As we know, minecraft it's a game were you have to survive; improving your equipment, defending yourself of enemies and getting food. You can also do alchemy and enchant your equipment ..
Where am I trying to go with all this "explanation"? Well, you need to do all of these things to complete the game, to beat the ender dragon and get all the achievements, but, there's no way to do this without killing animals (well, actually, you can beat the dragon, but it gets pretty difficult, and you still can not get all the achievements) you can say "but, it's just a game, you are not hurting real animals". Well .. That's true, but a great part of the public of this game, are kids, they see this more "real" than a adult, for example, I started playing minecraft at 11 years, in that time, I started to be vegetarian, and I tried to survive without killing animals, I did it, I even get to the end, but I stilled cannot beat the EnderDragon, and cannot crafted a enchantment table, or crafted arrows, or crafted a item frame.
This it's not a real problem, and do not affect on anything to the regular players, but, adding a alternative craft to somethings (like the books), shows more cultural variety.
It's like when they implemented the possibility of choosing if you are left-handed or right-handed, it was an unnecessary change, which did not really affect the game, but it made people feel more included (I, as a left-handed man, appreciated that change), why not make a change that makes people with a different diet feel included?
No, It's a game, get over it. Nobody cares about 'cultural variety' when playing games, except maybe for translation purposes. Next thing you know coal will be removed so people don't pollute the environment.
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My Github ด้้้้้็็็็็้้้้้็็็็็้้้้้็็็็็้้้้้็็็็็้้้้้็็็็็้้้้้็็็็็้้้้้็็็็็้้้้้дด็็็็็้้้้้็็็็้้้้้็็็็็้้้้้็็็็็้้้้้็็็็็้้้้้
Yes, there are many achievements/advancements that require you to kill animals, but you don't have to get those achievements or advancements. You said you can't craft enchantment tables, books, and such things, but you can fish up the leather. Craft yourself a fishing rod and just fish and fish and fish. You will eventually get some leather. Then again, you are killing the fish.
The thing is, most players are clearly not bothered by the fact that you need to kill animals to get certain things. It really wouldn't be a worthwhile addition/change due to the fact that there simply aren't that many people who care enough.
I just don't see why this is necessary. Like, I've literally never heard of anyone having this problem before. Nobody is holding a gun to your head and insisting you do anything in Minecraft; if you have some moral compulsion to not kill animals, it's not like anyone is going to make you. You don't have to complete achievements or kill the Ender Dragon. This is purely a personal problem. No support.
I'm a Creationist, do we need to remove the ability for life to spontaneously appear in evolution simulators?
I don't like it when people go around randomly murdering other people, do we need to add a peaceful mode to shooters?
Even in a much less extreme scenario, Rabbits were my favorite animal for the longest time. Should we add an alternative brewing ingredient for the Potion of Luck because I don't want to kill them?
No, no, and no. Considering how ridiculous people can get with their demands, every game, movie, story is going to have something that offends someone. But not only that, when I wrote down my first two examples, I ridiculously asked for the games to have their main focus removed for me. This is (sortof) a similar case.
Even ignoring that, in some cases adding alternatives to killing animals would just remove the balance of the items in general. (Although I suppose this depends on how the alternative is implemented.) Heck, some animals (Pigs) just shouldn't exist in the game if they're not going to be killed, because getting killed is the only purpose they serve in the game.
But on top of all this, is the fact that whilst the validity of evolution is controversial, and the effect of video games on behavior is still brought up for debate*, everyone agrees that we've killed animals for thousands of years. And since that's known history, that's just a fact that people have to live with. Putting butchering animals in a game when it doesn't offend/effect the general majority and when it's a historical truth of life shouldn't be something that's up for philosophical debate.
*Granted, not as much as it used to be, considering that somewhere along the line somebody has said that video games have no effect on human behavior, but I've never actually seen a citation to even an unreliable source somewhere that says this.
Besides the fact that it's easy to pretend that the animals are walking food robots, or just go even further and remember that these sequences of data rendered as models and textures that slightly resemble real life animals animals most definitely do not have souls, consciousness or intelligence (or central nervous systems) any more than a paper drawing that you drew when you were in Kindergarten.
My avatar is a texture from a small block game I made in Python. It's not very good and it probably won't work if you install it.
I'm very alone in my Minecraft worlds as I don't have a very good internet connection to run a server. If you're like me, you might be interested in my Posse mod suggestion.
