
I'm Leaving Mojang - UnfalseDesign
http://notch.net/2014/09/im-leaving-mojang/
======
krelian
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 was only a Wozniak but no Jobs.

I'm sure there are many here that dream of having their idea be a huge success
but aren't really interested in becoming the next Bill Gates or Zuckerberg.
They just want to cash out so that they can have their financial freedom and
then go out of the limelight and back to doing the same things they enjoy but
without having to constantly worry about job security and putting food on the
table. Notch achieved this in the most spectacular way possible and I think he
handled it perfectly.

~~~
tst
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.

~~~
snlacks
It's unfortunate that all our greed and crazy fandom keep scaring the great
minds away from continuing to push us all forward.

~~~
paulhauggis
I think it's less the greed and crazy fandom and more a new generation of
people that feel they are entitled to everything and anything they want and if
they don't get it, start an online witch hunt.

There are numerous examples of this in the past 6 months and in Notch's case,
it happened with EULA and 3rd party server support.

A community that supports this sort of behavior wouldn't have my support
either. I don't blame him.

~~~
scott_karana
> a new generation of people that feel they are entitled to everything and
> anything they want and if they don't get it, start an online witch hunt

Is it really fair to characterize this of a specific generation?

> “Our youth now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority;
> they show disrespect for their elders and love chatter in place of exercise;
> they no longer rise when elders enter the room; they contradict their
> parents, chatter before company; gobble up their food and tyrannize their
> teachers.” — Socrates

------
jere
>As soon as this deal is finalized, I will leave Mojang and go back to doing
Ludum Dares and small web experiments.

It has always amazed me how down to earth Notch is. Now, he's going to be a
billionaire doing little game jams. It's hard to believe and quite awesome.
It's like Bruce Wayne deciding to spend the rest of his life playing with
legos.

~~~
aeturnum
>It's like Bruce Wayne deciding to spend the rest of his life playing with
legos.

I like this image. Bruce Wayne's character in batman is always thinking big.
He tries to push things in the direction he thinks is right. The idea that
someone would have all the power and decide to play with toys makes me worry
about the rest of us. I would like to see people like Notch (creative,
thoughtful people) having a say in what the future holds. However, it seems
inevitable that after a certain point, you have to choose between living the
life you want or ceeding at least some of your time to the whims of the masses
of the public.

Someone else mentioned Jobs and Wozniak - Notch feels like Wozniak and Mojang
has no Jobs. How can we keep the Wozniaks and Notchs of the world involved in
making decisions in a way that keeps them happy? We don't want to have to
choose between scale and creativity.

~~~
cperciva
_Bruce Wayne 's character in batman is always thinking big. He tries to push
things in the direction he thinks is right._

No, Bruce Wayne is incredibly myopic. If you have billions of dollars and you
want to fight crime, the last thing you should be doing is developing fancy
equipment so that you can personally go after criminals one by one. If Bruce
Wayne truly wanted to use his money to reduce crime, he would be donating it
to preschools and after-school sports programs.

~~~
jrochkind1
Getting off-topic of course, but the key insight here is that Bruce Wayne does
NOT really want to 'reduce crime'.

Instead, he wants to take revenge on criminals, like the criminals who killed
his parents. 'reduce crime' isn't the same as 'fight crime', he requires the
FIGHT part, and the revenge part.

Yeah, that makes him somewhat less sympathetic, but isn't that what everyone
likes about batman these days, the darkness?

~~~
magicalist
Yep. See Watchmen (the book, not the movie) for an extended look into what
kind of batshit people would ever want to be a "superhero".

------
jacquesm
> I don’t see myself as a real game developer. I make games because it’s fun,
> and because I love games and I love to program, but I don’t make games with
> the intention of them becoming huge hits, and I don’t try to change the
> world.

I think that's the _essence_ of being a real game developer.

It's sad that Notch feels this way, I think the majority of old school games
guys and girls were just like that.

Since it's become a big business with huge studios and ridiculous budgets the
market has been spoiled. But Notch/Mojang and team have shown that there is
still a place for great indie games and bootstrappers.

