
Minecraft creator Notch shares the darker side of life after a big exit - us0r
http://thenextweb.com/insider/2015/08/29/minecraft-creator-notch-shares-the-darker-side-of-life-after-a-big-exit/
======
josscrowcroft
When Open Exchange Rates [0] began making decent returns - not a $2.5billion
exit trajectory by any means, but certainly enough to set me apart from my
peers - I felt I was on the path to something great. I thought something like
"Now that I don't need to trade my time for money, I'll be [popular, happy,
fulfilled, 'enough']... and I'll grow automatically."

I awoke years later (thankfully only two) to find that I had none of what it
would take to be happy, or to grow as a man, and a seeming eternity of free
time stretching out before me to enjoy my comfortable isolation.

I only had to taste the false freedom of wealth - really just an appetiser -
to know that no amount of resources would fulfil me if I could not meet basic
emotional needs, go through pain and challenge, be vulnerable, build
relationships, and self-nurture. God forbid I ever come into the kind of money
he has - but if I do, I pray I would have the courage to start from scratch to
build the life that nourishes my spirit.

I think many will take a high position, point a finger at this man, and feel
good about themselves. It's easy to look at him and say "High value problems,"
and "He has nothing to complain about," or even "He should be X/do Y...", etc.
The real tragedy for me is that his issue can be so socially unacceptable.

I rate him for being open and vulnerable about this part of the journey and
hope he finds the peace he deserves.

[0] [https://openexchangerates.org](https://openexchangerates.org)

------
elixerprog9
From his feed:

"like three people thanked me for the two million kronor after tax bonus i
gave from my own private money. Others said I was cheap."

Per Google, the exchange rate for Swedish Kronor to US Dollars is 0.12, so
2,000,000 Kronor works out to $240,000, which while certainly a nice and
possibly even life-changing bonus is hardly enough to retire on in Sweden
given the cost of living.

Considering the company sold for more than $2.5 billion and Mojang had so few
employees, Notch could have easily made all of them millionaires while still
walking away himself a billionaire. In fact, probably the only reason they
didn't all end up rich is because Notch never gave any of his employees any
equity in the company whatsoever.

Honestly, "cheap" isn't a completely inaccurate description of his conduct
here. But it was his company, and now it's his money, and he can do as he
pleases with it, but publicly complainig that his former employees aren't
especially grateful to him, despite his relative stinginess (no stock options
at all?), is silly.

~~~
rcraft
I thought the consensus on HN was that developers would much rather collect
competitive salaries instead of options.

This comment from earlier this week comes to mind
([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10132343](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10132343)):

"Most people will negotiate for more salary because they understand that
options will just fuck them over. Money won't."

No surprise, I guess people want it both ways. Competitive salary AND lots of
options.

~~~
dustingetz
you've missed some nuance. Options at a startup-of-the-day are not valued.
Options at companies that are clearly valuable are highly desirable.

~~~
landryraccoon
This never made sense to me. The bigger the company, the less valuable the
options or stock are (because the value is known - you might as well take an
equivalent amount of cash, because the upside is capped). On the other hand,
at a tiny company where the options are worthless, you can get way more
options more easily. You can actually negotiate for points of the total
ownership of the company. Can you ask for 0.01% of Google if you interview
there?

If you don't want risk, why would you work at a startup? If you aren't betting
on a big exit, why wouldn't you just work at a company like Google or Facebook
where your total (guaranteed, risk free) compensation would be far greater?

At my last startup I negotiated for a lower salary and as much equity as I
could get, and I asked for more equity with every promotion. Those were the
best decisions I ever made. I want to work at a startup because I want more
risk, not less.

------
bhouston
It is too bad he didn't figure out a way to settle down. Once you have a
family and out of the party scene, things are much more normal. You have a
routine and good priorities and a plan for the future. I think unlimited money
combined with being in the high intensity and fairly superficial rich person's
party circuit is likely not something that leads to fulfillment.

I know a bunch of fairly well off people and those with prioritized family
lives seem to be the ones who are dealing with it the best.

