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DO NOT POST SUGGESTIONS HERE!
• If you want to update a suggestion thread of yours. Update the first post.
• If you can't handle negative criticism, DON'T MAKE A THREAD!!
• Negative criticism is NOT hating or trolling! For the love of... Please, do not mix up the two.
If you want to read about being a proper critic on suggestions rather than how to make them. Visit yoshi9048's scrumptious thread about it! Click this!
Special 9/23/2015 Update!
New Section: The Overachiever's Guide (Author: Cerroz)
Older 6/3/2015 Update!
New Section: If you want your thread locked, moved or deleted.
Older 5/28/2015 Update!
New Section: Negative Criticism and Defeat
"Do I seriously need to read this?"
I can't say every poster here needs this, but I would probably just say "yes" anyway. You might pick up some helpful pointers you haven't thought of before.
"Good god, why is this guide so long?"
A more valid question would be "This guide is as long as it needs to be. How did you accurately pull that off?"
This guide attempts to cover every possible thing, and if it doesn't, people make suggestions in this thread to cover more things so this guide is even better at covering everything.
You'll see that after these long images, there's still tons of sections to read. I put the titles there so you have a general idea of what mistakes and presentations you shouldn't make, and the description of those sections are put in spoilers just in case you don't understand a section.
"You know what? I don't need this guide. I'll be fine. I'm cool!"
But you entered this thread anyway. Okay then, no one can take over your free will and mentally force you to read this guide. Remember, that once you make that dumb thread about "new ores" and everyone is not supporting and digging into you. You'll understand why this thread is here.
"Omggg why is this guide so mean? =("
This guide is here to lay down the facts, not to make you feel good. A lot of the guide uses heavy exaggeration and omnidirectional attacks for the purpose of being satirical and humorous (which a lot of people love this guide for) but at the same time, drives the point home and how you shouldn't do the dumb stuff on this forum that people just keep doing.
Unless you are referred to specifically by name, you being offended by the guide is something on your end. And if a stickied thread is capable of offending you, then perhaps you need better training on dealing with the internet as a whole.
I will not feel a flicker of guilt for what I put in this guide, and I'll never redo the guide so it's "nicer to people". So reminding me of any nastiness you read here won't change anything. This guide would be much less popular if it weren't written the way it was.
The Suggestion Guide
In image form.


Optional Balance Guide
Made by 0_Zippy.

How to Properly Search
A lot of people have made redundant threads but actually did search beforehand. That mistake is most likely filtering the search wrong. Observe the image below:
The things highlighted in green are the basic needs. I think the bottom one is the most essential, because people have searched for topic names but didn't filter that to only the Suggestions forum, thus people end up getting results from every forum at once that share similar words in thread titles.
That aforementioned case causes threads from the Suggestion forum to be spread out too far, making people think that a specific suggestion thread isn't redundant. It's a pretty easy mistake to make.
If You Want Your Thread Locked, Moved or Deleted
For those who just want to put a thread out of its misery, or just moved.
If you want any of these three things to happen to your thread. All you have to do report your own post by... clicking "Report" at the bottom of your post, then choose this on the following screen (click to make bigger):
Note that you can also help out a new or inexperienced user get their thread moved to the right location before the original poster realizes the mistake, which can reduce confusion and complications in a thread a lot sooner. However, DO NOT tell the user that "they've been reported" as 1.) that's against the rules and 2.) they may take it the wrong way which can lead to revenge scheming.
And no, do simply edit your posts with "MOD, PLZ DELETE THREAD" while doing nothing else. You will embarrass yourself to death and accomplish nothing.
In the case of getting a thread locked or deleted... Understand that if you make a horrible thread, and then stop people from posting negative posts by asking a mod to lock your thread, you aren't exactly "out of the woods" nor are you hitting the reset button. The same goes for having a thread deleted, because a lot of us will still notice that (thread suddenly vanishing, some of our posts vanishing, etc...)
Do not think that getting your bad thread locked or deleted removes all the negativity from you. Only use these options if there's absolutely no hope in saving your thread, and posting in it will just horrify things more. Do not delete/lock your thread just because you goofed and can't handle a couple negative posts.
Suggestions Hall of Fame
Absolutely outstanding (and example) suggestions by brilliant posters.
Note to owners of these threads: Changing the thread title can screw up these links.
Cubic Chunks by Calacbolg (#1 suggestion of all time!)
Detailed Nether Villagers by 0_Zippy
Deeper Caves by kittykattykat
Colored Light by Galactic_Muffin (initially known as "Colored Glass")
Ancient Zombie by Cerroz (even has a custom video w/ custom sounds)
What about muskets? by Rhea_M (successfully broke the "unfitting/unbalanced" barrier about guns in MC)
Boats Evolved by ThesaurusRex84
Desert Temple Guardian by DINGO_WINTERWOLF (Reddit Post)
Mythological Sea Creatures & New Boats by JasonG5
New Nether... Survive This by sabata2
9 Biome Suggestions by LupusX
Pigeons by Snowviraptor
Crossrails and Changes to Currently Existing Rails by megabyte12345
Give Us a Use to Other Villager Professions by wailwail
Ant Dungeon! Found in Mesa Biomes! by joshosh34
Custom Blocks, Items, Entities, Menus by AThingWithAThing
Stay focused. Work hard, and your suggestion might be up here one day. You may nominate more elite suggestions by just posting in the forum. Regular good suggestions with moderate effort won't cut it here. This list is for ideas of unspeakable quality.
Guidelines of a thread getting in this list:
**Click here for the guidelines**
What does and doesn't "fit" in Minecraft?
"We already have jukeboxes and Creepers, so fighter jets would be fine!"
It's no secret that Minecraft is not made of realism, and even though there are medieval-like things in the game, such as potions, swords, bows, arrows and armor. However, we have not-so-medieval things, like jukeboxes. So... how do we know for sure if something fits or not? What is our reference point? Which side is correct?
If a game has a distinct theme to it, then it's very easy to know what fits in it and what doesn't. If a game is based around a city where gangs gunfight non-stop, it would be wise for the developers in that game to not add magic spells, because something like that would be extremely goofy, ruin the theme of the game and even distance players away. What if Portal 2 had NFL Announcers that have fork guns? That would be pretty awkward, right?
So what if a game doesn't have any theme to it, does that make it immune to "unfitting" things? The answer: Not really, at least not always. Even without realism or any concrete theme, suggestions for Minecraft can still be very stupid. It can be argued that Minecraft has created its own theme. If someone said to you "Think of a Minecraft theme!" You'd be thinking about punching trees, Creepers, blocks and diamond ore. The game has been out for so long and has been so popular that it has that kind of foundation.
We need to read between the lines and understand what a game is about. Then and only then will we understand what ideas would actually fit in. People often cling to what's already in the game to defend their bad suggestions. For example, going "Well the game has random green things with no arms so I don't see the problem with ." And those arguments usually fail.
Yes, there are some weird things in Minecraft, but strange things like Ghasts and Creepers are still given proper cause-and-effect development. Sure, the Creepers explode on players for reasons unknown, but it doesn't start dancing while summoning frogs with its face. Even in games with no theme, you can still suggest things for it that are so senseless and over the top that they'd subtract any sensible experience for the player.
If you were playing Minecraft, and saw a red caromo emerge from the ocean and started talking to you in Mel Gibson's voice while spawning chickens, how would you feel?
A.) Possibly depressed and perturbed that something so senselessly "out there" touched the game.
B.) Eh, doesn't matter! Nothing doesn't fit or unfit in this game! I'm cool with that car thing.
Credits
If for some very strange reason, you actually care about that.
• Theriasis (me btw)
• 0_Zippy
• Core5
• ClookRum
• rbH / redBookHat
• Turcoize
• Cerroz
• Orka_Tank
• ZTick
• mock
• 00_00_1
• airoutgland
• CremeFill
Other Contributors
• Itsoo1
• swaglord676
• Rex1900Roblox
• teesee
• Endergirl00
• yoshi9048
• FrozenS2M
• SamurottX
• nightworld115
• GateFox
• DarkStar634
Threads You Are Not Allowed to Make
Unless you have a "getting my own threads locked" fetish.
