Last Updated: April 16, 2016

• Do NOT post suggestions here!

• If you update your suggestion, update the first post.

• Insulting people who don't like your idea can land you in a locked thread.

• Please make a thread that you'll actually come back to and not ditch after the first post.

• Let's keep the discussion about improving the guide, rather than just complimenting/back patting it.

• Negative criticism is NOT "hating" - please, PLEASE understand the difference.
• NEW: Everyone. Stop picking version numbers for your suggestions. It's utterly pointless.

This guide is solely about making suggestions. However, if you want to read about being the critic of a suggestion instead, go to this delicious thread. Made by yoshi9048. It's a good thread. Seriously.

Possibly Asked Questions

Forum Terminology
In the chat regarding this guide, a few people have suggested that there should be a mini-section about this:

Most forum goers already understand these terms, but you never know how new someone can be.

Table of Contents

• How to Properly Search
• Types of Suggestions
• Threads That Aren't Allowed
• Posting the Suggestion
• Suggestion Collaboration
• Logic and Realism
• "It'll be optional then!"
• Suggestion Excuses
• Objective and Subjective
• Artificial Difficulty
• Suggestion Balance
• If You Want a Thread, Locked or Deleted
• What "fits" in Minecraft
• Taking Criticism
• Generally Disliked Suggestions
• Overachiever's Guide

// Introduction
// Let's shake hands first.

Whether you're good at improv with creating good ideas on the spot or if you need some time to think up something clever, a good idea for Minecraft enters our minds at some point. Ever just have a moment where the suggestion gods have touched you? And every vibrating cell of your skin is itching to get on the forums and start blindly typing away? Oh you could probably see it on your minds right now, "I'm gonna get so many supports, I should put this on reddit, maybe I should make a banner!"

However, before this happens, we need to take a deep breath, take a step back and analyze out suggestions more carefully. You down? You dig?

I'm gonna use a strange analogy, but bear with me, I'm really trying. There are tons of singers that think they're good and even go on 'American Idol' or 'The Voice' because "they're just so sure they'll be the next big thing" yet some of them sound unspeakably terrible even though they thought they were good all this time but weren't. A suggestion for Minecraft can fall in that exact scenario. This guide won't make you a suggestion god, but it will provide you with all the do's and don'ts so you can make a suggestion embarrassment-free. Pretty wicked right?

Now, this guide is gonna be a long one. So grab yourself a Vanilla Coke and some Spaghettios, and have yourself a good read. Deal? This guide is gonna get tough sometimes, maybe even a bit abrasive. So chances are, you might read some things you don't want to.

// Guide 2.0?

// Because another guide existed before this one.

If you recall, there was a stickied suggestion guide that had the exact same purpose as this one that was created in 2012, and it took many years to finalize. Back then, the users 0_Zippy, AirOutGland and oohoohswish had a massive part in writing it. However, I'm bringing in a spankin' new guide. Oh yeah, you're curious, I can see it on your face. Your face was all "but why though?" Don't try to lie, I saw it.

I'll tell you "why?" Though the original guide got all the messages across. It wasn't as user friendly as it should have been, and was very redundant. And it also focused to heavily on what NOT to do. This guide should take less time to develop, as most of the material is already there, but just needs to be reworded. I am still crediting the new and old helpers of both guides.

Another problem the original guide had was that - because of the redundancy - hit the character limit allowed for a post, meaning I had to extend the guide to multiple posts, making reading the guide extremely laborious. We don't want that more of that than what there already is.

Here is a link to the first guide.

// Credits

// Because for some strange reason, you care about that.

// Suggestions Hall of Fame

// Brilliant (example) suggestions by excellent posters.

// How to Properly Search (top)

// Because we don't want to copy people. Intentionally or otherwise.

A lot of people that 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.

The Redundancy Rule

One of the rules of the Suggestions forum is that if you made a thread that's too similar to another one that was created within the 30 days, the newer thread will be locked for redundancy. So that's... why you should search. You can check a thread's post date by searching normally, or you can use the "Posted After" feature you see in the image up there.

So for example, if you wanted to avoid redundancy on "new dyes" topic and today's date was July 1st, you want the "Posted After" to be set to June 1st.

Mind you, even if your thread isn't technically redundant, you should still search and learn from the mistakes of previous threads.

// Types of Suggestions (top)

// Two of them: Bad and really bad. I'm joking. But no, some are bad though.

