Clay[5] (born August 12, 1999), known online as Dream, is an American YouTuber,
Twitch streamer, speedrunner, and singer primarily known for creating Minecraft
content.
Dream has been active online since 2014, but did not gain substantial popularity
until 2019, with the release of his "Minecraft Manhunt" YouTube series. Dream also
gained notability for his Minecraft speedruns; however, several of his records were
struck down due to evidence of cheating. Content created in the Dream SMP, Dream's
invite-only survival multiplayer (SMP) Minecraft server that stars content creators
engaged in roleplay, also attracted considerable attention, acclaim and a popular
fandom.
As of August 12, 2023, his seven YouTube channels have collectively reached over
42.91 million subscribers[b] and over 3.94 billion views,[a] and his two Twitch
channels have collectively gained 6.99 million followers.[c] YouTube awarded Dream
the Streamy Award for Gaming in 2020, 2021, and 2023.
Entertainment career
2014–2019: Early beginnings and Minecraft
Dream created his YouTube account on February 8, 2014,[6] under the username
DreamTraps[7] and started to upload content regularly in July 2019.[8] The oldest
accessible video on Dream's account involves him playing Minecraft deliberately
poorly in order to "trigger" viewers.[8] As of December 2022, the video has amassed
18 million views.[9]
In July 2019, Dream figured out the seed of a Minecraft world YouTuber PewDiePie
was playing on by using reverse engineering techniques that Dream learned from
online forums.[8] In November 2019, Dream uploaded a viral video titled "Minecraft,
But Item Drops Are Random And Multiplied..." that has amassed 49 million views as
of January 2021.[8] In January 2020, Dream uploaded a video in which he and another
YouTuber, GeorgeNotFound, connected an Arduino board to an electric dog collar,
which emitted an electric shock whenever a player lost health in Minecraft.[10]
In December 2020, in place of their annual YouTube Rewind series, YouTube released
a list of their top-trending videos and creators. On the U.S. list, YouTube ranked
Dream's "Minecraft Speedrunner VS 3 Hunters GRAND FINALE" video as the number seven
"Top Trending Video", and ranked Dream as the number two "Top Creator" and number
one "Breakout Creator".[11] A livestream by Dream on YouTube in November 2020 with
about 700,000 peak viewers was the 6th highest viewed gaming stream of all time as
of January 2021.[12] A December 2020 Polygon article stated that "2020 has been a
tremendous year for Dream", describing him as "YouTube's biggest gaming channel of
the moment."[13]
In a January 2021 article, Steven Asarch of Business Insider attributed Dream's
growth during 2019 and 2020 "to his understanding of the YouTube algorithm", noting
that "[h]e puts his keywords in the right places, capitalizes on trends, and makes
thumbnails that fans want to click on."[8]
Dream is a member of the "Dream Team", along with fellow YouTubers Sapnap and
GeorgeNotFound. The group frequently collaborate to create new content.[14] Dream
also had a friendly rivalry with fellow Minecraft YouTuber Technoblade before his
death, as they each had a contested recognition for the title of "best Minecraft
player."[15]
2019–present: Minecraft Manhunt, Dream SMP and collaborations
See also: Dream SMP
Dream's most popular YouTube series is "Minecraft Manhunt", a format where one
player — usually Dream — attempts to complete a speedrun of Minecraft, while
another player or team of players (the "hunters") attempts to kill the runner or
thwart their progress.[16] The first video in the series, titled "Beating Minecraft
But My Friend Tries to Stop Me", was published on December 26, 2019.[17] Further
videos were published in the following years, featuring incrementally greater
numbers of hunters. The final episode of the series was published on February 26,
2022.[18] Many of the Minecraft Manhunt videos have received tens of millions of
views,[19] with one of them ranking sixth in YouTube's Top Trending Videos of 2020.
