List of common misconceptions

This page intends to collect and debunk several commonly-circulated falsehoods regarding game mechanics, blocks, items, and other elements of the Minecraft franchise.

Game mechanics[]

Myth: Obsidian, bedrock, and other blocks normally considered "blast-resistant" can be blown up with large enough amounts of TNT.

• It is not possible to blow up blocks such as obsidian and bedrock simply by using large amounts of TNT. A sufficiently large explosion power is needed to detonate these blocks, and TNT explosions will have a strength of 5 regardless of how many TNT blocks explode within a given range or time.
  • Obsidian was able to be blown up with TNT in versions before Alpha 1.0.14, however. Before Infdev 20100618, Obsidian had the same blast resistance as stone and would react as such. From Infdev 20100618 to Alpha 1.0.13_01, Obsidian had a higher blast resistance than stone, but still within the range that TNT can blow up. Alpha 1.0.14 made Obsidian completely TNT resistant.
  • The only way is in vanilla Minecraft using NBT tags to create a sufficient explosion for blowing up blast-resistant blocks.

Myth: Hardness is the same as blast resistance.

• Hardness and blast resistance are not the same. For instance, cobblestone has a blast resistance of 6 and a hardness of 2.
• Hardness determines the time it takes for a block to be broken by mining, and has nothing to do with explosions.
  • Blocks with higher hardness takes longer to break than blocks with lower hardness, when using the same tool. For example, deepslate has a hardness of 3, and stone has a hardness of 1.5, thus deepslate takes longer to break than stone when using the same pickaxe.
  • Additionally, blocks that have different preferred tools but the same hardness takes the same amount of time to break when using their respective tools of the same tier. For example, logs and cobblestone both have a hardness of 2, which means breaking a log with an iron axe and mining a block of stone with an iron pickaxe takes exactly the same amount of time.
• Blast resistance determines the difficulty for a block to be broken in an explosion.
• Two blocks can have the same hardness but different blast resistance, and vice versa. For instance, planks and cobblestone have the same hardness of 2, but cobblestone (6) is much more blast resistant than planks (3).
• In addition, a block with a high hardness can have a lower blast resistance than that of another block with a lower hardness value; ore blocks are a notable example of this.^[1]

Myth: In Java Edition, mobs spawn more frequently at lower altitudes.

• It is not the lower altitude that increases the spawn rates of farms built low in the world; instead, it's the lower total height that the game needs to check in order to spawn a mob. When the total height is lower, mob spawning checks are performed faster, and thus mobs spawn faster.
  • This is why it is recommended to remove the terrain on top of a slime-chunk-based slime farm, as that reduces the total height of the farm. If the myth were true, then removing the terrain on top would have made no difference.
  • This theory can be tested by creating a glass ceiling at world height limit above a mob farm. This will decrease the rate of the farm, since the total height of the farm is increased.

Myth: Walking depletes hunger.

• Ever since Java Edition 1.11, normal walking does not increase hunger exhaustion at all.
  • However, jumping still increases hunger exhaustion. Therefore when hungry, the player should prevent unnecessary jumps, and walk up stairs or slabs if possible, as doing so doesn't deplete hunger.

Myth: Mobs drop more loot if a Looting sword is held in the off-hand.

• The truth is exactly the opposite. Looting can only be applied if the Looting sword is held in the main-hand.
  • Please note that this mechanic is marked as a bug (MC-3304) on Mojang's official bug tracker, meaning it can be fixed at some point.

Myth: Ore blocks drop more experience if mined using a Fortune pickaxe.

• Fortune only increases the yield of items; it does not affect the yield of experience.
  • Similarly, Looting does not affect the amount of experience dropped by mobs.

Myth: Direct item forms of blocks (ItemBlocks of technical blocks) are completely nonexistent In Java Edition.

• If a block exists, its item form exists in active or inactive way. ItemBlocks (BlockItems) of technical blocks are just hidden and inactivated, and can be activated by registering them manually via very simple modding but rendering the correct item icons of these items requires more extensive modding + resource packs.

Myth: Chests, furnaces, shulker boxes, enchanting tables, some other interactive blocks, signs and beds are entities.