~~~
FreeHugs
I find the idea of a "family life" nothing but boring.

~~~
irln
When you're young you might feel the tedium of taking care of a
kiddo...drudgery of the daily regime. But as you get older you realize that
the effort or lack thereof you put into those tasks can give life great
meaning or be your biggest regret.

~~~
icebraining
It's a nice theory, but the concept of "men overworking to avoid going home"
didn't become a trope by chance. Not everyone feels the meaning given by those
tasks.

~~~
dvirsky
There should be a balance I suppose. I'm sorry but playing pretend-grocery-
store with my 3yo girl can't compete with the challenge and satisfaction of
cracking a really hard algorithm or a similar problem. But having a family in
general gives life way more meaning than creating some app or website.

~~~
irln
Please don't take this the wrong way and this is just one man's opinion. When
that 3 year old girl is older and naturally becomes independent and moves on
from you to the next steps in her life, that pretend grocery store experience
will be orders of magnitude more meaningful to you than solving ANY hard
algorithm. Not judging, not preaching, just giving you thoughts based upon
experience.

~~~
dvirsky
I don't think I disagree with that, I'm just saying that being with my
children is not always fun or interesting. Louis CK has some excellent bits
about this stuff.

~~~
irln
Louis CK has pretty amazing insight...I'll check it out.

------
coldcode
An infinite amount of money will not change anyone for the better. What you
were before remains, you just have more money. If you cared deeply for things
before you were rich you will still care afterwards, if you had nothing to
care about before you won't suddenly care unless you have someone to kick you
in ass. Notch has no one but himself.

Bill Gates didn't suddenly become a philanthropist after all his money, he
married a woman who did care deeply about things enough to change her
husband's direction.

Steve Jobs gained and lost enormous money but remained passionate about making
better products no matter what. You might not like him but he remained the
same throughout other than maybe getting a little more trusting and less
crazy.

~~~
rootlocus
You would think that with an infinite amount of money, you could pursue
whatever lifestyle you desire. One could easily buy land and housing anywhere
on earth, and surround himself with whatever people he wishes. I can't even
imagine the endless possibilities. The choice of a $70mil mansion and non-stop
parties is pretty narrow-sighted. Lucky for him he still has a fortune to try
again.

~~~
mikekchar
Many people (probably almost everyone who will read this post) have enough
money to eat just about any kind of food they want for dinner tonight. Imagine
the endless possibilities! You can go to a market and discover a whole new
world. The internet can teach you how to bring it to your own house. For a
little bit more, you could go to a fancy restaurant. For a one time treat,
most here could easily afford to eat dinner prepared by a famous chef.

Despite this, how many will choose fast food tonight?

Fast food, sit-coms on TV, no exercise, same boring commute every day, same
conversations with the same people every day. All of these things are well
within our control. Do we lack imagination, or something else? Even without
his fortune, we can all share in his misfortune ;-)

P.S. My boss once told me about someone who would buy anyone a hamburger in
exchange for a good story. Not really, that expensive IMHO (cheaper than a
movie!).

~~~
rootlocus
You made me feel just as narrow sighted, but on a smaller scale (sincere
thanks for the insight). However, there are still lots of people who don't eat
fast food for dinner. And for that, they are healthier and better looking.
Would you feel sorry for the guy complaining that he's fat and ugly whilst
chewing on a burger? Aren't our own decisions responsible for who we are? I
still don't think he deserves to be pitied.

~~~
mikekchar
Personally, I think you are right. I don't think he deserves pity. Having said
that, I have suffered greatly in my life by my own hand (without really
knowing it was me who was inflicting the pain). As stupid as it is, I don't
think anyone deserves that suffering either. I hope he figures it out
eventually.

------
codingdave
I don't think negativity and an attitude of superiority is universal after
getting a big exit. I have know a few people who have done very well for
themselves, and while they do develop caution when discussing money or
business, in general they have had improved outlooks on life, and become
friendlier people, spending more time following their personal interests and
passions.

So for Notch, I hope this is just a cherry picked selection of tweets to make
a point, because if that is how he is truly feeling most of the time, he needs
therapy.... or maybe just a hobby.

~~~
ivraatiems
These are a string of very recent tweets all sent in a row. Definitely not
cherry-picked. Sorry :(

~~~
tw04
That doesn't make them not cherry picked. If there's two years of down-to-
earth tweets, and then this, they're cherry picked.

