Dream Admitted to Accidentally Cheating on That Controversial Speedrun

After being named one of the top breakout YouTubers of 2020, popular Minecraft speedrunner Dream has faced allegations that he may be using mods to complete his speedruns so quickly.

While the creator's speedrun videos have placed highly in various competitions, one particular fifth-place run was scrutinized by moderators who questioned whether Dream was using mods to complete these runs more efficiently.

Since the moderators began studying his speedrun, some have wondered if Dream faked his speedrun. The group of moderators has since put out a 29-page report analyzing the speedrun and the statistical probability of happening without some additional help — the results of which have led some to question the credibility of his speedruns.

In the paper analyzing Dream's speedrun, the moderators implied that Dream continuously got lucky throughout the run in a way that makes the entire thing at the very least very unlikely. When looking at the statistics, it seems highly improbable that his luck could have naturally been that good.

To complete a Minecraft speedrun, you need to obtain two items that will unlock the end-game sequence. One of these items is more readily found by bartering with Piglins, while the other is dropped by a specific mob.

In the run, Dream successfully traded for one of the items 42 out of 262 times (though the statistics suggest that number should be closer to 12 out of 262), and received the other item 211 times throughout his run.

The moderators even compared Dream's run to Illumina, who they consider to be their "luckiest" speedrunner, and explained even with Illumina's luckiest speedrun, the numbers still weren't as high as Dream's were.

Moderator Geosquare uploaded a video explaining the findings in the paper, attempting to break down to viewers why his run was not yet verified.

“If nothing else, the drop rates from Dream’s streams are so exceptional that they ought to be analyzed for the sake of it, regardless of whether or not any one individual believes they happened legitimately,” the paper reads.

This has led to a lot of scrutiny around Dream's content, and as a result he's seen backlash from fans.

Dream attempted to thoroughly address the claims, initially denying them and even hiring a professor to analyze the data the moderators initially found in their video.

But after months of denying the allegations, Dream released a lengthy statement on Pastebin, admitting that he had a mod enabled at the time of the speedrun that did increase his luck in the game.

"As much as I was confident that I didn’t cheat, I had never explored the option that I possibly did. due to the way I reacted to the mods and perceived everything going on I was convinced that they were out to get me," Dream wrote.

"After considering this, I ended up finding out that I HAD actually been using a disallowed modification during ~6 of my livestreams on Twitch," he continued. "At the time we were just starting to record videos on 1.16 and we had just hired a developer to help with coding mods for videos because me and George had no experience with mods only plugins."

Dream continued, explaining that he hadn't thought the mod had been enabled at the time, but once he discovered he had unknowingly cheated, he "felt an extreme sense of guilt."

"I’m sorry to anyone that I let down or disappointed," he said. "I always strive to be the best person that I can be and that whole debacle wasn’t the best that I can be or anywhere near it. I hope this brings some closure to anyone who needed it, and I really want to move forward with positive vibes like I’ve been trying my best to promote as much as I can."