If you have multiple ideas, but they all fit within the same core idea, that's fine. Take a look at the following examples. Green is good. Red is bad. Mind you, that your suggestion will need a lot more detail than what the example provides. The examples are just a general idea thing.
"I suggest we have new things for deserts. Such as scorpions, different shaped temples, snakes, different color cacti and maybe light sandstorms."
"So uhhhhhhh guys we need ice cream and wizards and magic wands and sandwiches and um um emerald tools and armor lol and oooooooohh we need space travel!!!"
Redundant Suggestions
Search before posting. Seriously.
Joke Threads
Though if a mod is absolutely sure a thread is a dumb joke, it will get locked or just deleted. On top of that, the person who made the dumb thread will get a warning rating increase.
Rant Threads
This place is for suggestions, not your personal blog to vent out your dislikes in the game. All it does is possibly make only yourself feel better while serving no purpose to the rest of us.
Yes, we know some of you hate the hunger nar. Making a complaint thread without any suggestion only accomplishing a locked thread, warning levels and a 1-starred profile,
Non-Suggestions
Suggestions Not For Vanilla Minecraft
Don't walk in here and poop threads where you ask "suggestions 2 make my server bettar?!?!?" or "ideas for a c00l house??!??!??!??!"
/truth
"Post your suggestions here!" (a.k.a. Megathreads)
Suggesting What's Already Implemented
Suggestions With No Content
Excuses You Shouldn't Use (List is continued here!)
And you should feel bad if you use them.
If your suggestion is good and balanced enough, it doesn't have to be optional, get it? "Wait, my new cave mob that can insta-kill players isn't liked? Well, it can be turned off!" No. Stupid move. Mojang won't add an option for one mob. It doesn't work that way. Though they did kinda do that with the "bonus chest", but whatever.
"It's rare!"
"Guys, I suggest we add super diamonds to the game! Herp! They're double the strength of normal diamonds but they are super rare!!1!" No. The idea still remains horrible and unbalanced. Diamonds (with enchantments) are strong enough, and a stupid second diamond type doesn't need to be there. Regardles of how rare these "super diamonds" may be, the idea is still dumb and would be waste of energy to implement.
A lot of new kids here make their suggestions so rare that it might as well not be in the game anyway. 0.0000000000000000000001% chance of a new mob spawning is not exactly a 10/10 idea.
"I'm sure Mojang could/would do it!"
Suggesting that "super realistic water that updates every nanosecond and waves/reacts to anything touching it and it reflects light perfectly and oh yeah IT DOESN'T LAG AT ALL LOL" is just stupid. Saying "well I'm sure Mojang could make it not lag" doesn't prove a damn thing. Yeah, you think Mojang could pull it off, but does that actually mean it's 100% true? No. Try not to get your head too far up those clouds. Optimism can be a good thing, but can go too far.
I'm sure we all have that idea we think should be added in the game, something that might be doable but would take years to finalize. But I don't think Mojang is gonna use up a year of their time to add one suggestion from one just user just because that one user would "really really love it".
"Well it's expensive!"
No. It doesn't and will never work that way. Hostile mobs are what add actual challenge to the game, so having something that can control any mob won't be the best addition (and would ruin it for the utility mobs we already have), and trying to buff up the crafting reciple of it will not turn the suggestion from christ-awful all the way up to best-idea-ever status. Don't make this mistake.
"It can be ignored!"
Thank you, Bigcheecho
Also, if the idea is crappy and it's something no one would care about, being able to ignore it doesn't salvage the idea. Because if that was the case, Mojang would've made the effort to add something to the game no one would use. Therefore, effort wasted.
"It's meant to be a challenge!"
Your suggestion of Creepers having the ability to go through walls is not a challenge, it's just a dumb annoyance that punches gameplay right in the butt. The challenge is for us to avoid Creepers to begin with and to build things to protect ourselves. So having Creepers materialize right through our houses is just a derpish badly-thought idea that nobody would like.
"Well it's my opinion!"
No one can blame you having opinions, but they won't take you the lengths you want in terms of having others like your suggestion. You thinking that you're idea "would be a really cool thing to add" won't magically make others support your ideas. If you really want to finger people's brains and have them support your ideas, you gotta lay down some cold hard facts on why anyone else should be on board with your idea.
"I'm new here!"
Thank you, FrozenS2M
If you are a new guy, and you break a rule or make a mistake, it's alright to tell us that you're new, but only if you make sure to immediately correct your mistake or at least find out how to. Don't make the mistake, have people tell you goofed, then just go "uhh sorry i'm new here so uhh yeah" and then just run away without changing anything. Or else you're gonna get that nice 1-star gang up on your profiles.
And a warning level too.
Backpedaling
"Oh guys I was trolling you all alongLOL!" - No you weren't. If you were a good troll, you wouldn't openly admit to that. We won't fall for that. Your escape attempt failed.
"It was a joke!" - Was it actually a joke, or were you just trying to overcome the negative posts you got? No, it wasn't a joke. Nice try. Mods will also lock your threads and give warnings if you try to use that desperate method of backing away.
"Ugh you guys are trolls/haters." - Stop. Now you're just saying things to make yourself feel better. Don't write off all negative responses as trolling. Just fix your suggestion or move on. Things like this make users get so embarrassed that they have to create alternate accounts.
"Someone in my house posted that, not me." - It's funny that only bad posters use this excuse. It's also funny that the person posting that happened to type in the exact same manner of the person making the "I didn't post that" claim.
"Uhh wait, THIS is what I was actually suggesting!" - Also known as "changing the story" or "hitting the reset button". You suggested Creeper Scorpions which everyone absolutely hated, then you tried to defend it and all of your defenses were bashed away, and now you're going "no you guys have gotten it wrong this whole time, I was suggesting normal scorpions, I only mentioned the creeper thing as a joke lolol."
"This suggestion was just an experiment." - "Yeah, it's a good thing my hated idea was just a prototype, don't worry, the REAL suggestion is coming soon!" No, what you already posted was the real suggestion. I promise you that if your suggestion was actually liked, you'd go along with it and not mention the "experiment" crap.
For those of you who actually will or have post/posted experiment suggestions that you know will fail. Don't. Because why post something if you know the outcome? If your suggestion is bad, you'll look way better by owning up to it and not using some on-the-fly excuse you had crammed in your pocket.
That's a hard excuse to believe after you opened with "creepers need more variants" and every single type "scorpion" appears in your thread, it has "creeper" right before it. Woooow, good joke man.
---
Don't believe me? Look up the users blueberry12 and Fnoop. They got themselves into arguments so deep that they humiliated themselves on the greek gods level.
"A lot of people suggested this so Mojang should give it to us!"
Thank you, Rex1900Roblox
Remind me to make a hundred alternate accounts asking for "bonus diamond blocks" at the start of the world. Alright, but seriously... No. Don't say crap like that. Correct your anxious mind to not say or think this. This argument is and will forever be invalid. Don't use it here.
"We need this!"
So before you mash your keyboard and make a new thread and beg for those camoflaged creepers to be in the game, try to remember what the game actually does need, and not confuse your own lusty wants for that "need".
"It's Minecraft! It doesn't have to make sense!"
Thank you, Rex1900Roblox
Oh, by the way, don't use that excuse as a last ditch effort to save your horrible suicide-inducing suggestion. Where as good posters would try to repair their suggestions, bad posters usually use the "well it's minecraft and it dusn't gotta be real so yah!" escape. No. Don't be the dumb durr bad posters.
Let's make up a scenario. Someone posts a suggestion about Creepers releasing fireworks when they explode, and the fireworks go in random directions and cause much more damage than the initial Creepers explosion. People hate the idea, but the OP backs that up with "well omg dis is mincraft and it don't gotta b real!!" Will the people who hate the idea suddenly change their opinions? I didn't think so either.
"If you don't like the idea then don't comment!"