------
bazillion
I'm not sure if you guys are familiar with how Notch left Mojang, but he
basically went home like it was completely normal and didn't say good bye to
the people he'd been working with on Minecraft[1].

That's what you have to understand when you're reading these tweets: this is
not a normal individual that understands typical human behavior. He has always
had trouble connecting to people, and no surprise, money doesn't fix that.
Remove everything else, he'd be an awesome guy to hang out with and talk about
video games, but he wouldn't really know how to have a conversation around the
typical personalities of this forum, since he isn't an entrepreneur by nature.
For most of us, all we ever really talk about when meeting other people are:
1) Our own businesses; 2) Their businesses; 3) How we/they/everyone should
start a business -- we get absolutely pumped about these topics. That's how
this guy is with video games, and it makes it difficult to connect to the
people who he's supposed to hang out with due to the social standing his money
has given him. Why? Because the people who have made that much money almost
always come from the entrepreneurial mindset, since a business is what usually
took them there (or a business on top of their fame).

So, I hope Notch will somehow develop an understanding of the world that
allows him to become immune to what others think he ought to be and what he
ought to do, and instead he just becomes like Wozniak and becomes content with
himself. It definitely won't happen if he continues to use social media as an
outlet, instead of making real human connections that aren't focused on
partying and spending his money. I don't imagine him getting there, though,
since it seems like he isn't growing the fortitude required to handle the
responsibility of the wealth he's developed. It's always painful for me to see
people unable or unwilling to help themselves, and in that regard this shows
that a billionaire can be in the same emotional place as a person living on
the street.

[1] [http://www.inquisitr.com/1589883/minecraft-officially-
owned-...](http://www.inquisitr.com/1589883/minecraft-officially-owned-by-
microsoft-notch-has-left-the-building/)

------
aw3c2
I was hoping for some long article or interview, not a couple of embedded
tweets.

~~~
omonra
I'm actually pretty grateful to the editor who compiled them.

I don't care for Twitter and would have no way of reading this story
otherwise.

------
myth_buster
I think the main reason behind this is a lack of purpose.

The transition period between completion of a long time project and the
beginning of your next will leave everyone vulnerable.

Once he finds the purpose and focus, all these would not matter.

~~~
nathan_f77
Also probably the lack of a significant other or close friends to share your
experiences with. I knew that feeling, and it doesn't matter how much money or
purpose you have.

------
tetraodonpuffer
Money is just a force multiplier, I am not sure why there should be a "darker
side of life" after a big exit, as long as you realize that one is happiest
when working, having lots of money will enable one to work as much as they
want on what they find important without having to have a job.

With a large amount of money one can focus fully on what one really wants to
achieve in life, you can "buy time" by hiring others to work with you, you can
"buy life" by setting yourself up in a very low stress environment with
quality food and help with your physical needs.

It doesn't take much to figure out that a life spent partying is empty and
unfulfilling, the difference between not having a lot of money and having it
is that after figuring this out in one case one has to go back to their job,
while in the other one can step back and work on something meaningful (to
them) without concerning themselves about how to make rent or buy food while
they do so.

Maybe though having a big exit / lots of money is easier if one is
tendentially an introvert, for me when I read things like "how do I know if
all these people around me want to be friends with me or my money" the first
thing I think of is "why would I want a lot of people around me, it would just
take time away from working towards my goals"

Also unless somebody is a Hollywood star it should be feasible to be anonymous
enough to meet people and get to know them without them realizing you are
worth gobs of money, just get a modest house somewhere not under your own name
and volunteer at some local charities for a while, which is a lot more
fulfilling than the party circuit anyways.

This said good luck to Notch and others in his situation in figuring things
out, the more people we have working towards making the world a better place,
the better it is for everybody.

------
Dwolb
I get that it's isolating, hard to trust people, and difficult to find tasks
rewarding when you can have everything you've ever wanted ...but it can't be
all that bad because this problem can be self-remedied.

