Jens "Jeb" Bergernstern, the lead developer of Minecraft, has announced over Twitter that murdering villagers in the future will have its consequences.
At the present, players are free to kill and dispense of the lives of villagers as they please, free of consequence. These villagers eventually respawn and provide players with new items to trade.
"Used to kill villagers because you don't like what they offer? Well, in the future you will have to face the consequences of your actions," he wrote.
Jeb elaborated on his plans with the following:
"The main idea here is not to out-smart people who wants to create the easiest way to produce emeralds. You will always find the "shortest path to success."
The idea is rather to make the game act a little more reasonable.
It doesn't feel right that villagers would continue to trade with you if you keep on killing them. It also doesn't feel right that they would like you if you stand idly by to see them burn in lava or get shot by skeletons. In other words, villagers will ask you to find another village to trade with.
There will be ways to make the villagers like you again, which is something I expect people will "exploit" in order to keep their slaughterhouses working. But that's part of the game, I suppose…
It may, in essence, be possible to turn these villages into labor and concentration camps.
