Hello! You may have clicked this post out of curiosity, or maybe anger, or maybe you're just questioning my motives. Anyway, I have been playing PE since literally several WEEKS after its launch. I've seen it all when it comes to minecraft- I would consider myself a veteran. The end? Seen it. Survival? Beat it. Any mob on the face of the infinite, generated worlds? Conquered. Creative projects? Built em. As you may tell, I have been with this game for a long, long time. Since I was a young kid.
Anyway, as everybody knows, young children are easily influenced. This can be for good or bad. For example, I've known some kids who know via MC that it's really not the best idea to wander unarmed, alone at night. Sure, the zombies and spiders they fear aren't real, but at least the idea of it keeps them safe. But, this could work on the reverse, too: I once met a boy who thought wolf puppies turned into dogs if you fed them good food. And, serving as a counselor in training at a horse camp, I once saw a kid approach a horse straight from the back without warning.
I told him to stop, and explained that this is very dangerous. In response, he said: "Oh! I didn't know that. Sorry, really. They're totally passive in Minecraft." I took a moment to think. If I hadn't been their, or the horse he had been approaching had been younger or more skittish, this could've been deadly. In the year 1999, 15,000 children under 15 visited the emergency room for a horse related injury. Many of these injuries were simaler to an injury that would have been suffered in a car crash. There is more than double risk of concussion than in any other sport.
But yet in Minecraft, the only risks that can occur while riding are falling off and drowning, or falling from a high place. I know Minecraft tries to be "cooler than real life", but I feel that horses are boring, and act pretty much nothing like real horses. As proved by my experience with the boy at camp, this could be very dangerous.
But what am I saying here? I'm not just here to complain. I am calling for a second "Horse Update".
In this update, horses would be programmed with advanced behavior that could help kids learn about the dangers of riding and handling horses. (I suggest you read my other horse suggestions and not just this one.)
First of all, if you try to jump something that is way too high for your horse, it will now stop in its tracks. It will only do this if it is several blocks higher than it can jump- if it's just one, it will just swerve out of the way. Second, if you walk straight behind a horse, it will kick. This will cause a lot of damage. (These will go hand in hand with my other suggestion about horse AI) The same goes for running straight in front of a horse, but only if you run. Third, if you hit a horse, there is a chance it will fight back.
I really think having some dangerous habits like this could help teach kids to be safe around horses.
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