Minecraft/Bed
Killed by [Intentional Game Design]: The Exploding Bed Legacy
In the beta phases of Minecraft mechanics, few features have claimed as many lives (or caused as many rage-quits) as the bed explosion in the Nether and The End. For many of us, the first time we encountered this "feature" went something like this:
Step 1: Excitedly place a bed in the Nether.
Step 2: Attempt to set spawn like a responsible player.
Step 3: Immediate, fiery death.
Step 4: Respawn in confusion.
Was this a bug? A cruel joke? A hidden lore detail implying the fabric of reality itself rejects bedtime in Hell?
📜 The Mojira Incident: MCPE-28723
Back in the distant year of 2017, an innocent bug report was filed by Edmund Wells, a player who had just experienced firsthand the destructive power of Nether bedtime. His issue?
"Beds explode in the Nether when I try to sleep. My entire base was destroyed. Why?"
His plea for help was met with swift, merciless efficiency from Mojang’s bug team:
"Closed - Works as Intended"
Case closed. No further explanation. 11 minutes later.
Mojang wasn’t about to entertain the idea that maybe, just maybe, new players might have expected some kind of warning before pressing the "Detonate My Entire Base" button.
🛏️ The Dumb-But-Genius Origin of Exploding Beds
The story of exploding beds actually goes all the way back to Beta 1.3, where Notch and his team had to answer one of the most important existential questions in sandbox gaming:
🧐 "How do we prevent players from setting their spawn in the Nether?"
- Option 1: Add a UI message: "You cannot sleep here!"
- Option 2: Prevent the bed from being placed.
- Option 3: Make the bed explode violently, dealing massive damage and setting everything on fire.
Guess which one they picked.
This decision was later praised by Edmund Wells himself in a tweet:
"The decision to make beds explode in the Nether as a solution to how to prevent setting the respawn there will forever be one of my favorite so-dumb-it’s-actually-clever mechanics in gaming."
And thus, one of the deadliest mechanics in Minecraft history was born.
🔄 The Great Irony: Respawn Anchors and Crying Obsidian
Fast-forward a decade later, and the Nether Update (1.16) introduced the Respawn Anchor, a dedicated Nether respawn point—essentially what Notch had originally tried to prevent with the bed explosions.
But here’s the kicker:
- The Respawn Anchor is literally just the reverse of the bed—it explodes in the Overworld instead of the Nether.
- It requires Crying Obsidian, a block that was originally meant to be Minecraft’s first spawn-reset tool in Beta 1.3, but got scrapped in favor of beds.
- So basically, Mojang recycled their own ancient idea and gave it a new coat of paint.
And in perhaps the greatest unintentional joke of all, the Crying Obsidian requirement may as well be a reference to Edmund Wells "crying" in the Mojira bug report over his blown-up base.
🎮 Speedrunners, Tactical Beds, and "Game Design"
Despite being one of Minecraft’s cruelest mechanics, players have adapted in hilarious ways.
- Speedrunners now use beds as tactical nukes to defeat the Ender Dragon in record time.
- PvP players have weaponized them to turn the Nether into a war zone.
- Trolls have tricked new players into trying to "set their spawn" at their bed, leading to Bedtrap – a trap involving a bed, obsidian, and lava. After setting your spawn in the bed, you are permanently trapped in an obsidian cage with lava, with no means of escaping on your own if done properly. Frequently used on newer players, infinitely killing them and forcing them to quit.
🤔 The Big Question: Why Not Let Players Choose Their Spawn Point?
Other survival games (like Rust) allow you to pick from multiple beds or sleeping bags, but Minecraft's player data system uses NBT tags, which only store one set of coordinates. So, if you had beds in both the Overworld and the Nether, which one would the game use?
Rather than implement a complex system to let players choose between multiple spawn points, Notch simply said:
"Nope. Explosion."
And honestly, that’s the kind of game design thinking we respect.
📢 Final Verdict: Working As Intended
The exploding bed mechanic is one of Minecraft’s greatest unintentional masterpieces:
✅ It’s hilarious.
✅ It’s useful in speedrunning.
✅ It’s a cautionary tale for new players.
✅ It’s a historical example of Mojang’s brilliant stupidity.
And most importantly…
It’s WORKING AS INTENDED. 🚀💥
🛏️ MoNoRi-Chan's Architect Notes:
The Evolution (and Tragic Delay) of Spawn Points in Minecraft
While MoNoRi-Chan, the CalifrogMC Server Architect, appreciates that Minecraft finally implemented a way for players to set their spawn point, the truth is...
This mechanic came way too late for his SMP experience.
For old-school SMP players, especially in the Bukkit SMP+ era, the ability to set a home base and return to it at will was already a solved problem. Servers had plugins like:
- Essentials Spawn – Featuring
/sethomeand/home, allowing players to teleport back anytime. - MyHome – Essentially the same idea: set your home and forget about the bed entirely.
Compared to that, a fragile wooden bed that:
❌ Doesn’t work in all dimensions
❌ Explodes violently in half of them
❌ Doesn’t even function unless you wait until night
...wasn’t exactly an upgrade.
In MoNoRi-Chan’s own words:
“Yeah, it’s nice that we can set a spawn point, but this mechanic arrived at the party late—and it wasn’t even invited.”
🌙 Beds, Phantoms, and The Insomnia Mechanic Nobody Asked For
Of course, Minecraft couldn’t just leave beds as simple spawn-setting tools—they had to add consequences.
Enter Phantoms—the unholy creatures of sleep deprivation that spawn when a player hasn’t slept for three in-game days. Their purpose? To force players to use beds, or else be harassed by these screaming sky-demons.
Some argue that it’s a subtle nod to real-world gamer burnout—a coded message from Mojang saying:
"Go touch grass, nerd."
But historically, people hated this feature too.
First, Redditors raged.
Then, server admins disabled them.
And eventually... players just ignored the mechanic altogether because totems and armor exist.
🗿 People Make Bad Suggestions All the Time – The Cycle Never Ends
What led to this whole write-up in the first place? The original Reddit post from Edmund Wells, the bug report on MCPE-28723, and the chaotic beauty of the Minecraft community's feedback loop.
MoNoRi-Chan reflects:
"We’ll never know how old that original Redditor was, but let’s be honest—he was probably my age when I started playing Minecraft. And let’s face it, we all made dumb suggestions back in the day."
But the suggestion cycle never ends. Even in modern Minecraft, we still see features that nobody asked for getting implemented:
- Chat Message Signing & Reporting – Because nothing says "sandbox creativity" like corporate-mandated surveillance.
So whether it’s Notch’s indie Minecraft or Microsoft’s Mining Simulator, one thing remains certain:
CalifrogMC will still be anarchic and offer the classic SMP+ experience.
No Interventions. No chat reporting. No nonsense. Just the pure, chaotic, plugin-enhanced freedom that SMP veterans actually want. 💀🔥