You are probably the only person who has a problem with this. (1) It's just a game, deal with it, if you can't handle a game that allows you to kill animals, then you probably should just stay away from ALL survival games. (2) You can always just play creative mode. (3) Sorry for going off-topic but no one feels any sympathy for you being vegetarian/vegan, like number 1, deal with it.
@ OP: it would be better if you made an actual suggestion for a 'non-animal-leather-equivalent' rather than just wishing for one…
Collect shed snakeskins, maybe?
Also, if you worry about killing animals (including spiders, silverfish, and endermites?), do you extend the same 'courtesy' to hostile mobs like blazes, slimes, ghasts, and magma cubes? These produce blaze rods/slime balls/ghast tears/magma cream which cannot be otherwise obtained.
[One can trade for Ender Pearls… and skeletons, zombies, wither skeletons may not be considered alive to be killed. Also only the wither skull drop is critical.]
It also seems curious that you object to there being no alternative to the slaughter of electronic simula of some animals (cows/horses/donkeys/llamas and rabbits) for leather largely because this makes it difficult to kill another animal (the Ender Dragon).
Come up with an idea for a 'non-animal-leather-equivalent' of sufficient interest/coolness and you'll likely receive support… (The internal logical conflict in your motivation won't matter if you propose something sufficiently fun for people to play with….)
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Why does everything have to be so stoopid?" Harvey Pekar (from American Splendor)
WARNING: I have an extemely "grindy" playstyle; YMMV — if this doesn't seem fun to you, mine what you can from it & bin the rest.
There's a really big differences of example, NO-ONE (That can be called "sane") would congratulate you for crash a car. But, for the other way, there's a lot of people that would congratulate you for use a spring and shoot a bird.
I've cleaned up this thread. People, please limit the discussion in this thread to the idea being presented. This is not a discussion about veganism/vegetarianism, it is a discussion about the addition of alternative recipes that use items that do not require the killing of animal mobs.
I've cleaned up this thread. People, please limit the discussion in this thread to the idea being presented. This is not a discussion about veganism/vegetarianism, it is a discussion about the addition of alternative recipes that use items that do not require the killing of animal mobs.
This is the issue, though: The only thing he's suggested is vegetarianism, not recipes, nor dungeon loot, nor new crops, nor alternative crafting items that fall from the sky on a random basis.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
My avatar is a texture from a small block game I made in Python. It's not very good and it probably won't work if you install it.
I'm very alone in my Minecraft worlds as I don't have a very good internet connection to run a server. If you're like me, you might be interested in my Posse mod suggestion.
I don't fell offend for this, I didn't say that "OH MY GOD, I'M SO OFFENSE BECAUSE I CANT BEAT A GAME WITHOUT KILLING ANIMALS, AND THAT HURT MY FEELLINGS" I just trow a idea, trying to expose a point. In every moment, I said that this it's something innecesary, I just try to make a little discussion about how hard get minecraft without killing animals, and if would be worth enought include a alternative to this. You expose your point of view, with arguments, that's okay for me.
well, even if I'm vegetarian, I still a human being, with a survivor instinct. If a Animal (in this case, a hostile mob) attacks me, I will defend myself. (the skeletons, enderman, wither-s, blazes, silver fish, variables of slime, spiders and the ender dragon, are hostile mobs)
A cow will never attack us, a pig either, I just wanted to see if there's anyway to make a alternative to the items that just the animals drop.
There's alredy a alternative for the food, and a alternative for the wool. Why not implement alternatives for the ink? like .. using the difefents dyes to write, and coal to paint in black. Or implement a alternative for the lather, like .. using 6 of paper, you can make paperboard and with that, you can craft the books
I don't fell offend for this, I didn't say that "OH MY GOD, I'M SO OFFENSE BECAUSE I CANT BEAT A GAME WITHOUT KILLING ANIMALS, AND THAT HURT MY FEELLINGS" I just trow a idea, trying to expose a point. In every moment, I said that this it's something innecesary, I just try to make a little discussion about how hard get minecraft without killing animals, and if would be worth enought include a alternative to this. You expose your point of view, with arguments, that's okay for me.
I didn't say anthing like that?
And okay, so your suggestion is to make minecraft have an alternative way to survive without killing animals, correct? Then we disagreed, then you went completely off-topic and now here we are. I don't even get what we're talking about anymore. Btw, you definitely are saying what we need an alternative, and we are allowed to disagree. Got it? Good.