God. Knock this crap off. No, if we don't like the idea and find it flawed or broken or retarded, someone will say something negative. Whether you want that to happen or not. If negative posts weren't allowed here, stupid idea threads would be sitting around with 0 posts in them.
Yeah but no. Don't tell people how to respond in your thread, or else you'll probably provoke people to do that even more. So just... don't do it?
"I'll explain my idea more once I get enough supports!"
When people come to your thread and see you take that route, chances are, they won't come back to that thread over and over again to check if more info was there, so put all of the info there from the start. Simple concept right?
"Game X has this, so Minecraft should have this!"
We get it. Some of you like Skyrim. Some of you like Call of Duty. Some of you like Mario games. That's fine, but don't shut your brain off and start copy and pasting crap from those games. Shooting fire from your hands doesn't work in every game. Using your UAV killstreak doesn't work in every game.
Basically, you liking something in a game doesn't mean Minecraft should have it. Try to think outside yourself and not base the community around your thoughts. At the very best, if you're gonna copy and paste an idea from another game, at least reshape it so it's more balanced.
"This would be awesome for a gamemode!"
Thank you, Zippy
No though. Things like that are left to mods and plugins. Just about anything in the world could make a possible gamemode, but that doesn't mean the idea is suddenly good.
"What be up guys! This is supa_cool_k1d with a flawless suggestion! Yup! Every once in a while there's a nuke creeper and uhhhhmmmmmmmm like you have to disarm him or else he splodes and your entire world is gone lmao this wud make a fun gamemode where pplz gotta disarm him! Auuuuugggghhhh support!!!!!!!!"
Does that nuke creeper possibly add a new gamemode? Probably. Is it a good idea? lolno.
"This adds variety!"
"More" and "better" are not interchangeable words. The two words do not share the same definition. If you want to suggest more of something, make sure it's fitting, appealing and if need be - original. Variety alone doesn't make an idea good out of nowhere.
"Mojang mentioned this once!"
Please, please do not go "well mojang thought about this so thIS IS CONFIRMED TO BE ADDED!" It's sickening to see situations like this...
Random guy, "I suggest a dream dimension, how it works is-"
Community, "NOOOPE! SUUX! DOESN'T FIT GAME! NO SUPPPOERT!"
Mojang, "We thought about a dream dimension."
Community, "Ooooooh cool here's some ideas how it could be implemented!"
The suck up game. Please don't play it.
"You don't support the idea because you don't get it!"
Thank you, ZTick
Though the phrase is often used when the OP is being a big baby and sucks up to only the people who support. Here's an example of such stupidity:
The OP, "Wassup y'all. I suggest we have skeleton who hold shotguns. This idea is perfect because I love shotguns, so therefore we need it!
smartposter200, "I support. Just joking. I don't. That's the worst idea ever. Maybe we can give creepers swat vests too!"
Man-With-Brain, "Doesn't fit the game and is dumb."
Derpyjoe, "Excellent idea! Would be awesome!"
The OP, "thx for the support derpyjoe, finally someone in my thread who has a brain!"
Please, without hesitation, just stop. It'd be nice if mistakes like that were a bannable offense, but it isn't. Still, don't make that excuse.
"Well then suggest what would make my idea better then!"
Thank you, ZTick.
Critics throwing in their own ideas is a bonus, not a requirement. Said critics will also only contribute to your idea if they already support the core idea, and/or they see something that could be repaired to boost your idea greatly.
"This needs more uses!"
Thank you, ZTick.
There's no crime in suggesting more uses for something, but don't do it in a way where you treat yourself like a knowledge prodigy and "know" exactly how many uses something needs. Also understand that some items have a low amount of uses on purpose. Yes, that scenario can exist. Shocking huh?
"I constantly have to deal with [situation] so we need this in the game!"
Thank you, ZTick
Dude, if you want to suggest another use for something, that's fine, but don't base it off a dumb situational thing you deal with. It's not like Dinnerbone will scan the forums and go "this poor chap has a surplus of sand, I must meet this user's demands!" Nono. Suggest an idea because it would universally be a good thing for players, not because "I deal with this thing all the time augh!"
"Mojang might change their minds!"
This meaningless statement can be used for potentially ANY rejected suggestion ever. And guess what it proves? LOLabsolutely nothing. People cling to the thought of "well u can't predict the future so u don't know if mojang will chanj their minds!!!!!" while completely forgetting about the other side. Which is that Mojang may NOT change their minds in the future.
A lot of the time, people using this statement know better. Look guys, if you know Mojang will not suddenly hand out capes for free to anyone or know they won't add flying villagers that fart out diamonds at random, then typing as if "there's hope" for these ideas will have no effect. If people come in and bash your idea with reasoning so good that your suggestion needs an early burial, then just give it the burial and drop it there, don't play the "it's ok we might still get dis!" card.
"I asked my friends about the idea and they liked it."
Another thing I've seen here is people using that cheap excuse as an escape clause. Meaning that when a thread is peppered with "no support", the OP suddenly jumps to the other end of the field and goes, "Oh wait guys guys this is totally not my fault, my friends are the ones who said it was good so it's really on them." Sweet mother of nope. It didn't stop the fact that you posted a thread and awaited responses.
Now, there's nothing wrong with discussing your idea with others and fine tuning it with that info, but your little sister or those last kids at your sleepover should not be the end-all be-all validation of your suggestions. At least spread it out to other kinds of people.
Red Herring Statements
A "red herring" - something used in books and movies - is something that's so easy to see, attention grabbing or just plain obvious that it's meant to distract you from seeing something else that's more important or what "the truth" is. For example, when a movie is about finding "that one murderer", and all of a sudden the movie introduces some guy that just broke out of jail to make you think "omg omg he's the murdered bcuz he wuz in jail!" when the answer is too obvious and cheap to be the true answer. Get it?
So what do I mean when I say a "red herring statement"? Well, the definition is pretty much the same. These are statements (often used by bad or just lazy posters) to avoid an argument because they A.) can't think of a way to defend themselves and/or B.) just wanna take the easy way out and type less. Either way, you look like an absolutely idiot when using said statements.
I'm gonna give an example:
Herp Poster: I suggest we have golden sandwiches in thuh game. They are crafted with bread on the top, a gold ingot in the middle and bread on the bottom, they give you 2 minutes of invinsibilitie(sp?) when eate-SUPPoRT?!?!?!
Reply #1: Just... no? Why are we eating gold bars? Why are we making sandwiches out of them? Why is gold and bread making us invincible? I would really love an answer to all those questions.
Herp Poster: Well at least it's not diamond sandwiches. LOL.
The Herp Poster is really living up to the name I stamped on him. Did making that unfunny diamond sandwich comment prove anything? Nope. Did it answer any questions? Nope. Did it make that poster look really dumb. lolyeah.
"But it's hard to get!"
"By the time you reach [situation], you'll already have [resource]!"
"Why not?"
"Why?" is more important than "Why not?", because if you really want your suggestion to touch the game, you'd want to convince the makers of the game to make the programming effort to add your idea that challenges the "why should we add this?" shield. Telling them "why not?" wouldn't make them respond with "Can't argue with that logic!"
"You're not Mojang, so you can't make that call!"
The average person that knows about Minecraft can still tell if an idea is unbalanced. For example, if you suggest a "Potion of Hulk" that adds 6 hearts of damage to any attack we make and halves any damage we take and costs only a feather to put in an awkward potion... Do we need to be part of Mojang to know how inarguably overpowered that is including the fact that's a completely upgrade of the Strength potion? No, no we don't. Us lowly non-Mojang commoners can still read between the lines.
Let's bring up one more point. If we critics can't make a call because we're not part of Mojang, why do YOU get to judge how balanced your idea is? *awkward silence* I didn't think you had an answer for that. Glad we cleared that up.
"This needs to be harder/easier!"
So adding a more difficult mechanic to a game for everyone in the world is not the brightest thought in one's head. Be as factual and accurate as possible if you want to get us on board and support your idea, because "I think this should be harder cuz dis is what I want!" is a fail within a slightly larger fail.