[20] As of February 2022, the most-viewed in Dream's Minecraft Manhunt series has
108 million views.[18]
The series has received positive acclaim. Urian B. wrote in Tech Times that
Minecraft Manhunt "requires not only mastery of the terrain but also the ability to
think fast on your feet while different choices present themselves with only
milliseconds of time for decision making. This is something that Dream is good at,
split second decision making."[21] Nicolas Perez from Paste described Minecraft
Manhunt as "an experience that leaves me slack-jawed every time", stating that the
format of Minecraft Manhunt "seems to guarantee the hunters come out on top. But
more often than not, Dream pulls just enough aces out of his sleeve to narrowly
beat the hunters, and eventually the game."[16] Gonzalo Cardona, writing for Ginx
TV, noted that Minecraft Manhunt had "inspired cult-like montages by fans."[9]
Nathan Grayson, writing for Kotaku, said that Minecraft Manhunt had turned Dream
"into a household name among Minecraft fans."[22]
In April 2020, shortly after the release of Minecraft snapshot 20w17a, Dream and
GeorgeNotFound created the Dream SMP, a private Survival Multiplayer (SMP)
Minecraft server.[14][23][24] Over time, other prominent Minecraft content creators
outside of the "Dream Team" have been invited to the server, including TommyInnit,
Technoblade, and Wilbur Soot.[25][26]
Throughout 2020, Dream was a prominent participant in MC Championship, a monthly
Minecraft competition organized by Noxcrew. He won both the 8th and 11th MC
Championships.[27] In September 2020, during the 10th MC Championship, he played
for charity and raised around $3,400.[28]
The primary attraction for fans of The Dream SMP, according to their feedback, is
the roleplay aspect. Major events are loosely scripted in advance, while most other
elements consist of improvisation, performed live on YouTube and Twitch.[29]
Cecilia D'Anastasio of Wired described the Dream SMP as a form of live theatre and
as a "Machiavellian political drama."[30] During January 2021, over 1 million
people tuned into Dream SMP livestreams.[30]
On April 26, 2021, as a collaboration with Dream, fellow YouTuber MrBeast's fast-
food restaurant chain MrBeast Burger released the Dream Burger as a limited-time
addition to its menu.[31][32]
Music career
See also: Mask (Dream song) and To Whoever Wants to Hear
On February 4, 2021, Dream released his first song, entitled "Roadtrip", in
collaboration with PmBata, which garnered over 25 million views on YouTube.[33][34]
On May 20, 2021, Dream released his second song, entitled "Mask", which garnered
over 24.7 million views on YouTube.[35] An animated music video for "Mask" was
released in June of the same year, though it was later deleted.[34][36] The song
and accompanying music video faced criticism for the content of the lyrics and
animation, including a negative portrayal of prescription drugs. He depicted his
own negative experience taking prescribed ADHD pills,[37] referring to them in the
work as "normal pills".[34] On August 19, 2021, Dream released his third song,
entitled "Change My Clothes", in collaboration with American singer-songwriter Alec
Benjamin, which garnered over 8.3 million views on YouTube.[38] [citation needed]
Dream's fourth song, titled "Until I End Up Dead", was released through Mercury and
Republic Records on June 23, 2023,[39][40] after he had signed to Republic Records
in December 2022.[41]: 5:16 It was his first song to be released through a major
label. On July 26, 2023, Dream announced that his debut EP To Whoever Wants to Hear
would be released on September 1, 2023, and would have seven tracks.[42] The second
single from that EP, "Everest" with Yung Gravy, was released on July 28, 2023,[43]
followed by its music video on August 9, 2023.[44] A music video for "Kind of
Love", the second track on To Whoever Wants to Hear, was released on August 31,
2023, the day before the EP's release.[45] The EP debuted at number 173 on the
Billboard 200 chart.[46]
Public image and controversies
Dream is considered to have a polarizing personality on the YouTube platform.[47] A
2020 SurveyMonkey poll revealed that, of respondents who were familiar with Dream,
59.7% held a favorable view of him, while 22.1% expressed an unfavorable view.[48]
Dream and other members of the Dream SMP have given rise to a popular fandom.[49]
On January 1, 2021, Dream was doxxed.[8] In a tweet on January 7, 2021, he
addressed the doxxing and denied accusations made against him by his ex-girlfriend.
