Yesterday's Minecraft Live event presented a winner of the latest Minecraft mob vote to the community. 3.5 million votes were cast while the vote was held on October 14, the candidates for the next mob to be added to Minecraft being between the adorable Sniffer, the playful Rascal, and the statuesque Tuff Golem.
While the roster of potential winners consists purely of friendly mobs this time around, they're certainly not without their own unique quirks. The Sniffer is described as an ancient, now-extinct species that would feed on seeds by peacefully roaming around and sniffing through foliage on the ground. The Rascal would be found in the caves and mines of Minecraft's rich overworld, playing games of hide-and-seek with the player and rewarding them with useful prizes upon being found. Last but not least, the Tuff Golem was another community favorite that would hold items while in a statue form and have the ability to pick up items from the floor while roaming around.
During the Minecraft Live event, Mojang announced that the Sniffer would be the next mob to be added to Minecraft, impressively winning just over 50% of all votes from the community. This adorable new creature will use a similar smelling mechanic to that of Minecraft's terrifying Warden mob added in the Wild Update, only to sniff out plants instead of players. Additionally, Mojang has hinted that this new mob might even bring some new plants to the game along with it.
While unfortunately only one mob from the vote can be brought to the game, the Sniffer will introduce something for all Minecraft players to enjoy. As an ancient species, players will have to seek out Sniffer eggs in the chests of underwater ruins and bring them to the surface of the Overworld to hatch. By hatching the eggs, growing Sniffers up to adult size, and allowing them to breed, players will have the opportunity to bring the species back from extinction and populate their worlds with these adorable new creatures.
Some eager fans have even drawn a connection between the prehistoric Sniffer mob and the plans to introduce an aspect of archeology to Minecraft, a concept that was scrapped from some of the game's more recent updates. Whether the speculation surrounding this feature will amount to anything in the future or not, a lot of fans are excited about the addition of the Sniffer, presumably coming to Minecraft in the upcoming 1.20 update.
Though Mojang intends to keep the voting process as fair as possible, many players believe that the influence of certain popular Minecraft content creators can have an unfair impact on the outcome of these events. Whatever the case, with the vote now concluded and the Sniffer to soon be added to the game, players can only hope that the Rascal and Tuff Golem get a chance to shine some other day.
Minecraft is available on Mobile, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One, and most legacy platforms.
Source: Mojang