Minecraft players have launched a petition demanding developer Mojang ends its annual mob vote - in which the community gets to vote on a new creature to be added to the game - saying the process 'leaves fantastic ideas on the cutting room floor' and only serves to highlight Minecraft's anaemic content release cycle.

Mojang has now revealed all three mobs that'll be put to the vote ahead of a grand results unveiling during this weekend's Minecraft Live - the crab, the penguin, and the armadillo - and it's a selection a newly launched fan petition describes as "three equally great options".

The petition, which at the time of writing has received 295K signatures from Minecraft fans in the three days since its launch, argues, "Mojang somehow releases less content WITH Microsoft's backing than they did without, [meaning] players see minimal content to the game they love". It continues that by "leaving fantastic ideas on the cutting room floor, and teasing content that will never be seen in the game", players must "watch as possibly the one thing to get them to play again is ripped from them".

It also calls the voting process "inherently flawed", noting that content creators often "mobilise their fanbase to vote for the least popular option [as a] joke".

"So we call upon Mojang. Stop the Mob Vote," the petition organisers write. "Give us three mobs each year. If unpaid modders can add your mobs to the game within days after they're announced, the least you could do is keep up with the content frequency that made Minecraft famous."

Mojang hasn't commented on the petition, but it's clear there'll be disappointment whatever the outcome of 2023's vote - with all but one contender joining previous losers the alligator, golden monkey, white-lipped deer, white dolphin, barnacle, wildfire, great hunger, alpaca, moobloom, iceologer, glare, copper golem, rascal, and tuff golem in the great abandoned ideas bin in the sky.

Voting on Minecraft's 2023 selection of mobs runs from 6pm UK time/1pm EDT this Friday, 13th October, until 6:15pm UK time/1:15pm EDT on Sunday, 15th October. That's 15 minutes after the start of Minecraft Live, which promises "on-the-horizon news and updates" covering both Minecraft and this year's action-strategy spin-off, Minecraft Legends.