About ideas where something is made easier: Ideas likes this are less common, but like the ones about more difficult things, the suggester can sometimes get a little selfish. And sometimes, the suggester mentions an idea like this out of laziness just so [insert task here] doesn't take as long.
Again, if you want us to agree with you, explain factually why something should me made easier instead of "i want this lol". This brings me to the next entry...
"Fine, this will just be for Hard and Hardcore then!"
Let's live in a world where all the difficulties are just fine, instead of having one of them ruined forever.
"Put back what was in beta/alpha!"
I noticed there are some hot-headed nostalgia goons out there, and a lot of them make threads where they spout "auuuugh beta/alpha was soooo much better, minecraft is ruined and ragey ragey rage!!!" Oh my god, if you're one of those people, shut. The hell. Up.
If that older version was so good, then go and play it. You can play any version at any time. So there is absolutely NO reason to rant about it here.
"It's been 30 days since this suggestion was posted, so it's not redundant and I didn't need to search."
Okay, so your thread has no penalty. Oh but guess what? You should still search. Why? So you can understand why the older threads got the hate from other posters. If an unbalanced thread on thirst bars was made 30 days ago and was hated, guess what's gonna happen to your thread when you post the same thing? I'll let you put that one together.
Moral of the story: Always search.
"This adds a challenge!" (Part 2)
One of the most common suggestions I've seen in this category is "Guys! Hey! We need a bow that fires multiple arrows in a spread fashion so you can hit multiple mobs at onc-SUPPORT?"
Okay cool, but what if a stray arrow hits a passive mob I didn't want to hit? That's when the suggester says "Oh but it's a challenge because you have to be careful!" Nope, nope and an ultra red nope. That's not a challenge, that's complicated micromanaging. What if I want to shoot just one arrow? Then I have to switch between different bows just to carefully hit things at a distance. Oh wait. Firing more arrows is an enchantment? Oh cool, my bow is cursed with "Micromanage III".
You what's easier? Not having the complicated thing in the game to begin with, rather than adding it and trying to put fallacy "dis a challenge" sprinkles on it. If an idea like this, it needs to be dropped or heavily redone.
"We already have [Item A] so my idea would be fine!"
"But Mrs. Unproportional-Body, I saw Tommy throwing forks at old people so I thought it was okay!" Nooo, yeeeaaah, no. You mentioning what's in the game already very rarely works as a good argument, and usually just comes off as a pass-the-buck blame game.
There are usually two instances when people use this crap argument. When something is deemed not-so-fitting for the game and when someone is suggesting a boring add-for-the-sake-of-adding alternative. If I suggest another flying ranged mob in the Nether that's uninteresting as all hell, will mentioning how we already have the Ghast help me? No, because the Ghast alone is enough, and it's not somehow required to add my bad idea.
If I suggest army bases where the soldiers trade with "uncatalogued emeralds", will bringing up "oh but we have jukeboxes!" change anything? I'll let you answer that one.
"Let's see you make better idea then!"
I just torn down your suggestion with actual facts and stats, so I don't need to make a suggestion of my own to 1-up you. Do I need to be able to sing to know that someone is a terribad singer? No? Then you understand why that excuse is a fail wrapped within another fail.
As this guide has stated maybe 2 or 3 times now, it is not the critics job to make your idea better, and it's not our job to post a better suggestion to "prove ourselves". The only thing we need to prove is how good or christawful your suggestion is.
"This needs another way of acquiring!"
"Guyzzzzz. There's only one way to craft a piston, augh that is so stupid cuz we need another way! Let's use string in place of cobblestone or something!"
It was never set in stone that something in Minecraft needed another way of obtaining something. Note, that if something like that is implemented in the game, it could hurt the integrity of the first method of obtaining something, especially in players find the alternative easier somehow.
A lot of people seem to use the "durrdy herp well maybe the new way of getting suits a different playstyle!!" The playstyle of what, being lazy?
"But you can fix this with an external program!"
Is that the kind of suggestion you want? Where people need to get other programs just to cope with your one idea? This is usually the part where I use some clever lines or over-the-top made up quotes, but I'm all out of juice for this one.
"You guys just need to upgrade your PC!"
Really, you want perfect shadows and reflecting water so bad that you don't care about any other players? I did this very difficult study once, and my studies show that... it's possible that the game would be better without your l-l-l-lagified idea.
Please, don't fall into the "everyone's computer suckks, get an upgrade so you can handle my horridly thought out idea! All of you, spend $400 on a new GPU just for that one feature I suggested!" God, if you exist, stop inventing these people.
No, just because your hyper accurate physics idea is optional, doesn't mean it's worth the extreme trial-and-error programming to add in the first place.
"You have your opinion, I have mine."
Congrats, you openly stated that you and another person have differing opinions on your idea. Something that's already established! Woah! You should have a gold "Thinkin' Really Good" medal! If you only have this response to defend yourself, the non-supporters probably defeated you.
"Alright, you gave your criticism, now GET OUT!"
Let me make another thing clear. Critics do not have a "1 post per thread only" card. Chances are, they will keep coming back to a thread as long as the OP keeps using invalid defenses.
I'll admit it's annoying when a critic keeps repeating himself, as mentioned in the "For the Critics" thread, but even then, you don't have a magic barrier that can keep critics out.
"[Well-known person] said the idea was good!"
#logicalfallacy #badexcuses #failguments
"I don't care about this suggestion."
In all the years I've been on this forum, the only time this excuse was used is when an idea was unpopular and the OP couldn't handle it, and tried the crappy escapism "eh lol watever i posted this cuz i felt like it."
No, that excuse won't work after you defended the idea for a full page and made a lame MS paint banner for it. You never see this excuse on popular suggestion, I guess we'll... never know why.
Trust in Big Brother!
Sometimes people use these self-defeating excuses when they're too lazy to finish out a suggestion, or when the critics point the imbalances.
"It doesn't matter how unbalanced my idea is, Mojang will make it balanced when they add it!" Oh god, stop. First off, you're assuming that just because you posted a thread, your suggested is pretty much getting in the game. It isn't. Second, don't use Mojang as an excuse-crutch just so you don't rebalance your bad idea.
This forum requires you to complete and repair your own ideas, don't just wait for "Mojang to do it for you." Sometimes your idea can be so horrible that even Mojang can't fix it. They don't have "cancer suggestion fairy dust" that fixes all. No. No.
"This is [adjective], so we might as well make them more [adjective]!"
What part of your mind follows this logic? "Endermen already pick up blocks, so we might as well make them dismantle player's houses too!" Really? And that's somehow... set in stone? Yeah man, Mojang is gonna butcher something for players because they follow an empty meaningless fallacy.
What's next? "Chunk updates can lag people, so we might as well make them laggier!" Yes, keep using this incorrect line of thought, you guys are geniuses.
Presentations You Need to Avoid (List is continued here!)
Because people may hate you a little if you don't avoid them.
Entire Posts in Big Text
No, increasing the font size out of nowhere will not heighten the awareness of your suggestion. Don't make the common new-user mistake, don't get so bubbly and overexcited over your own suggestion that you have to shout "look at dis suggestion you guys look look look look LOOK LOOK LOOK!!! HERRPPP!!" Don't do that crap.
Horrible Punctuation and Spelling
ok hello guys ok so mayb we cud hav vehicals in da game like cars and planes and jets and trucks and trains and yachts so yeah all dat stuff pretty durrrr keep da thred alive so notch can see it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah, that's a good way to get people to mock your suggestion as well as your shorthand typing like you're some young kid using AOL for the first time. Posting like that will embarrass you and ruin your suggestion. Mindless run on sentences with no punctuation will backfire on you immensely.
Spamming Emotes/Images
You know what kind of weapon Minecraft needs? SPEARS!
:Notch::Notch::Notch::Notch::Notch::Notch::Notch::Zombie::Zombie::Zombie::Zombie::Zombie:
Will it absolutely ruin your suggestion? Possibly. Do posts like that look stupid as hell? Yeah. Spamming emotes will not magically make people like your suggestion more. Wait to come down from that sugar high before making a suggestion.
