Nate Filson ^[1] , better known as DrDonut, is an American YouTuber and streamer best known for creating the DonutSMP. He is primarily known for his involvement in Minecraft PVP, and his own server. He live streams frequently ^[2] , and as of the 4th of April 2026, sits at 1.9M subscribers.

The DonutSMP began as a small private server originally created around 2020. At this time, the server was called "Donut Server." In its early form, the server had strict rules prohibiting killing and stealing, and had a whitelist. Players could be added to the whitelist by asking in his live chat. ^[3] The server initially gew organically through his livestream audience, starting with only a few viewers and gradually expanding as more players joined and participated. During this phase of the server, killing and stealing were not allowed. Everyone lived in a massive community and there were shops where players could trade diamonds for loot.

Due to increasing griefing and player activity, DrDonut later introduced a separate server variant where stealing, killing, and griefing were all allowed. This was the result of the server moderators not being able to keep up with the griefing. Players who died on the hardcore server would face a 3-day ban. This new variant of Donut Server, now called DonutSMP, gained more popularity on livestreams and TikTok. ^[3]

Over time, the server evolved into a more competitive environment. DrDonut eventually incorporated an economy system, and discontinued the original no-griefing server due to moderation limitations.

DrDonut has stated that he was introduced to crystal PVP after observing other players using end crystals in combat on the server. At the time, crystal PVP was not widely known within the community, and players on the server reported those who used crystal PVP assuming they were cheating.