ReNDoG

ReNDoG
Rendog at MINECON Earth in 2018
YouTube Channel
Channel	@rendog
Joined	January 9th, 2006
Videos	1,800+
Twitter	@renthedog
Twitch	@rendogtv

"Greetings Cyberdogs and citizens of the internet!"  Renthedog

ReNDoG—or Ren for short—is a South African-British gaming content creator who focuses on producing family friendly content for anyone to enjoy. His content primarily revolves around Minecraft YouTube videos and Twitch livestreams, but has covered a select number of other games in the past, including Terraria. A member of the Hermitcraft server since 2016, he often collaborates on videos and on streams with fellow members.

Rendog was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa, though currently resides in England. Throughout many of his videos, he has recounted many of his childhood stories and experiences from his childhood in South Africa while adding his particular brand of humor in order to engage viewers. Established in 2012, his official Dogcraft community of fans—collectively known as Cyberdogs—maintain a website, a Minecraft Server and a Discord server in his name.

History

"Lets Play's" (2006-2014)

ReNDoG's original channel icon, in use between 2012-2014

ReNDoG created his YouTube channel on the 9^th of January, 2006; only a year into the site's history as a whole. On his channel ReNDoG would feature a number of games, ranging from as Metro: Last Light to Project Zomboid. Through this time period up until around 2014 his content was quite varied. Many of his earlier videos are no longer available on his channel for various reasons, however, though ReNDoG would learn a lot from his early work.

Terraria (2010-2012)

In late 2010, ReNDoG pivoted to making videos about the 2D-Sandbox game Terraria, uploading videos of him playing the game as well as guides for the Wiki. ReNDoG would find his first breakout success in December of 2011 with his upload of Let's Play Terraria: Episode 1 (Afro) which would see 150,000 views in its' lifetime. Through his early Terraria videos, ReNDoG grew a fanbase, which he would eventually name "Cyberdogs". More recently, ReN has dabbled in Terraria again with another Let's Play, however the play through was never completed.

ReNDoG's Minecraft account;  Renthedog.

Let's Play Minecraft (2012-2017)

Rendog's channel icon from 2014-2021—a variant of the Dogcraft Logo

ReNDoG would see breakout success with the upload of his first Let's Play Minecraft video on the 28^th of April, 2012. Though he had uploaded videos on Minecraft before, his first Let's Play video would generate over 1.4 million views making it his most popular video on his channel even to this day.

Let's Play Minecraft would run on his channel for over five years until the 22^nd of July, 2017 where, after five seasons, he uploaded his final video in the world. Throughout this period, ReNDog's community would grow substantially and a fansite was created, Dogcraft.net.

On Sep 12, 2017, ReNDoG uploaded the first episode in a new Minecraft Let's Play series where he would begin establishing the Moleshire. The first episode was called WE BEGIN AGAIN! The last episode S01E81 appeared on YouTube on Oct 25, 2018 an episode called BUBBLEVATOR UPGRADE!

Kingdomcraft and Hermitcraft (2015-2019)

The Hermitcraft roster artwork from hermitcraft.com. Ren is on the top row fourth from the right.

On the 22^nd of March, 2015, ReNDoG uploaded his first video as part of a YouTuber community as joined the Kingdomcraft server in an episode aptly titled "A New Era has begun". This new series and format proved to be highly popular with viewers and its success is commonly cited by ReNDoG himself as a turning point for the channel. Around this time, he also began streaming more regularly on his twitch channel.

In 2016, on February the 26^th, ReNDoG was officially revealed as a new server member on the Hermitcraft server as he uploaded his first video as a member of the community, "Gift for the Hermits". He has regularly uploaded videos from the server across its' seasons ever since and made close friendships with other hermits, including Iskall85.

Streaming, Collaborations and Growth (2019-2021)

Starting in early 2015, ReNDoG began streaming fairly regularly on his twitch channel, RendogTV. ReNDoG streamed a variety of games; primarily Minecraft, but also others, including They Are Billions and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. ReNDoG continues to actively stream throughout the week to this day.

In April 2019, Ren was visited by MrBeast on livestream, where he received a donation of $1,000; he responded in turn by stating he planned on giving the money to "someone much less fortunate" than him as he already had his YouTube channel. Throughout 2020, 2021 and early 2022, ReNDoG participated in the Noxcrew's Minecraft Championship series alongside other Hermitcraft members and in April 2021, ReNDoG participated in the Three Lives Hardcore SMP server.

Cinematic Focus & Renpire (2021-Present)

Since 2021, Ren has received acclaim for the increased production values in his Hermitcraft content. During the seventh season of Hermitcraft, Ren adopted the Renpire motif for his channel, in homage to Star Wars and as part of a storyline for the server, which led to the introduction of his current channel logo following a design bid contest. His videos have been praised for their cinematic focus and high quality, while staying true to his style of humor and he continues to produce videos from the server as it approaches its' tenth season.