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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

#261

Post by cookie_monsta »

Benjamin_Dobell wrote: post #40

I feel for the guy, making a living off of art is difficult. However, with an extensive email chain explaining the story was written as the ending of Minecraft, even going into detail about how it was to be displayed in game, an agreed upon offer (if a bit vague), and then an exchange of funds - with no immediate attempt to return said funds. I'm no lawyer, but that sounds a lot like a legally binding agreement. > So…

> It certainly doesn't seem like the ending provided disproportionate value to Mojang compared to the work of their staff.

I'm usually on the writer's side in these kinds of things, but I have to agree. I've played dozens of hours of that game and have never even considered that it might have an end

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

#262

Post by zimpenfish »

dcow wrote: post #35
antiterra wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The end poem is fine. It doesn’t have particularly interesting rhythm, sound or structure in a ‘poetic’ way until the last bit. It has some weird stops, starts and repetition, but it’s coherent overall and has a functional enough core metaphor. Plus, the payoff is being told you matter, that you’re not alone. You know, the ‘we are all made of stars’ bit. It can be a powerful thought if you let it.

I realize I'm being critical. For me any message contained therein would have landed much more powerfully if it was communicated more gracefully. I, personally, believe that such stylized writing serves more to cover up shortcomings in an author's ability to communicate than it does any service to the reader. But that's my opinion. Maybe don't write the poem on drugs... idk.

> Maybe don't write the poem on drugs...

Curious where you got that impression? I can't see anything in the bit where he's writing the poem that he mentions anything even vaguely pertaining to drugs.

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

#263

Post by cmeacham98 »

mcv wrote: post #256
cmeacham98 wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think it's fair if he gets paid or at-least gets credit for his contributions to the game. He did get paid, $20000. How was Mojang supposed to know he wanted more when he accepted that payment?

He certainly seems to struggle with talking about money. Like he said: he should have let his agent handle it. But he didn't, because he saw this as something other than what it was: a friendship instead of contract work. It was an awkward relationship because both sides had a completely different view of what the relationship was, and didn't really communicate that with each other. It's great that he was finally abl…

Sure, it's possible that's true, but I don't see how that reflects poorly on anyone but himself. He asked for their offer, Mojang offered $20k, and he took the money.

We can write justifications for why he did this, but that he seems to believe he was entitled to more money than the offer he accepted is entirely a problem of his own creation.

Expecting Mojang to deal with his communication and mental health issues is absurd.

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

#264

Post by dusted »

dcow wrote: post #23
hoten wrote: post #15

Certainly there's a world where the author just knew, at some point in this process, "let me just give this giant stressor of a problem to a lawyer"—without losing whatever it means to "be an artist" or opportunities at growth he attributes to only occurring because he was awful at business.

Yeah I feel a twist in my gut for this guy. He is so frustrated it's incredible. He wrote 90% more than he needed to on this topic. The essay is long and rambling and I've missed any point he's trying to make... much like the words of his "End Poem". They are senseless and, ultimately, meaningless. They are not deep. They are incoherent. No wonder he's stuck in a narrative of his own creation. That's his life. If his…

> All of his problems could have been solved if he just did the sensible normal thing any person would do and have a lawyer help him figure it out.

Did you mean:

All of his problems could have been solved if he just did the sensible normal thing any person would do and flat out assume all the other humans on the planet are complete assholes.

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

#265

Post by mort96 »

Kiro wrote: post #259
mort96 wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nowhere does he say he thinks he's the creator of Minecraft. You sound spiteful, and I can't tell why. EDIT: The comment used to say " ... the pompous idea that he created Minecraft". It was later edited.

> I was one of the five people who had helped create this strangest of games

He is, undoubtedly, one of the people who worked on a part of the game, yes. That counts as "helping create the game". And claiming to have "helped create the game" is not the same as claiming to be "the creator" of the game.

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

#266

Post by causi »

europeanguy wrote: post #127
causi wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed this is quite messy. Julian was a fool for agreeing to something he hadn't read, and Carl was a fool for paying him before he signed it.

Carl was the smart one, by the sound of it they still would be going back and forth on the meaning of fair.

Yeah, I don't understand how this could've taken more than a couple of e-mails when the work was already done. Why the heck wouldn't Julian ask Markus to step in once he became uncomfortable with e-mailing Carl? Why didn't he just say "ok this took me X hours, so X euros is fair compensation"?

It's very hard for me to read this in a way where Julian doesn't come off as, at best, an idiot, and at worst, an asshole who thinks writing two pages of text is equivalent to the thousands of hours of labor the five Mojang employees had put into the project at the time.

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

#267

Post by mcv »

ohbtvz wrote: post #95
whatshisface wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How can you call asking for nothing entitlement?

Is he asking for nothing? Half of the post is about how Mojang got millions then billions and he got nothing. If he's not asking for what he considers to be his share of the pie, then I don't know what the whole post is about.

It's emblematic for his entire inability to talk about money. He didn't want to talk about money, but he also didn't want his agent to do it for him. He has some highly idealistic beliefs about how money is not important, but he struggles to pay rent.

I love his story, I sympathise, and I want Microsoft, or Notch, or Mojang, to just give him a million dollars. But I can also see that his financial struggles are mostly his own doing. And probably his own choice. He wants to live in a world that's not about money, but he also wants to be able to pay rent.

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

#268

Post by Jarwain »

wikfwikf wrote: post #228
Tossrock wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I read the whole thing. It was somewhat overwritten. Not my favorite ever post-hallucinogen-trip essay. I agree with other commenters that the author is greedy and petty. He accepted €20,000 for his work, a decent amount. Then he decided that he should make way more money because the game was successful. Then he tried to take advantage of the fact that he hadn't signed a contract, even though he had obviously accepte…

Did he not honor the informal agreement?

To me the agreement sounds like they bought the right to use the story as the ending to the game. They didn't agree on signing over the rights to the story, and he said if he knew that would have been part of the deal he wouldn't have agreed. He was caught by surprise when he found that language in the contract. Sure he was negligent in not following up when the contract didn't match his expectations, but so was Mojang for not ensuring the contract was signed before using his work.

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

#269

Post by kqr »

automatoney wrote: post #32

I love the idea of the public domain so much - the idea that these bits of culture may have been created by a single person, but that they ultimately belong to everyone as members of the culture. I've always wanted to host a New Years Public Domain Day party to celebrate everything already in and entering the public domain, but I'm not sure my friends are quite as excited by the idea as I am...

I've always thought of new year's celebrations as kind of silly so thanks for making them meaningful to me!

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

#270

Post by zimpenfish »

Quillbert182 wrote: post #91
boosteri wrote: post #84

There's and ending to Minecraft? There goes my perception (acquired over the years of reading bits and bobs about it) of it being an endless world building game.

There's an "ending" in terms of there is an event that gets the credits to play, but you can continue to play afterwords, and there is a not insignificant amount of content unlocked by triggering the event. You can also easily play forever without achieving this ending.

> You can also easily play forever without achieving this ending.

I played from 2013 to 2020 before I visited the End and killed the dragon. Then I realised how OP elytra are and now it's an early game goal to grab a pair.

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