And I actually believe him that this deal is not about the money. Projects
like these can become albatrosses.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
Preposterous. If it wasn't about the money, could have gone open-source at any
time with the same effect/relief. Of course its about the $2B

~~~
iand
At any point he could have said "I have enough now" and lowered the price of
Minecraft to a sustaining level, or made it open source, or just stopped
developing it.

~~~
cwyers
I'm glad that you're so up-to-date on the terms of Notch's contracts with
Mojang that you can tell us with certainty that at any point he could have
altered that relationship and had the public stop associating him with
Minecraft's stewardship. It's good to have people in-the-know around.

------
scottjad
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 started (often with no idea where he's going) and
abandoned after a few hours/days. Don't get me wrong, I like watching his
coding stream as much as the next person, but compare that to the millions of
people who benefitted from the sustained and focused effort on Minecraft.

Notch says:

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

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

Now I'm all for people being free to do what they want and only this guy owns
his life and no one is entitled to have him work for them (hat tip Ayn Rand),
and obviously this guy has had a bigger impact on the world than I have, but I
tend to agree with Immanuel Kant (and Jesus) that we all have a duty to
develop and use our talents in a way that benefits humanity and not just
indulge ourselves in idle amusement once we're comfortable. And to be honest,
this probably applies more to me than to Notch.

From "Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals":

> A third finds in himself a talent which with the help of some culture might
> make him a useful man in many respects. But he finds himself in comfortable
> circumstances and prefers to indulge in pleasure rather than to take pains
> in enlarging and improving his happy natural capacities. He asks, however,
> whether his maxim of neglect of his natural gifts, besides agreeing with his
> inclination to indulgence, agrees also with what is called duty. He sees
> then that a system of nature could indeed subsist with such a universal law
> although men ... should let their talents rest and resolve to devote their
> lives merely to idleness, amusement, and propagation of their species- in a
> word, to enjoyment; but he cannot possibly will that this should be a
> universal law of nature, or be implanted in us as such by a natural
> instinct. For, as a rational being, he necessarily wills that his faculties
> be developed, since they serve him and have been given him, for all sorts of
> possible purposes.

~~~
nightski
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 impact millions of
lives around the world.

In my opinion the important part is that you are doing something meaningful to
you as an individual. If it ends up exploding and benefiting humanity all the
better. But the world would be so much better off if we just had everyone
doing this.

~~~
tempestn
> No one, not even Steve Jobs sits down and says "My life mission is to
> benefit humanity".

Musk might be considered a counter-example here. In fact, part of his mission
is literally to "make a better battery". Of course in depends on how much you
buy into his mythology. Certainly he could have comfortably retired after
Paypal though. (Rather than moving on to run _two_ groundbreaking companies -
something I'm not sure how one person manages to successfully do.)

~~~
nightski
I wasn't saying that I think no one should do things that benefit humanity.
Rather I was saying that you should only do what is meaningful to you as an
individual.

Musk clearly finds what he does meaningful to himself and is not doing
something he does not enjoy simply for the greater good of humanity.

Notch did not enjoy being part of something so large. I find it odd to
belittle him for choosing the path of doing small things, since that is where
something as impactful as Minecraft was created in the first place.

------
grellas
Why should someone self-immolate in the name of a cause to which he disclaims
being a leader when he has a chance to sell his for-profit business on optimal
terms with no strings and with an immediate ticket to full independence free
of the headaches of having to bear entrepreneurial and ideological burdens
that he felt himself unfit to carry?

The question answers itself. There is no earthly reason why he should have.
None whatever.

Of course, the price of being a cult figure is many who follow you do not
really care who you _are_ but care a great deal about who they _think_ you
are. If you are a vital symbol for the cause, then all that you do must
conform to the symbol or you become a betrayer, a hypocrite, or both. And that
is unforgivable.

And so we arrive at the world of caricature where symbols rule the day, even
at the expense of facts. Buck and kick all you want, there is no winning in
that world once you fail to conform.

That, I think, is the point of this piece. In effect, it says: "You have made
me larger than life. Well, I'm not. I am who I am and I love what I do. If you
have made me out to be something more, I can't help that. I am just like the
rest of you. No more and no less. If you want me to shape my life by what you
think, you will be disappointed. I will shape my own life regardless of your
expectations."

Who knows if this really is betrayal or hypocrisy? Usually the reality is much
more complex than the caricatures make it out to be but no one really knows
except those directly connected with the events.

As for me, I have no ideological axe to grind and can simply stand back and
say, as many people likely feel, "that is one helluva ride for one so young to
make."

------
petercooper
I think there are some interesting parallels with J K Rowling. If _he_
releases _anything_ now, it's big news (even _Cliffhorse_ ). He might have to
start "writing" under a pseudonym just to get any sense of doing something
fresh without intense public scrutiny.