And okay, so your suggestion is to make minecraft have an alternative way to survive without killing animals, correct? Then we disagreed, then you went completely off-topic and now here we are. I don't even get what we're talking about anymore. Btw, you definitely are saying what we need an alternative, and we are allowed to disagree. Got it? Good.
I've tell some ideas to make alternatives, I exposed my reasons that why I haved this ideas, I said that I respect everyones points of view. I didn't attack anyone.. but you, but you just came and, from the your first reply, you never showed any respect to me. You just want to attack me becouse I'm vegetarian, You are the one that started the "off-topics". So, please, write with some sense, read everythig I write, and please,show some respect to the others opinions. ESPECIALLY if you ask for some.
I've tell some ideas to make alternatives, I exposed my reasons that why I haved this ideas, I said that I respect everyones points of view. I didn't attack anyone.. but you, but you just came and, from the your first reply, you never showed any respect to me. You just want to attack me becouse I'm vegetarian, You are the one that started the "off-topics". So, please, write with some sense, read everythig I write, and please,show some respect to the others opinions. ESPECIALLY if you ask for some.
Okay, maybe I was a little bit rude. My bad. I never intended to attack you because you're vegetarian. I feel like your original post didn't explain enough though, people didn't really know what you were suggesting. You should've made an actual suggestion, so that people could understand.
In view of your clarification that drops from hostile and neutral mobs (endermen & spiders) are acceptable, I've been looking at the current mob types…
(I don't think paperboard would preserve the current difficulty structure as books would then be craftable purely from cane.)
I'm working with the idea that the leather substitute should be readily acquirable, but also available in the early game only with considerable luck and (as with substituting string for wool) significantly more difficult to obtain than the leather it replaces…
This would rule out the polar bear (only occurs in a few rare biomes).
Also the zombie variants (too common, besides using them for leather being just creepy).
Creepers are also too common, but [i]pehaps creepers might have a special drop if killed while in water[/i]…
I still like the idea of snakes shedding their skins which could be harvested and crafted into leather.
Said snakes could be
moderately dangerous (about the combat level of a spider),
difficult to ranch (able to go through 1x0.5 holes) and climb under most conditions (requiring either special blocks e.g. glass or an overhang to prevent)
non-breedable (or very difficult to breed e.g need to eat spiders)
and drop skins using a less frequent version of the egg laying algorithm.
They might also drop something else when killed making them a multi use mob (poison sacks usable as an alternative to spider eyes in brewing Potions of Poison??)
* * * * *
RE ink sacs: How do you feel about collecting drops from "natural deaths"?
(I've repeatedly run across water cascading down a 'sloped'/stair-like cave floor that generates and kills squid at a low rate…)
If this is unacceptable, perhaps seaweed or some form of it (scheduled to be added in 1.14) could be smelted into ink; this would preserve the procurement challenge of needing to harvest the ink from a body of water. [Your suggestion of crafting it from charcoal has the benefit of realism, but would merely add another wood based item obtainable without any special/different effort.]
* * * * *
You mention using different dyes to write, but without killing chickens you would also need an alternative to feathers…
Reed/cane would be the best real world alternative (little weight as that argument may carry).
Chickens are common enough that an alternative to drops from the chicken part of chicken jockies (which it sounds like you would not object to obtaining) doesn't seem unbalancing....
How inportant this alternative is is open to question since (if one obtains arrows from skeleton drops [I very rarely craft arrows because of this source.]) the only other current use for feathers is burst explosion firework stars….
* * * * *
Not necessarily relevant, but hopefully everyone realizes that this:
Quote from _Shen_TPA_ »
A cow will never attack us, a pig either…
is true only in MC, the feral and wild types of both are quite dangerous in RL.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Why does everything have to be so stoopid?" Harvey Pekar (from American Splendor)
WARNING: I have an extemely "grindy" playstyle; YMMV — if this doesn't seem fun to you, mine what you can from it & bin the rest.
This is the issue, though: The only thing he's suggested is vegetarianism, not recipes, nor dungeon loot, nor new crops, nor alternative crafting items that fall from the sky on a random basis.
Sure, except OP didn't even intend to make this about recipes. He's basically looking for attention. Maybe this thread should be locked.