Improved Features

Let's analyze these words carefully. "Improved" means better. It doesn't mean "different" and it doesn't mean "only what I want". If you want to suggest that something be improved in the game, then make it better and balanced. Don't suggest that something be changed just because you want it to be that way and call it "better".

New Features

Suggestions that suggest that something wasn't there before are usually more complex and have the most mistakes associated with them. For this forum, two of the most common fallacies locked in the human brain are "it's new, so therefore it's good" and "this is automatically good because it adds variety!!"

Me suggesting a camel mob that drops jelly beans would be new, but it's also stupid, and therefore shouldn't touch the game. Me suggesting that there'd be 5 new types of brown dye in the game would "add variety" but would be pointlessly redundant.

Is the new idea actually good? Or is it just there to be there?

// Threads That Aren't Allowed (top)

// Unless you got a thing for getting your own threads locked.

Wishlists - Threads that have multiple, related ideas. Suggestions can have many ideas as long as they properly relate to each other. For example, "Hi forums let's add pizza, colored gravel, 5 new types of pigmen and maybe some throwable milk????" is a sloppy wishlist.

Redundant Suggestion - Pretty much what was explained in the "How to Search" part of the guide. Making a thread about "taming cats a second time" when the suggestion already exists (and was created within the nearest 30 days) will get that thread locked so hard that all your siblings will feel it.

Joke Threads - Do I even to elaborate here?

Non-Suggestions - I guess the very name of the forum wasn't enough, eh?

Suggestions not for vanilla Minecraft - The unmodded game is the only thing we can make suggestions for in this forum. So making a thread where you "suggest what you'd like to see in my server!" or "I suggezt a mod where you can also tame cows with diamonds!" are both invalid.

Suggestion what's already in the game - What's the point? That's like protesting in front of your nearest city hall for the sky to stop being blue sometimes at night. Which I've done.

Megathread - "Post your suggestions in my thread!" Oh cool, a thread that copies what an entire forum is for? That's absolutely genius one of the worst kind of threads a breathing being can make.

Suggestions with no content - So if your thread is nothing more than "maybe it's time for a new block?" Guess what? There is NO discussion value in that, and therefore, such a thread doesn't need to exist.

// Posting the Suggestion (top)

// Otherwise, why would this guide be here? Nah'mean?

Now, before we dive into this topic. You have to ask yourself a very simple question. Why are we posting the suggestion? The answer: because it's something we believe would benefit Minecraft. Let's ask ourselves some more questions.

- Why should the idea be in the game, what does it add?

- No matter what situation we face in the game, will the idea still be balanced?

- Is our idea something that ALL type of players can make use of?

Now, with that in mind, we have to realize that Minecraft was not made just for you, it was made for everyone. Your idea should encompass all players, and not just you, nor a specific type of player. Have an objective reasoning for your ideas. Do not open up an idea with "It's honestly time for more food" or "Hello?! Where's our gold coins?!"

You don't know what it's "time for" unless Mojang just hired you. Do not post like you control the next update to the game.

So posting an idea of "les add pizza to the game becuz i like pizza" is just dumb and selfish. If Mojang added what everyone wanted, we'd have gamebreaking guns, fighter jets, a ton of boring ores and the ability for our blocky limbs to be broken if we took enough damage. That's not the kind of Minecraft people want to play.

This forum isn't for angry rants.

Open up a Twitter account or maybe put that on the Discussion forum, not here. This place is for serious suggestions, not for you to vent out that one game mechanic you don't like and how "moojanng is soooo duuummbb uuughh!!!" because you don't like change. We don't care and don't want to read that trash, please take that somewhere else.

Suggestion Presentation & Details

As said in the previous subsection. We can't exactly read your mind and know exactly what you're suggesting unless you tell us every single possible thing we need to know.

We don't want to read an uninspiring 1-sentence pseudo-idea about "a new villager that can use a sword though!" We don't want to read an incomplete suggestion that wasn't finished because "guys I g2g school now ill finish dis idea later peace y'all".

No. Either give us a fully completed and well-explained idea or don't make a thread at all. If your suggestion has no content, then it has no discussion value. How will I know your mob is balanced if you don't tell us the damage is does? How will I know your new biome is pointless or not if you don't tell us what's in it?

If you've ever seen the movie Tommy Boy or taken any business classes, you might have heard that if you convince someone to buy your product, the consumer doesn't just buy the product. They're buying you. That's how a suggestion is. It represents you. So what does that mean? It means when you post your suggestion, give every single possible detail you can and format your post neatly so it's not annoying to read. Here's some examples:

NotMuchBrains: we don't have to many biomes..... why not add more??????????