Theoretically Notch could bring himself out of the stratosphere by removing
enough money from his account that he can be perceptibly normal. e.g. donate
most of his fortune and leaving himself only enough to qualify as 'FU money'

~~~
byuu
Exactly. I can't feel bad for people complaining about having too much money,
when it's such a simple problem to solve if you really mean it. And there are
so many people who _really_ need that money, too.

Even at my meager $70k income, I've gotten some sense that after a certain
point, money's not going to greatly increase my quality of life. And if I had
billions, I wouldn't give the money all away either, but at least I wouldn't
complain about what a burden it was, living in my $70 million Beverly Hills
mansion. That empathy has to go both ways, and those words are really grating
to the truly less fortunate in life who can't even put food on the table
reliably.

~~~
nathan_f77
I was just looking at that $70 million mansion, and comparing it with my $25
hotel room in Thailand. The bathroom here is super modern, and the shower is
amazing. Have just spent the last few hours rewatching The Office with my
wife. Stuff like that doesn't depend on how much money you have. You can be
lonely with billions of dollars, and you certainly have the right to complain
about it.

I don't really know if I would be any happier with 17 bathrooms and a home
cinema with seating for 30 people. Especially not if you're constantly second
guessing your friends' motives when they come over to watch movies.

Yeah, I think I'd probably settle for a $4 million house in a great location.
You know, nothing too fancy. Oh, and a jacuzzi way up high with a view of the
mountains and the ocean.

~~~
byuu
> You can be lonely with billions of dollars, and you certainly have the right
> to complain about it.

Oh, certainly. That's possible, and one is allowed to complain. It's just that
it's in bad taste to frame it that way. It'd be like going up to a person in a
wheelchair and saying, "man, it sure is _exhausting_ having to walk
everywhere! You really aren't missing anything, I'm telling you."

------
ohyes
Is this really the money or is it the relative fame and lack of anything to do
with his time?

It seemed like he was genuinely happy creating games. Why can't he go back to
that rather than being a celebrity? I could imagine him fading from the
spotlight and becoming a private person within a couple of years.

~~~
adventured
Based on one of his recent tweets, he hasn't developed the ability to deal
with assholes or similar. Even with $1.5 billion he finds it difficult to deal
with them, and that kind of wealth and power confers every advantage over
99.9-% of assholes on the planet one could ever ask for.

I'd guess there's a much deeper issue at play. Crippling social anxiety, an
overly extreme need to be liked, etc. Then combined with his semi-fame, he's
finding it difficult to create again, out of fear of rejection / mockery /
jerks. The solution is to stop caring so much about what other people think
(it's how people like John Carmack survive it), getting to that point appears
to be his challenge.

~~~
travislm
It all comes down to crippling autism coupled with narcissism.

------
thorn
Huh. My sympathies to Notch. And my disrespect to this kind of news.

------
thewarrior
By sheer coincidence , I just finished a watching an Oscar nominated short
film called MORE which exactly parallels Notch's situation.

It's saddening and quite moving.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCeeTfsm8bk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCeeTfsm8bk)

I think both Notch's feelings of isolation and ennui and the resentment of
those around him are both valid. One doesn't preclude the other , in fact they
feed into each other.

------
cies
Good luck Notch! If you want to get yr normal life back, then just donate all
to charity (Watsi?)... Choice is yours. :)

------
highercenter
When he sold it for 2.5 I felt really sorry for him, this was so much to be
expected. It is very hard to be happy and live a fruitful live with such
amounts of money. Most people do not understand this, they find out once they
have it. I wish you all the best notch.

------
xornor
If the burden is unbearable a solution is easy - he can just give everything
away. Usually problems of life are not that easy to solve. This was very
childish for Notch.

