Should Minecraft Mob/Biome Votes Be Scrapped?

Every year since 2017, the "MineCon" event of the year has included a very special event. A chance for the fans to influence what content gets included in the game. This comes each year in the form of a mob to be added, or a biome to receive new content. For die-hard Minecraft fans who follow the updates religiously, this must be like CHRISTMAS. On paper, this sounds like a really awesome and wholesome event for Mojang to hold each year. 

On paper, the Phantom sounded like a really cool idea.

As the above comment suggests, the reality of these annual votes has been a little less rosy than imagined. "This is why we can't have nice things" really ensues here when you look at some of the toxicity, controversy and backlash these votes have caused. To the point HelenAngel herself is contemplating scrapping these votes outright.

I want to discuss here: are these votes a good idea? Is it their execution? Or is the Minecraft fandom simply as bad at handling democracy as Trump?

As I stated previously, I do believe the votes are a good idea in theory. They do give players a sense of influencing their favourite game. However, I do feel their execution can be incredibly botched. One of my very first rants was all about the 2020 mob vote and why that one was, between popular YouTubers manipulating kids to vote the mob of their choice; a lack of information about each mob; outright misinformation; and an unfair fight to begin with, a complete and total utter mess and a bit of a disaster waiting to happen. But I feel the others had their share of problems too. I will go through each of the votes and discuss what could've been done better.

The 2017 Mob Vote

This is the one that started it all. We were given the choice of 4 mobs, simply known as "A", "B", "C" and "D". Mob A was a monster of the Ocean Depths, which pulled you in and drowned you. Mob B was a flying enemy that swooped down and bit your flesh if you didn't sleep. Mob C was an underground lizard with a big mouth that tried to eat you, and Mob D was a stronger blaze mini-boss in the Nether with a shield-like appearance. 

The vote progressed in 3 rounds. Each round, the mob that got the least votes was eliminated. This was actually a really good way to allow people whose first choice was voted out, to vote their second choice in the next round. This strategy of multiple rounds, although it was a sinking factor of the 2020 vote due to 2 passive mobs being pitched against a hostile one, really worked in the favour of the 2017 mob vote. This "rounds" format was also done in 2018 and 2019's votes. The rounds format was a really good and positive part of the vote's execution. Unfortunately, this is where the positives end.

The big message they hit home is that the losing mobs of the 2017 vote are gone FOREVER. They will NEVER be added. This served to "raise the stakes" of the vote, but ultimately ended up causing a major backlash. Fans were angry that their beloved big-mouthed lizard was never going to ever see the light of Minecraft's square sun. But did they go a little too far? Fans started BERATING the devs that their mob of choice didn't win. Could this be a sign that the fandom is simply too immature to handle a democratic vote? The fact is, the Phantom did in fact win fair and square. The Phantom wasn't my choice at all - mob A was my mob of choice. But I knew that the phantom had won and just accepted it. But I was also a lot older than 12 when the vote happened.

The "losing mobs going away forever" thing really upset a lot of people whose mob lost, and I definitely do think, although a vocal minority, people did get WAY too bitter and extreme. I also personally do not think the losing mobs should've been banished forever, as all four of them sound really cool, and if done right, could add a lot to the game. But as much as people have requested to have the three losing mobs, Mojang have been absolutely adamant that the losing mobs are gone forever.

Similar to the 2020 vote (and all votes), we really weren't given a whole lot of information about how each mob would function. I do believe this is why almost everyone who voted mob B came to regret it in the end. I personally don't think the Phantom is the worst mob in the game by any stretch - I mean, come on, Hoglins exist. I have even made a whole post DEFENDING the phantom. But I am a little different. The general consensus amongst the fandom is that Phantoms are one of the worst, if not THE worst, mob in Minecraft. So many people have complained that they have even added an option to disable Phantoms spawning.

