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In Minecraft, there are several commands that can be employed to make the game a little easier, without actually affecting the difficulty, such as /keepInventory and /mobGriefing.

However, what does /mobGriefing actually affect? The main things are creeper explosions, and Endermen picking up blocks, but does it affect any thing else? For example, would this affect farms, if a mob jumped on farmland? And does it affect hostile mobs only, or all mobs?

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The mobGriefing rule affects the following:

  • Mobs trampling farmland
  • Mobs picking up dropped items (zombies, villagers, etc.)
  • Zombies breaking doors
  • Sheep eating grass (sheep will still regrow their wool, but the block will not change from a grass to a dirt block)
  • Villagers harvesting/replanting farmland
  • Dragon destroying blocks
  • Wither explosions destroying blocks (both initial explosion and witherskull projectile)
  • Creeper explosions destroying blocks
  • Endermen picking up blocks
  • Silverfish hiding in stone (Silverfish will not reinhabit stone blocks after roaming)
  • Silverfish calling for help out of nearby blocks destroying said blocks
  • Snowmen leaving snow traces
  • Rabbits eating crops
  • Blaze fireballs creating fire
  • Ghast fireball explosions destroying blocks

(the above was taken from the game code)

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  • "Silverfish Hiding in Stone", what does this actually mean? Does this mean that disabling mobGriefing actually removes Monster Egg blocks (stone eggs)?
    – Ben
    Commented May 10, 2017 at 0:05
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    @Ben when there is a free-roaming silverfish that is not tracking the player (because the player is far or in creative mode), the silverfish has a chance to inhabit a nearby stone (or stone variant) block. When that happens, the silverfish disappears and the stone block is converted to monster egg block. If mogGriefing is false, silverfish will not "enter" blocks but will roam indefinitely.
    – Kcats
    Commented May 10, 2017 at 12:49
  • Turns out "mobs picking up dropped items" has side-effects. Villagers can't make kids if they can't pick up food items. So griefing is required to spawn new children villagers.
    – Slobaum
    Commented Oct 9, 2022 at 22:43
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From what I've experienced this rule includes only destruction by force and interactions. That said, I am sure mobs stepping on farmlands will not be affected by this game rule. I have no written source for that, though.

Also this rule affects only specific actions including villagers picking up things. So yes, it does affect non-hostile mobs as well.

What it does affect:

  • Creeper explosion block damage
  • Wither, Ghast & Enderdragon block damage
  • Zombies kicking in doors
  • Enderman block thievery
  • Villagers taking items

What it does not affect:

  • Creeper damage to Entities (an item frame will still be a goner)
  • Mob damage to other individuals
  • Mob behavior (unless you want to count in Zombies knocking on your door)
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Another thing I have discovered regarding this rule is that you cannot breed Villagers. In order to breed villagers you need to drop food near them to feed them, and with Mob Griefing turned off, they will not pick up food.

I really think Mojang should split this into Hostile Mob Griefing and Neutral/Peaceful Mob griefing, because I would certainly turn off the former and turn on the latter.

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    Yes, we found this as well. No matter how much food you place in boxes, cakes on tables, ready crops, they simply won't make kids. They have to be able to pick up the food, which griefing is required to do. Thanks so much for confirming.
    – Slobaum
    Commented Oct 9, 2022 at 22:41
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Mob Behavior is affected also, e.g. Pigmen stop trying to destroy Turtle eggs when "mobGriefing" is set to "false".

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