Flaunting Thread Titles
**~~**~{{{- New Creepers -}}}~**~~***
Dumbdumbdumb. Adding doilies to your thread title will not make your ideas seem better. You're just gonna come off with "guys ignore other threads and jus look at mine look look!1!1!" vibes. It's bad attention. Keep your thread titles normal.
Don't beg or constantly ask for support.
If you make a suggestion about jetpack surfboards in Minecraft that can detect diamonds, 800 people supporting the bad suggestion will still not make it appear in the game. The solution is simple, make your suggestion good, then people will support. Because getting on your knees and begging for it will not accomplish anything.
Don't make the suggestion just for Mojang.
Make your suggestion work out for everyone, not just Mojang. After all, if your suggestion was placed in the game, it would be the rest of the world who has to deal with it being in the game. Know what I mean?
Age is not an excuse.
"Add this mod!"
Thank you, FrozenS2M
This is usually caused by users with that mentality of "everyone else's opinions always match mine so errr yeah!" No. They don't. I'm sure you'd get all giddy if Mojang added the "Mo' Creatures" mod just for you, but the other 10,000,000 people that play this game may not. And those other 10,000,000 people, believe it or not, might have a different opinion than you! Woah! Strange right?!
Don't speak for everyone.
You also come off as someone who loves your own idea so much that you automatically assume, "Yeah! Everyone's gonna support this! Yeah!" No. Correct your brain in a way where you do not make this mistake.
Scale Tipping
Thank you, Zippy
No. Stop while you're very behind. Baby tweak ideas like that are usually bad and uninteresting. If these spears have pros and cons that perfectly match the sword, then why not just stick with the sword and not add waste-of-time lines of code or another dull weapon?
Be original and don't rely on what's already there by altering stats by salt grain sizes, then go on thinking "There, my idea is good enough because I changed things. I'll expect to see this in Minecraft tomorrow! Hire me Mojang! I'm smart! Self importance!" No. Don't.
"Less X but more Y" ideas are lazy. Force yourself to be more creative than that.
Don't suggest what's been removed from the game.
No. Stop. Don't suggest food restoring health instantly when they went through all that effort for the hunger system and instant healing potions. Know when crap was removed for a reason.
Don't post memes with your suggestion.
Thank you, Zippy
In fact, they might even go a step further and give you that nice 1 star on your profile. So if you get the urge to call gold boots "budder boots lol" or use a meme generator image in your suggestion, don't. Throw that meme crap out the window forever.
Realize the cost of your suggestion.
Thank you, SamurottX
So if you want to suggest snow cones that heal 3 hunger, that's one thing, but don't make it so we have to get Silk Touch, then collect 8 ice blocks, then surround a snowball with them on a crafting table just for a little piece of food that restore 3 hunger.
Or don't suggest some special kind of torch that illuminates 5 more blocks of an area than that of a normal torch, but requires two diamonds to craft. No one will want to waste to precious diamonds like that for a single torch. Please, think very hard about the cost and benefit of your suggestions.
"The ______ Update!"
Thank you, SamurottX
If you're suggesting two new enchantments. Don't call your thread "The Enchantment Update!" If you're suggesting a tiny tweak for sheep, don't call it "The Shearing Update!" No. Restrain yourself from doing that.
If your suggestion is something that would be a big change, and it's popular and liked enough, then maybe you could slip that title somewhere. Just to be on the safe side though, maybe just not have that kind of title at all.
Don't keep arguing with the better critics.
Thank you, yoshi4098
When your idea's flaws are pointed out, that isn't always an attack or a post just to embarrass you. So don't get snooty and mark off the good critics as "trolls". Open your eyes a bit and maybe realize that your suggestion ain't perfect. About 0% of them are.
So work with the good critics and not against them, don't get caught up in this "no my sugestion iz perfect no shut uuuuuup pride pride pride pride pride!!!" In the end, the "I don't need help! My idea is fine! I'm so cool!" attitude just comes back to haunt you, no one else.
Watch what you say.
Thank you, Zippy
You don't want to say something so stupid or so offensive that you find yourself permanently hated on this forum. Sure, you're nice and safe behind your keyboard, but you can still ruin your chances of anyone ever respecting your ideas.
This includes you joke thread makers too. You know who you are.
"Suggest ideas for me!"
No, stop. Put on your big boy pants and make the effort yourself. Suggestions aren't meant to be some potluck thing where the OP doesn't have to do anything. Either make the suggestion yourself or don't bother pooping out a thread.
If you want others to give you smaller ideas and fixes for your idea, that's fine, but don't expect other people to make up the base of the suggestion for you.
Don't suggest blatant substitutes.
Don't be in the position where your brain turns off and you make a thread stating this: "I suggest that we have craftable goo in the game! Yeah! This is a good idea! It's made by like... combining a bucket of water with like string or something! It can be used the same way as slimeballs for people who don't feel like killing slimes! I'm smart! Support!"
Derp, no. Don't make slimeballs as if they were almost added or nothing. "For people who don't feel like..." excuses are retarded and you should feel bad if you use them. Don't suggest stuff like that.
"Why isn't this in the game yet?"
No. That is pure and utter arrogance mixed with frustration. Do not blame Mojang just because something you want isn't in the game. Don't speak like you know more about the game than the people who created it. You're crushing your own reputation when you say snooty things like that.
If you are so sure about where the game should be going, then don't waste your time here. Fly to Mojang and "fix" the game yourself. If you're as good as you think you are, then they'll hire you. Oh wait, you aren't that good? Oh, so then you shouldn't make those arrogant statements?
Sometimes, even a bunch of supports doesn't mean your suggestion is good.
This is usually caused by a lot of people getting all starry-eyed over the idea without thinking about the long-term effects. Even that one guy that doesn't support a suggestion while the other 1,999 users do can still make a much better point than the 1,999 users combined.
An idea where Creepers turn into map erasing nukes is a bad idea. Even if the idea gets overwhelmed with supports, the idea is still bad (and the supporters should feel bad).
Don't sign your posts.
We can see your username just fine. Your post is not the bottom of a contract or check. We do need reassurance of what your username is. It usually comes off as arrogance or a failed attempt to look "pro" with your suggestion.
We don't like seeing posts that look like the following:
i suggezt we have sandwicthes in da game. dey are crafted wit 2 bred and porkch0ps in thuh middle. thumps up so notch can see????????????
-iCan'tThink
Do not sign your posts. It is and forever will be dumb. Realize this and don't make the mistake.
Vague/Redundant Thread Titles
Thank you, Stealthman917.
Try to have at least the names of what you're suggesting in the thread title. Examples, green is good, grey is boring:
New Desert Temple Mob: The Ancient Locust
new desert temple mob
Aim for green. You'll be cooler that way.
Dumb/Random Thread Tags
Thank you, nightworld115.
Neat, but don't use stupid out-of-context tags such as "add this jeb!", "toasters", "good idea", "olol", "herpy durr" and "support!" Refrain from letting yourself do that so you don't stupify your thread.
Don't make retarded one-sided polls
It's fairly hurr durrish when someone makes a really stupid suggestion and you see poll questions like this...
How good is my diamond bonemeal idea????
( ) best idea evar!!
( ) sort of the best idea evar!
( ) raelly good...
( ) kinda sorta gooood...
Restrain yourself from doing this. Make your poll answers cover all types of answers and not just one side of them.
Nonsensical crafting recipes
Thank you, GateFox.
"Hmm, I want this item to be very rare, so I'll just slap some diamond blocks in the recipe!" or "Hmm, that food I suggested that can fill all hunger points needs some balance. I got it! I'll make it so you have to craft bread with 6 emeralds!"
Please, just no.
Hesitation
Thank you, Itsoo1.
No. Don't do any of that. It doesn't boost the suggestion and it makes you look a bit dumb and goofy. Just give us the idea, and not open up with a story about how you came to trust Australians more. Example of something you shouldn't do.