GuyWhoThinks: I suggest we add an oasis mini biome in deserts. They would have palm trees and small pools of water. The palm trees would give us a new log type as well as new wooden planks and leaves. The palm trees sometimes have coconuts which can be eaten for 2 health.

See, this guy's cool because he used an ancient Greek method known as "thinking". He fleshed out his idea and explained it well. Is an Oasis biome the best idea in the world? Maybe not, but at least we know what the suggestion is about instead of reading "guys we just need more biomes uggghhh".

Overall, be clear, be concise and explain your idea well. Spell correctly. If you have a long suggestion that needs different headers and such, that's fine, however, don't go overboard by using oversized text LIKE THIS LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME!!! Also, do not use bright fonts that can't be read and don't use eye-gouging fonts.

Don't be allergic to proper capitalization. Don't be allergic to punctuation. Don't give us a wall of text because your Enter key has the flu. That's what makes people hit the back button before they finish reading whatever you typed. Oh, and you don't need to sign your posts - we don't need to see your username twice and your post is not the bottom of a check. Oh, and please don't spam emotes like a 12-year-old AOL'er.

Oh and do not make threads just for Mojang. Mojang won't be the ones critiquing your idea, we will. So try to talk over our heads and make your words travel all the way to Mojang's secret headquarters will just make you look bad. Yes, by default, we'd all want our ideas to make it in the game, but again, us users are the ones who will be posting about it.

Thread Titles

Here's a rule about clickbait and vague thread titles: don't make clickbait and vague thread titles.

You know what's not gonna impress anyone? Naming your thread with "new mob", "new biome", "way 2 make creepers better" or even "awesome new block!"

No. Please leave a small synopsis in the thread title. If your new mob is about a strange scorpion zombie hybrid, then the title of "Scorpion Zombies in Deserts" is fine, rather than "new desert mob." Do not cry out "PLEASE READ" in your thread title, as we already know that you want your thread read simply due to the fact that you made the thread exist. So yeah. Herp.

Did I mention don't use dumb clickbait titles yet? And don't title your thread the first half of a sentence, where the second half of that sentence is in your first post upon entering the thread. That will only annoy people and bring insults to your suggestion. And don't add text doilies to your thread. That crap is so desperate and cringeworthy. So when your thread title looks like this...

**~~--~~ ({( New Potions! )}) ~~--~~**

You screwed up. Royally.

Originality and Creativity

Let's face a dark, bitter truth. Some people out there are so creative that we wish we can steal their brains. However, others are so painfully uncreative that even if they wrote a simple children's book, it would win a "Worst Seller" award.

Mind you, ideas don't need to be gleaming with pure originality to be good, but it helps substantially. You know what ideas people are tired of? Stay tuned.

Don't make ideas that are so horribly based on prefixes. "so uhhhh we need a nether wolf that be tamed with nether bones and it can be uhhh killed and drop nether fur and uhhh nether nether nether neTHER NETHER!!!!" Copying something from another dimension usually fail.

Don't copycat existing things in the game (even though Mojang did some of that already, but still). Copying chickens by suggesting ducks but dropping the same thing is a going-nowhere idea. Suggesting a bull that drops the same leather as cows is zzzzzzzz idea. At least add something new to those mobs.

Suggestion Stance

One of the most common pointless things people do in their suggestions is praise their own ideas and mention how much they like it. Oh gee, really? If you didn't like your own idea, you wouldn't post it, so there's no sense in going "I think this would be cool to add."

Here is a truth that must be accepted. Your own opinion on your own idea is the least powerful and least relevant. The second you post your idea to the public, you dumped it into "critic waters". So if the critics that correctly point out the flaws in your idea, will your own opinions on your own idea change anything? Nnnnnnnnnnnnnope.

It's fine to explain how you believe your idea would be a good thing for Minecraft (which it should be, otherwise why would we want it?) But you need to be neutral over your suggestion and not treat it like some godsend hotfix that will "make the game soar to new heights", because all it takes is one critic to prove that wrong.

A lot of suggesters trick themselves into think they're "game developers" that know exactly what a game needs, when they actually aren't those kind of people. Avoid being that.

Don't have slippery slope fallacies.

Basically, don't end the reasoning of your suggestion with "...the game will just collapse without this!" Chances are, the game was just doing juuust fine without your suggestion, so you don't need to try to pump that lie into our heads.