~~~
humanrebar
Would that even work? Who do you give it to? How to you prevent resentment
from those who thought they deserved more of the money?

~~~
adventured
You can't prevent resentment, that's up to other people. Whether it's over a
billion dollars, or a raise, or a new car, or anything else. The key in most
cases is to stop caring so much about what other people think (assuming you're
not being an overt jerk to spur the resentment). How highly you value
someone's opinion should roughly match how much you value them as part of your
life in general; any misalignment of that, will usually cause suffering.

You give it to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Within reason you could
pick a specific project that interests you (education in Sweden, or a specific
disease, or clean water in Africa), and they would go after it on your money's
behalf. They have the scale and systems in place to do that with large
donations.

------
Squarel
I always think that being rich and/or famous must make life a PITA.

Sure, you have money to do whatever you want, but, those friends you have? You
sure they are your friends, and not the friends of your wallet?

Those people you trust, you sure you still trust them not to make a quick buck
from selling stories about you?

Want to head out while looking like crap? Sure you want those photos posted
all over the media with the accompanying headlines about how you have let
yourself go?

There is a saying about how the best way to enjoy a sunrise is by sharing it
with someone....no amount of money can make that happen.

~~~
JewGoldKyle
If i were looking at this question for my life, I would say I only have a
handful of friends anyways. It wouldn't matter to me if they made a quick buck
telling stories about me, as long as they weren't lies. Don't care about what
people think of how I dress. Even the shit-o'clock hour of the morning after a
run.

Meh.

------
PhasmaFelis
Yeah, this is kind of depressing. He had struck me as such a down-to-earth
guy, before. There was a good few years when he was still living in the same
house and working his old dev job part-time, because he wanted to keep in
touch with things instead of just being a zillionaire.

Apparently the appeal faded, and now he's decided, hey, why not act like a
zillionaire? And he's discovered that it makes him miserable, but it hasn't
yet occurred to him that he doesn't _have_ to act like a zillionaire.

------
dang
The Schadenfreude in this thread is shameful. Using someone else's pain as
fodder for meanness merely reveals something nasty in oneself.

Fortunately we have empathetic commenters here as well.

------
yarou
The things you own end up owning you.

~~~
mhartl
But what if Notch _is_ his fucking khakis?

------
alain94040
Sidenote: the madness of tweetstorms (and how the press covers them) must end.
I believe a simple tweet: "I hereby grant an irrevocable worldwide license to
all my Twitter posts to all" will fix the problem once and for all.

[0] [https://medium.com/@colunchers/quotable-
tweetstorms-87770df8...](https://medium.com/@colunchers/quotable-
tweetstorms-87770df8fdf4)

------
alexvr
I hope he gets out of this rut and finds a way to be happy and do more good
things. It's a little painful to watch a smart guy with billions spend his
time making gimmicky video games and partying and being generally unhappy.

~~~
ja27
I'm been worried about him since long before the Microsoft sale. I hope he
gets some real help.

------
dpeterson
"As a liberal commie hypocrite I WILL NOT give my money away; yet I still want
to be a victim. I thrive on it as liberals and commies are wont to do.

~~~
washadjeffmad
Hello, Citizen! Friend Computer wishes you to know that sarcasm is treason.
Treason is punishable by death.

------
ablation
Geez. What an terrible article.

------
bshimmin
Perhaps he needs to meet up with Warren Buffett and Bill Gates for a nice
lunch over which they can explain to him how to do good, mature things with
his staggering wealth, rather than behaving like a baby.

~~~
striking
Money is not happiness. You would do well to understand that we are all human.

And I assume that's what he's trying to do, is find a mature way to spend his
money. In a way that makes the world better.

~~~
PhasmaFelis
> _Money is not happiness. You would do well to understand that we are all
> human._

I thought that was bshimmin's point. Notch thought that Microsoft money would
make him happy, and he hasn't yet figured out how to deal with the fact that
it doesn't.

~~~
striking
As far as I can tell, everyone around him was pushing him to sell, because
Minecraft's maintenance is a burden and because he could be set for the rest
of his life.

I don't think for a second he needed more money than he already had, or that
he thought this would make him happier. And he and ez broke up even before he
sold Minecraft anyway, he was never really happy.

> _bshimmin 's point_

I thought he was being a little mean about it. Just my opinion.

~~~
bshimmin
I'll concede my final clause absolutely was a bit mean.

In my defence, the tweet about the "great girl" who was afraid of his
lifestyle rather annoyed me, but I do understand that money doesn't make for
happiness - often quite the opposite - and that it can be hard to form new and
trusting relationships when you have a lot in the bank.

------
rootlocus
I'm having a hard time feeling sorry for the guy. He thought his success was a
testament to his engineering greatness, acting like he was John Carmack. Money
doesn't buy character, decency or real friends. Notch is feeling the sting of
his arrogance? He doesn't have my sympathy.