• These blocks use block entities, which are extra data associated with a specific block (for instance, a chest's contents).
• Some of these blocks (chests, trapped chests, ender chests, shulker boxes, enchanting tables, beds, bells) also use block entities for rendering them or parts of them, making them blocks, but rendered as entities. This is also why they disappear in the distance.
• Between Java Edition Classic 0.24 SURVIVAL TEST and 0.26 SURVIVAL TEST, signs were in fact being tested as entities. In Java Edition Infdev 20100607, they were reimplemented as blocks using the same model.
• Even though they look like blocks, item frames,‌^{[Java Edition only]} all boats, all minecarts, primed TNT, falling blocks, armor stands, end crystals and cameras‌^{[Bedrock Edition and Minecraft Education only]} are still entities.

Blocks[]

Myth: A "missing texture block" exists in the game.

• There has never existed a central "missing texture block" or "purple error block" in Minecraft: Java Edition. While many blocks and items have used the missing texture at certain points, particularly the locked chest, these were solely due to texture or model data being undefined for that particular block or item, There has never been a specific block ID reserved for error handling.
• Bedrock Edition does in fact have such a block, however it uses the "update!" texture instead of the iconic missing texture.

Myth: Sugar cane grows to four blocks tall on sand.

• The sugar cane growing code has no checks of the block they stand on. They only grow up to three blocks tall. They often appear up to four blocks tall in world generation, which may have caused this rumor to spread, though this occurs on grass and dirt as well, not just sand.

Myth: Sugar cane grows faster on sand than on dirt.

• Sugar cane does not grow faster on sand than dirt. The rate of growth is solely based on the random tick speed, which has nothing to do with whether sand or dirt is underneath.

Myth: Petrified oak slabs existed in Alpha versions, according to their unofficial nickname, "alpha slabs".

• Petrified oak slabs first came into existence in Java Edition Beta 1.3 and were craftable up to 1.2.5. The term "alpha slabs", which is commonly used to refer to these blocks, is a misnomer.

Myth: Water cannot exist in the Nether.

• Water can, in fact, be summoned in the Nether using the /setblock and /fill commands, and once summoned in, it can continue to exist. There have also existed several unintended methods of bringing water into the dimension as well, which have since been patched. The Nether dimension does not forbid the existence of water; it just simply prevents the player from using a water bucket, stops ice from melting into water, and prohibits the existence of wet sponges in placed form.
  • Water can also exist in a cauldron in the Nether.

Myth: Torches can break falling sand because it is a non-solid block.

• This sentence is only half-true. Falling blocks drops in item form even when they fall on solid blocks such as soul sand (MC-77079), and they do not break when they fall through a torch that's not at ground level (MC-3262).
• This is because when a falling block lands on a solid surface, it checks whether it can turn into a block at that location. If the location is occupied (for example, by a torch), then it cannot become a block, and therefore drops as an item.
  • This is also why soul sand can break falling blocks: when a falling block entity lands on soul sand, it is technically "in" the soul sand, because the soul sand is less than a full block tall, and thus the falling block entity cannot turn into a block at that location (since it's occupied by the soul sand).
• Therefore, it is more accurate to say that falling sand can be broken by a torch on top of a solid block, because the torch occupies the space and prevents the falling sand from turning into a block.

Myth: Beacons don't work in the Nether.

• Beacons, in fact, do work in the Nether; their beams can pass through bedrock. The reason they normally don't work in the Nether is because there are other solid blocks (mostly netherrack) in the way. If the player removes all the non-bedrock blocks above the beacon, then it can activate normally.
  • Back when beacons were added in Java Edition 1.4.2, their beams actually couldn't go through bedrock; it wasn't until Java Edition 1.8.2 that their beams could go through bedrock, allowing them to be used in the Nether.

Myth: Mycelium prevents all mobs other than mooshroom from spawning.

• It is the mushroom fields biome itself that prevents other mobs from spawning there. Hostile mobs can spawn on mycelium in other biomes just like they do on any other solid block.
  • Also, mycelium outside of mushroom fields biomes does not spawn mooshrooms.

Myth: Putting a torch on a monster spawner seals the monster spawner.

• It is the light level from the torch that prevents the monster spawner from spawning mobs. Therefore, the torch doesn't have to be placed on the spawner itself; it can be put either on the wall or the ground, as long as the entire spawning range of the monster spawner is covered, no mobs can spawn. Light sources other than torches can be used as well.
• Torches also don't necessarily work for monster spawners that have different light level requirements: silverfish and blazes can spawn at light level 11 or lower, so torches with a light level of 14 don't work as well; magma cubes can spawn at any light level, making torches completely useless against them.

