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I liberate the ending to Minecraft from Microsoft and give it to you

theeggandtherock.substack.com

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Re: I liberate the ending to Minecraft from Microsoft and give it to you

#171

Post by tsak »

xmprt wrote: post #81
krisoft wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> hopefully Microsoft doesn’t go after this guy Let’s not spread FUD, what would they go after for this guy and why?

They had a long conversation over email and an exchange of payment for the right to at least use the poem. Whether you like it or not, that can count as a contract. It might be different in different jurisdictions but here's the US definition of a contract ( https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/contract ): > The basic elements required for the agreement to be a legally enforceable contract are: mutual assent, expressed by…

Also the guy was living in Germany at the time so German laws apply which are different in regards to copyright.

Re: I liberate the ending to Minecraft from Microsoft and give it to you

#173

Post by colonwqbang »

operator-name wrote: post #136
colonwqbang wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't the whole point that the author thinks he deserves more compensation than he got? He's quoting the compensation for various Mojang employees and comparing it to what he got. He seems quite jelaous and/or entitled. 20000€ would in most European countries be a pretty good compensation for about 3 months of work, after taxes. It doesn't seem unreasonable on the face of it.

I'm not sure that is the point, as if you believe the author's summary: > I wrote a story for a friend, but in the end, he didn't treat me like a friend, and I'm hurt. In this framing, these are examples of being treated as an outsider.

This is the part I'm thinking of

> Early next year, Markus earned a three-million-dollar dividend on his shares in Mojang. But, as the actual value of his company, which he mostly owned, had gone up by many tens of millions, he figured he didn’t really need another three million on top. So he divided it between the twenty-five staff at Mojang, as a late Christmas bonus. That’s $120,000 each. Five or six times what I got for writing the actual ending.

(Since the author seems to have spent about a month or so working on the game, you could reason that his compensation is about on par with the employees who worked for a full year. But he doesn't seem to see it that way, or he thinks he should be compensated better than them? I don't know.)

Re: I liberate the ending to Minecraft from Microsoft and give it to you

#174

Post by kergonath »

europeanguy wrote: post #139
kergonath wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did we read the same thing? He says he felt at the time that he should have got something . Much of the post is about him avoiding trying to get any money. He had some issues, sure. Still has, by the look of it. But it’s not accurate to say he’s greedy and entitled. He failed to understand the situation he was in, got something that seemed good but was actually not that good (which does happen all the time), went thr…

> But it’s not accurate to say he’s greedy and entitled I didn't say he was greedy; by the sounds of it he's happy with very little. It is 100% correct to say he's entitled. He doesn't want to do the legwork of determining the terms, instead he expects that someone else does, and in a way that protects his interests. He feels entitled to that.

> I didn't say he was greedy

Yes, sorry, that was in other posts and it got blurred. I did not want to put words into your mouth.

> He doesn't want to do the legwork of determining the terms, instead he expects that someone else does

He explains why he did not involve his agent, and also that he does not expect anyone to do it. Otherwise he’d have plenty of opportunities to do it. He sounds entitled in that he has weird ideas about love and friendship but he just sounds like someone hurt that the world does not work as they thought.

Re: I liberate the ending to Minecraft from Microsoft and give it to you

#175

Post by operator-name »

cmeacham98 wrote: post #165
operator-name wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think your focus on the financials, which was a very small part of the article is misguided. I'm under the assumption that the article is part of the author trying to "piece things together" - as a part 2 of his spiritual journey where he concluded: > I wrote a story for a friend, but in the end, he didn't treat me like a friend, and I'm hurt. By accepting this premise, these are examples of when he expected to be…

But he was an outsider, he wasn't Notch's friend. Notch contacted him for the express purpose of writing the End Poem. Of course, I'm sure they were friend ly in their discussions, there's no point in being actively hostile to the people you're working with. But the idea the relationship extended anything past a game developer and a contracted writer seems to be entirely in the author's mind.

I definitely agree, and on the basis of the information given that seems to be the crux of the issue. Yet I can easily believe and totally see that the author saw it as more - who's to say that they weren't closer to friends prior to the initial discussion about contracts?

