My 2Cents
Ok, it's about time that I weigh in on this discussion. It's clear that many players want mob griefing enabled, arguing the point that it's not original vanilla and that any cons are not a big deal. I have seen that it has gone back and forth, there has been talk about making an anarchy server and talk about other game rules.
Fire Spread
I can 100% say that doFireTick will not be turned back on, it causes too much lag and many blocks in spawn (like the furnace or end spawn) would catch on fire.
Other Game Rules
We won't be discussing any other game rules in this thread, this is about mobGriefing only. I have no plans to touch any other game rules. Random tick speed causes way to much lag and having no daylight or weather cycle takes too much away from the game. While I hear players ask about keep inventory all the time, I don't think it makes any sense to have on a PVP enabled server.
Second Server
I could run more servers, I have done it before, but it takes time and the staff to make it work. Currently I fear I don't have enough time to make anything more then a plain server with no extra bells and whistles. I also fear that the amount of staff on each server would become unbalanced and cause one server to get neglected.
Mob Griefing
This is what we're all here for, mobGriefing. From a player's perspective it's easy to say "just run /gamerule mobGriefing true, it can't be that hard". From a command block perspective it's easy to say, "just make a thing that kills the ones close to spawn or change their explosion range to nothing". As a server owner, you must think about the bigger picture. Think about the staff that are cleaning, it's hard enough to keep the spawn looking half way decent. Think about all the mobs that can all of a sudden modify blocks each in their own unique way.
- Creepers
- Zombies
- Endermen
- Ghasts
- Withers
- Ender Dragon
- Rabbits
- Sheep
- Villagers
The ender dragon is the next big thing to think about, it can destroy all blocks that the end spawn is made out of. What am I suppose to do about that, make it so the ender dragon can't spawn (tell me thats not taking away a huge part of vanilla). Ghasts can light the nether spawn on fire. Players can create perfect villagers quickly creating an OP economy. The list goes on and on. The lag caused from all the edge case command blocks protecting this and that, killing mobs and setting creepers to not explode, would be huge.
Unlike plugin servers mobGriefing is either true or false, there is nothing in between, you can't set it for only certain dimensions or areas. The amount vulnerabilities that players might use to cause havoc increases immensely. You might think that you have all your bases covered but it could change in a heartbeat.
Conclusion
Now you can see my reasoning behind disabling mob griefing, as a server owner it's easier to just disable it then to struggle through all the con's. As a few people have stated (Thanks 2Chill) I'm an open guy, I like to take the communities opinion into consideration. It just doesn't make sense to disable a feature that 99% of the community wants. However, it's not 99% it's only 57% the last time I checked that poll (player generated, unofficial, susceptible to vpn manipulation). I would rather not go through the trouble of enabling mob griefing for 57% of the community when I would also piss off 43% of the community, it just doesn't make sense to me.
I plan to come up with a better poll method, maybe one using your username on the forum or ingame to get a better result. Until then, I don't think I'm going to change anything.
- Crafty
