Mojang April Fools Joke?

[Feliponius]

I try not to be too gullible and reactionary when I view anything on the internet on this most unholy of days :P

Have you guys seen the latest baffoonery over at the mojang website? http://mojang.com/2013/04/its-finally-c ... craft-2-0/

Take a look and tell me if you think it's even remotely legit.

If not, they put in a TON of work to make this thing happen. lol I may have to give them props in that case.

[Feliponius]

Oh, wow. Nevermind xD I just read the changelog. The one about fishing is hillarious.

Fishing

-Overhauled fishing mechanics.
-New special types of fish may be found in various different biomes.
-Fish may become scared if too much noise is made nearby.
-Added 28 new achievements for fishing.
-Rare chance for extra items to drop when fishing, such as armor and maps.
-Removed fishing.
-Having a fish in your possession will drain your health by 1 each second, to help phase out fishing.

Edit: Also, chickens.

-Attacking a lone chicken may summon additional chickens to its defense.

[Sandrew]

Yeah, no, definitely a joke. Not a particularly subtle one either.

[Foxy Boxes]

That first sneak peak video is hillarious!

EDIT: Exploding pigs, hillarious!

[Shengji]

"Added new Super Hostile game mode, for a much more challenging Survival experience."

The sad thing is, Mojang consider this April Fools worthy!

[0player]

"Added new Super Hostile game mode, for a much more challenging Survival experience."

The sad thing is, Mojang consider this April Fools worthy!

Did you see the video about this Super Hostile?

Also, sit down and let this fact flow through you:
Mojang is joking about adding useless and stupid features.
Also, Stained Glass and Horses...
This is probably their way to say to kiddies "despite listening to your demands, we are fed of your shit". Or I hope so.
Edit: also, relighting Torches. And Diamond Chicken. They actually have some sense of humor and common sense!

[Shengji]

Did you see the video about this Super Hostile?

No, does that somehow invalidate the fact - see below where I discuss what is and is not a fact - that they printed this in an April Fools list?

Also, sit down and let this fact flow through you:

Rude. Also see below where I discuss what is and is not a fact.

Mojang is joking about adding useless and stupid features.

Which is why I pointed out that on this list of "stupid and useless features" they write that they are going to make the laughably named survival mode more difficult. They consider making survival more difficult "stupid" or "useless". Which was what I pointed out as being a sad state of affairs.

Also, Stained Glass and Horses...
This is probably their way to say to kiddies "despite listening to your demands, we are fed of your shit". Or I hope so.

Unlikely, Jeb is one of those kiddies. In my opinion. See below where I discuss what is a fact.

Edit: also, relighting Torches. And Diamond Chicken. They actually have some sense of humor and common sense!

I was taking their sense of "humor" SIC into account. The idea they find making survival more difficult so preposterous that they make a joke about it is what I was saying was sad. The context being that survival is way to easy and it is ruining the mode. Builders get peaceful and creative, people interested in survival, which was Notches vision for the game are being marginalised. Hence the popularity of BTW with the current direction it has gone in.

Now, let's talk a bit about the difference between a fact and an opinion

Come back to me when you have studied this page properly and watched the video.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/topic/fact-or-opinion

Now you are up to speed with Junior school level thinking, I shall expand your knowledge of the subject.

Spoiler

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Generally speaking, a fact is something that has actually happened or that is empirically true and can be supported by evidence. An opinion is a belief; it is normally subjective, meaning that it can vary based on a person's perspective, emotions, or individual understanding of something. For example, biological differences between males and females are a fact, while a preference for one gender over the other is opinion.

Subjective and Objective

According to most definitions, something is a fact if it matches objective reality. For something to be objective, it must be outside of the mind and not be based on feelings or biases. This is the opposite of an opinion, which is what an individual thinks or feels about a subject.

Although the differences between facts and opinions usually rest on whether they are objective or subjective, a true statement can in some cases be subjective. If a person says he is feeling sad, for example, that is a subjective fact about his emotional state — it is subjective because it is only that person's individual experience. On the other hand, if the first person tells the second person that the second person feels sad, this statement is an opinion or guess, regardless of whether it is true.

Fact vs. Theory

In scientific reasoning, something can only be called a fact when it can be observed as it occurs or as a state of being, or when it can be proven through experimentation. Experiments must be repeatable, and return the same result no matter who the observer is. Things that were once thought of as facts, however, have been shown to be incorrect. For example, the world was once thought to be flat by many people. This is now known to be incorrect, as objective evidence was introduced showing that it is actually a flattened sphere.