I focused on the OPs statement "adding a alternative craft to somethings (like the books)", which to me makes this thread (at the very least) about discussing ideas for alternatives for recipes that currently require killing mobs. Keep in mind that that is enough information for this to be a valid suggestion. The OP does not need to actually show any specific recipes.
I focused on the OPs statement "adding a alternative craft to somethings (like the books)", which to me makes this thread (at the very least) about discussing ideas for alternatives for recipes that currently require killing mobs. Keep in mind that that is enough information for this to be a valid suggestion. The OP does not need to actually show any specific recipes.
Whilst I see your point, even if the suggestion was just that sentence alone and the title of the suggestion, there's not much else to discuss here. More towards the OP than you, sunperp, we have a clear lack of detail or ideas in general to help the OP balance or change.
Whilst it's possible we could go on a discussion of adding new recipes for this purpose in general, then all the people against this idea are dreaming of terrible ways this could be implemented wrongly and all the people for the idea are (I hope) dreaming of the ways this could be implemented correctly and efficiently, and nobody has the same vision of how these recipes are going to be added.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
My avatar is a texture from a small block game I made in Python. It's not very good and it probably won't work if you install it.
I'm very alone in my Minecraft worlds as I don't have a very good internet connection to run a server. If you're like me, you might be interested in my Posse mod suggestion.
As we know, minecraft it's a game were you have to survive; improving your equipment, defending yourself of enemies and getting food. You can also do alchemy and enchant your equipment ..
Where am I trying to go with all this "explanation"? Well, you need to do all of these things to complete the game, to beat the ender dragon and get all the achievements, but, there's no way to do this without killing animals (well, actually, you can beat the dragon, but it gets pretty difficult, and you still can not get all the achievements) you can say "but, it's just a game, you are not hurting real animals". Well .. That's true, but a great part of the public of this game, are kids, they see this more "real" than a adult, for example, I started playing minecraft at 11 years, in that time, I started to be vegetarian, and I tried to survive without killing animals, I did it, I even get to the end, but I stilled cannot beat the EnderDragon, and cannot crafted a enchantment table, or crafted arrows, or crafted a item frame.
This it's not a real problem, and do not affect on anything to the regular players, but, adding a alternative craft to somethings (like the books), shows more cultural variety.
It's like when they implemented the possibility of choosing if you are left-handed or right-handed, it was an unnecessary change, which did not really affect the game, but it made people feel more included (I, as a left-handed man, appreciated that change), why not make a change that makes people with a different diet feel included?
My Github ด้้้้้็็็็็้้้้้็็็็็้้้้้็็็็็้้้้้็็็็็้้้้้็็็็็้้้้้็็็็็้้้้้็็็็็้้้้้дด็็็็็้้้้้็็็็้้้้้็็็็็้้้้้็็็็็้้้้้็็็็็้้้้้
Yes, there are many achievements/advancements that require you to kill animals, but you don't have to get those achievements or advancements. You said you can't craft enchantment tables, books, and such things, but you can fish up the leather. Craft yourself a fishing rod and just fish and fish and fish. You will eventually get some leather. Then again, you are killing the fish.
The thing is, most players are clearly not bothered by the fact that you need to kill animals to get certain things. It really wouldn't be a worthwhile addition/change due to the fact that there simply aren't that many people who care enough.
No Support.
Check out my suggestions! Here is one of them:
I just don't see why this is necessary. Like, I've literally never heard of anyone having this problem before. Nobody is holding a gun to your head and insisting you do anything in Minecraft; if you have some moral compulsion to not kill animals, it's not like anyone is going to make you. You don't have to complete achievements or kill the Ender Dragon. This is purely a personal problem. No support.
I'm a Creationist, do we need to remove the ability for life to spontaneously appear in evolution simulators?
I don't like it when people go around randomly murdering other people, do we need to add a peaceful mode to shooters?
Even in a much less extreme scenario, Rabbits were my favorite animal for the longest time. Should we add an alternative brewing ingredient for the Potion of Luck because I don't want to kill them?
No, no, and no. Considering how ridiculous people can get with their demands, every game, movie, story is going to have something that offends someone. But not only that, when I wrote down my first two examples, I ridiculously asked for the games to have their main focus removed for me. This is (sortof) a similar case.
Even ignoring that, in some cases adding alternatives to killing animals would just remove the balance of the items in general. (Although I suppose this depends on how the alternative is implemented.) Heck, some animals (Pigs) just shouldn't exist in the game if they're not going to be killed, because getting killed is the only purpose they serve in the game.
