Notch explained it a month ago. I find them very creepy, as on my single-player world I don't have moats (my stuff is elevated), but still expect random holes to appear every night.
Here's what Notch has to say, and I think it applies:
Quote from Notch »
So I thought some about what “creepy” actually is, and it’s more about trying to avoid something from happening than it is about actually having that thing happen. If you know something bad can happen if you do the wrong thing, you will start thinking about your actions, and that might make things more scary.
Weird, because I have yet to see any ugly, defaced, endertorn, landscape outside of my base. And what architectural constraints might those be? A wall and a moat around your base? I was building those anyway. Except my moats were full of lava or cacti and my walls had piston controlled lava falls for defense.... did I mention that I kill **** with lava? lava/water+enderman=dead. Now stop complaining about them. And for mobtraps, just build them 2 high inside or use stacked half blocks and surround them with a moat or fences (endermen can't pick up fences[allegedly])
Also I like the fact that unprepared noobs get pwnd by these things.
Enderman seem to be the only mob that spawns within my compound. During pre construction we had an issue with other mobs spawning, but once thE walls and ceiling was complete and lighting was installed, we were left with one issue. Endermen. They love picking apart my walls, floor, furniture. Had my server running all day Saturday, ends up with a checker board pattern of missing blocks throughout my entire compound. Took all of a few minutes to repair, but that wasnt what pissed me off. The fact that they ripped through my exterior walls and started dismantling my piston doors, taking pistons and the blocks underneath the red stone wiring/torches.. Like cmon... I don't Mind waking up and having to replace a few blocks.. But having to do full on repairs to my red stone creations is kind of gay..
Enderman seem to be the only mob that spawns within my compound. During pre construction we had an issue with other mobs spawning, but once thE walls and ceiling was complete and lighting was installed, we were left with one issue. Endermen. They love picking apart my walls, floor, furniture. Had my server running all day Saturday, ends up with a checker board pattern of missing blocks throughout my entire compound. Took all of a few minutes to repair, but that wasnt what pissed me off. The fact that they ripped through my exterior walls and started dismantling my piston doors, taking pistons and the blocks underneath the red stone wiring/torches.. Like cmon... I don't Mind waking up and having to replace a few blocks.. But having to do full on repairs to my red stone creations is kind of gay..
Not to mention at least half the time they die before they drop the blocks and therefore destroy them, regardless of how rare the block was. (Plus despite the fact that Notch calls them "rare," they're not. They spawn around the player basically every night and dismantle trees.)
Notch explained it a month ago. I find them very creepy, as on my single-player world I don't have moats (my stuff is elevated), but still expect random holes to appear every night.
Here's what Notch has to say, and I think it applies:
No, he didn't explain anything. He only stated they could pick up blocks randomly. He never actually states the purpose of moving the blocks, though he goes into great detail about many of the other features of Endermen and how it makes them creepy. If you want to draw the connection, you might be justified in doing so, but I honestly don't care what Notch thought of when he decided to make them move blocks. It's dumb.
Surely most people playing survival will put up torches/glowstone like myself. And if you want to play creatively, your difficulty will be set on peaceful in either survival if you want to gather your own resources or creative and just spawn them in.
The problem with "put up torches" is that it only prevents the from spawning in the area the torches are. From what I've seen Endermen tend to wander at a distance to the player. So going into a mine ends up letting them walk into the lit areas and ... 'poop'. I wish I could say the did something destructive or creative or challenging, but they simply don't. They just make a mess.
While the concept of Endermen is scary, after the first encounter they stop being any scarier then any other mob. What annoys me is that they're really the only mob that actively antagonizes a sub-set of players (mostly those who like to build and those who don't love looking at poop) instead of all players. Given the game's sandbox nature that is just not a good idea.
Why do Creepers Blow Up? It's annoying. Isn't productive. Destroys your hard work.
Same concept I guess. It's a new Mob. It's there to be there and annoy you. :biggrin.gif:
Creepers blow up when YOU make 'em blow up.
You have to be around for it to happen. You can do some damage control then, since you know where it happened.
Endermen, on the othermen, destroy your buildings when you're not around. Meaning you pretty much need to check your entire map every morning for missing/misplaced blocks if you're as protective of your creations as I am.
Meaning most of my Minecraft time is spent farming and repairing Enderman damage instead of actually building new stuff now. So, yeah, I'm a bit salty because of some questionable 1.8 additions.
Why do Endermen have to move blocks? What could it possibly add to the gameplay other than simple annoyance? What was Notch thinking? :dry.gif:
Some people might find it fun to have computer-controlled griefers in the game, but many (most?) do not.
I think it was added because the "cool" factor ("hey, let's have a mob that can move blocks just like the player can!") overrode the "common sense" factor.
