Minecraft Forums

I'm guessing that if there's going to be NPC villages, there's also going to be creatures to populate them. Pigmen have already been confirmed, so my money is on them being the new mob.

The sheers could use a better sprite. Seriously, how many people on this thread have looked at that and said to themselves "Oh, those are sheers!" Thinking 'bottle' seems to be more the standard. I personally thought it was a pair of tongs and wondered if this meant that 1.8 would have salads. :tongue.gif:

There's my take on NPC villages: I want them to work, but I doubt they will. Here's my reasoning: remember when you were new to Minecraft and you were out wandering and came across something cool? A natural waterfall that cascaded beautifully down a hill or mountain, or a gigantic cave with trees growing inside, or an exposed dungeon, or even just a lava pool? Remember how cool that was? That'll be the same feeling the first time you see an NPC village.

But after the first few, it'll be less likely to impress, just as it is with everything else. Minecraft is a great game that's always full of surprises. Just when we think we've seen all of it's examples of beauty another comes along to amaze us. But the longer we play, the fewer and farther between these become. What will start out as "Oh cool, a village that I didn't build" will quickly turn into "Checklist: 1) Steal their stuff. 2) Take useful materials from their houses. 3) Genocide. 4) Build something cool on the ashes."

Some people will get to that point more quickly than others. Speaking for myself, I think it'd happen really quickly. :sad.gif:

Thankfully it'll take about a week for someone to make a mod to turn them off even if the Mojang team doesn't have the wisdom to make it optional. :wink.gif: Modders are AWESOME!!! :biggrin.gif:

So yea, I'm not too worried about it even though it's not something I'm looking forward to.

If Notch wants to use NPC villages to encourage me to explore, he's going to need to pull off something really spectacular. If I ever start thinking "Oh, it's another village." then they stop doing their jobs. On the other hand, if each one is unique then it'll be worth it. Different architecture styles to inspire me, many races of NPCs, unique cultures in each village... these are things that would work for me. Being able to feel like this world is populated not just by NPCs... but by people would make exploration a worthy pursuit is what I've thus far treated as by big ol' box o' Legos.

Because really, if I want to see villages that I didn't build I'd just go join a server. :dry.gif:

Yea, I'm a hard sell on this one. Hopefully Notch understands that everyone plays Minecraft a little differently and won't try to shove RPG elements down our throats. I can play RPGs anytime. When I'm here, I want to play Minecraft.

TLDR: I'm not sold on the NPC village thing, and think they would have to be really spectacular to motivate me to explore. If it isn't, it's a waste.