But on top of all this, is the fact that whilst the validity of evolution is controversial, and the effect of video games on behavior is still brought up for debate*, everyone agrees that we've killed animals for thousands of years. And since that's known history, that's just a fact that people have to live with. Putting butchering animals in a game when it doesn't offend/effect the general majority and when it's a historical truth of life shouldn't be something that's up for philosophical debate.
*Granted, not as much as it used to be, considering that somewhere along the line somebody has said that video games have no effect on human behavior, but I've never actually seen a citation to even an unreliable source somewhere that says this.
Besides the fact that it's easy to pretend that the animals are walking food robots, or just go even further and remember that these sequences of data rendered as models and textures that slightly resemble real life animals animals most definitely do not have souls, consciousness or intelligence (or central nervous systems) any more than a paper drawing that you drew when you were in Kindergarten.
My avatar is a texture from a small block game I made in Python. It's not very good and it probably won't work if you install it.
I'm very alone in my Minecraft worlds as I don't have a very good internet connection to run a server. If you're like me, you might be interested in my Posse mod suggestion.
No, go away.
You are probably the only person who has a problem with this. (1) It's just a game, deal with it, if you can't handle a game that allows you to kill animals, then you probably should just stay away from ALL survival games. (2) You can always just play creative mode. (3) Sorry for going off-topic but no one feels any sympathy for you being vegetarian/vegan, like number 1, deal with it.
@ OP: it would be better if you made an actual suggestion for a 'non-animal-leather-equivalent' rather than just wishing for one…
Collect shed snakeskins, maybe?
Also, if you worry about killing animals (including spiders, silverfish, and endermites?), do you extend the same 'courtesy' to hostile mobs like blazes, slimes, ghasts, and magma cubes? These produce blaze rods/slime balls/ghast tears/magma cream which cannot be otherwise obtained.
[One can trade for Ender Pearls… and skeletons, zombies, wither skeletons may not be considered alive to be killed. Also only the wither skull drop is critical.]
It also seems curious that you object to there being no alternative to the slaughter of electronic simula of some animals (cows/horses/donkeys/llamas and rabbits) for leather largely because this makes it difficult to kill another animal (the Ender Dragon).
Come up with an idea for a 'non-animal-leather-equivalent' of sufficient interest/coolness and you'll likely receive support… (The internal logical conflict in your motivation won't matter if you propose something sufficiently fun for people to play with….)
when I was 8 I started playing GTA SA in the PS2 and murdered people ,drove horribly, stole cars and crash them.
As far as I know I never think about killing someone and drive perfectly normal without any collision nor infraction at all.
If a kid can't distinguish between a game and real life he/she has a problem or has bad parenting. imo
There's a really big differences of example, NO-ONE (That can be called "sane") would congratulate you for crash a car. But, for the other way, there's a lot of people that would congratulate you for use a spring and shoot a bird.
I've cleaned up this thread. People, please limit the discussion in this thread to the idea being presented. This is not a discussion about veganism/vegetarianism, it is a discussion about the addition of alternative recipes that use items that do not require the killing of animal mobs.
- sunperp
This is the issue, though: The only thing he's suggested is vegetarianism, not recipes, nor dungeon loot, nor new crops, nor alternative crafting items that fall from the sky on a random basis.
My avatar is a texture from a small block game I made in Python. It's not very good and it probably won't work if you install it.
I'm very alone in my Minecraft worlds as I don't have a very good internet connection to run a server. If you're like me, you might be interested in my Posse mod suggestion.
I don't fell offend for this, I didn't say that "OH MY GOD, I'M SO OFFENSE BECAUSE I CANT BEAT A GAME WITHOUT KILLING ANIMALS, AND THAT HURT MY FEELLINGS" I just trow a idea, trying to expose a point. In every moment, I said that this it's something innecesary, I just try to make a little discussion about how hard get minecraft without killing animals, and if would be worth enought include a alternative to this. You expose your point of view, with arguments, that's okay for me.
well, even if I'm vegetarian, I still a human being, with a survivor instinct. If a Animal (in this case, a hostile mob) attacks me, I will defend myself. (the skeletons, enderman, wither-s, blazes, silver fish, variables of slime, spiders and the ender dragon, are hostile mobs)
A cow will never attack us, a pig either, I just wanted to see if there's anyway to make a alternative to the items that just the animals drop.