What Notch really needs to do is start adding a lot more options that affect gameplay. Not everyone enjoys the same things, and it's usually trivial to add options to control certain aspects of a program. So much strife between posters and frustration with the game could be avoided by the addition of a simple option to control the Endermen's ability to move blocks.
I don't understand why Endermen have the ability to move blocks. I get the whole look of him, and the teleporting all right. I just don't get why he moves blocks randomly. It would be so much cooler if they actually made weird structures in the distance and hid treasure underneath. It would be something that is obviously not natural, like a pillar of stone or something. If you dug underneath you'd find some gold or seeds or something.
Weird, because I have yet to see any ugly, defaced, endertorn, landscape outside of my base.
Give it time. You will.
And what architectural constraints might those be? A wall and a moat around your base?
No. I already have a wall around my base; it keeps out hostiles. The new constraint is building a wall and a moat around everything you build or do not want destroyed, and then filling the interior with torches. Build a house? Now you need an extra wall around it, and a moat around the wall, and the space between the wall and the house must be fully lit. Build a giant ender statue? Wall, moat, torches. Build a mountaintop doom fortress? Wall, moat, and I hope you like your doom fortress's exterior brightly, cheerily lit. Road from the house to the fortress? You know the drill.
I was building those anyway.
And that's your architectural preference, not everyone's.
Also I like the fact that unprepared noobs get pwnd by these things.
Here's what Notch has to say, and I think it applies:
[/sarcasm]
Enderman seem to be the only mob that spawns within my compound. During pre construction we had an issue with other mobs spawning, but once thE walls and ceiling was complete and lighting was installed, we were left with one issue. Endermen. They love picking apart my walls, floor, furniture. Had my server running all day Saturday, ends up with a checker board pattern of missing blocks throughout my entire compound. Took all of a few minutes to repair, but that wasnt what pissed me off. The fact that they ripped through my exterior walls and started dismantling my piston doors, taking pistons and the blocks underneath the red stone wiring/torches.. Like cmon... I don't Mind waking up and having to replace a few blocks.. But having to do full on repairs to my red stone creations is kind of gay..
Not to mention at least half the time they die before they drop the blocks and therefore destroy them, regardless of how rare the block was. (Plus despite the fact that Notch calls them "rare," they're not. They spawn around the player basically every night and dismantle trees.)
Because Notch is an imperfect man who sometimes has completely idiotic ideas.
No, he didn't explain anything. He only stated they could pick up blocks randomly. He never actually states the purpose of moving the blocks, though he goes into great detail about many of the other features of Endermen and how it makes them creepy. If you want to draw the connection, you might be justified in doing so, but I honestly don't care what Notch thought of when he decided to make them move blocks. It's dumb.
The problem with "put up torches" is that it only prevents the from spawning in the area the torches are. From what I've seen Endermen tend to wander at a distance to the player. So going into a mine ends up letting them walk into the lit areas and ... 'poop'. I wish I could say the did something destructive or creative or challenging, but they simply don't. They just make a mess.
While the concept of Endermen is scary, after the first encounter they stop being any scarier then any other mob. What annoys me is that they're really the only mob that actively antagonizes a sub-set of players (mostly those who like to build and those who don't love looking at poop) instead of all players. Given the game's sandbox nature that is just not a good idea.
Creepers blow up when YOU make 'em blow up.
You have to be around for it to happen. You can do some damage control then, since you know where it happened.
Endermen, on the othermen, destroy your buildings when you're not around. Meaning you pretty much need to check your entire map every morning for missing/misplaced blocks if you're as protective of your creations as I am.
Meaning most of my Minecraft time is spent farming and repairing Enderman damage instead of actually building new stuff now. So, yeah, I'm a bit salty because of some questionable 1.8 additions.
Some people might find it fun to have computer-controlled griefers in the game, but many (most?) do not.
I think it was added because the "cool" factor ("hey, let's have a mob that can move blocks just like the player can!") overrode the "common sense" factor.
What Notch really needs to do is start adding a lot more options that affect gameplay. Not everyone enjoys the same things, and it's usually trivial to add options to control certain aspects of a program. So much strife between posters and frustration with the game could be avoided by the addition of a simple option to control the Endermen's ability to move blocks.
Give it time. You will.
No. I already have a wall around my base; it keeps out hostiles. The new constraint is building a wall and a moat around everything you build or do not want destroyed, and then filling the interior with torches. Build a house? Now you need an extra wall around it, and a moat around the wall, and the space between the wall and the house must be fully lit. Build a giant ender statue? Wall, moat, torches. Build a mountaintop doom fortress? Wall, moat, and I hope you like your doom fortress's exterior brightly, cheerily lit. Road from the house to the fortress? You know the drill.
And that's your architectural preference, not everyone's.
What does the one have to do with the other?
*Trollfaic Enderman*