Re: I liberate the ending to Minecraft from Microsoft and give it to you

#176

Post by jack_pp »

xnorswap wrote: post #141
naet wrote: post #85

I kinda feel like this guy is overstating his contribution to Minecraft. It's nice to have an end screen message, but that isn't what drove the value of the game and could have easily been replaced by something else. Rule #1 of getting paid for your work is don't do a bunch of work without signing a contract first. Even if you're an artist. I highly doubt he could have released that poem on his own and turned it into…

Indeed, the odd twist in this story was that he was paid for his work. I was expecting a story about how he was still chasing his money to this day. I'm fairly sure that no credible lawyer would give him the time of the day if he did try to get more now. He did work, he accepted money for that work and only later he thinks he's entitled to more and wants to re-negotiate. I don't know about his jurisdiction, but here…

I don't think there's any doubt that Mojang / Microsoft are entitled to use his work. But I don't think it's clear whether he has the rights to the work or not.

Re: I liberate the ending to Minecraft from Microsoft and give it to you

#177

Post by larsnystrom »

This is a bit of tangent, but I see this:

> Let a thousand flowers bloom.

This phrase is sorely misunderstood. This was a way to lure out opponents of Mao Zedong, by opening up for public criticism of his rule. Then, when he knew who opposed him, he could brutally suppress and/or execute them.

I don't think that is what the author of the this article wants to convey. Or maybe it is, and his next step will be to launch a massive legal campaign against Microsoft and all others involved?

Re: I liberate the ending to Minecraft from Microsoft and give it to you

#178

Post by lelanthran »

bobsmooth wrote: post #152
lelanthran wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And that's the pinnacle of what anyone would want out of life? No one claimed that it was. Buying a mansion and shitposting on twitter isn't exactly the sign of being a failure, is it? By all measureable metrics, I'd assume that his life is better than 90% of people that started life in the same socioeconomic class that he did.

Money doesn't buy happiness. Having Tony Hawk and Skrillex at your housewarming party is cool but they're not the same as friends.

> Money doesn't buy happiness.

I didn't say it does, but the clear fact of the matter is that there is literally no evidence that being rich leads to being miserable.

People saying "money doesn't buy happiness" don't realise that money doesn't bring unhappiness either. You can't use that statement for asserting that some rich person must be unhappy.

Re: I liberate the ending to Minecraft from Microsoft and give it to you

#179

Post by peter422 »

xnorswap wrote: post #141
naet wrote: post #85

I kinda feel like this guy is overstating his contribution to Minecraft. It's nice to have an end screen message, but that isn't what drove the value of the game and could have easily been replaced by something else. Rule #1 of getting paid for your work is don't do a bunch of work without signing a contract first. Even if you're an artist. I highly doubt he could have released that poem on his own and turned it into…

Indeed, the odd twist in this story was that he was paid for his work. I was expecting a story about how he was still chasing his money to this day. I'm fairly sure that no credible lawyer would give him the time of the day if he did try to get more now. He did work, he accepted money for that work and only later he thinks he's entitled to more and wants to re-negotiate. I don't know about his jurisdiction, but here…

If it were so cut and dry they wouldn't have chased his signature years later before the acquisition. A lawyer told them to do that.

I think it's more interesting of a legal case than you give it credit for. He isn't denying he was paid for his time but that the rights for the finished work are still ambiguous.

Re: I liberate the ending to Minecraft from Microsoft and give it to you

#180

Post by Tossrock »

pgsandstrom wrote: post #149
rosywoozlechan wrote: post #41

That's a lot of anger, negativity and bitterness, and entitlement (one of the game's creators for writing the ending text?). Reminds me of the kid on the cover of the Nevermind album and other people that are kinda tangentially connected to something massively successful, but not connected enough to benefit materially, and they let that define who they are and ruin their lives. Could have been a neat personal story,…

Im honestly chocked that people react so negatively to this piece. Yes, the author expresses many negative and self centered emotions. He is very clear about that. It is part of the story. It is a story about being a flawed person. I sympathize with him. I loved this piece. I hope he truly did let go of all the hangups he described. And it does seem that he actually did sell the the rights of use to microsoft, making…

I think most of them didn't actually read it and instead skimmed a few paragraphs, saw "$20,000", and rushed back to comment.
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