Ok this has been a pain in my butt for a while, but lately it seems to have gotten worse. Why do the Pigmen like to randomly attack you without you attacking them first? I have had them just run up to me and start attacking me for no reason so when I hit back all the rest come after me. What is with this?
not when you are on fire from a ghast and like 10 pigmen come after you...I died...ran back to get my stuff as I was near spawn and nearly died again...
Generally that's because someone else has been in the area and attacks one. If a pigman is attacked in the area, the other pigmen turn hostile. So if the original player that aggro'ed them runs off or dies, the pigmen are still not pleased.
My friend decided to kill some Pigmen near spawn in the Nether on SMP6. We were traversing through the Nether Nuke and he got hit off the bridge and died. They turned on me, but the only reason he died and I didn't was because he stood at the very edge of the small bridge. Also, I'm paranoid and won't go anywhere without full diamond armor. I still ran. Anyway, the point is that when one person attacks the pigman, the pigman attack everyone.