Many things that people think of as science facts are, technically, theories. Gravity, for example, is a fact; the explanation of how gravity works, on the other hand, is a theory — and there are several different theories on how it actually does work. This does not mean that a theory is only speculation. Scientific theories are thoroughly tested and applied to known facts, observations, and hypotheses, and to survive, a theory must explain a wide range of observations that would be otherwise unconnected.

Opinion and Persuasion

Sometimes, statements are used to mislead a person, whether deliberate or not. A person might use opinionated language to persuade others to his point of view; for example, an advertisement might proclaim that one brand is "the best in the world," despite the lack of concrete evidence to support this claim. When considering whether a statement might be true or not, a person should consider the source of the information as well as the evidence supporting it.

Legal Terminology

In the law, a fact is an actual thing or event that took place. During a trial, each side presents evidence to support or disprove their interpretation of the facts of the case. The judge or jury — also called the "trier of fact" or the "fact finder" — then decides what really happened, and whether or not the facts of the case have been proven.

A legal opinion is a explanation by a judge for why a particular ruling was made, or an explanation of why a judge disagrees with a ruling, in the case of a dissenting opinion. This type of opinion includes the facts of a case, its history, and the relevant principles of law to give context to the legal decision. When several judges decide a case together, they may produce concurring and dissenting opinions to explain why they voted with or against a particular ruling.

Philosophy

Determining what is truth and what is belief can be difficult, and the boundaries between them are a subject of philosophical debate. This branch of philosophy is called epistemology, which is the study of the nature of knowledge, as well as the limits of what human beings can know. If it is accepted that there are objective facts — which not all philosophers agree on — then it can be argued that knowledge is an attempt to match beliefs with reality to develop "true beliefs." If there is no truth, there can be no knowledge.

[tom_savage]

■Fixed a bug causing Skeletons to miss their targets on occasion.

Bahahahahaahaaaaa. Oh...how I hate Skellies.

■Removed all BUD behaviour, and added safeguards so that it may never come back.

It also seems they are letting out some frustration in these patch notes...

EDIT:

■Added new BUD blocks.

Nevermind...

[CreeperCannibal]

Calling the new mode "Super Hostile" is a reference to vechs, I wonder if he had a hand in all of this.

[maxsi]

looks like MCF in on party as well

this is on the MCF front Page

Spoiler

Show

Changes to Minecraft Forum

In addition to changes to Minecraft, we here at Minecraft Forum are very excited to announce some really sweet changes to the forum itself!

The front page news will now be featuring only Minecraft 2.0 videos, maps, and mods
The front page will also be used to show off many other games besides Minecraft, which is now old by internet standards
Due to low usage, the following sections will be deleted from the forum on April 14th:
Off-Topic
Servers
Mods
Minecraft Discussion
Contact Forum Administration
Videos
A new forum section, "Minecraft 2.0" will be added, and will be the only unlocked section of the forum. Every other section not deleted will be locked and archived.
All rule infractions will now result in an email being sent to the users' parents. The staff felt that suspensions and bans were not effective, and that this new measure will be far more proactive in establishing a friendly environment for everyone.
I will be retiring from MCF to pursue my lifelong dream of being a mime.
Any user caught typing the word "bacon" will have their avatar changed to a pretty princess, and their user name changed to match.
Private messaging and Search will be disabled on April 14th due to low usage.
The only videos on the front page that do not feature Minecraft 2.0 will be Curse videos, such as this fine review:

so some of the must used areas will be "deleted" "Due to low usage"

[Foxy Boxes]

Redstone bugs, loving it!

[AngelWithDirtyHands]

Is it just me, or did anyone else not find it particularly funny? It frustrated me that they did so many things as part of the April Fools joke instead of working out the bugs... I mean, one or two joke features would have sufficed.

[FlowerChild]

Is it just me, or did anyone else not find it particularly funny? It frustrated me that they did so many things as part of the April Fools joke instead of working out the bugs... I mean, one or two joke features would have sufficed.

I didn't find it funny, largely for the same reasons as Shenji: they seemed in several places to be acting like correcting legitimate problems with the game's design was a joke, which only further emphasized to me the lack of design talent currently working on MC.