[8]
In June 2021, Dream was criticized for announcing that all revenue generated by his
streams in June would go to charity, with critics claiming he did not stream for
more than a single day that month. Dream had streamed multiple times on different
platforms during the month of June, including at least four streams on Discord,
where he encouraged fans to subscribe and donate to his Twitch channel.[50][51] On
June 30, 2021, Dream announced that he had donated US$140,000 (US$90,000 from fan
contributions and US$50,000 from the Dream Team) to The Trevor Project, an LGBT
youth charity.[52]
In response to fellow YouTuber Technoblade's cancer diagnosis, Dream donated
US$21,409 to cancer research in late August 2021.[53] Dream has since participated
in many other cancer charity initiatives, organized with Technoblade's father, who
goes by his online pseudonym Mr. Technodad.[54]
During his career, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) contacted him about a
"threat made against his life".[55]
Speedrun cheating scandal
In early October 2020, Dream livestreamed himself speedrunning Minecraft, and
submitted one of his times to [Link]. He was awarded with 5th place at the
time in the "1.16+ random seed glitchless" category.[13] Accusations of Dream
cheating in these speedruns first arose on October 16, when another Minecraft
speedrunner, in now-deleted Twitter posts, reported seeing higher drop rates for
key items in one of the speedrunning attempts that Dream submitted.[56] Dream
responded on October 29 in now-deleted Twitter posts, arguing that he had no reason
to cheat, that he did not possess the coding knowledge to raise drop rates, and
that the data was cherry picked.[57]
On December 11, 2020, following a two-month investigation, [Link]'s Minecraft
verification team removed his submission from the leaderboards. The team published
a report, along with a 14-minute video to YouTube, analyzing six archived
livestreams of speedrunning sessions by Dream from around the time of the record.
The team concluded that the game had been modified to make the chance of obtaining
certain items needed to complete the game higher than normal; they argued the odds
of "anyone in the Minecraft speedrunning community would ever get luck comparable
to Dream's" was at most 1 in 7.5 trillion.[13][56][58] In response, Dream called
the investigation clickbait and claimed that it was flawed enough that some members
of [Link]'s moderation team threatened to quit over it. [Link]
moderator Geosquare denied the accusation, saying: "All moderators voted
unanimously in our decision and no one is threatening to leave in protest", and
"From everything we know[,] that [claim] is unsubstantiated or complete
hyperbole."[13]
In a YouTube video, Dream maintained that the accusations of his cheating were
untrue. In response to the report by [Link], Dream commissioned a report by
an anonymous statistician, who Dream claimed was an astrophysicist. They argued
that the odds of a Minecraft speedrunner seeing luck comparable to Dream's was 1 in
10 million, instead of the [Link] team's 1 in 7.5 trillion.[d][19][59] Dot
Esports said that the report did not exonerate him, and "at most" it suggested it
was not impossible that he was lucky. The moderation team stood by their ruling and
issued a rebuttal to Dream's report. In a Twitter post, Dream indicated that he
would accept their decision without admitting fault.[56][57][59] On February 4,
2021, Matt Parker, a YouTube personality and recreational mathematician, published
a 40-minute video on the controversy supporting the conclusions of the moderators,
estimating the actual odds of being 1 in 20 sextillion (2 × 1022).[60][59]
On May 30, 2021, in a written statement, Dream stated that he had in fact been
using a "disallowed modification" that altered item drop probabilities, although he
maintained that the addition of the modification was unintentional. According to
him, this discrepancy was a result of a change to a client mod written for his
YouTube channel. In his statement, he said that the item modifications were changed
by the developer of the mod, and said that he was unaware of the addition until
February 2021.[61] After becoming aware of the addition, he deleted his video
response to the [Link] moderators. Dream explained that he did not mention
his discovery of the addition publicly back then because he "felt like the
community had been through enough drama and that it was pointless." He also "didn't
want to be the center of controversy for the hundredth time" and that he figured
"it would be a story I would tell in a few years when no one really cared."[59]
In a 2021 interview with YouTuber Anthony Padilla, Dream said that he regretted his
initial reaction to the cheating scandal, saying that "I handled the situation
horribly. When it originally came out, my response was, You guys are idiots, blah
blah blah." When asked by Padilla how he thought he should have handled the
scandal, Dream said that "I should have shut off all my devices for a couple days
and been like, OK, let me not react with emotion."[49]
TommyInnit feud
This section may lend undue weight to certain ideas, incidents, or controversies.