~~~
bsenftner
"she", btw.

~~~
swanson
The 'he' refers in Notch in the above comment.

~~~
smcl
Apologies - me clicking on Chrome while it was hanging caused me to
inadvertently downvote you!

------
chubot
This may be a weird reference, but what comes to mind is John Frusciante
leaving Red Hot Chili Peppers at the height of their fame. He quit in the
middle of the tour after Blood Sugar Sex Magik, after they became unexpectedly
huge.

He just wanted to make music and play in small clubs. And he went back to
playing guitar by himself and making solo albums. (Also heroin use, but that's
a different story).

And he rejoined in '98 or so, had 3 huge hit records, and then left again a
few years ago. He made a few more solo albums and experimented with electronic
music.

Some people are not cut out for fame. The intrinsic joy of what they do is
even more powerful than fame.

~~~
erikb
I would say most people aren't cut out to get hate from millions of people for
stuff they didn't do, and that's basically what being public comes to.

------
willvarfar
For the interested, Notch didn't enter the current Ludum Dare but _thousands_
of mortal coders did, and they'd ___love_ __you to go play their games!

[http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/](http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/)

~~~
shurcooL
If only there was an OnLive-like roulette-like way going from one game to
another without download and install times, that'd be neat.

~~~
Udo
If you participated, the rating UI kind of works like that. You can just stick
to browser-based games (which is more than 50% of all entries).

------
debt
Kind of reminds me of something Richard Feynman said:

"Then I had another thought: Physics disgusts me a little bit now, but I used
to enjoy doing physics. Why did I enjoy it? I used to play with it. I used to
do whatever I felt like doing - it didn't have to do with whether it was
important for the development of nuclear physics, but whether it was
interesting and amusing for me to play with. When I was in high school, I'd
see water running out of a faucet growing narrower, and wonder if I could
figure out what determines that curve. I found it was rather easy to do. I
didn't have to do it; it wasn't important for the future of science; somebody
else had already done it. That didn't make any difference. I'd invent things
and play with things for my own entertainment."

I think we should take serious stock not only in what Notch is saying here but
also his overall success: if you get off making ephemeral photo-sharing apps
or a Salesforce clone then keep on trucking otherwise you should ask yourself
why you're doing it in the first place.

Are your little projects a ton of fun to work on? Notch makes an all around
good argument for pursuing your passion.

------
chernevik
This is why we can't have nice things.

I don't know much about Minecraft or whatever issue Notch is referring to in
his post. But I'm always struck by how quickly people snap to emotional
argument and response, without thinking about the other side of the question,
without thinking about how their response will be read or felt by others.

The first step in any dialogue is trying to understand why the other side has
said or done what they have, and how that might seem reasonable and right to
them. Without that, how do we have any hope of learning anything, or moving to
any actual agreement? And yet 98% of what I read presumes that any
disagreement must be ignorant, stupid or evil.

I understand many of the reasons why people talk this way, and yes, it's hard
to avoid it. But we now have more communication amongst ourselves than at any
other time in human history. Maybe it's time to start thinking hard about how
each of us can communicate better.

Wouldn't it be great if we could get to a community where some idiosyncratic
dude could write a monster hit without feeling himself battered for reasons he
can't understand?

~~~
watwut
The hate weeks ago was about money, basically. Part of EULA that disallowed
servers to earn money, but was often ignored. Mojang clarified that that part
of EULA is indeed meant as written.

People do not tend to be understanding when it comes to loosing money they
wanted/expected.