"We need a fast moving bird mob in the game. We need this because the game currently has no birds, meaning the game will get boring faster without them because the challenge of taking down avian mobs won't be there, which will ultimately lead to the end of Minecraft as we know it!" Woooah! Who knew the power of one flying mob had such power!!

I promise you you will become a cool kid just by simply not posting like that. Proof: recent studies that I can't seem to find right now. So please just assume it's true.

"I don't even like my own suggestion."

Then... don't... post it? This also comes in the form of users using the self-pity garbage. "Yeah I know this suggestion is crap but whatever I might as well post it." Yes, what a smart idea, let's set ourselves up for failure. Reverse psychology doesn't work on this forum.

None of us are gonna go "oh well you said your idea was bad so we forgive you :)" No. If you hate your own suggestion that much but made the awkward choice of publicizing it anyway, then you just made it that much easier for us to go "no support!"

"Please support!"

I'll support if I like the idea, not because you asked. Your emotions on a forum won't alter anything. Putting on big ad puppy dog eyes will not change my line of thinking and make me support your "tameable skeletons" idea. I'll stick to supporting ideas just because they're good. Thanks.

Keep the memes out.

We won't take you seriously if you type like you just finished a 5-mile hike out of Mount 4chan. We don't want to read garbage like "Hey everyone, my idea will add mucho swag to Minecraft! It adds more uses to gold (or should I say BUDDER AAHHHAHAHAA) so yeah please support because one does simply... not support a good suggestion. Peace out, brofist!"

Understand that even if you find a meme funny, you never know if the rest of us heard a thousand times and just want it to die. These forums are not memegenerator.

"I'm new here!"

And? You had plenty of opportunity to read the sticky threads before assuming that you knew everything but made a goofy mistake anyway. Telling us you're new doesn't change anything. It won't make us act nicer toward you, because it doesn't undo what you did when it could have been avoided.

Posting Polls

Please, please make your polls sensible if you're gonna have them. Do not make the polls one-sided, and do the give the poll extremist "left/right" answers without any grey area. A "maybe" option never hurt anyone.

If your stupid idea about TNT that only kills wolves only has the options of "yes" and "sort of yes". Then I'm not voting in your poll at all. Another thing, do not mess with polls if you don't like the answers. Don't switch the answers around, because if I come back to a thread and see that the option of "I love this idea flawless idea!" when I know for sure I voted "no." while 5 posts in a row of "no support", guess what I'm calling out?

Also, have your polls show something of relevance. Asking how many people like/hate the idea and showing that off isn't bad, but it presents nothing of value to the suggestion. What does that info mean to us?

'Idea Cramming'

"What is idea cramming? I'm very curious and I need you to explain that to me in deep detail!" Well okay, if that's what you want.

Idea cramming usually happens when people post a suggestion that doesn't have enough content or explanation for anyone to like the idea or not, so when the OP finds this out, they start mindlessly adding more content at a coked-up rabbit pace just for the sake of the idea being called "complete". It's the equivalent of stuffing a turkey with random objects because you ran out of stuffing.

I'll give an example:

OP: guys hey how are you so yeah my idea is lizards in deserts, so deserts aren't so boring!

Reply #1: Okay? So what do the lizards do?

Reply #2: Do the lizards attack you? How much health do they have? You didn't tell us anything about the mob.
OP: uuuhh ok ok panic panic the lizards do 12 hearts of damage! and they uh.. they attack spiders and maybe wolves idk and they drop lizard eyes which substitute ender eyes because... reasons!!! idea is complete now!!!

Yeah, the OP was a hot mess. Had he explained his idea in full and took the time to develop the idea before posting, that wouldn't have happened. Don't cram stuff in a suggestion to call it full. You're better than that. Develop it first. Use like notepad or something. Write it out first or something. You get me?

"If you don't like the idea don't comment!"

What I'm talking about here is when people, at the beginning of their suggestions, say things like "only these kind of posts are allowed in my thread!"

Let me clue you in on something, unless you're a mod, you have no say in how people post. If someone goes "no negative posts allowed!!!", then guess what. Nothing changes. People are still gonna post how they want.

Also, there's already this guide and the other one about critics. You don't need to copy those entire guides in your threads and horribly stretch out your first post.

Suggestion Popularity

Ahhhh, so your suggestion is getting a lot of supports? Well cool, but just because an idea is loved, doesn't always make the idea good overall. What I mean is, people just see the outer coating of the idea and support without thinking about the the deeper details and long-term possibilities of said idea.

