Summary
Minecraftplayers have plenty of opportunity to spend time with furry companions in the game. As a sprawling, open-world crafting and survival game with nearly limitless potential for player creativity, the addition of domestic creatures like dogs and cats were welcome additions when they were added to the game in 2011 and 2014, respectively. However, it has been along time sinceMinecraftupdatedthese animal companions, and some players might be wondering if the game can go even further when it comes to pets.
Fans ofMinecrafthave a tendency to want more than the pragmatic, basic benefits of an in-game shelter. After all, a player can simply carve a four-by-two-block recess into the side of a mountain, place a bed in it, and they will have met most of their needs for a Survival Mode run. BecauseMinecraftencourages player expression, many gamers will set out to build aesthetically pleasing environments that they feel represent their character. As players craftincredibly detailedMinecrafthouses, many of them feel the desire for the companionship of the game’s cats and dogs, which can go a long way toward making these shelters feel more like home. But Mojang shouldn’t stop at these two commonplace household pets; there is a world of untapped potential for new domestic animals inMinecraft.
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Animals Minecraft Should Introduce As New Pets
While you can technically tame a wide array of animals, such as mules and horses,Minecraftcan still go a little bit further when it comes to adding dedicated pets. Take rabbits for example: players can manipulate rabbits into an enclosure and trap them there, but they can’t betamed like otherMinecraftcreatures. Since rabbits and bunnies are such common real-world pets, it would make sense for a domestication system to be added to game.
Reportedly, Notch wanted to add hamsters as tamable animals before he left Mojang, and their implementation could have come with some unique and fun features. For instance, hamsters could produce redstone power by running in hamster wheels, or be placed in hamster balls for enhanced movement. These are just some examples of howMinecraftcould build dedicated systems and features around new tamable animals to make the pet ownership experience more exciting.
While there may have been a number of tamable animals that werepart of canceledMinecraftcontent, there are others that modders have added themselves, such as lizards. Many animal enthusiasts keep lizards and other reptiles as pets in real life, and their inclusion in theMinecraftbase gamecould hold a lot of interesting opportunities. For example, players could build terrariums and vivariums of various sizes, and maybe heat lamps and other reptile care essentials could be added as craftable items, all of which would serve to support an immerse fantasy of pet ownership within the world ofMinecraft.
Players can createfarms of animals like sheep inMinecraft, but pets are another thing entirely. For an animal to be a pet, it should exist primarily for companionship rather than straightforward, material goals such as the production of craftable or sellable products. Animals like dogs and cats fit this description, as their role in the game is mainly related to how players want to build and enhance the in-game fantasy of building a home or other such structure and populating it with virtual animal friends.Minecraftcertainly features a lot of tamable animals, but it doesn’t have as many that can be considered pets under this definition. To keep the game fresh, unique, and immersive, the arrival of more pets would go to long way.
Minecraftis available for Mobile, PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