"Yo wassup every1. This is CoolDawgyDawg up in dis crib with an awesome suggestion!! Minecraft is an awesome game and like I play it like every day that's how good it is omg. Okay so like I had this dream once that dis creeper wuz chasin me and like I kept running lololololololol that's how much I love dis game. Did any1 notice dat it's hard to find diamonds?!?!?!?!?!?1
Anyway, my idea is a new type cow, what it does is..."
If your intro paragraphs have something to do with the suggestion, that's fine, but we don't want some Alcoholics Anonymous intro that drags on for minutes because you think you're posting on Twitter.
"Better [Existing_thing_here]"
Thank you, 0_Zippy
Do not suggest that you want "better pigmen" by making them insta-kill players in hardcore. Do not suggest that you want "better spiders" by making them move 5% slower but do 5% more damage. Slight alterations and sidegrades do not always mean "better".
If you want to make something better, try to suggest it in a way where nearly everyone wins and very little to no people lose if your suggestion were to be implemented. Do not "fix" something that based only on your opinion.
"Don't be lazy you guys!"
Thank you, Itsoo1.
Don't have your eyes drift apart from each other in a moment of durr causing you to make a vague suggestion, but then you gain the nerve to point to others and go "well omg it's your guys' job to fill in da blanks and complete da suggestion!!"
No, it is not our job to babysit your idea. Either do the work or don't fart out a thread. If you make this mistake, feel bad and deny yourself happiness for the remainder of your life. No recovery allowed.
Never assume that the well being of your suggestion is suddenly the job of everyone else. If there's ever a time where you think it is, punch yourself in the head as punishment for such a thought.
Don't ignore needed fixes to your thread when they're pointed out.
When you break a forum rule and someone points it out, it's a smart idea to fix it as soon as possible so your thread doesn't get locked and forgotten. Don't simply reply with "oh um sorry" and then just not do anything at all.
Don't try to be funny and joke it off. Save your thread or don't bother making one.
Make sure your idea isn't too advanced.
Thank you, Proiclan.
"I suggest we have military bases in the game! There will be like all these types of soldiers and infantry and each of them have their individual rank and backstory!"
Apart from the fact that this doesn't fit the game at all. This would be absolute hell to program. Imagine the trial and error bug fixing and work such a huge feature would need. In this case, not having it overall is better than attempting to make it exist.
Make sure your idea is within doable bounds, and not something the human race as a whole has never and probably can't achieve within this decade.
Do your homework.
Thank you, DarkStar634.
It could be a bit embarrassing when you run in and go "uuuugh mojang come on omg we need bouncing slime blocks omgggg les goooooo" only to find out it was being planned the whole time. So... you know. Homework. Do a bit of it.
Don't assume we all know you & your suggestions.
Thank you, Smiliez7a
You are not the John Travolta or Tom Cruise of the forum. Not everyone will force memories to be emptied in their brains to remember you and your threads 24/7.
"Yo you guys you guys omg I think the game should have jars of Nutella, if you read my previous suggestion than you know why my idea is good!!!"
Stupid, stupid, stupid and stupid. Bring all of the details up front. Don't do that reference crap where you leave the detail in a different thread or even a different website.
Don't be overly humble/self-pitying.
Thank you, Proiclan
This is utterly senseless and pathetic. If your idea is so absolutely crap, why did you make the conscious decision to post it? No one's going to go "well you said it was bad so we forgive you and btw support =)".
No, things don't work that way. If you know your idea is derpy dumb. Then it's dumb. You being humble and passive-aggressively attacking yourself won't reshape our opinions. Grow some backbone.
Don't post YouTube videos to "help" your suggestion.
Thank you, sc1020
Yeah cool, the opinion of some talkative youtuber will totally rewire our minds into thinking higher of the suggestion. Make a suggestion where the base is you, and not some slow-talking sloth in an unoriginal video. Do not be a tool.
Eye-Gouging Font and Colors
Thank you, ChaosBahamut
What, you're saying this font could be worse as well? How's is this? Is herpy dumb Comic Sans font better?
OMGGGG HOW'S THIS! ISN'T THIS JUST PURE EYE THERAPY RIGHT HERE?
Yeah, the message is simple. Stick to normal fonts. Or at worst, just stay away from the Comic Sans one. Hey mods, can you hear me? Get rid of that font. It's forum cancer. Oh don't use bright colored text on a bright background like this. Herpity herpity hurr.
Baggage Carrying
Thank you, yoshi9048
"Don't post in my thread if you are Theriasis!"
"ONLY POSITIVE POSTS ALLOWED!"
"Oh, you again, your ideas usually suck and this one probably does too."
Seriously, do not ever do this. You will cause 2 things to happen: a thread derailing flamewar and possibly some permanent damage to your suggestion and you. Do not dictate what people can and can't do in a thread (this very thread has the exception).
Telling someone not to post in your thread will not reprogram those people to not do so. If you have a problem with someone do one, some or all of the following. Report them if they're trolling/flaming.
"Let's outright change this mechanic we're all familiar with!"
Thank you, ZTick
"HI WASSUP mojang should make it where torches go out at random and um... and um... and like um you have to relight them I think this idea is good and should be added so support because I think that!"
No. Stop. Game mechanics that worked well for over 4 years aren't the result of a positive accident. They are deliberate, well-balanced things that keep the game going. Understand that changing a good system for the worse "bcuz u think it'd be cool" is not only retarded but... No that's it, it's just retarded.
Alternate Accounts
Thank you, Itsoo1
BirdLover91, "Les add Herobrine! He is relly populer and shud be added! DO IT NOTCH!"
FalconGuy, "I aggreee! he IS popular and it wud be awesome to add! suh-port!!"
Congrats, you just embarrassed yourself on an extremely high scale and risked getting ALL of your accounts locked and forgotten. Alternate accounts. Do not have them.
Don't link to other sites/threads to explain something.
If you do this, you need to remove one of your limbs, and then keep that limb in sight range at all times to remind you not to repeat this mistake. That's the only way you can learn. The ONLY way. No, explain every bit of your idea in your thread. Don't get lazy and rely on some other website because your fingers "don't feel like it".
Don't mess with polls.
Don't flood your posts with line breaks.
Like don't develop a fetish for your enter key
We don't like doing the extra scrolling because you took too much soma and fell asleep a bit where the enter key was...
Know what I mean?
This is annoying. Don't do it.
Okay?
Don't make stuff up.
Captain Obvious Thread Titles
We already know you want your suggestion read, hence... why you made it exist. "Details inside"? Well I should hope so, because suggestions with no details get locked. Regardless, you don't need to inform us that there's "more in the the thread, plz click!", I know it sucks not being able to type that 4-paragraph suggestion in the thread title alone, but it's okay, that one extra click to go inside your thread won't kill us.
Idea Cramming
It's generally done when the suggester didn't make the suggestion with enough detail beforehand, and as a result of this, starts cramming in stats and rushed bare bones details in a vain attempt to not get a locked thread. This is also done in the form of the suggester not updating their first post like they should, and add more details via just replies.
More often than not, the result of idea cramming is usually bad to mediocre. Imagine making a turkey, running out of stuffing halfway through, and instead of taking the time get more stuffing, you panic and start stuffing the turkey with other random things just so you get to call the turkey "full". Still not getting it? Ugh, fine. Here's an example:
Suggester: i suggest we add lizards because they'd be pretty cool in deserts
Reply #1: So vague it's vague.
Reply #2: more detail please before this gets locked.
Reply #3: What do these lizards do?
Suggester: uhhh ok let me think... they do like 3 damage I guess and they spawn only in the day and maybe ummm.. they attack spiders too? yeah that's it!
Had the example suggester just added all the details up front, he wouldn't need to scramble to make his suggestion better.
Walls of Text
Necro'ing your crappy, unrevised threads.
When you bump crap like that, it has people believe your brain gave up on life, or you're a troll joke threader that's just begging for more angry attention. Know when to let a herp suggestion of yours just die out.
Making a banner for a stupid idea.
However, if your idea is absolutely terrible and if full of "no support", then what the hell is the point of slapping the banner in your sig? All you will do is bring more negative attention to the idea.
