What does turning off mob griefing actually do?

Question

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?

Kcats · Accepted Answer

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)

dly · Answer

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)

Fritz · Answer

Mob Behavior is affected also, e.g. Pigmen stop trying to destroy Turtle eggs when "mobGriefing" is set to "false".

funkymushroom · Answer

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.

What does turning off mob griefing actually do?

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