Please help to create a more balanced presentation. Discuss and resolve this issue
before removing this message. (January 2025)
In January 2025, Dream publicly had a dispute with former Dream SMP member Thomas
"TommyInnit" Simons in which he referred to Simons' fanbase as "retarded". Simons
released a YouTube video in response condemning Dream's use of the word, adding
that his mother "worked with adults with disabilities". Simons further accused
Dream and his friends of treating him poorly when he was 16, speaking about women
"behind the scenes" in a sexist manner, harassing his mother during a divorce, and
having "an inability to accept criticism". Dream made a response video in which he
apologized for his use of the word "retarded", stating that he "posted a meme on
Twitter that used the r-word and [he] shouldn't have done that". Dream additionally
alleged that Simons used child labour in his merchandise and using a "literal
editor sweatshop".[62] YouTubers JackManifoldTV, Ludwig, and Tubbo spoke out in
support of Simons, with Ludwig accusing Dream of further misogynistic behavior.
Dream's response stated that Ludwig had misremembered the situation, and he had
never done anything. Tubbo and Dream debated live on Twitch about the situation.
[63]
Personal life
Having not revealed his face until 2022, Dream's real-life identity and many
aspects of his personal life are not public.[8] He is an American[64] named Clay,
[65][66] was born on August 12, 1999,[67] and, as of 2022, resides in Orlando,
Florida, with fellow internet personalities GeorgeNotFound and Sapnap.[68] Dream
has spoken publicly about his diagnosis with ADHD.[69] His anonymous avatar was
inspired by a picture his former girlfriend posted on Discord.[49] He has a pet cat
named Patches.[70]
On September 19, 2022, Dream stated that the next YouTube video he would upload
would be him revealing his face to the public for the first time.[71][72][73] He
revealed his face in said YouTube video, titled "hi, I'm Dream.", thirteen days
later, on October 2, 2022.[74][66][75] Dream decided to do a face reveal because he
wanted to meet up with friends, explore making new types of content, and do more
work outside of his home.[49][76] He also said that he would post "more IRL
content" but does not "plan on adding a face cam" to his Minecraft videos.[76]
Dream's face reveal prompted both positive and negative comments online.[74] His
face reveal video garnered over 21.9 million views and 2.5 million likes in less
than a day.[76] As of May 2024, the video has over 62.9 million views and over 4.6
million likes, making it the 13th-most-viewed video on Dream's YouTube channel.[77]
Due to backlash, Dream deleted the face reveal video in June 2023.[78] As of
September 2023, the video has been restored.[improper synthesis?]
According to Time magazine, "Dream's anonymity has been one of the most alluring
aspects of his persona online and that intrigue, paired with his vibrant
personality, have helped him build a loyal following across social media
platforms." In a 2021 interview with YouTuber Anthony Padilla, Dream explained that
although he never intended to remain anonymous, this aspect of his identity had
become too important to his online persona for him to abandon at that time.[74]