Posting extremely small ideas.
Don't make an entirely new thread just post this...
"Let's give animals a few more sounds of each action type so we don't they all sound less redundant."
Okay, a decent idea I guess? But the idea is so small that there's not much for a critic of any kind to assess completely. And the thread comes down to people posting just "support" or "no support" without really offering any extensive discussion. Please just keep this in the Small Suggestions sticky thread.
Confusing Colloquialisms
When you talk about "them green quiet explody things", we know you're talking about Creepers. If you call them something so out there like "those boom boom fellas", you're gonna raise some eyebrows. Either use a very easy colloquialism or just call out something by it's actual name.
Ideas Only Good For Multiplayer
Yes, message carrying pigeons would be fun, but in singleplayer, the birds are just wasting oxygen in the higher parts of the map. In short: try to make things for both single and multiplayer.
"Update idea for [version number here]"
And it's probably doubtful that your idea would just so happen to make it in the very next update that's about to come out anyway so..? Don't... title your threads like that?
Selective Arguing
If the critic took 8 minutes to type out many questions that require serious answers, then do them the favor of giving them the time they gave you. Don't reply to 1/8th of their post and leave everything else answered or undefended. This showcases rage-inducing cowardice laziness.
No, don't expect to ignore posts and have that go unnoticed. No, do not refuse to reply to someone in hopes that they'll just go away. If a non-supporter points out flaws or good questions and you just skip over them, then they've got the upper hand.
If you have the time to respond to every single solitary supporter with "omggggggggggggggg thx for the support!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" followed by a bunch of stupid, spammed, happy emotes... then debating some criticism won't kill you.
Incorrect Listing of Pros and Cons
"Was crackin' peeps, what it doooOOOOO???!! My idea is that players can trip over their own cats hahahahahaha! The pros are that's it's pretty funny but the cons are that it's so funny that you'll be distracted from the game by laughin' so hard!"
That is not how pros and cons work, that is 9 kinds of dumb. Please do not be that type of poster.
Misleading Thread Titles
Also, no, do not use a thread title that's a first fragment of an incomplete sentence. So titling a thread "Remove Magma Cubes", and then your first post continues that with "from spawning near lava, because they fall in and get stuck." is something you need to feel bad about.
It's simple, keep your thread a relatively short and descriptive synopsis. And not something with a triple meaning.
CamelCase
Auuugh, everyone... STOP doing this. That is not how you use your shift key. That capitalization fetish is liquefied eye cancer.
Generally Hated and Inferior Suggestions
Though sometimes, some of these suggestions can be made good. Keyword: Some.
This section has been moved to another post. Click this to go to it.
Negative Criticism and Defeat
Because we want revenge after seeing "No support." (Image)

The Overachiever's Guide
Made by Cerroz. This stuff is encouraged, but NOT required. (Unfinished)
This purpose of the rest of the guide is to not make a bad suggestion, often telling you how to go from "bad" to "good". The overachiever's guide tells you how to go from "good" to "much, much better". This is only one of two sub-guides not written by Theriasis (the other being 0_Zippy for making the balance guide), meaning this guide will be much more positive.
Ever play a video game that involves getting more than 100% completion? Or being able to earn better than a gold medal, which is usually a platinum one? This guide will try to help you get that. If you only care to make just decent, okay suggestions with "eh" amounts of work, this guide is not for you. Who is it for? The people who want their ideas to shine so hard that we can't look directly at it too fast, the kind that most likely make the suggestions hall of fame and get showered with "I support!" for many pages.
Note: Following the guide to a 'T' may also involve you having to learn program-using skills you haven't nailed down quite yet.
Apart from the suggestion being good, proper readability and formatting is one of the most desired things for the reader of a suggestion. If the format of a suggestion is too sloppy, it brings the integrity of the suggestion down. Format a suggestion like you want that A+ grade.
You can't really have a post without text, so you might as well arrange that text as beautifully as humanly possible. This includes good spelling, proper grammar and proper punctuation placement. If you have a long suggestion that has many stats, attributes and features, then it may be best to split that up into some nice sections with pretty headers.
The rest of the suggestions guide mentions how you need proper formatting, but this sub-guide will give much more ideas and insight to that. Make sure your suggestion is split up into nice sized paragraphs - not too long, not too short. Also, even though this part isn't as necessary, but if you can, make sure your paragraphs encompass points properly, rather than having single points splashed around multiple paragraphs, but that really depends on how you present it so that part isn't painfully important. That's a mixed bag.
If a paragraph is too short, it might not even be a paragraph at all and you probably can attach more to it. If it's too long, you could slowly bore reader's until the next paragraph hits. Paragraphs that are too long can overwhelm and "tire" the reader, as if you're telling a super long joke that should have reached a punchline 2 minutes ago, you don't want that. In other words, long paragraphs can come off as rambling. Even this very paragraph is probably boring you now. Sorry guys, do you forgive me?
Lastly, let's talk about headers. Headers are the most awesome way to split up and organize a suggestion. Make those headers nice and big, and if you want, a nice fitting easy-to-read color. For bonus points, maybe make an image of header text like I've been doing. Maybe slap another smaller image to match what the header reads for more bonus points, just don't overdo it and clutter it.
Note: To refine your post better, you may need to do some post editing in [BB] mode.
I'll give a brief here's-good-and-here's-bad example.
(Good Example) My mob idea is the Zombified Scorpion! They are only found in deserts and Desert Temples!
Appearance:
[insert image here]
Mind you, they can eerily change their color depending on day or night. They have a browner hue with black eyes in the daytime, and a dark blue hue with purple eyes at night (making them a bit harder to see during that time).
Very rarely, they can appear completely black, and this is when they are most dangerous. These ones are only found in Desert Temples.
Attributes and Behavior:
Health:
Daytime: 5 hearts
Nighttime: 10 hearts
Black: 17 hearts
Damage:
Daytime: 2 hearts
Nighttime: 3.5 hearts (10% chance to poison)
Black: 5 hearts (60% chance to poison + 20% chance for slowness)
Like black spiders, daytime scorpions will only attack if provoked. Nighttime and black ones will attack once they see you. Black scorpions have triple sight as that of any other regular hostile mob.
Drops:
All scorpions, as you could have guessed, drop their venomous tails. They can be used in dispensers as short range-only weapons when powered by redstone. They will not poison in this case.
All scorpions drop normal tails. Black scorpions drop black tails which do an extra 1hp of damage in dispensers, and can be used as a potion ingredient to turn a potion into the II version of whatever it is.
If you can manage to kill a scorpion just as it changes from brown to dark blue, you will get a "strange scorpion tail", which can be used to make a Potion of Madness, causing any affected mob to change disposition. It has no effect on players.
(Bad Example) Hello mcforums. My idea is a zombified scorpion, it's brown in daytime, blue at night and very rarely black in temples. they drop scorpion tails which can be put in dispensers and can hurt mobs for 1 damage except black scorpion tails that do 2 dmg.
you can also get an irregular tail if you kill a zombified scoprion as it changes from day to night. these new tails can make a potion of madness.
I personally think the best suggestions absolutely need some good images. There is no collection of words I can think of to express the fact that good suggestions should have this. Yes, it does give something pretty to look at and gives us more than just text, text and more text. But it also helps us readers dive into the mind of the suggester and makes us see what they want us to see. We see the suggester's vision. Ever have a good idea but couldn't express it good enough because others just need to see it?
If you want to show the readers how creative you are, you probably need to obtain some moderate to extreme image editing skills. In some lucky cases, you can find an image without needing to do so, but you making stuff yourself showcases how serious and skilled you are at giving ideas. Another thing people should know, is that even though an image brings home a point, it still might take some editing to make it look better. An example is images that have backgrounds... Let me just show you...
Are both images good? Sure. But chances are, you find the right one better as the background is transparent. The left one just comes off as being blockier while the right looks more defined and sleeker. Sometimes we need to apply that creative elbow grease to make an image shine a little more.
