Minecraft is one of the most well known video games of the modern era. Boasting over 300 million sales according to a statement made at minecraft live 2023, Minecraft has cemented itself into pop culture, cultivating large communities on youtube, twitch, and other social media platforms.
Minecraft was founded in 2009 by Markus Persson – also known as Notch – who had been working on the game since 2004. Persson Continued to work on the development of the game until it was bought by Microsoft in 2014. Microsoft would later launch the “Mob Vote” in 2017.
The Mob Vote was created as a method to generate hype for game updates. Players would choose one of three options, usually mobs, to be added to the update, while the other two options would be “added later”, according to developers. This would hypothetically spark online engagement, but In reality, the Mob Vote generates significant division within the community.
Several factors have influenced distaste for the vote. Public figures have a tendency to rally their followers into skewing the vote. For example, in 2020, popular Minecraft YouTuber Dream mobilized his fan base to vote for the glow squid. Many players felt this made the vote disingenuous When the glow squid was released, many players found it underwhelming, which led to further resentment against glow squid voters and the game in general.
No matter what option wins, Due to the fact that all three choices are generally relatively popular, the vote is usually split enough that at least 40% of voters come out unhappy with the results, having voted for something different.
Following the announcement of the 2023 Mob Vote, creator @Nightwing7974 on Tik Tok voiced his dissatisfaction about the Mob Vote. “I get that the Mob Vote is used to generate hype around the update, and it works, but for all the wrong reasons. It gets people talking about minecraft, sure, but the thing it does the most is tear this community apart.”
This post ignited a movement on the app. Posts, generally set to the same song “Feed The Machine ” voicing anti-Mob vote sentiments gained traction. Fans started creating anti-Mob Vote posters inspired by war and union propaganda. pasting pictures of minecraft mobs or “Steve” -Minecraft’s default avatar- on top of original posters.
A petition was eventually created on change.org by small TikTok creator Holly Mavermorne, which as of now has over 500,000 signatures. While this number may seem insignificant when compared to Minecraft’s gargantuan player base, but It is far more impressive considering only five million players actually participated in the vote, evidence of it’s significance to the player community.
The Mob Vote protest demonstrates that young people are able to successfully organize movements via the internet to fight for their beliefs (even if the Mob Vote isn’t very important in the grand scheme of things). It effectively serves as an example for how communities can come together in support of a common goal.