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Limit the Default Range of the Locator Bar

It has been about a month since the Chase the Skies drop was released. Having given it a chance, I can confidently say that the Locator Bar has been detrimental to the multiplayer experience.

The Locator Bar removes an entire aspect of the game. It is no longer possible to have privacy anywhere in the Minecraft world. This means no more secret bases, no more hidden chests, and no way to maintain the integrity of your location.
The Locator bar is useful to many people. It reduces reliance on co-ordinates, so I don't suggest its removal. However, it enforces this strict publicity on every player, without recourse. This doesn't allow players to find eachother - it forces them to.

Sneaking is not a solution to this. No player can sneak forever. Invisibility potions and pumpkin heads are are also only temporary measures that actively detriment gameplay; There is no permanent way to Opt Out of the system.

While commands can modify this range, the average player does not understand game rules or NBT data - Privacy should not be restricted only to those with the know-how to enable it.

I suggest the default limit be restricted to ~300 blocks. This is much further than any player is likely to see, much further than nametags, but not far enough to cause any impact to these aspects of the game. But any distance would be reasonable - anything besides a limitless range.
Entire Communities had formed around parts of the game surrounding secret bases. It would be unjust to let that die out here.

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  • 1
    Registered User commented
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    Only coming from a couch co-op perspective, but even from that context this sounds sensible. My 7 year-old son really struggles to navigate or work with coordinates and he uses the locator bar well when we're all in close proximity, woods, mine, etc.

    But beyond 300 blocks or so, once he started hitting some obstacles or cliffs, or had to divert from a straight course, the locator becomes too abstract and complicated for him anyway. It loses any utility once the locator requires him to recalibrate his journey a few times in relation to obstacles.

    The useful exception for the locator bar would be when we travel across open seas. But this is usually to a base, which means a lodestone compass can be used equally well in this instance. 

    Please note I'm only detailing one scenario here. But in this particular case, beyond a few hundred blocks, his lack of ability to navigate by coordinates is unlikely to be meaningfully remedied by the locator bar. 

  • 2
    Registered User commented
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    The locator bar has already allowed stalking from thousands of blocks away. It is no longer enough to walk for days (real time) when joining a new server because the existing players with equipment (elytra/armor) can find and kill you so easy that joining a server with locator bar enabled is pointless.

  • 2
    Registered User commented
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    You can turn it off in the settings of the game.