A Guide to ‘Minecraft ARG But the Protagonist Is a Speedrunner’

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Plus, learn all about Minecraft ARGs straight from the experts!

Co-authored by Jose Rivera and Marcus Pruitt, BS

Last Updated: January 24, 2026 Fact Checked

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What is it?

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ARG Plot

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Characters

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How does it end?

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Other Scary Minecraft ARGs

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The world of Minecraft ARGs is nothing short of terrifying, especially when it comes to “Minecraft ARG but the protagonist is a speedrunner.” This ARG explores the possibilities of AI, how it feels to go crazy, and speedrunning—all over the course of 30 minutes. It’s practically a roller coaster ride, and in this article, we explain it all (with help from Minecraft experts José Rivera and Pixlriffs). Read on to learn about the plot of “Minecraft ARG but the protagonist is a speedrunner,” the characters, and more!

“Minecraft ARG But the Protagonist Is a Speedrunner” Overview

“Minecraft ARG but the protagonist is a speedrunner” is an ARG by YouTuber @Oneshef that follows a speedrunner as he attempts to beat Minecraft despite his game glitching. During the speedrun, he encounters a mysterious entity named “Assimilation,” whom he tries to escape from before being led to a weird laboratory.

Section 1 of 5:

What is ‘Minecraft ARG but the protagonist is a speedrunner’?

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“Minecraft ARG but the protagonist is a speedrunner” is an ARG by YouTuber Oneshef. @Oneshef’s ARG follows a player named Andre as he attempts to speedrun Minecraft and quickly beat the Ender Dragon. Over the course of the ARG, though, Andre is haunted by an entity known simply as “Assimilation,” who leads (and guides) him through a mysterious laboratory full of secrets.
- According to Rivera, an ARG (alternate reality game) is “a horror narrative staged across social media to mimic found footage through an evolving storyline with hidden messaging.”^{[1]
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Meet the wikiHow Experts

José Rivera is a Minecraft expert, social media strategist, and content creator with over 200 million views across his YouTube channel. He’s partnered with brands like Netflix and Disney+.

Pixlriffs is a Minecraft Expert and YouTuber who has been making Minecraft tutorials and Let’s Plays for over 11 years.

Section 2 of 5:

What is the plot of “Minecraft ARG but the protagonist is a speedrunner?”

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The ARG starts off with Andre exploring the world. Andre spawns into a new Minecraft world and quickly gets to work gathering materials. He’s streaming, so chatters are in the upper left-hand corner urging him to speed through this speedrun. However, the game glitches and loads a new world with the message “welcome to my world andre” splattered on screen before sending him back to a new world.^{[2]
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- After the new world loads in, the people in the chat notice weird inconsistencies, like Creeper craters, nighttime coming too fast, and signs with mysterious messages.
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Andre gathers materials and makes his way to the Nether. After loading into the new world, Andre finds a village blacksmith and raids it for materials like iron and gold. Using these materials, he crafts buckets, a pickaxe, and flint and steel to make his way to the Nether. In the Nether, he passes by a group of unacknowledged figures as he heads to gather more materials.^{[3]
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- After a quick mining session, Andre comes across more mysterious signs, like one that reads “YOU CANNOT RUN FOREVER ANDRE” before he goes into a Nether portal.
- When he goes into the portal, Andre’s screen brightens with a message that reads “hello again andre.”
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Andre gathers ender pearls and has more encounters after returning. Continuing the speedrun, Andre uses a boat to trap Endermen and kill them for their ender pearls. Then, his screen goes black before he’s blasted with the messages “you can not hold out forever andre,” “get back here andre,” and “stop running andre.” Then, he’s sent back to his world.^{[4]
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- In the world, Andre keeps fighting mobs, but mysterious glitches occur. He even gets a message on his screen that says “DO NOT THINK I DID NOT SEE YOU ANDRE,” before his game starts to glitch more.
- The colors get blue and bright, he starts teleporting, and encounters a figure called “Assimilation.” This figure starts attacking him before freezing his game and saying “I HAVE YOU NOW ANDRE!!!^{[5]
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Andre is transported to a new world. In this world, he’s met with the message “NO ESCAPE NOW ANDRE” as he’s attacked. His game then quickly loads a new, seemingly normal world, but Andre is quickly teleported to the world he was just being attacked in. He tries to escape, but is met with the messages “keep trying andre” and “it is endless here andre.”^{[6]
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- He keeps trying to escape, but to no avail. He then attacks Assimilation, causing the screen to turn red. Andre keeps trying to beat him, and after 442 attempts, he seemingly does, but is met with another message saying otherwise.
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Andre loads into a new world, but isn’t free of Assimilation. Andre loads into different worlds, gathering materials in the second one as he continues the speed run. It goes on like normal for a bit, but Assimilation shows back up and notices the chatters messaging in the stream. This causes the stream to glitch and restart, putting Andre and Assimilation into a mysterious laboratory.^{[7]
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- Assimilation is confused once he notices the chatters messaging, and this only gets more confusing after he’s teleported to the lab.
- In the lab, mysterious messages start showing up talking about how maybe they shouldn’t have made A1 sentient and that there are various bugs involving P1.
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The two explore the laboratory as their perspectives switch. Assimilation is the first perspective we see, and he’s just as confused about the laboratory. Then, the perspective switches to Andre, who explores the laboratory, going through different doors and escaping the first through a boat. Back in Assimilation’s perspective, he notices the boat and uses it to track Andre’s movements.^{[8]
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- He follows a path for a reason he doesn’t know, and it’s in the AI Training Simulation Area. He stops at the path and uses his teleportation and speed to get around before encountering a cloning machine.
- After the machine is discovered, the perspective switches to Andre, who explores the laboratory until coming across Assimilation.
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Andre tries to escape to no avail. Once he comes across Assimilation, Andre tries to leave out of an iron door, but is teleported back every time. Eventually, he gives up and listens to Assimilation, who tells him they live in a lie. Using the cloning machine, the two fill the lab with versions of themselves while they escape with a boat.^{[9]
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- Around this time, the Admins show up and start killing the clones they come across with one hit.^{[10]
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- Eventually, the Admins make their way to the lab and discover the boat Andre and Assimilation used to escape before the perspective switches back to them.
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Andre and Assimilation attempt to escape, but are caught by the Admins. Although they’ve made it out of the laboratory, Assimilation goes back to get the boat and is seen by one of the Admins. He makes it back to Andre and they quickly attempt to escape, but are seen by the Admins. They make it to a mysterious set of doors, though, and while they end up back to the surface world.^{[11]
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- In the surface world, they encounter a house owned by a player named collinlock16. Here, Andre continues his speedrun and eventually makes it to the End, despite Collin saying he’d never beat the world.
- Andre and Assimilation work together to fight the Ender Dragon and get Elytras they can use to take down the Admins, and although they beat it, Andre is frozen when they get back to the world.^{[12]
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- Assimilation is confused at the freezing and starts screaming, but soon, he is killed by the Admins, who confirm that Andre is frozen because he’s completed his programmed task.
- It is here that it’s revealed that both Andre and Assimilation are AI programs designed for speedrunning.