Reading through it only resulted in multiple face-palms for me, and the stuff I might have found funny otherwise fell flat as a result.

[Xeo]

Part of me wants this to be true, assuming Minecraft 2.0 would be a quasi-separate sequel. They can run off and do whatever the hell they want and we can stick with the now no longer under development Minecraft 1.0.

Maybe the real April fools day joke is that this is April fools joke is actually real. ;)

Edit: fixed spelling.

[0player]

Rude. Also see below where I discuss what is and is not a fact.

Erm, man. I'm sorry, but it was directed toward open space, not toward you personally. (If only English still had the word "thou"!)
I'm sorry if my improper wording sounded rude, but it was more like "Oh wow, they are actually doing it!"

Also, despite line 3 and below was an opinion, I think one can justify calling line 2 a fact. They are joking about features that are stupid and useless so obviously it's hard to find somebody who doesn't agree.
My "edit" was more about "they are laughing at recurring suggestions", which is what they probably do.
tl;dr English is bland, I presented my idea wrong, no need to fight.
Edit: also, come on man. Charged Creepers, Blazes and diamond-armored Zombies every minute? That's not more difficult, that's ridiculous.

[darahalian]

It was clear from the moment I first saw it that this was all a big joke, considering the date, but when I read the first line in the changelog, about super hostile mode, my first thought was that they were adding BTW to minecraft. The second line about locking difficulty reinforced this notion, as I remember this used to be in FC's eventual plans for BTW before he decided to move on to RTH.

Of course, with the subsequent points, any doubt I had about this being an April Fools joke was removed, which was sad, considering the first two points. Difficulty lock would actually be a great feature. I have no idea why they think it's so ridiculous. I didn't look at any of the videos with examples of super hardcore mode, though, so I can't say much more about it except that making survival more challenging would be a good thing (see: BTW).

I have to admit that the video Foxy posted had some pretty hilarious parts: things like the pink wither, redstone "bugs", and Etho Slabs. Reading about them in a changelog isn't quite as funny as actually seeing them in action.

However, the tinted glass actually looks pretty cool, and I think it would be an okay addition to the game. It might even be able to be added without using an extra blockID, since I don't think the glass block is using any of its metadata.

Also, from the changelog, it appears PvP is turning into Pokémon... :P

• Players may no longer attack other players directly, but must recruit an army of Monsters and Animals.
• Each monster/animal has different strengths, weaknesses and abilities whilst attacking or defending in PvP combat.
• New turn-based combat system will help create epic battles that may last hours at a time.

[FlowerChild]

Of course, with the subsequent points, any doubt I had about this being an April Fools joke was removed, which was sad, considering the first two points. Difficulty lock would actually be a great feature. I have no idea why they think it's so ridiculous. I didn't look at any of the videos with examples of super hardcore mode, though, so I can't say much more about it except that making survival more challenging would be a good thing (see: BTW).

It's "ridiculous" only because of the monumental wave of bitching that they would receive if they locked the difficulty, hence they'll never do it, and have probably comes to view it as a "bad idea" as a result.

It's certainly not ridiculous as a feature, only in the eyes of the Lord Of The Flies-esque segment of the community that makes their design decisions for them.

In my eyes, what's entirely ridiculous is having a "released" game in which meta-game aspects like switching difficulty on the fly, and the debug info screen, have become so accepted in the community's eyes that getting rid of them would be viewed as only worthy of a joke.

[Feliponius]

I was able to find the change-log worth a laugh. Vechs video on the super hostile mod, which is just plain ridiculous, was funny to me, but I laugh at anything practically lol

I think where it kinda miffed me was when I watched the videos and realized they had ACTUALLY worked to implement the features into the game for the sake of an April fools joke. I know much of the stuff displayed may have been as easy as changing the color to the models and may not have taken terribly long to do, but the amount of work put into this joke shows how productive they can be, when they desire to be at least.

As far as FC's and Shenji's concerns, I hadn't even thought of it but I agree, they included the thing that defines survival (i.e. difficulty) in a joke of features that are overall ridiculous.

[DaveYanakov]

While I would love to see difficulty tied to the save file the sad fact is that Minecraft isn't the only example of a game where you can switch those levels on the fly. It's something of an epidemic with most titles, including things like Elder Scrolls and Mount & Blade allow you to lower the difficulty at any point. This is one of the few things where I cannot blame Mojang for taking the path of least resistance.