A suggestion about "more animals you guys!" might sound good on paper, but what if the idea has too many animals and they annoyingly crowd the world? What if all the animals are just copycats of others? Some supporters are blinded by "I want more" lines of thinking.

Don't get drunk off the popularity, even a popular idea might need some adjusting.

Bumping Your Suggestion

In other words, you keep posting in the thread you made, which is expected. However, if the idea is terrible and hated, and your thread is slowly drifting off the front page, don't bump it back to page 1. Unless your idea was changed for the better, don't revive a bad egg. Just don't.

You bumping your bad, unadvised idea will only magnet more negativity to it. If I make a thread about one-hit kill bandits that steal everything you have, and I'm shrouded with "no support!", then the idea should just die.

Failing Suggestions / Forced Middle Grounds

Sometimes people get overexcited and bubbly when they come with an idea. They might even get those ballooned hearts in your eyes. After they post a suggestion that doesn't get liked, they might try to find a forced middle ground that doesn't fit the game.

For example, a lot of people suggest overpowered mobs that would only exist in hard mode. If the mob can kill me by looking at me, then great. I can't enjoy hard mode with that thing. Solution: that mob not existing.

Another thing some people suggest are weapons that have pre-enchantments, but they try to "balance" that out by with "guys it's ok because it can't accept any more enchantments on an enchanting table!" Great, your "Nether Sword" now has a scrambled sense of balance that probably doesn't go with the game too well.

If an idea is overall bad, then it's best to let it drop. There's more about this in the 'Taking Criticism' section below.

"Mojang planned it once!"

Yes, Mojang mentioned a lot of things that were - at some point - planned to be in the game. These are things that didn't make it in the game for good reasons, not because "they're trolling us". So you don't need to make that 800th thread about how "we neeeeed the red dragon! auuuggghhh!!!" or "hello, where's our normal pigmen?!!" as if Mojang swore this stuff on our parents' graves.

Even an idea being mentioned by a developer can be bad or just not the best idea in the long run. It's tiring to see garbage situations like this.

someuser_993: I suggest a dream world dimension!
Community: nah, wouldn't fit. no support forever pretty much.
Mojang: We're thinking about adding a dream world.
Community: coool cool coooooool here's some ideas how to make that more awesome!

no.

"New! New! New!! Auugh!!"

Suggesting a new mob with new mechanics, new drops that lead to the creation of a new potion is fine. What isn't fine is when an idea has to come with so many new things that it becomes horrendously overspoiling and kooky that it waters down the integrity of the idea so much the idea itself might turn completely into water as well.

A new biome that has new types of trees with the leaves containing a new drop able to be crafted into something that's a gateway to a new dimension containing a new boss that can give you 4 new potion effects - doesn't need to exist because of one lizard mob. That is the fastest way to drain an idea well, or cram too much inside of it. Much like a pizza with 50 toppings teetering on it.

// Suggestion Collaboration (top)

// Promotin' synergy.

Sometimes suggestions are made by multiple people. However, they can only be posted by one person. Human technology has not advanced to the stage where multiple people share a single post. Well I mean maybe with a mod or something.

If you and others come up with a post, be sure to credit to the people that helped you. It would sure blow if that user that made 7 well-textured models went unmentioned. You feel me? What I've been talking about this whole time is users banding together and coming up with the suggestion beforehand. However, your co-writer might appear later after the thread has been made.

When your thread is made, someone might suggest something so good that you just have to add it to your idea. Again, give the person credit. Perhaps you want to make a suggestion inspired by another. If you want to, ask the original thread maker first if it's alright, if it is, credit the person in your upcoming thread.

// Logic and Realism (top)

// "It's Minecraft! it's just a game! My idea of bubble gum trees don't need to make sense!"

The amount of users on this forum that play the blame game to defend their goofy suggestions is staggering. "Guys, we have green walking dynamite and jukeboxes, so why not add stupid fighter jets and dumb villager military bases? It's just a game!!"

Most of the time, blame-gaming like that fails. It's like in elementary school when a kid goes "But Mrs. Featherbee, I saw Johnny throwing rocks at girls, so I thought I could do it too!" when that kid knew better from the start.

Another approach bad suggesters make is "let's make the game a little more realistic, so I suggest we can break our legs and can't walk ever when we take too much fall damage!" Noooooooooooo. Realism is not a positive attribute, it's a neutral one. If we fall down a ravine and shatter both legs, we're not gonna go "I enjoy this! This is realistic! Smiley smile grin grinn grinnn!!!!!"

