Board Thread:General Mod Discussion/@comment-27784966-20160224023349/@comment-25841881-20160226013916

Well, it has to do with the system of FPS vs TPS. It is essentially the same thing as that, to allow things to happen at a different rate(or in a different area) than you see. There are tons of exploits that could be created if they weren't handled independently. For one thing, much easier mob farms. Instead of having to account for a whole range of chunks loaded, you can just turn the render distance all the way down, and only have a little room where they can spawn, and a little area where they can't, as opposed to having to have a large area where they can.