There's alredy a alternative for the food, and a alternative for the wool. Why not implement alternatives for the ink? like .. using the difefents dyes to write, and coal to paint in black. Or implement a alternative for the lather, like .. using 6 of paper, you can make paperboard and with that, you can craft the books
I've never heard of that mod, I'll take a look.
I didn't say anthing like that?
And okay, so your suggestion is to make minecraft have an alternative way to survive without killing animals, correct? Then we disagreed, then you went completely off-topic and now here we are. I don't even get what we're talking about anymore. Btw, you definitely are saying what we need an alternative, and we are allowed to disagree. Got it? Good.
Quote from Evil_Frogurt >>
I've tell some ideas to make alternatives, I exposed my reasons that why I haved this ideas, I said that I respect everyones points of view. I didn't attack anyone.. but you, but you just came and, from the your first reply, you never showed any respect to me. You just want to attack me becouse I'm vegetarian, You are the one that started the "off-topics". So, please, write with some sense, read everythig I write, and please,show some respect to the others opinions. ESPECIALLY if you ask for some.
Okay, maybe I was a little bit rude. My bad. I never intended to attack you because you're vegetarian. I feel like your original post didn't explain enough though, people didn't really know what you were suggesting. You should've made an actual suggestion, so that people could understand.
In view of your clarification that drops from hostile and neutral mobs (endermen & spiders) are acceptable, I've been looking at the current mob types…
(I don't think paperboard would preserve the current difficulty structure as books would then be craftable purely from cane.)
I'm working with the idea that the leather substitute should be readily acquirable, but also available in the early game only with considerable luck and (as with substituting string for wool) significantly more difficult to obtain than the leather it replaces…
This would rule out the polar bear (only occurs in a few rare biomes).
Also the zombie variants (too common, besides using them for leather being just creepy).
Creepers are also too common, but [i]pehaps creepers might have a special drop if killed while in water[/i]…
I still like the idea of snakes shedding their skins which could be harvested and crafted into leather.
Said snakes could be
non-breedable (or very difficult to breed e.g need to eat spiders)
and drop skins using a less frequent version of the egg laying algorithm.
RE ink sacs: How do you feel about collecting drops from "natural deaths"?
(I've repeatedly run across water cascading down a 'sloped'/stair-like cave floor that generates and kills squid at a low rate…)
If this is unacceptable, perhaps seaweed or some form of it (scheduled to be added in 1.14) could be smelted into ink; this would preserve the procurement challenge of needing to harvest the ink from a body of water. [Your suggestion of crafting it from charcoal has the benefit of realism, but would merely add another wood based item obtainable without any special/different effort.]
You mention using different dyes to write, but without killing chickens you would also need an alternative to feathers…
Reed/cane would be the best real world alternative (little weight as that argument may carry).
Chickens are common enough that an alternative to drops from the chicken part of chicken jockies (which it sounds like you would not object to obtaining) doesn't seem unbalancing....
How inportant this alternative is is open to question since (if one obtains arrows from skeleton drops [I very rarely craft arrows because of this source.]) the only other current use for feathers is burst explosion firework stars….
Not necessarily relevant, but hopefully everyone realizes that this:
is true only in MC, the feral and wild types of both are quite dangerous in RL.
I focused on the OPs statement "adding a alternative craft to somethings (like the books)", which to me makes this thread (at the very least) about discussing ideas for alternatives for recipes that currently require killing mobs. Keep in mind that that is enough information for this to be a valid suggestion. The OP does not need to actually show any specific recipes.
- sunperp
Whilst I see your point, even if the suggestion was just that sentence alone and the title of the suggestion, there's not much else to discuss here. More towards the OP than you, sunperp, we have a clear lack of detail or ideas in general to help the OP balance or change.
Whilst it's possible we could go on a discussion of adding new recipes for this purpose in general, then all the people against this idea are dreaming of terrible ways this could be implemented wrongly and all the people for the idea are (I hope) dreaming of the ways this could be implemented correctly and efficiently, and nobody has the same vision of how these recipes are going to be added.
My avatar is a texture from a small block game I made in Python. It's not very good and it probably won't work if you install it.
I'm very alone in my Minecraft worlds as I don't have a very good internet connection to run a server. If you're like me, you might be interested in my Posse mod suggestion.