Gameplay > Realism

Gameplay > Realism

Gameplay > Realism

Gameplay > Realism

Are Creepers random? Yes. Are they realistic? No, but they still have a well developed cause-and-effect system that make them a unique mob without being insanely over the top or plain stupid. Is redstone realistic? Not in the slightest, but it's useful and manages to find a place in the game without being stupid.

An idea does not need to be realistic, but it needs to have some sense and logic behind it. So suggesting a new ore/metal for the game that can be used to craft new redstone items might be a good idea if done right, however, suggesting a new ore/metal to plant in a circle to summon a "EnderNether Wolf" is 9 kinds of goofy.

// "It'll be optional then!" (top)

// "That way, my idea is magically not bad anymore because ppl have a CHOICE!"

This is one of the most common, laziest things people ever do to an idea. Every person that doesn't understand good game design makes this mistake when they fart out a thread on this forum.

See, options should be left to game settings, such as video quality, render distance, difficulty. It shouldn't be left to things like one type of mob or one type of mob behavior. Small things like that don't warrant an option. Understand that if your idea is perfectly balanced, why does it need to be optional to begin with? If it's good enough, it doesn't need to be "turned off".

A lot of not-so-deep-thinkers have the one-dimensional mindset of "it gives people a choice! so both sides win!!" This usually means "I'm aware my idea is complete cancer, so just in case, people can turn it off so there, you guys don't need to hate my idea as much!" Did it ever occur to you, that if your idea is terrible, making it an option is stupid because most players will just leave it off? Might as well just not have the idea at all.

If your idea is about a killer butterfly that goes through blocks and insta-kills me, why would my working brain ever want that option turned on? Another problem options can provide is complicated game updating, because now Mojang has to carefully make sure any update doesn't help one option setting, but damage the other. This is most common when people cry about 1.9 combat.

You don't want an option causing people to have to play two different games. Please everyone, stop leaning the 'optional' excuse.

// Suggestion Excuses and Bad Presentations (top)

// ...because they prove nothing.

If the core idea is bad, then it's bad. Not all ideas can be repaired or reworked and we need to just understand when to let an idea drop. This isn't the movies where one half-baked speech can change the mind of an entire crowd and gain us an applause.

// Objective and Subjective (top)

// Because the human race always mixes up the two.

Ever read a suggestion where someone goes "we need lapis armor and tools! we need it! need need need! I know this stuff better than Mojang! AAuugh~!"

No. People need to understand the reasoning behind their suggestion. Objective is something that is widely shared and unbiased, and sometimes focuses on actual 'needs' or pure benefits, while something being subjective is a small opinion and focused on a 'want'.

If someone makes a suggestion about a mob that spawns solely in birch forests, has useful and sensible drops and is very balanced. Also, if the OP puts in mind that the mob would benefit the game, the biome it's in, and overall the experience in Minecraft, that can be an objective suggestion. If presented properly.

A subjective suggestion is "les add copper tools and armor and stuff because copper is pretty cool!" Okay, so we should hop on board the idea because you think copper is cool? Yeah? No. We don't "need" pigs dropping bacon because "i like so bacon so idk lol" or some boring ore just for the sake of saying "there's another ore!" Have your ideas truly give us something, and don't suggest it because you 'think it's cool'.

// Artificial Difficulty and "Chance" Ideas

// "What if skeleton arrows sometimes insta-killed for no reason? That would add a good challenge!!!"

(top)

Having to use what you learned in a game to defeat a last boss is true challenging difficulty. However, if the last boss uses an unavoidable move that punches away 80hp from your maximum of 100 and you have to spam bullets at it and cross your fingers and hope for a win, then that's dumb artificial difficulty.

There's too many humans in the world that come to this forum, suggest some trollish, unfun thing with no fun factor and smother that garbage in a "you guys dis be a challenjge!!" dressing. Only for the OP of these threads to go into an anger frenzy and blame the non-supporters.

Butchering existing game mechanics with unnecessary trash such as "drinking a positive potion has a 10% of poisoning you because reasons" or "there's a 1/50 chance a skeleton's arrow instakills you". Where's the """challenge""" in that? If it's an unseen binary coin flip, my skills can't surpass it. It's just something I have to hope never happens. Good challenge man.

I question how the OP's of these bad threads come to make these ideas. "Yes, I love how this regeneration potion I spent hours getting the ghast tear for poisons me for 2 minutes! I love that! My gameplay experience is enhanced! LOGIIIIIC!!!" Your brains, use 'em.

