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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

#51

Post by dcow »

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,…

Yeah, seriously. You didn't create Minecraft you wrote a poem that shows up in the credits. Notch wasn't your friend he found you through a recommendation on Twitter and contracted some content. 20k for something less intelligible than Kubla Khan seems pretty fair to me. Be happy your acid trip is preserved forever in one of the most successful games in history. And get over yourself.

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

#52

Post by HWR_14 »

nl wrote: post #4

This is a great (long!) piece. I think one important thing for people on HN here is this: > I think Carl, with his background as a Corporate Finance guy, seeing the world through that filter, must have believed that I was trying to blackmail them; trying to maximise my revenue, like the “rational agents” that populate economics textbooks; that I was refusing to sign it to hold up the deal, because I wanted to get pai…

Why do you think rational economic actors and non-monetary motivations could not coexist?

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

#53

Post by iforgotpassword »

dcow wrote: post #26
thomasz wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He got incredibly lonely, lost all his friend, and got ostracized over posting some alt right and Q shit on twitter.

In other words, he finally grew up and, instead of dealing it in his 20s, is dealing with it in his 30s. He'll come around.

He was almost 40 when he sold Minecraft.

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

#54

Post by darepublic »

dcow wrote: post #51
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,…

Yeah, seriously. You didn't create Minecraft you wrote a poem that shows up in the credits. Notch wasn't your friend he found you through a recommendation on Twitter and contracted some content. 20k for something less intelligible than Kubla Khan seems pretty fair to me. Be happy your acid trip is preserved forever in one of the most successful games in history. And get over yourself.

I feel you are being a bit too harsh but also had to laugh at the kubla khan and acid references

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

#55

Post by asperous »

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…

If he actually received $20,000 that still seems like a lot? Especially in a world where freelance writing is $0.01-$0.50 (pre-GPT3). And it sounds like at the time it was good money for the artist.

I get that he feels like he was given a small amount relative to the great success of Minecraft, but I would hope he also realizes that it was risk free cash.

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

#56

Post by sacrosancty »

antiterra wrote: post #37
dihydro wrote: post #2

The writer of the poem, or short story, when you beat the ender dragon in Minecraft, never signed the contract releasing his copyright on it. That means Microsoft doesn't actually own the ending to Minecraft.

Microsoft probably doesn’t own the ending to Minecraft, since my non-lawyer understanding is that assignment must be done a particular way unless it is done in very specific terms as a ‘work for hire.’ However, his acceptance of the money, things written in his emails, the poem itself or other behaviors, could possibly form a case that he implicitly assigned a transferable non-exclusive license to Mojang for it to be…

In some countries, commissioned work belongs to the buyer by default, even without an explicit agreement for payment and even if the buyer never pays anything. This can be a nasty surprise. Probably not applicable to him but with all those other factors, I hope he checked with a lawyer before declaring that he owns it!

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

#57

Post by bdn_ »

lostlogin wrote: post #11
pie_flavor wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like it's time to play it!

Making a server is surprisingly terrible for such a ‘mature’ game. However playing it with your kid is so excellent. Farming, fighting, building, raiding, landscaping, tunnelling, rowing, flying, whatever. Pick your path and it is great fun.

> Making a server is surprisingly terrible for such a ‘mature’ game.

The official Minecraft server software is exceptionally unoptimized, but a number of independent open source forks exist, some of which can substantially improve performance. Unless you're talking about maintaining the community aspect, which is definitely not so easy... :)

For anyone getting into Minecraft for the first time, be sure to check out the mod Optifine [1]. A substantial portion of the Minecraft community uses it for its UI and performance improvements to the base game. It also allows the use of custom shaders [2], which totally change the feel of the game by adding realistic effects like long shadows, wavy water, and swaying plants. I personally stick with the base game's appearance, but shaders can be really fun for exploring caves and other places with unique lighting.

[1]: https://optifine.net/home [2]: https://www.pcgamer.com/best-minecraft-shaders/

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

#58

Post by rippercushions »

krisoft wrote: post #44
jesterman wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There definitely was, as they mentioned in the article. They choose not to though, opting instead to just sit on it for a long time I guess? Hopefully they talked to a lawyer before releasing this though, and hopefully Microsoft doesn’t go after this guy.

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

It would not be too hard for Microsoft to argue that they did come to an agreement with the artist to transfer the rights in exchange for 20,000 euros, so they do now own the copyright to the End Poem and will sue for damages if the artist reneges on the deal and starts claiming it's public domain.

I hope they don't, but they definitely could. It would be a PR nightmare though, and there's not all much to be gained either (how much money can you make with the poem if you can't mention Minecraft?), so with any luck that will stop them.

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

#59

Post by DangitBobby »

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…

He made it pretty clear that he didn't have any money (and thus no legal access).

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

#60

Post by dcow »

whatshisface wrote: post #48
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,…

How can you call asking for nothing entitlement?

It's the attitude espoused in the writing. The outcome was literally his way of not letting his own frustration consume him and only available to him after doing heavy doses of psychedelics. I'm glad he was able to let go because his attitude of being entitled to something when he was, in fact, not, is what has been causing him all the pain.
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