[Calcifire3691]

I was able to find the change-log worth a laugh. Vechs video on the super hostile mod, which is just plain ridiculous, was funny to me, but I laugh at anything practically lol

I think where it kinda miffed me was when I watched the videos and realized they had ACTUALLY worked to implement the features into the game for the sake of an April fools joke. I know much of the stuff displayed may have been as easy as changing the color to the models and may not have taken terribly long to do, but the amount of work put into this joke shows how productive they can be, when they desire to be at least.

As far as FC's and Shenji's concerns, I hadn't even thought of it but I agree, they included the thing that defines survival (i.e. difficulty) in a joke of features that are overall ridiculous.

yeah, I kinda hope some of the less game changing stuff actually DOES get implemented, if only to justify time spent on it, I doubt anyone would argue if they put in the coloured glass or aesthetic blocks.

it may be a parody of things people asked for, but part of the problem with saying "here's all the stuff you've been asking for, but you won't get it" is that you've put in just as much effort to tease people as you have making the thing in the first place (and then you've just invalidated your message, since you've spent time making the things, and you now either have to accept that youve wasted time doing what whiners want and have nothing to show for it, or you've caved to their demands for the ridiculous things and reinforced their idea that whining makes everything better. it's a bit of a lose lose situation for mojang there)

edit: oh and well played FC, I did a bit of a double take when I saw your tweet :P

[FlowerChild]

While I would love to see difficulty tied to the save file the sad fact is that Minecraft isn't the only example of a game where you can switch those levels on the fly. It's something of an epidemic with most titles, including things like Elder Scrolls and Mount & Blade allow you to lower the difficulty at any point. This is one of the few things where I cannot blame Mojang for taking the path of least resistance.

The thing is, there are a few key differences here:

First, that changing the difficulty affects automated systems which the players build. I know Mojang doesn't give a damn about automation or mob traps (which is another error they're making mind you), but by vanilla rules, the output of the stuff the player builds will vary through meta-gaming which promotes people doing it that might not otherwise. That's just bad.

Also, the range of difficulties is far more extreme than you get in most games given you have the ability to turn off damage, monsters, and any negative consequences whatsoever through flipping the game back and forth to peaceful. As a result, you see people doing it in Let's Play videos all the time in ways that you just don't see for other games. It's really not just a matter of a slight bump or decrease in difficulty like in the games you mentioned. It's really a total game changer where even the rules of play (e.g. zombies breaking down doors) vary from setting to setting.

Basically, the way they've set things up promotes meta-gaming to an unprecedented degree, and basically makes it a given that most players treat it as part of play. On the fly difficulty adjustment works fine for some games (I used it myself in Skyrim until I found the setting I liked most, and didn't feel it to be an immersion breaker to do so), but for MC in particular, it just doesn't make very much sense at all.

I'll point to the debug menu as another big example there. How many non BTW players consider the F3 menu to just be a part of regular play, rather than an actual debug menu? I've never seen a game before where players rely on it so heavily without a 2nd thought that maybe they really shouldn't be doing that for the sake of their own play experience. The reaction to HC info when I put it out acts as a testament to that.

If you want GPS functionality in your game, then put it in the bloody game. Don't relegate it to a debug overlay on top of the play field that makes the game suddenly resemble looking through the eyes of the Terminator.

[Simurgh]

On a similar note I'm enjoying BTW 4.65, getting to play it along with my other 487 mods will be great >.>

[Utterbob]

Hasn't the last year of vMC updates just been an ongoing continuation of last year's April fool's day?

[enzyme_a113_2]

yeah, I kinda hope some of the less game changing stuff actually DOES get implemented, if only to justify time spent on it, I doubt anyone would argue if they put in the coloured glass or aesthetic blocks.

If any of this crap actually gets implemented, I hope it's not horses. There's something almost majestic about riding about on a pig that you just don't get with a horse.

[gftweek]

I only skim read the changes at first, and given Mojang's track record totally believed the lines I read (doesn't help that it is the 2nd of April in NZ by the time I get all the April Fools jokes).

It was only once I noticed a lack of empty promises about modding support that I thought something was fishy, but even then still thought they would consider a total rewrite of Minecraft as it was preferable to improving core features of the game.

When I went back to the lines I'd skipped, they just made me sad.

At least I can play BTW when I get home tonight, that totally makes up for any Mojang jokes, April fools or otherwise.