// Suggestion Balance (top)

// "What if we added HOMING arrows? Yeah, that'd be sooo cooool!!"

Balance in an idea can be a grand illusion. An idea might be perfectly balanced in your head but in actuality, be the most under or overpowered thing ever because we didn't see our ideas in the proper light.

Depending on what the suggestion, it can be extremely difficult to find the perfect pinnacle of balance. Some ideas are so complex and encompass so many things that it can be hard scanning for that sweet spot.

Balance requires us to really want to listen to critics, as they can help greatly with that (just remember, it not their job to do so). Because balance can be hard to find, an idea might take a ton of refining before being completed for good.

"You guys! Less X, but more Y!" (Scale Tipping)

Ahh yes, the most boring approach to a suggestion that can ever be performed. So that new spear idea of yours does -10% damage but can be used +10% faster compared to the sword? So that means it's perfectly balanced compared to the sword? So... why don't we just stick with a sword then?

Having more of something but less of something in a suggestion isn't exactly a bad thing. You would want that new strong weapon idea to be not so easy to acquire (more strength, but less abundance to make the new weapon), but that isn't scale tipping, as that's just regular balance.

Please try to be original with your ideas and don't 'more that but less this' something. All that is senseless hair splitting that doesn't wow anyone. Don't scale tip.

I'm about to present an image by the user 0_Zippy that covers a good chunk of balance:

// If You Want a Thread Locked, Moved or Deleted (top)

// Putting those threads of out of their 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.

// What "fits" in Minecraft (top)

// "We already have jukeboxes, so fighter jets would be fine!"

Something fitting or not fitting in Minecraft is one of the most prominent arguments on the Suggestions forum, and in some way, the most controversial. It's a double-edged sword, because both sides can have very strong points. For these reasons, that concept gets its very own section.

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.

// Taking Criticism (top)

// Because we want revenge after seeing "No Support!"

As the top of the thread states. If we can't handle negativity, we should just keep our mouse cursors away from that "new thread" button.

Some suggesters are hypersensitive and freak out just because people disagree with them, and because they thought their suggestions was "sooo goooood!!" that they convince themselves that the critics are "wrong".

If your suggestion is proven to be bad and it can't be fixed. Then just drop it. Otherwise you're just going to bring more negative attention to a bad idea and only hurt yourself in the end.

Negative Criticism is NOT trolling...

This has to be one of the most common mistakes to ever exist on the internet. My god. Some people can't mentally except that disliking a suggestion isn't the same as "being a hater". Know what trolling is, and lock it into your head before you mix that up with negative reception.

This whole forum didn't band together and decide to troll you and hate every idea you make. Let me tell you, if you pull the troll-calling card after every "no support" had lengthy explained reasoning, you will look painfully stupid.

The Role of the Critic

This is what the FTC guide tells you already, but I feel I should mention here as well as both critics and suggesters should know.

It is NOT the critic's job to fix or better your idea!

Your suggestion belongs to you. Nobody else. It is not anyone else's job to clean your dirty room which is your suggestion. A critic's job is to read your hopefully well-explained idea, points out the goods and bads in a very readable manner and be on his way, or maybe he might stick around.

A critic does not need to suggest improvements to your idea. A critic does that because they truly might think your idea would be bettered if some changes were made. If a critic doesn't do this, oh well. Again, s/he doesn't have to. Some critics don't see positives in an idea, it happens.

However, if someone spams in your thread and is being deafeningly nonconstructive, don't feed into them. Just report them and let them drown in a sea of warning ratings and bans. "Idea kinda blows, maybe delete thread and lock your account?" deserves to be reported.

"I'm gonna report you! >=["

Reporting someone does not summon a magical thread cleaning fairy that makes the posts you don't like go away. As mentioned earlier in the thread, you can report your own posts to move, lock or delete them. You can also report other posts only if they break rules by spamming or trolling in nonconstructive ways. Do not report someone just because they disagree with your suggestion.

You are not allowed to tell a person they're being reported. That is against the forum rules, and only leads to nasty revenge scheming.

Responding to Critics

If a critic shreds our idea with perfect reasoning, responding "you suck" puts them in the victory chair, not you. Unless you're a mod, you have no control over who posts in your thread. So telling them to "GET OUT!" will just make you look like a baby.

If we lash out at honest critics without defending ourselves, we lose. If someone explains why your "mega mega ultra double tnt" is overpowered, and you respond with just "it's not overpowered", then the critic is the one who's taking your championship belt.

