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I'm Leaving Mojang

notch.net

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Re: I'm Leaving Mojang

#121

Post by serve_yay »

MadManE wrote: post #94
xarien wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's actually quite inspiring. He's essentially saying that he's chasing curiosity instead of profits. A lot of us would love to be able to do that. For many of us, it's why we got into programming or engineering in the first place...

How is that inspiring? To me, it's incredibly depressing. It's basically saying that he will aim to make mediocre (or terrible) things now that he has more money than he needs. This means that unless I win the lottery of life, I am condemned to doing what I'm doing and if I actually do succeed in what I'm doing, I'll never want to touch anything like it again. Edit: Sorry that I inadvertently insulted one of your her…

Hmm, I think notch's life is interesting but I doubt the wisdom of trying to learn lessons from it. At any rate I dunno that he is necessarily aiming to make mediocre things so much as not explicitly aiming to make popular things. Good work can come out of such a mindset, he just won't be the one to steward it to popularity.

Re: I'm Leaving Mojang

#122

Post by Fede_V »

tst wrote: post #47
krelian wrote: post #29

This whole Minecraft thing has been very interesting to follow. I tried the game a few times and it's not really for me but everything around Notch's story is interesting (I bet their going to make a movie about this at some point). Not everyone can be an entrepreneur and I feel that in this case (on a different scale of course), we basically watched a plausible version of how Apple could have gotten started if there…

I think the analogy to Wozniak is great. I remember an article some months ago in which he basically said the same: He wants to tinker and hack. I remember watching some parts of notch's livestreams. I loved the enthusiasm he had. He was a bit like a young boy, trying things, throwing some away, creating games. I'm happy for his decision.

Yeah, exactly. Dealing with social media as a divisive personality is exhaustive - either you completely shut it off and let some underpaid underdealing deal with it, or you will get horrendously burnt out by all the negativity.

I hope he will produce another master work, but either way, I wish him a very happy life with all the money he earned.

Re: I'm Leaving Mojang

#123

Post by Ygg2 »

MadManE wrote: post #94
xarien wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's actually quite inspiring. He's essentially saying that he's chasing curiosity instead of profits. A lot of us would love to be able to do that. For many of us, it's why we got into programming or engineering in the first place...

How is that inspiring? To me, it's incredibly depressing. It's basically saying that he will aim to make mediocre (or terrible) things now that he has more money than he needs. This means that unless I win the lottery of life, I am condemned to doing what I'm doing and if I actually do succeed in what I'm doing, I'll never want to touch anything like it again. Edit: Sorry that I inadvertently insulted one of your her…

He said he'll do things he likes. I'm not getting mediocre out of that sentence.

Keep in mind Minecraft started similarly.

Re: I'm Leaving Mojang

#124

Post by barnumdee »

LeicaLatte wrote: post #100

Say Facebook had acquired Minecraft I believe Notch might have had a chance at continuing at Mojang. But Microsoft's history with killing talent is legendary (Nokia, Rare, etc) and there was no question of him taking a chance with them.

No, he probably wouldn't have sold it to begin with if they were the only ones buying. Notch specifically said he wouldn't create a Minecraft version for the Oculus Rift after the Facebook purchase because he found it 'creepy'.

Re: I'm Leaving Mojang

#125

Post by TeMPOraL »

gbog wrote: post #83
krelian wrote: post #29

This whole Minecraft thing has been very interesting to follow. I tried the game a few times and it's not really for me but everything around Notch's story is interesting (I bet their going to make a movie about this at some point). Not everyone can be an entrepreneur and I feel that in this case (on a different scale of course), we basically watched a plausible version of how Apple could have gotten started if there…

> there are many here that dream of having their idea be a huge success but aren't really interested in becoming the next Bill Gates or Zuckerberg. I think it's more than you think. I think Notch expressed clearly that he did not expect nor want his project to become a big hit. He may have been flattered for a while but he now sees it clearly: success is shit, big success is a shitstorm. The exact opposite of the ent…

I think what pg might have overlooked, looking back at his old essays, is that hackers of old, driven by their love for their work turned into paper-toiler entrepreneurs today. There is nothing precluding a hacker from leveraging the economy to scale up his favourite hack (which I believe pg's early essays were about) or, as Notch did, just to secure himself a peaceful and secure environment to continue his hacking without having to worry about things like food, health and shelter. But that is a different type of hacker than the ones that are attracted to the startup scene nowdays.

I guess part of the reason I feel the word "hacker" lost its meaning today is the rise of paper-toilet hackers (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8319102).

