2023 Minecraft Mob Vote Revolution / End the Mob Vote

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Part of a series on Mob Vote (Minecraft). [View Related Entries]

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Overview

The 2023 Minecraft Mob Vote Revolution or End the Mob Vote refers to a campaign and series of memes, largely videos on TikTok, calling for an end to the Minecraft mob vote, an annual event where Minecraft players vote for one of three new potential mobs, with the winner being added to the game. The revolt was popularized on TikTok in October 2023 shortly after the 2023 mob vote was announced, with members of the revolution wanting Mojang to simply add all the mobs to the game rather than make players choose only one, failing to understand why they can't add all the mobs, or the losing mobs at a later date rather than forever shelve them. A Change.org petition calling for an end to the mob vote was also shared that month, gaining over 300,000 signatures in four days. Videos participating in the revolution are often set to the song "Feed the Machine" by Poor Man's Poison.

Background

The Minecraft mob vote is an annual event hosted by Mojang, the company behind Minecraft, where participants are asked to vote on one of three potential mobs to add to Minecraft. The losing mobs are not added to the game. In 2023, the potential mobs are the crab, penguin or armadillo.

On October 6th, 2023, Redditor u/Oceans24mission posted a graphic to /r/Minecraft^[6] showcasing all the mobs lost to the mob votes, garnering over 5,300 upvotes in three days (shown below).

On the same day, Change.org^[1] user Holly Mavermorne started a petition titled "Stop the Mob Vote: Put an end to the scrapping of great ideas." The petition explains how the mob vote "generates engagement by tearing the community apart," claiming that it leaves "fantastic ideas on the cutting room floor," meaning the mobs that lose, which have never been added to the game. The full description reads:

For years, Minecraft's yearly update has given players the Mob Vote: the option to vote between three creatures to be added to the yearly update. This year, three equally great options are presented, which reveals a problem with the game's content release cycle.

The Mob Vote generates engagement by tearing the community apart, leaving fantastic ideas on the cutting room floor, and teasing content that will never be seen in the game. That, mixed with the fact that Mojang somehow releases less content WITH Microsoft's backing than they did without, means players see minimal content to the game they love, and watch as possibly the one thing to get them to play again is ripped from them.

Many have expressed their discontent with the Mob Vote in the past, with fan favorites like the Moobloom not making it into the game, and with content creators mobilizing their fanbases to vote for the least popular option for the joke of screwing over the other voters. This shows that the mob vote is inherently flawed.

Lastly, Minecraft made its popularity due to its regular updates and large amounts of content. This was back as early as 2011. Now, Minecraft is not only the highest selling game ever released, but has the financial backing of the massive corporation Microsoft. Despite this, players only receive a single, very small content update each year. The Mob Vote teases at some of that content, only for a third of what was teased to make it in, further decreasing the content of the update.

So we call upon Mojang. Stop the Mob Vote. Give us three mobs each year. If unpaid modders can add your mobs to the game within days after they're announced, the least you could do is keep up with the content frequency that made Minecraft famous.

On October 7th, TikToker^[2] @endminecraftmobvote, who has a link to the Change.org petition in their bio, posted a slideshow with the hashtag "#endthemobvote" offering a summary of the petition's points and calling for an end to the mob vote, also sharing a parody revolution poster calling for a "revolt against the mob vote," garnering over 2.1 million views in two days (shown below). This is the earliest known post to share the revolution on TikTok.

Developments

The hashtag and campaign spread over the following days, inspiring numerous videos on TikTok, including more parody revolution posters calling for the end of the mob vote. Some TikTokers began to use the song "Feed the Machine" by Poor Man's Poison to share their videos. On October 7th, 2023, X,^[3] formerly Twitter, user @mufflekip posted a collection of four revolution posters, writing, "currently obsessed with minecraft union propaganda on tik tok as people unionize to end the mob vote," garnering over 109,000 likes in two days (shown below).

On October 8th, TikToker^[4] @crust_muncher69 posted a meme about the revolution that gained over 1.5 million views in a day (shown below, left). On the same day, TikToker^[5] @phroggywoggy posted a video that gained over 3.2 million views in a day (shown below, right). By October 9th, the Change.org petition had gained over 175,000 signatures of its 200,000 signature goal.

On the same day, X^[7] user @Ascendingbrick posted a meme supporting the protest, garnering over 3,900 likes in a day (shown below). By October 10th, the Change.org petition reached over 300,000 signatures, with a new goal of 500,000 signatures set.