Often when a hardcore fan base gets upset about something happening in the game they’re way too invested in, it’s usually over something trivial and unrelatable outside of their bubble. That’s exactly how the Minecraft mob voting drama looks at first blush. I haven’t seen the Minecraft players this upset since Dream faked his speedrun, and it’s all over a penguin, an armadillo, and crab? This might seem like a touch grass situation for the Minecrafters. (Minecraftians?) But if you ask me, they have every right to be upset about this situation. I don’t even go here, but I’m on the Steves’ side on this one.
It’s a pretty simple set-up. Every year since 2017, Mojang Studios has run a community event called the Mob Vote. Players are given three choices for a new mob model that could potentially be added to the game that year. Whichever one gets the most votes makes it in, while the other two are never heard from again. This year, the choices are penguins, armadillos, and crabs.
This is the sixth annual Mob Vote, and a lot of people in the Minecraft community want it to be the last. Our own Joshua Robertson did a fantastic jobsumming up the controversy in this article, but in brief, vocal Minecraft players all across social media are sick of having to choose one cool thing at the cost of two other cool things. They want all three, or at the very least, a commitment from the studio that all three mobs will make it into the game eventually, even if they can only choose one to add right away.
It may seem a little entitled, but I know exactly where the Minecraftese are coming from. I feel the same way when Bungie runs its annual vote for Festival of the Lost armor sets. Every year around April, Bungie presents two sets of three armor sets - one for each class - and asks us to vote for the one that will be added to the Eververse store during the Festival of the Lost in October. Every year two amazing sets are presented, and every year it sucks knowing one of them is going to end up in the garbage.
In 2021, the choice was between monsters and dinosaurs, and the dinosaur set easily won, so we never got the amazing Titan cyclops or Warlock dragon armor. Last year was monsters vs. mechs - threedifferentmonster sets - and once again, the monsters lost. This year was different, as class was voted on separately. In the battle of beetles vs. spiders, the Hunters and Titans took the Spider armor, while the Warlocks took the Beetle. Is this better? Not really!
There’s so many reasons why these kinds of events rub me the wrong way. It’s presented as a fun way to include the community in the process of developing the game, but it comes across like engagement bait. This kind of artificial democracy just highlights how little control players actually have about the future of the games they play. It’s also oddly disrespectful to the artists involved in creating these designs. Sure, it’s a job and they get paid either way, but I have a hard time believing any creator feels good watching their work lose a popularity contest and get tossed in the bin.
In the case of the Mob Vote, each option will have an impact on the game. Crabs drop a Crab Claw item that lets you place and break blocks from further away. Penguins give boats a speed boost, and Armadillos drop Scute that can be used to craft wolf armor - a highly-requested feature for many years. Players want all of these things in the game. As exciting as it will be to finally get one of these things, knowing the other two things will never happen just puts a bad taste in everyone’s mouths.
There’s better ways to do it. With Destiny 2, the vote could determine which one you get for free, and which one will be available for real money in the Eververse. The Minecraft Mob Vote could determine a release schedule of new mobs throughout the year, with the one getting the least votes taking the longest to come out. It’s not fun when you feel like you’re losing something you never had to begin with, and I hope Mojang, Bungie, and anyone else running similar community votes rethink these events in the future.
Next:Minecraft Fans Are Now Making Propaganda And Petitions To Stop The Mob Vote
