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I'm Leaving Mojang

notch.net

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Re: I'm Leaving Mojang

#341

Post by CamperBob2 »

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 just hope he didn't make a mistake by posting what he did, when he did. Rest assured there are clauses in the purchase agreement that cover anything that might lower the value of the business... such as announcing that you're jumping ship before the ink is dry.

If nothing else, he's got to be leaving an astonishing amount of cash behind. These agreements always come with long vesting periods ("golden handcuffs").

Re: I'm Leaving Mojang

#342

Post by eyeareque »

scottjad wrote: post #86

The other day there was a post about some Doom map viewer Notch had written in Dart. One of the top comments said something along the lines of "This is why we all need to be rich, so we can work on stuff like this." I thought the comment was so sad because honestly, almost no one is going to benefit from a mostly broken Doom map viewer in Dart that's abandoned after a few days. Same with the numerous games he's start…

> So sad. Imagine if Jobs/the PayPal guys/etc had taken this approach after their initial succcess.

I for one would be happy if paypal didn't exist. However, I like Musk's other companies.

Re: I'm Leaving Mojang

#343

Post by egypturnash »

mikeash wrote: post #327
reledi wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What exactly makes you think he's not talented? Because I on the other hand think he's extremely talented. That's the opinion I have based on occasionally watching his streams and reading his writings, not even considering the huge success that Minecraft is.

The fact that he hasn't followed up Minecraft with anything noteworthy despite having plenty of time and way more than enough money, and apparently wanting to build something new and successful with 0x10c.

As a creator, I don't envy Notch. Imagine having the question "will this be another Minecraft?" in the back of your head EVERY TIME you sit down to try and make something. It's the same fear that comes after even a modest Big Success; will my next book beat the big one? Will my next album? It's easy to fall into a hole of just cranking out more of the same - my friend Ursula Vernon, for instance, is on something like her fourteenth book on her successful "Dragonbreath" series of illustrated kids' novels. Or look at how harshly J.K. Rowling's post-Harry Potter books have fared.

You can't always catch lightning in a bottle again. And I don't envy having that hanging over the heads of oh who am I kidding I would totally love to be in the position of potentially disappointing thousands of fans when my next comic doesn't appeal to as many people as my most successful one did.

Re: I'm Leaving Mojang

#344

Post by norswap »

nightski wrote: post #210
scottjad wrote: post #86

The other day there was a post about some Doom map viewer Notch had written in Dart. One of the top comments said something along the lines of "This is why we all need to be rich, so we can work on stuff like this." I thought the comment was so sad because honestly, almost no one is going to benefit from a mostly broken Doom map viewer in Dart that's abandoned after a few days. Same with the numerous games he's start…

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 think the op just suggests that it would be a pity if Notch killed something he did because it turned popular; not that he should strive to build something popular or benefiting humanity.

Re: I'm Leaving Mojang

#345

Post by norswap »

mikeash wrote: post #217
scottjad wrote: post #86

The other day there was a post about some Doom map viewer Notch had written in Dart. One of the top comments said something along the lines of "This is why we all need to be rich, so we can work on stuff like this." I thought the comment was so sad because honestly, almost no one is going to benefit from a mostly broken Doom map viewer in Dart that's abandoned after a few days. Same with the numerous games he's start…

I get the impression that Notch may not actually be all that talented. I mean, he's probably more so than the average Joe, but not super exceptionally talented. It seems like he got lucky, and was good enough to leverage his success into more success and was good enough of a businessman to profit handsomely from the whole thing, but that's about it. I understand that he hasn't done anything on Minecraft in quite a wh…

He is talented, at least insofar that he is a great programmer, and has a knack for gameplay mechanics. Just watch his streams or look at this game (even the ludumdare one, they may not be much, but they're slick).

I sure failed to deliver a follow-up to Minecraft, but that was never his goal. He just wants to tinker and have fun, which is also why most of his game projects just stay at the embryonic stage; it seems to burden him greatly to follow up on the ideas, when the initial glee of tinkering with a new idea has worn off.

Re: I'm Leaving Mojang

#346

Post by hyp0 »

I love Notch.

But since I don't know him, it's for what he represents; how he's handled success, knowing his values and acting on them.

Poor guy can't help being a symbol - a bit like Life of Brian

Re: I'm Leaving Mojang

#347

Post by balloot »

kaoD wrote: post #338
dasil003 wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, yes I do. The fact that you see his future plans as some kind of ironclad contract is precisely the problem. Minecraft did not explode because of these promises, it succeeded because of the reality on the ground as a fun game. Notch gave the world a fun game, you gave him a small purchase price in order to enjoy it, end of transaction. The fact that he published thoughts and future plans does indenture him as yo…

The repeated use of the verb "will" definitely tricked me into believing it was a verbal contract, not just fuzzy plans (and I still believe he meant it as a contract). I personally don't care, bought Minecraft, enjoyed it and moved along as I realized the modding system would never see the light... but I definitely understand why people feel disappointed.

A blog post is neither "verbal" nor a "contract", no matter how many times the word "will" is used.

Re: I'm Leaving Mojang

#348

Post by dragonwriter »

balloot wrote: post #347
kaoD wrote: post #338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The repeated use of the verb "will" definitely tricked me into believing it was a verbal contract, not just fuzzy plans (and I still believe he meant it as a contract). I personally don't care, bought Minecraft, enjoyed it and moved along as I realized the modding system would never see the light... but I definitely understand why people feel disappointed.

A blog post is neither "verbal" nor a "contract", no matter how many times the word "will" is used.

> A blog post is neither "verbal"

A blog post is -- if, as most are, it is composed of words -- verbal. Its not "oral", but those two don't mean the same thing.

Re: I'm Leaving Mojang

#349

Post by chris_mahan »

seanflyon wrote: post #339
chris_mahan wrote: post #325

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it available on Steam? Is Dune2 available on Steam?

Sadly neither one is available on Steam or GoG. Both can be found on abandon-ware sites.

Thanks (yesterday I found dune2 for android (not on GooglePlay though) and it works fine :)

Re: I'm Leaving Mojang

#350

Post by jacquesm »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #275
nkurz wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a good insight, but the repeated typo "paper-toilet" (incorrect, but interesting image) instead of "toilet-paper" (correct) made it difficult for me to understand on the first read. It's both here and in the post that links to this.

Thanks for pointing this out. I'm past the edit window, so I can't fix that :(. It must have come out from the fact that in my native tongue toilet paper is "papier toaletowy"; the same two things but in different order. Therefore my mind didn't spot it on re-reading. I'll be more careful in the future.

You got it right 50/50. Switching languages frequently is much harder than just knowing how to speak/write multiple languages.
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