Game Theory: A scientific explanation for creepers

[Puzzled]

(Go to 1:42 to skip the intro)

I know game theory has been on this forum a couple times before and is actually where I first heard of the channel, but this connects so much with BTW (with the exception of nitre) that it needs it's own thread.

[magikeh]

Heh, til that creepers are pigs that have been mutated by peatmoss.. sorta :P

Bit of backstory, creepers were originally supposed to be pigs, however notch messed up on the modelling and decided to add a creature that resembles what we now know as a creeper.

[ThePowerofTower]

I was just about to post this!

Yeah, crazy stuff. I f$#%ing hate peat moss now!

[ada221]

additionally, for BTW i always liked to think that the niter/saltpeter drop was quite appropriate because of its use as not only an explosive but as a fertilizer to help creeper "spores" to grow

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niter

[Puzzled]

I like how this also has an explanation why creepers and other hostile mobs only spawn relatively near the player. I'm not sure if anyone else caught onto that.

[chaoticneutral]

My head canon for creepers is a bit more complex.

Basically, there's a plant ("creeplant") in some universe; when it's ready to reproduce, it grows some seed pods.

The seed pods are mobile and semi-intelligent. When mature, they detach from the original plant and they begin to wander, looking for a suitable spot to reproduce. The creeplant seeds need fresh flesh to reproduce, so the seed pod (the creeper) kills some random animal nearby, spreading its flesh full of creeplant seeds through a wide area, and the cycle continues.

But there's a catch: creeplants are not from the world where we play. The creepers end there due to a dimensional rift in areas with low lighting. But even if it finds suitable flesh and explodes, the plants won't grow, they need a different environment. That's why you won't see creeplants in Minecraft.

And since it isn't from the same world, it won't recognize Minecraft animals as "suitable flesh". It might explode a skeleton or spider who shot it, but as a defense mechanism, not as a reproduction attempt. It needs flesh from its own world... like Steve.

[ThePowerofTower]

My head canon for creepers is a bit more complex.
-snip-

Dude, that rocks. I accept!

[abculatter_2]

I tend to go by the headcanon that steve is unconsciously the 'god' of the minecraft world, and that monsters in general are manifestations of fears in his subconscious. (Creepers, specifically, being the fear of loosing everything, and it all being for naught.)

Also, that guy is annoying as hell...