Items[]

Myth: Leaves items with data values above 3 could be obtained in Alpha versions, according to their unofficial nickname, "alpha leaves".

• Leaves items with data values above 3 are able to be created in release versions up to 1.4.5. The term "alpha leaves", which is commonly used to refer to these items, is an unaccountable misnomer.

Myth: Maps don't work in the Nether because they always show the bedrock ceiling.

• Maps are intentionally programmed to show a red-gray static pattern in the Nether; it has nothing to do with the bedrock ceiling.
  • In fact, even if the bedrock ceiling is removed, or something is built on it‌^{[Java Edition only]}, the map will not show these changes.

Mobs[]

Myth: Mobs can summon the warden by causing vibrations to trigger sculk shriekers in the same way players can.

• It is not possible for other entities such as bats to summon the warden. Naturally-generated sculk shriekers will only be triggered, and therefore summon the warden, in response to vibrations produced explicitly by the player. However, after being summoned, the warden will attack non-player mobs that make vibrations.

Myth: Rana existed at the same time Steve, Black Steve, and Beast Boy.

• The Dock mob Rana never co-existed with the other Dock mobs (Steve, Black Steve, Beast Boy). Rana was originally made as a test for md3 mobs, and was originally added in Indev 20091223-1. The aforementioned Steve mobs were added in Indev 20100129, replacing Rana, only to then get removed in Indev 20100131.

Myth: Glow squids were originally meant to hypnotize players that got too close.

• The glow squid was never meant to hypnotize players; this was just a joke for its mob vote video.

Myth: Zombified piglins that appear near nether portals in the Overworld came through from the Nether.

• These zombified piglins actually spawned inside the nether portal, and did not come through from the Nether.
  • To prove the point, the player can create a nether portal that links to a biome in the Nether that doesn't spawn zombified piglins (e.g. a soul sand valley), and zombified piglins will still appear near the portal on the Overworld side.

Myth: Eggs and snowballs do damage to the ender dragon.

• While this was true before Java Edition 1.9, it is no longer the case since then.

Myth: An enderman gets aggravated the instant you look into its eyes.

• In fact, the player has to stare at the enderman's eye-level for 5 game ticks (¹⁄₄ second) for it to aggravate.
  • Therefore, simply glancing over endermen's eyes does not aggravate them.
  • Also, endermen freeze when they become aggravated due to being looked at. The player must look away from its eyes for it to begin attacking.

Myth: Creepers are completely silent before they start hissing.

• Creepers make footstep sounds like other walking mobs, it's just that they produce the same footstep sounds as the player, making it hard to distinguish the creeper's footsteps from that of the player's own.
  • However, the creeper's footstep sounds are controlled by a different volume slider than that of the player's. By turning down the "Players" volume and keeping the "Hostile Creatures" volume at maximum, the player can more easily hear a creeper that's approaching them.

Myth: illager patrols come from pillager outposts.

• Patrol spawning is completely unrelated to pillager outposts; it is a separate type of mob spawning unrelated to normal mob spawning.
• In comparison, pillager spawning in outposts is similar to other structure spawns, such as guardians from ocean monuments, and witches from swamp huts.

Myth: To prevent phantoms from spawning, the player must sleep through the night.

• The player simply needs to sleep in the bed for a brief moment to refresh their "Time Since Last Rest" statistic, and phantoms will not spawn for another hour.
• If the player wants to stay up during the night without encountering phantoms, they simply need to enter a bed and exit it once every three in-game days, without needing to skip the night.

Myth: Ghasts are undead mobs.

• Despite their ghostly appearance, ghasts are not considered undead mobs. This means they can drown, are damaged by Instant Damage and healed by Instant Health, are affected by Poison, and are not affected by Smite.

World[]

Myth: The Far Lands were originally the edge of the world.

• The Far Lands were not the edge of the Minecraft world, simply the edge of normal terrain. The actual edge of the world from Infdev all the way to Alpha 1.1.2_01, and the edge of solid land from Alpha 1.2.0 to Beta 1.7.3, was at 32 million blocks out. The absolute edge of world is 2147483647 in each direction with int data type.

Myth: Brick pyramids were intended to be an early source of bricks.

• Brick pyramids were actually implemented as a way to test large structure like world features, not as an early way to obtain bricks. Entities did not work at all in the version brick pyramids were implemented in, and as such collecting bricks from these structures before entities were re-implemented in Infdev 20100316 was completely impossible.
• Brick pyramids only ever existed between Infdev 20100227-1 and Infdev 20100325.