We can't just post our suggestion, we need to learn to defend it to. And with that, sometimes revising. And note that defending doesn't mean just fighting for the last word. If we lash out and directly insult people simply telling us why that suggestion about shovels made from creeper heads isn't very smart, it makes the suggester look bad, not the critic. If two kids are arguing but one of them is trying to act like a chicken while making the weird sounds, which of the two kids looks the dumbest? Don't lash out and be the chicken kid.

Selective Arguing & Post Skipping

Yes, we know. We can see when you're only responding to people who support you with "thx for the support d000000000000000d!!" while ignoring those long, detailed posts that are criticism. Basically, you're only responding to what you want to read.

No. Don't be the guy with Selective Reading Syndrome (SRS). The critics making the long posts explaining why they don't like your idea are usually doing you a favor by taking time out of their day to help you better your idea, so return the favor with some of your time and hear them out completely.

You don't need to respond to every single post in a thread, but the last thing you want to do is skip over good points and important questions. Just because you don't agree with posts, doesn't make them "bad posts" you should ignore.

Baggage Carrying

There's always a user or many users on a forum we don't like. Calling them out and putting them on a spot like you're ready to fight them is just the recipe for a flame-derailing flame war. Stuff like "Don't post here if you're Theriasis!" is just you punching yourself in the mouth.

Just because someone didn't support your last suggestion doesn't give you much right to shout insults about them in every thread you post in.

"Guys calm down, it's just a suggestion!"

Yeah, that's funny, a lot of people who say this are overconfident posters who talk about their own ideas as if they're the Second Coming, yet as soon as they see that people are not supporting, it turns into "omgggggg you guys chill out this is just text on a forum! nothing more!"

First off, thanks we already figured out your idea - is in fact - text on a forum and just an idea. Whew, thanks for clearing that up! Second, saying that stuff doesn't change anything. Sure, it's just an idea, but it's still bad if it's bad. You also don't need to tell us to "calm downnne!!" when we were calm to begin with. "No support" doesn't always translate to "AUUUGH WORST IDEA!!" like a lot of people think it does.

"You guys are nitpicking!"

"You guys keep focusing on this one part of the suggestion! There's more to it than that!"

Well yeah, if your common mob does 9 hearts of damage. Chances are, people are gonna not support because of that and keep mentioning it. People usually say this because they're just frustrated that the critics are successfully pointing out a flaw. I will admit that when a bunch of critics come in and repeat the same thing, that gets pretty old, but still. If a sore-thumb flaw is found in the suggestion, fix it or get rid of it, because keeping it around won't get you those sweet supports you've been craving.

"This forum is terrible! I'm leaving forever!"

Yup, that's some good logic right there. When a lot of people disagree with you, it's somehow the forum's fault for not blindly liking your idea? Telling us how "terrible we are!" won't do anything to us, and the same goes for you leaving the forums. It's taking a lot of extra energy to not post the names of users that have done that.

If you truly want to leave the forums, then leave. You telling us won't change anything, and you won't guilt us with "you guys made a user stop posting, I hope you're happy!" when the fault is on your end.

"Your post was rude so I skipped it!"

So you read the first 10 words of someone's post to actually figure out it was rude, then just gave up reading it because "it was meen". Not every post is gonna be covered with nice sprinkles for you, and it's best to get in the habit of reading what's there, instead of playing "post favorites".

People shouldn't insult you for your suggestion, but some people are gonna be direct and point out something stupid if something stupid is there. That's the point of this forum. You made a thread for people to post in, but you don't get to choose what they type. When you end a post with "What do you think? Criticism is welcome!", you will get just that.

"You're not Mojang, so you can't make that call!"

Here you are saying how much your suggestion would fit the game and how it would revolutionize the world as we know it, but then you turn the other cheek on someone who doesn't support by saying "You're not the one developing the game, so that's not up you!!!" then you go back to talking about your idea that "needs to be in the next update" as if you know the game's development better than Mojang.

We don't need to part of Mojang to know if something is stupid. It's easy to know that the game is not getting a McDonald's franchise in the next update along with a "Big Mac Creeper". Or new mobs that resemble every character from The Wire. Use your itty bitty brains and read between the lines.

// Generally Disliked Suggestions (top)

// Some of these ideas can be done well. Keyword: Some

That section has been reserved on another post. Click here to go there.

// The Overachiever's Guide (top)

// Made by Cerroz. The stuff in this guide in encouraged, but NOT required.

tl:dr - Use your brain and don't embarrass yourself.