The Minecraft mob vote is a yearly event that takes place before the Mojang team releases the next Minecraft version. It goes something like this:
- Mojang announces they're going to conduct the event a week or two before the vote date.
- They slowly release the 3 mobs that us players can vote for. Video shows what biome the mobs are native to, what will their functions be and loot drops, etc.
- On the voting the day (Minecraft Live) we vote on Twitter/X, the mob that got the lowest vote gets eliminated, then the remaining two mobs get voted again, then the mob with the highest vote gets implemented in the game.
The mob votes are evidently controversial. People are entitled to their own opinions, and with this comes a lot of issue in the Minecraft community especially during the mob vote ±period. This year's mob vote has caused more controversy than ever, with hashtags like #StopTheMobVote trending over the past few days. It makes sense since it divides the community into different parts.
Let's talk about this year's mobs, in sneak-peak release order:
- Crab: A mob that spawns in the Mangrove biome, can climb vertically up blocks (like the spider), and drops the crab claw which allows players to place blocks futher away.
- Armadillo: A mob that spawns in the warm places, like the Savannah biome. It drops scutes- which can be used to craft armour for your pet dog.
- Penguin: A super-friendly mob that spawns in the Stony Shores biome. Clumsy on land but elegant swimmers and they help your boat move faster.
As per statistics, the armadillo is currently leading from YT and Twitter/X likes, and the penguins being the last one. I personally am voting for the crab cause I'm a builder myself and the extra reach would be so helpful! The only mob I do disagree with is the armadillo, I don't think it provides any other functionality other than dog armour- would be good if they add something like cat/parrot/other tameable mob armour too. It would also be cooler if they reflect projectiles like they do in real life.
This is the first time since three years that all 3 mobs have been given a useful function. So it was high-time that the users formed a community for requesting all mobs this time be added in the next Minecraft version. We've truly lost some amazing mobs in the past few years, my personal favorites being The Hovering Inferno, The Icologer, The Barnacle, and a few more. But oh-boi, this year is something else: A change.org petition that has reached 95% of its goal at the time of writing.
I do completely agree with Mojang should try to add all the mobs they've showcased us this year, but I also feel like that is too much. We currently have no idea what they are planning for 1.21, and props to them for developing an amazing game for more than a decade (especially Notch who started it all). I feel like adding the mobs that are top two would be a great start.
Another mess with the mob vote is the popular figures from the Minecraft community influencing their followers to vote for X mob and basically rigging the vote and making it unfair for all. This happened during the 2020 mob vote, where these popular figures basically just said, "Y'all go vote for the glow squid", and well it worked since their fanbase was massive, and we've got the glow squid now...
Along with that, many are going:
"Minecraft modding community have already implemented the mobs that have been shown to us this year."
Yes they have, and I respect their work. But saying that since a single person can do, then the entire Mojang team can do it too is rubbish.
As of now the entire Minecraft team has 700 employees, and each for contributing to some part of the code. The java edition devs, bedrock edition, game artists, QA testers, marketing and others. They have to make sure the mob they're implementing is optimised, functions properly on both platforms. That being said, I do believe they have the resources to implement atleast two mobs- Like current release bought camels and frogs together at the same time, so truly they can definitely add two mobs in a single update.
All I'm saying is that the people should be obviously entitled to their own opinions, but screaming at Mojang for not doing everything the community's way is absurd and unjustified. If Mojang did implement everything the community wanted then we would receive a broken game. At the end of the day, we all truly love this game and that's it has existed for over a decade. Sure the mob vote may divide the community, but we still keep coming back to the game we love to this day.
Hope you enjoyed reading my little rant.