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I'm Leaving Mojang

notch.net

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Re: I'm Leaving Mojang

#281

Post by opendais »

nightcracker wrote: post #273
opendais wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe but is it really a fair question? Notch wasn't the only owner. In fact, he owns less than 50% and they have 40+ employees. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mojang Open sourcing it would likely screw his co-founders, employees with stock options, etc. compared to the size of this deal. Tbh, I'd be happier if he donated 10% of his earnings from this sale to Open Source projects and feeding people. Rather than, y'know…

Why would open sourcing it screw his co-founders? You can open source the code, interact with the community and improve Minecraft, while still selling the game. You don't have to open source the artwork and assets. Piracy is not an argument in this, because pirating Minecraft for single player has always been and will always be piss easy, and multiplayer will still be impossible.

Microsoft wouldn't pay $2 billion if he open sourced it. So they'd get a smaller payout.

Re: I'm Leaving Mojang

#282

Post by e3pi »

`luden dare'

There is a latin root word that means 'play', `have fun'. There is a philosophy and a religion whose names are coined off this word. Perhaps `ludens'? Hesse's Glasperlenspiel -Glass Bead Game?

Learning about notch here this morning, I see a master living this reality regardless of philosophy or religion nonsense or the noisy crowds.

He `got game'.

Re: I'm Leaving Mojang

#283

Post by tacotime »

jokoon wrote: post #222

He sounds depressed and frustrated. All I see is bad emotions in all that. With all the money he has, he could at least try to share or expand his passion in some way. It's true that he's lucky, you sense the modesty, that he doesn't want to be perceived as talented. But even if that's true, he could at least try a little bit more. I mean he seems content with his work, but if I had such fame, at least I'd try to use…

"...and share his vision of gaming."

I think you may be ascribing meaning to a man with no such vision. He says he just wants to have fun and tinker, not change the world and I think that probably sums up his sentiments pretty well. I myself would love to change the world, I don't think you'd ever hear me speak those words. If you're a like-minded individual then I think it can be hard to put yourself in those shoes. Some people actually are just happy doing what they enjoy.

Re: I'm Leaving Mojang

#284

Post by jokoon »

peterwwillis wrote: post #270
jokoon wrote: post #222

He sounds depressed and frustrated. All I see is bad emotions in all that. With all the money he has, he could at least try to share or expand his passion in some way. It's true that he's lucky, you sense the modesty, that he doesn't want to be perceived as talented. But even if that's true, he could at least try a little bit more. I mean he seems content with his work, but if I had such fame, at least I'd try to use…

Are you aware of how presumptive and insulting it is to speculate about someone else's life and tell them how they should be living?

It's sad to read that he would abandon something that gets traction. It doesn't really make sense.

For indie game developers, this story is kinda sad, that's all. To see a lone dev exiting through the back door like that, it is kinda discouraging.

Re: I'm Leaving Mojang

#285

Post by seanflyon »

ido wrote: post #240
chris_mahan wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Watch out for the big harkonnen missile on the maps with the castle. Enjoy!

It's quite hard getting over the interface these days. Surprisingly enough Warcraft 1 is still very playable.

I recommend Dune2000, it has a similar feel to Dune2 and a much more modern interface.

Re: I'm Leaving Mojang

#286

Post by yaur »

Fede_V wrote: post #122
tst wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> If I ever accidentally make something that seems to gain traction, I’ll probably abandon it immediately.

This is the part of the post that bothers me, especially in the context of 0x10c which seemed to follow that exact track. Its his life obviously, I just wonder what awesome stuff won't be made because Minecraft made him wealthy enough that he didn't need to worry about being productive anymore.

Re: I'm Leaving Mojang

#287

Post by nightski »

yupmetoo wrote: post #265
nightski wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Minecraft was grown out of the way Notch works. What you are suggesting is impossible. No one, not even Steve Jobs sits down and says "My life mission is to benefit humanity". This is because we really do not know which efforts will have the largest impact on humanity. You could waste a lifetime trying to make a better battery - but it might never happen. Or you could hack around on a game and watch it explode and im…

I know this is outside the topic, but to critique your analogy - you could spend a lifetime trying to make a better battery, and share the knowledge of 1000 ways to not make a better battery, which is useful in and of itself.

I wasn't trying to imply such a pursuit wouldn't be useful, rather that you should only do it if you find it individually fulfilling and not solely because it might benefit humanity as a whole (because it might not, no one can predict these things).

But of course this is all just a personal opinion and highly subjective.

Re: I'm Leaving Mojang

#288

Post by georgemcbay »

drzaiusapelord wrote: post #69
Nickoladze wrote: post #12

Basically "I was successful once, it was awful". Sometimes I wish he would have just stuck with Minecraft as the only developer and stayed away from the spotlight. Plenty of very popular game creators have done so (Icefrog, Toady One). I really enjoyed the times back when Minecraft was just getting popular and you could tell Notch was adding features that he genuinely enjoyed (Redstone update, for instance). Then he…

>Basically "I was successful once, it was awful". This seems to be a theme. The guy who had the frontpage the other day, flappy bird, etc. Must be nice to have the cash entitlements to "keep it real." I can't blame him, I think money just becomes arbitrary numbers after a certain point. Minecraft has probably grown to a point where its just only going to get smaller in the future and in a few years be a fun little no…

I don't know that I'd lump Carmack in with the rest of your list. Yes, he is quite financially successful from id, but he never stopped being, first and foremost, a coder who will sometimes just disappear for a few weeks to separate himself from the world and get coding done.

I wouldn't list Jobs either for almost the opposite reason in that while he had a huge impact on the tech industry, he was always a "suit" (even if he didn't wear one).

Re: I'm Leaving Mojang

#289

Post by jokoon »

tacotime wrote: post #283
jokoon wrote: post #222

He sounds depressed and frustrated. All I see is bad emotions in all that. With all the money he has, he could at least try to share or expand his passion in some way. It's true that he's lucky, you sense the modesty, that he doesn't want to be perceived as talented. But even if that's true, he could at least try a little bit more. I mean he seems content with his work, but if I had such fame, at least I'd try to use…

"...and share his vision of gaming." I think you may be ascribing meaning to a man with no such vision. He says he just wants to have fun and tinker, not change the world and I think that probably sums up his sentiments pretty well. I myself would love to change the world, I don't think you'd ever hear me speak those words. If you're a like-minded individual then I think it can be hard to put yourself in those shoes.…

> He says he just wants to have fun and tinker

Then why no try to promote tinkering ? A game company dedicated to game development in a way he deems fit ?

> Some people actually are just happy doing what they enjoy.

There's always some small thing you wish you could be able to make, some quirky, imaginary idea you want to achieve. When you see what's on the market, you know and wish you could just do better. This kind of mindset enables you to feed your tinkering enjoyment. I mean you don't just spend time programming, your sense of creative smell makes you think about projects.

With the fame and money he has, he might be able to hire people and develop those projects, and if he can't, maybe he could try to make a game company or structure that helps other small developers work on their own ideas and concepts.

Something to counter the corporate, uncreative way AAA games are made.

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