~~~
j-pb
He was just really lucky. He stole most of the ideas from older games, and
repackaged them in a horrible turd of a codebase, acting like he invented
programming.

That guy build a folder tree in the filesystem because of "performance", which
means he put a trie on a b-tree because he didn't know about the latter.

Also so much for "I'm going to open source this, once I'm rich and famous".

------
cryoshon
Honestly, I expect the rich to just buy a damn therapist rather than complain
to the rest of us. They have enough money to pay someone to care, but they yap
to us and expect it for free.

~~~
charlesdm
Just because one is wealthy does not mean that all your problems will suddenly
go away. Yes, you won't end up on the street because you can't pay your rent,
but it does create a ton of new problems that can lead to isolation.

A few that come to mind, that I've noticed with wealthy friends:

1\. Time. You'll probably have plenty. You're free. What do you do all day
when your old friends are working? That probably means making new friends. But
it can also lead to disconnects with old friends. Most people don't
understand.

2\. Ulterior motives of people. Imagine you meet a person - any person. Most
relatively wealthy people will assume this person wants something from them.
Guess what, people DO usually want something from them. This can lead to
problems bonding and/or having relationships.

3\. Investing and taxes: what if I invest badly and lose all my capital? Ok,
so you invest in a property in Spain and a few years later sell it. You pay $x
tax. For some silly reason the authorities don't agree, and want to levy
additional tax x2. On top of that, your tax lawyer isn't great, and you need
to go find a new one. It'll drag on for years, going through the courts.

etc etc

Many people would say, cry me a river. Obviously it's better to be wealthy
than to be poor, but it's not all it's made out to be. No therapist is going
to fix that.

Problems are problems, and I personally respect that everyone has their own
set of issues in life. Wealth can be a burden.

~~~
jfoster
Am I naive, or are these problems a degree easier to solve than problems of
people who are not wealthy?

Problem 1: Use your new-found time to work on projects. These could be new
companies that grow your wealth, endeavours that seek to create a change that
you care about, or doing things to help people that you care about. There are
other alternatives, too. Joining investment groups. Taking holidays.
Consulting.

Problem 2: For chance meetings, I can see how this is a problem, but if you
primarily meet new people through existing social circles, that might mitigate
this effect a bit. I don't have this problem, but I have noticed that I've
made lots of great friends through existing friends.

Problem 3: Could you not hire someone (or a company) to manage this sort of
thing? I realize plenty of oversight would still be prudent, but it should
alleviate the stress of it somewhat. Diversity in investments should mitigate
the risk of losing everything. Limiting investments to areas that are well
understood might also be a good idea for avoiding tax surprises.

I agree that wealthy people will definitely still have life problems, but I'm
still not convinced it has to be these ones. Forms of social isolation (eg.
imbalance that notch mentioned) seem much more plausible and nowhere near as
easily remedied.

~~~
pikeymick
I think it's hard for those without these problems to truly understand the
weight of getting out from underneath them. For example from the outside it's
easy to say how someone who is poor could do something to lift themselves out
of that state, but this wouldn't account for all the things working against
someone who is poor.

Naive might be a strong word for it, but it's always easy to say someone
else's problems are good problems to have, or they have it easier, but as long
as we're putting them on a spectrum and assigning value to their experience,
we're not accounting for the struggle itself. It's not the value of the
struggle that matters, it's that we all have struggles, and being able to find
support for when we are struggling makes a HUGE quality of life difference.

So many people in today's world want to deny others this experience, "you
don't/didn't have it that hard, what are you complaining about. Man Up. Stop
being a pussy... You're rich, what's the problem..." etc

~~~
cryoshon
Not all struggles are created equal. Some struggles (like Notch's) are
actually problems that people wish they could have.

He doesn't have it hard, he's just not creative enough to enjoy his new life.
I guess it's unfortunate he feels so awful, but if he can't find something fun
and fulfilling to do while sitting on a pile of money, he has absolutely no
right to complain-- an entire world is sitting out there, waiting for him to
engage with.