Re: I'm Leaving Mojang

#126

Post by technofiend »

raldi wrote: post #115
melvinmt wrote: post #111

There was once a businessman who was sitting by the beach in a small Brazilian village. As he sat, he saw a Brazilian fisherman rowing a small boat towards the shore having caught quite few big fish. The businessman was impressed and asked the fisherman, “How long does it take you to catch so many fish?” The fisherman replied, “Oh, just a short while.” “Then why don’t you stay longer at sea and catch even more?” The…

And then the fisherman got a horrible toothache and there was nothing he could do about it. A few years later, overfishing led to near-depletion of the local supply, and new restrictions were implemented on fishing licenses. The fisherman was unable to afford one, and yet he had no other means of supporting his family. By the end of the decade his wife and children were begging on the street. Meanwhile, the businessm…

Hah. Funny, but Brazil has socialized medicine.

Re: I'm Leaving Mojang

#127

Post by dmpk2k »

willvarfar wrote: post #102

For the interested, Notch didn't enter the current Ludum Dare but thousands of mortal coders did, and they'd love you to go play their games! http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/

Unrelated, but maybe he did enter, under a different pseudonym; it's what I'd do in his shoes.

Re: I'm Leaving Mojang

#128

Post by talmand »

willvarfar wrote: post #99
pbhjpbhj wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmTUW-owa2w , presumably is the "This Is Phil Fish" video referenced ("talking about Phil is talking about fame"). http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=PmT... for the tl;dr.

Got a text summary for the phone users please?

It's hard for me to describe it in simpler terms. It does make interesting points about fame and how people react to those that are considered famous.

It makes an excellent example using Nickelback. When people say they hate Nickelback they aren't necessarily saying they hate the band, but the music industry system that they somehow represent. But it doesn't seem to suggest the possibility that when people say they hate Nickelback, that they mean they actually do hate the music the band produces.

It attempts to say that maybe Fish isn't as bad he's made out to be. But it goes about it in a strange way. First it says that people overreact to the things that Fish says or does because he's famous, but then it goes into how he isn't really famous in terms of traditional fame. Basically, if you didn't know who Fish was then you wouldn't care what he said.

Which is probably true.

But my feelings about Fish is based off of what I saw of him in the Indie Game doc before I even knew who he was or that I was supposed to think of him as famous. Then there's his behavior after the Fez release that didn't necessarily make me think more highly of him, whether he was antagonized by others or not. As the many versions of the saying goes; if you are the only reasonable person always surrounded by assholes, maybe you are the asshole.

In all of this, I really hope Notch doesn't think of himself in terms of what people think of Fish. They are most definitely not the same, nowhere near close. There's a difference between saying I've had enough of this path in my life to wish to go down a different one and rage-quitting like a child.

Multiple times.

I for one, hope that he finds what he's looking for and I hope to hear about the new things he creates. If I never hear of Notch ever again, that's okay too.

Re: I'm Leaving Mojang

#129

Post by TeMPOraL »

raldi wrote: post #115
melvinmt wrote: post #111

There was once a businessman who was sitting by the beach in a small Brazilian village. As he sat, he saw a Brazilian fisherman rowing a small boat towards the shore having caught quite few big fish. The businessman was impressed and asked the fisherman, “How long does it take you to catch so many fish?” The fisherman replied, “Oh, just a short while.” “Then why don’t you stay longer at sea and catch even more?” The…

And then the fisherman got a horrible toothache and there was nothing he could do about it. A few years later, overfishing led to near-depletion of the local supply, and new restrictions were implemented on fishing licenses. The fisherman was unable to afford one, and yet he had no other means of supporting his family. By the end of the decade his wife and children were begging on the street. Meanwhile, the businessm…

The point being, we who are like the businessman are the slaves of our economy. We get great perks from that Moloch, like healthcare, million types of foods, computers, cinemas, all the awesome technology - but in exchange, we need to slave away our lives. It's a trade-off.

We're entering the times when we can build machines to relieve us from our chains, but (apart from needing to restructure the capitalist economy) the transition is being slowed down by the deeply ingrained meme that Everyone Has To Work, Or Else Is A Lazy And Bad Person. It was a reasonable assumption in the times of high scarcity, but nowdays it's becoming hurtful.

What is striving to earn "FU money" if not trying to free oneself from the slavery?

Re: I'm Leaving Mojang

#130

Post by debt »

Kind of reminds me of something Richard Feynman said:

"Then I had another thought: Physics disgusts me a little bit now, but I used to enjoy doing physics. Why did I enjoy it? I used to play with it. I used to do whatever I felt like doing - it didn't have to do with whether it was important for the development of nuclear physics, but whether it was interesting and amusing for me to play with. When I was in high school, I'd see water running out of a faucet growing narrower, and wonder if I could figure out what determines that curve. I found it was rather easy to do. I didn't have to do it; it wasn't important for the future of science; somebody else had already done it. That didn't make any difference. I'd invent things and play with things for my own entertainment."

I think we should take serious stock not only in what Notch is saying here but also his overall success: if you get off making ephemeral photo-sharing apps or a Salesforce clone then keep on trucking otherwise you should ask yourself why you're doing it in the first place.

Are your little projects a ton of fun to work on? Notch makes an all around good argument for pursuing your passion.

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