So yes, the 2017 mob vote did have a lot of problems. The losers going away forever, a botched execution of the winning mob, lack of information about the 4 mobs, and angry fans going WAYYY overboard that their mob of choice lost.

If I were Mojang, I would not have done another mob vote after 2017. But they gave the vote another chance, putting the 2017 issues down to teething problems. I think maybe we CAN give Mojang a bit of leeway with this one, as it was indeed the first time they did this.

The 2018 and 2019 Biome Votes

At the next year's MineCon event, the vote was brought back, with some changes. Instead of just voting on a mob, we now got to vote on a BIOME that would have new several features added.

After the backlash that arose from the losing mobs going away forever the previous year, they improved PR by saying the losing contenders would get added to the game eventually™. At the time, it made people a lot happier. It made the vote less consequential so that people would get less upset by the outcome. And I have to say, of all the votes, this one was perhaps the most drama-free.

The biomes of choice were the desert, savanna, and taiga. The desert update would include palm trees, oases and meerkats (because Minecraft always needed Meerkats!) The savanna update would include baobab trees, termites and ostriches. The Taiga update would include foxes, berry bushes and campfires. We got two rounds of votes similar to 2017. The vote came and went, the Taiga won, and in the next update (1.14), the Taiga features were added. There was of course a bit of snottiness from the vocal minority who wanted the Desert or Savanna to win, but no more than you'd expect from the losing voters who aren't Trump.

Seriously Trump, you lost. Get over it. It's March now.

Perhaps the most backlash with this vote has come as time has progressed, as people have realised when they said the losers would be added eventually, they basically meant "maybe within the next 10 years". It is definitely hard not to feel lied to, as 2.5 years have gone by and there is absolutely no hint that they're even thinking about adding the Desert and Savanna features. It is almost like they just said that in order to avoid the stink that was created in 2017 by the losing mobs that were gone FOREVER. I think we all realise now that Mojang basically have no plan to add the losing features of any of these votes.

In 2019, the biome vote returned again with three more biomes to choose from: the swamp, the mountains, and the badlands. I feel this one was a bit less fair than the one before, as the badlands was basically doomed to fail. I actually voted Swamp, but in hindsight the Mountains were a bit of a no-brainer really. Controversy arose when a year passed without any hint of the winning vote being implemented. But then they showed us why that took so long in 2020 - they were making the mountains EPIC.

So, with all this in mind... should there be a 2021 mob or biome vote?

In my humble opinion.... no.

Even with 2018 and 2019's votes, there have still been issues with a lack of information about any of the new features. And this has been a problem that has plagued all four votes. They really tell us NOTHING about how these features will function, and other related features. They didn't tell us that the Glow Squid would drop Glow Dye (instead they gave unintentional misinformation about the Glow Squid having a hypnotic effect on players), or that the Phantom would spawn after only three nights. If we had a lot more information, I feel the outcomes of the votes would be very, VERY different.

I also think Mojang need to deliver on their promises and actually add the 2018, 2019 and 2020 losing votes. And hopefully finally change their mind about 2017's eternal banishing of the losing mobs. Heck, I would be DELIGHTED if 1.18 is entirely "adding the losing features". It certainly would make for a good update.

I think Mojang need to stick to their word and add the losers before they start adding more to the pipeline with a 2021 vote. I just feel either way, they are in a tight spot. If they say the features are going away forever, people who voted losing outcomes get mad and get their knickers in a twist. If they say losing features will be coming, they need to actually deliver on that. If they can't or won't, then it is time to get rid of these votes. This catch-22 exists regardless of the lack of information and vagueness of the features within the votes.

But ultimately, I feel nowadays the community has enough of a say with feedback and everything that these votes simply aren't necessary anymore. These votes do more harm than good, and encourage toxic fans and spoiled brats to attack the developers when they don't get their way.

So yes, the TL;DR of all this is that I do think these votes should be scrapped. At least, in their current form. If they are going to do another vote, it should at least be once we've seen the losing votes added.