Tobias ‘Tubbo’ Smith On Minecraft, D&D, And TwitchCon Europe

If you’ve ever interacted with Tobias ‘Tubbo’ Smith during a Twitch stream or at an event, then you’re sure to have encountered his naturally outgoing and enthusiastic personality. What you see is what you get, and what you get is a streamer who loves multiplayer gaming, a range of different genres, and a good old-fashioned challenge.

Ahead of TwitchCon Rotterdam at the end of May, I caught up with Tubbo to talk about Twitch streaming, Minecraft, and Dungeons & Dragons.

“I started streaming around six years ago now” he tells me. “I began with Counter-Strike, but then I realized if I streamed Minecraft I could have people join my Minecraft server and play with me. With Minecraft, like any sandbox game, you thrive when you have personalities making stuff together, because it's really a game you can do anything in.”

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Small Beginnings

Tubbo was first drawn to Twitch as both a hobby and a challenge. When looking into the options for streaming he settled on Twitch because “It seemed like there was more to figure out. It seemed more interesting.”

When he started out, he never thought about it leading to a career, and saw it as little more than a hobby. It was just “my fun little thing I did after school,” he remembers. However, this changed quickly when his channel “just blew up” around 2020.

Tubbo’s journey into the world of Minecraft began long before Twitch, and much like his streaming career, it’s linked to his friends. “I started playing Minecraft when it [was] released in beta 1.7 because my friend had it on his parent’s computer,” Tubbo tells me. “My favourite part of the game is probably just messing around with my friends to be totally honest.”

This desire to just enjoy gaming, especially with friends, and share that authentically with an audience is what has fueled Tubbo’s career. “I don't really act any differently or put on a show. It's just me, chilling.”

He’s been involved in the Dream SMP and SMP Earth, which he describes as “so awesome,” but more recently he’s ventured into the fantasy realm.

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“I run a private Minecraft server right now called The Realm, which I'm pretty proud of. It's me and 30 other streamers. It's a fantasy server [where] we roleplay as wizards. It's quite fun.”

Streaming can be a tough job at times, but Tubbo has managed to maintain a super-positive mindset so far. “At times it can be overwhelming,” he admits. “The internet can be a lot to deal with sometimes, but my gripes with that don't come close to the benefits.” He goes on to say “I kind of humble myself. Sometimes I'm like, oh this is too much work. And then I'm like, wait a minute. I literally play video games for money.”

Many people know Tubbo from the Minecraft community thanks to his presence on prominent SMPs and nominations for Best Minecraft Streamer at the Streamer Awards in 2022 and 2023. He’s also participated in a number of charity events, including an event in 2021 where he was a “hunter” chasing Technoblade through Minecraft. “We raised a quarter of a million dollars for the Sarcoma Foundation” he tells me. “We did that in like six hours.”

However, Minecraft is far from the only game he plays. “I stream a load of other games,” he says. “There's this cool indie game called Astroneer, which is freaking awesome. I [also] like Factorio, Cities Skylines. I love Valorant, League of Legends - the Riot titles are always good fun. Also Valve games: Portal, Counter-Strike, I love those as well.”

He also excitedly tells me about a recent discovery, Kingdoms and Castles. “It’s really cool. It's an old game, and I really want to find the devs and see if they'll release an updated version for me. It's a really sick game.”

Dungeons & Dragons - No Dice

As well as video games, Tubbo also enjoys a good board game. “I also like tabletop games like Game of Life, Risk, they're also sick and I love D&D, it’s awesome.”

Tubbo’s D&D project, Dungeons & Dragons - No Dice, began last year and the challenge of it is something he’s embraced “I got into D&D about a year ago,” he tells me. “[Now] we do a big D&D show on stream, which is fun.” I can hear the excitement in his voice as he begins to tell me about the trailer, and pauses so I can watch it. “We made it all ourselves, so I'm quite pleased with it,” he excitedly tells me before saying that the chance to push himself to take on larger projects and new challenges is his “favourite thing.”

Dungeons & Dragons - No Dice also involves OwengejuiceTV, Aimsey, Bekyamon and Krowfangtv and Tubbo is looking forward to doing a stage show for it at TwitchCon Europe. When asked what’s involved he tells me, “A little bit of storytelling live, a little bit of Q&A, questions from the chat, and a behind the curtain of what we do.”

Tubbo is also looking forward to connecting with his community. “I mainly want to walk the floor. I want to meet up with some people in person, say hi to the squad, which I think will be very cool.”

Post TwitchCon Tubbo is continuing to work on a big public server release for his private SMP, working on his free Minecraft server hosting, and looking for the next challenge.

TwitchCon Europe takes place in Rotterdam on 31st May - 1st June.

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