There's a special case for mob suggestions. If you want to make a model of the mob, you have two choices: the first one requires extremely critical and advanced 3D modeling with programs such as Maya or 3DS Max and very, very careful texturing work. Or... the second choice, which requires almost no 3D modeling skill at all and involves a program made specifically for Minecraft in mind called Techne! See? Uncle Cerroz helps you out.
In the case of sprites, it's pretty easy. Just make a pixelish 16x16 image, and resize it. In most image editing programs, there are options such as "Bicubic" and "Bilinear" resizing, but "Pixel Resize" or "Nearest Neighbor" ensures the image will be nice, sharp/pixelly with no blur. Just make sure to resize it in dimensions divisible by 16.
Sadly, this guide covers just suggestions and won't provide a tutorial on how to use these programs. Some quick Google or Youtube searches will get you on the right track. Don't worry, Techne doesn't take long to understand. It's a pretty simplistic program. Another note, make sure your images are relevant. If your mob is based on a Chinese insect, you only need to post a picture of the insect, not a picture of China.
If you want an idea to make the suggestions hall of fame, good images are absolutely required!!
Image Formats (Added 9/28/05)
Anyone who has been using the internet for a week probably know of all image formats. The most sought after and prominent format is PNG, because it a.) has a very small filesize and b.) can support any type of transparency (being 'index' and 'alpha'). JPEG is also fine, assuming the image is not too compressed and transparency is not needed.
A GIF file can work if you make an animated image, but take note that those kind of files have very exclusive amounts of colors and there's no working around that. GIF images are 8-bit only and can only support this amount of colors: 3, 7, 15, 31, 63, 127 and 255. A GIF can make an image very grainy and loss-of-colors, so optimize it wisely. GIF files can only support 'index' transparency, so you can't have an opaque slowly blend into transparency (which is 'alpha' transparency). It's only 100% transparency and 100% opaque. No in-betweens.
"But Cerroz, is it possible to have both alpha transparency and animation?" Yes there is. There is a very unique image format known an APNG, but making these kind of files can be very tedious and tricky, and may require many tries before you get them just right. Also, APNG files are not supported by all browsers, so some users only see the first frame, and not a full animation. Sadly, you can't have everything.
There are too many good programs out there to name them all. The most obvious one is Adobe Photoshop. For GIF's, I use Jasc Animation Shop, which is not one of the better programs, but it's one of the easiest to use. Note that Photoshop can make GIF's too, but it might take a smidge longer for you. For APNG files, APNG Assembler is a solid choice.
When you're being an overachiever and stretching your arms out because you're trying to feel the cold medal of that platinum medal just out of reach, you can't just have a good idea, you gotta have the pizzazz to present it beautifully as well.
Talk about eating your cake and presenting it too right? And... maybe still eating it. It's cool you gave us the awesome idea, but can you explain it so cleverly and smoothly that you can hook us more and more, making the idea triply more irresistible?
If you happen to be a clever writer, or just a clever speaker, chances are you're gonna nail this part of the suggestion. There's a difference between "Here's an idea you'll all like." and "Alright, I'm gonna need everyone to sit down. If I'm gonna be serving this good idea cake to all of you, you can't crowd around me. Look at the cake though! It's got a picture of a unicycle lizard on it!" If you truly believe you're funny, you can use that humor as well.
Language Barrier
I think it's safe to say that you already know this forum is English based. If English is not your primary language and you are struggling with it, my advice is this: hang in there. It's understandable you won't master a language just so you can make a good suggestion, but I advise giving your suggestion a rough draft to an English-speaking person.
As the very top of Theriasis' guide states, if we can't handle negativity, we shouldn't make a thread at all. Though you soon-to-be-overachievers know this already. Don't be afraid of negative reception. Grab it! Use it! That feedback is your ultimate ticked to make a gold suggestion into a diamond.
I can promise you that the most famous suggestions did not start out as refined as they are now, and if they did, they probably have a lot to improve anyway. I personally get a bit worried if I get no negative responses sprinkled in here and there, because I don't get to see what to fix in my idea.
If you get too much factual negative responses and the core of your suggestion has been proven to be a bad idea, it may be best to move on to a different idea. As not all ideas can be repaired.
If someone makes a very long post stating negatives on your idea and you want to prove them wrong, then respond to all of the points. If you just "respond to what you want" and skip over many negative points, that can showcase laziness and that you're trying to avoid negativity. That is not the kind of attention you want. If you can't refute a factual point, then openly admit that the critic is correct, and if possible, try to fix what said critic brought up.
This is the most unique section of this sub-guide, as this is this without a doubt the most rare thing ever seen in a suggestion. Some suggesters have uploaded videos helping explain an idea, but maybe once or twice has one gone through the effort of making one, uploading it and presenting it.
Provided your idea is actually good, making a good video will put your chances of a hall of fame place at roughly 95%. As expected, providing such a thing will require some serious effort. The video editing software I use is Sony Vegas, but if you have basic knowledge of video editing, almost any software will do. Even something basic like Windows Movie Maker can work.
I made a short video for my Ancient Zombie suggestion, and it wasn't anything spectacular, but it was still awesome to see in a suggestion. Here it is:
If you can manage to animate your mob and put that in a video or .gif image, then you are in. Like. Flint.
tl;dr - Use your brain and don't embarrass yourself.
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This same logic can be applied to any genre, for example:
RPG: Just lots of numbers accompanied by bad Lord of the Rings fan-fic.
Platformer: Nothing but jumping on platforms, where's the fun in that?
Adventure games: Why not just read a book.
Sandbox: There's nothing to do.
Stealth: Why hide from bad guys when I can kill them?
Beat 'em up: Just like shooters except with unnecessary added stuff.
Racing: Why not just drive a real car?
RTS: They're all to complicated.
Obviously this is sarcasm in case anyone didn't get it, every genre has its appeal.
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You're an agnostic Christian.
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You know Minecraft predates Terraria, right?
Anyway, under the assumption that Minecraft actually is set on our planet, it's the entire planet. There's no real location big enough to take up the entire Minecraft world.
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You know, because quests are exclusive to RPGs, it's not like most other open world sandboxes have some form of quest system, in fact, it's not like Minecraft doesn't already have a very simplistic quest system (NPC trades). Quests aren't an RPG exclusive thing, they're found in almost every genre, including sandboxes.
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Now, since I've seen a number of fallacious arguments used against the critics, I think I should explain why they don't work. Creepers are not a suitable justification for a coffee franchise; creepers don't break any established rules of the Minecraft world, this suggestion does. The Overworld is filled with flora, as well as roaming monsters; creepers are both of these things, as well as this creepers fill a niche role integral to combat in a survival-building game: destroying your structural defenses, no other mob does this, so creepers are a necessary part of the game.
This suggestion on the other hand? The Nether is a wild and hellish place, with the only sings of civilization being long-since abandoned fortresses that are now filled with angry monsters. Coffee chains are an aspect of a highly active society that's ordered enough to be able to run a franchise; reason one why it defies the game's established world. Wither skeletons are the crazed, undead remnants of a dead society who kill any they see (or, at least they kill the player) and are ruled by (or, at least connected to) a three-headed, undead, flying monster that shoots eldritch skulls at any living being. This suggestion has them running a coffee chain, which requires them to barter with, rather than kill, the player and be at least somewhat friendly, as well as having a working society, which totally contradicts their current design. Nether fortresses are dark, abandoned and ruined fortresses of a long dead society, while their purpose is shrouded in mystery, most of their features point to military use, or some even more insidious purpose. This suggestion has the fortresses' inhabitants still functioning as a society and selling coffee!
I also have to ask, what makes everyone think this is something Notch would add, when's he ever added something this immersion-breaking that didn't get removed a week later?
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Sorry, I wasn't saying emotional appeal is the only way to measure a song's quality, but just that it's one way, and a perfectly valid way. If a song manages to get an emotional response then that is an achievement for the musician. Though, even if this didn't come across in my first post, I do agree that this is far from the only way to judge music; a song being well constructed, original-sounding and simply being enjoyable to listen to are all equally valid measures of quality.
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