Minecraft players agree third 2023 mob vote contender is useless—but it might win anyway

The final competitor for Minecraft’s 2023 run of the mob vote event was unveiled to be penguins on Oct. 5. And while their functionality is quite lackluster, players are planning to vote for them anyway simply because they’re cute.

If penguins are chosen, they will be found waddling around the stony shores biome and the nearby oceans. And if you’re traveling by boat in the ocean, a penguin might swim up to you and help move your boat along faster.

Compared to the other two mob vote contenders, players are in agreement that the gameplay penguins bring is by far the worst. But they still think they’re so cute that there’s a good chance penguins will end up winning the vote regardless.

Crabs would bring a special claw that allows players to place blocks further away and armadillos would grant wolf armor to keep dogs safe, but all that penguins would do is help make your boat move faster. This functionality seems especially disappointing considering that dolphins already help you move faster while swimming, so you can easily hop out of a boat at any point to get a move on if you need to.

Both crabs and armadillos would bring some entirely new and useful gameplay to the sandbox game, but penguins would just extend upon a feature that already exists.

One plus for penguins is that they would be added to a biome that doesn’t have anything special going on in it, just like armadillos. Only the crab is a possible addition for a biome that already has a signature mob, so if penguins are indeed chosen, then they will at least make a currently bland biome much more sought after.

Minecraft creator Antfrost said he doesn’t care “about faster boats” and that he just wants “cute penguins in Minecraft,” which seems to be the general consensus among most players.

Penguins have been a highly requested addition by most players for years, so most fans have been saying they will vote for penguins simply because they have wanted them for so long and this might be the only chance to get them.

One player said they think penguins are a “fantastic choice for the mob vote” as they have “been desperate” to see them added to Minecraft for “so long,” which is a sentiment matched by many other players who are ecstatic by the prospect of this creature.

When you compare everything each mob has to offer, penguins should be the least likely competitor to win since they have the least to offer. But since they’re adorable, players are ignoring functionality in favor of focusing just on what the mob is and not what it can actually do.

The 2023 installment of the Minecraft mob vote will be open from Oct. 13 to 15, so be sure to cast your vote during this time if you want a say in which of the three mobs is added to the game permanently.