

anyway, i kind of need to conclude this here. but i will end it with: i am very excited to see how lore develops, if they even want this to involve lore, which they may entirely not. it is possible ranboo will die soon, but i wonder if tubbo will die first. too many close encounters, after all, and maybe a faceoff with tommy and the loss of the one person he cared for more than anything, seemingly, would be what shakes him. and i wonder if that, in of itself, could spur him into violence. all to protect, of course. never to hurt. 

... it seems like today was a several paragraphs sort of day, then. thanks for reading this far. no i’m not proofreading this are you kidding?

#nightmare.personal #nightmare.analysis #30day smp analysis #30day smp #free trial smp #free trial smp analysis #not sure what to tag