Section 3 of 5:

“Minecraft ARG But the Protagonist is a Speedrunner” Characters

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AndreW2002 AndreW2002, better known as Andre, is the main character in this ARG. He is supposedly streaming a speedrun of the game to a bunch of chatters, but once he encounters Assimilation and goes on the adventure of exploring the lab, he finds that there’s more to the world than meets the eye.
- Eventually, after beating the game, he is revealed to have been an AI programmed to speedrun Minecraft.
- He appears as a grey-skinned figure with a white lab coat, blue hair and blue eyes.
Assimilation is a sentient AI who appears as the antagonist turned deuteragonist. They’re often portrayed as an all black skin with an eye in the middle of their face. They also have powers that are seemingly beyond Minecraft’s laws of physics, like warping a space to teleport to it or teleport items from it.
The Admins are a mysterious group that seemingly run the laboratory and the AI programs that are Andre and Assimilation. Not much is known about them, but they are believed to have programmed the two characters for speedrunning and other mysterious purposes. They appear as computer screens with white lab coats and black undershirts.
The chatters are the group viewing Andre’s stream throughout the ARG. They are believed to be different parts of his mind, as Andre only notices some things after the chatters mention them. They also don’t seem too surprised by the events taking place in the game, and don’t say anything after Andre freezes.

Section 4 of 5:

What happened after “Minecraft ARG but the protagonist is a speedrunner?”

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There’s not an official plot after the ARG, but there are fan theories! One fanfiction says Assimilation protected AndreW2002 for months. Although the official events after the ARG haven’t been confirmed, AO3 writer A_WritingDaisy did put together a fanfiction built off of its ending. In this fanfiction, Andre is still frozen in place, with Assimilation having been protecting him for 2 months. He never ventures too far away, but he does begin to get resentful because of his loneliness.
- Over these 2 months, Assimilation has been protecting AndreW2002 from different mobs and exploring the area around his frozen body.

Section 5 of 5:

Other Scary Minecraft ARGs

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The “Finding a Player Who Doesn’t Exist” ARG follows a conspiracy about a player named Alex. He constantly plays Minecraft, but after noticing a mysterious figure in the distance, he starts acting weird. Eventually, he stops playing, randomly shows back up, and ignores everyone else in the server as he mindlessly mines, much to the worry of his friend Crafty.
According to Rivera, “There Were 2 Kids in the House” is a Minecraft ARG told through streams. In these streams, a child is kidnapped and forced to play Minecraft. Over the course of these streams, details get fuzzy and we realize he’s not the only kid being forced to play; there are actually 2 kids in the house.^{[13]
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Entity 303 Rivera says Entity 303 is a story about “a rogue developer seeking revenge through code.”^{[14]
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Jose Rivera
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Expert Interview} The story follows a Minecraft employee who was fired by Notch, the creator of the game. After the employee is fired, he vows to take revenge on players and developers under the name “entity.303.”
- He corrupts players’ worlds for revenge, determined to take control of the game.
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Searching For a World That Doesn’t Exist Pixlriffs says that “Searching For a World That Doesn’t Exist” is a Minecraft ARG of a player having their world invaded by an eldritch entity. The ARG references videos with secret codes embedded in them to create an atmosphere of discovering broader mystery outside the video itself.^{[15]
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Pixlriffs
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- According to Pixlriffs, the ARG uses changing Minecraft environments to illustrate the player’s descent into a world they cannot understand.^{[16]
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