Myth: Real-world azalea trees are related to oak trees.

• Azalea trees are a real type of plant which is not closely related to oaks, not a fictional variant of oak.

Myth: Ice spikes is a fictional biome.

• Although the ice spikes biome is often thought of as a fictional or fantasy biome, the ice spikes are probably based on a real type of ice formation called penitentes which can form in large quantities in cold, dry locations and can grow to large sizes.

Myth: The modified jungle edge is the rarest biome in the game.

• This is only true in Java Edition release versions 1.7 to 1.17.1 inclusive. The modified jungle edge biome, alongside a large number of other biomes, were removed from the game completely in 1.18.

Myth: The Nether is eight times smaller than the Overworld.

• The Nether is equally as large as the Overworld, both of which are surrounded by the world border‌^{[JE only]} 30 million blocks away from the world origin.
• The 1:8 distance conversion ratio is just how the game is designed to be.

Development[]

Myth: The game playable on classic.minecraft.net, named Minecraft Classic, was the first version of Minecraft: Java Edition.

• This is not the first ever version of Minecraft: Java Edition, not was it ever a part of any of its development phases. Rather, it is a JavaScript recreation of the real Classic version 0.0.23a_01 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the game's initial release. Even minor inspection reveals it to be a very flawed recreation. The reason a JavaScript recreation was used instead of the real thing is likely due to Java applets no longer being supported by most browsers.
• The first known version of Minecraft: Java Edition is actually Java Edition pre-Classic rd-131655 (Cave game tech demo)

Myth: Java Edition 1.0.0 was the first release of Minecraft.

• Java Edition 1.0.0 is not the first ever release of Minecraft. It was the first "official" release of Java Edition in its final development phase which has persisted to the current day, however it is preceded by two and a half years' worth of prior development across six other development phases.
  • Also, despite the launcher calling it "1.0", the version number is "1.0.0" with two zeros.

Myth: Herobrine was actually added to the game.

• Herobrine was never in the game. Nothing even close to Herobrine was ever added to Minecraft.

Myth: Minecraft is a knock-off of Infiniminer.

• Although Notch lifted Minecraft's 1 meter block-based worlds directly from Infiniminer, calling Minecraft a "knock-off" of Infiniminer is not very accurate. Very little else of Infiniminer's gameplay and style was reused in Minecraft, as Infiniminer was a much more limited and simplistic type of game, which stopped being updated before Minecraft was even released.

Myth: The Minecraft Launcher has every version of Minecraft.

• While the Minecraft Launcher has many versions available to play, it is far from having every version. There are dozens of versions archived that are not in the Minecraft Launcher. In fact, some of the versions in the Minecraft Launcher were modified, rather than being the original copies as they were on release.
• Some versions are lost (no copy is available) to this day.

Miscellaneous[]

Myth: Minecraft is named after mining and crafting, two essential elements of the game.

• This is a false etymology. The name "Minecraft" first appeared in the pre-Classic development phase on May 15, 2009, and crafting as a mechanic was not added to the game until the Indev development phase on January 28, 2010.
  • Therefore, the game couldn't have been named after its crafting mechanic.

Myth: Steve had a beard all the way through alpha, but it was removed sometime in beta.

• Steve's classic beard was removed in Classic 0.28. As such, Steve was beardless all through-out Indev, Infdev, and Alpha.
  • Also, Steve's beard is often misinterpreted as a smile.
  • Steve's beard was not readded until Java Edition 1.19.3 and Bedrock Edition 1.19.50.

Myth: Minecraft 4k is less than 4 kilobytes in size.

• Minecraft 4k is less than 4 kibibytes (4096 bytes) in size, not less than 4 kilobytes (4000 bytes) in size.

Myth: The terms "feature" and "update" are interchangeable, hence popular videos titled along the lines of "n Updates in Minecraft 1.xx".

• An update refers to a (typically new) version, not a feature. Changes to existing features can be referred to as updates to that feature. However, calling newly implemented features "updates" is incorrect.

Other media[]

Myth: The naturalist of the Minecraft: Mobestiary is a reliable narrator.

• The Minecraft: Mobestiary was officially confirmed by the author to be an unreliable source, as the book was written from the perspective of an in-universe naturalist who heavily speculated about the subject matter that he wrote about.

References[]