Moreover, I suspect that managing Minecraft is a lot about merchandize
selling, cons organization, making deals with lego and everyone else who want
to produce themed items and so on. Not necessary what you want to deal with if
you consider yourself gamemaker or programmer.

~~~
wtbob
Remember that the money was necessary in order to pay for the (really quite
expensive) servers which people play on. And that Mojang were changing the
culture as it has been, and as it has been successful.

It's sad to see the effect this has had on the servers I've played on. And it
was all so pointless: at the end of the day, who really cares if players who
chuck in $10/month get a free set of diamond armour or a house?

~~~
Lazare
Here's the problematic script:

Little Johnny finds a server that is selling diamond tools for $100 a pop. He
says something about how he doesn't know hoe to buy things online, and a nice
server admin walks him through "borrowing" his parents credit card and making
the purchase. His parents get the bill, hit the ceiling, google "Minecraft",
get a number for Mojang, call up, and start screaming at people to refund the
money.

It happens. Having a decentralized server system with unregulated "in app
purchases" and a very young fan base in a recipe for bad publicity, angry
parents, upset kids, and bad vibes all the way around.

~~~
wtbob
Parents should control their children, right? When I was a kid, I wouldn't
have dreamed of stealing my folks' credit card—and had I, that would have been
their fault for raising me poorly, and my fault for doing it, and the
criminals' fault for encouraging me to do it, not some random fourth party's
fault for not saying, 'don't do that.'

People should be sane. The right response to a lunatic who blames Mojang for
his child's actions is to hang up.

------
gamesurgeon
"I’m not an entrepreneur. I’m not a CEO. I’m a nerdy computer programmer who
likes to have opinions on Twitter...If I ever accidentally make something that
seems to gain traction, I’ll probably abandon it immediately."

I have the utmost respect for notch after reading that.

~~~
Tepix
I think it's sad to write something like that (abandoning something as soon as
it seems to gain traction). Isn't that what games are about? Writing great
games that a lot of people love to play and talk about? And in the case of
Minecraft, hack and mod in unimaginable ways?

~~~
gknoy
Perhaps the joy he derives comes not from the popularity or world-
changingness, but rather from the process of creation, or the problems that he
gets to solve in interesting ways.

I don't think he'll ever be at a loss for creativity. If he spends the rest of
his days streaming (or not streaming!) him coding random small games, or
tinkering on a renderer that is never used, I expect that he'll be happy and
feel fulfilled.

------
Nickoladze
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 started up a giant company and started assuming
responsibility for things like server admins charging money, when he should
have sat back and let people do what they want.

~~~
drzaiusapelord
>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 nostalgia piece
for the tweens today who will be in college, the same way we dusted off the
NES when I was in college.

Obviously, there's something about the nerdy personality that wants none of
this, but it really makes me wonder about guys like Gates or Carmack or
Zuckerberg or Jobs who thrive in these environments. Are they the rare ones or
are guys like Notch the outliers?

~~~
georgemcbay
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).

~~~
drzaiusapelord
Good point, but he always came off as a hard-ass to me who liked to get into
arguments and thrive on stress. I kinda see him as his own Jobs-Woz combo. I
may be misreading him.

~~~
georgemcbay
Yeah there's a lot of nuance there to be certain. Carmack is at least pretty
Randian/Objectivist from what I've seen of his public statements, which
deviates quite a bit from the traditional hippie left-leaning coder-type
(though of course there are great developers all across the political
spectrum).

------
adriancooney
Wow, Notch is a pretty amazing guy. It's clear he just loves to make games.
The post reminds me of Dong Nguyen/Flappy Bird situation. Let the man be.

~~~
andyhmltn
Now you mention it, it's actually really similar isn't it? I've been following
him since I originally bought my alpha version of minecraft and he's always
seemed to be the way he portray's himself in this article. A nice genuine guy
that just loves hacking away at things.

------
tosh
Looking forward to more Dart programming streams.

I think more and more people should stream like Notch does. It is incredibly
entertaining and educating to watch how people write code similar to how
people play games.

A great learning opportunity. Different format compared to prepared talks and
tutorials. I wish there was a list of people with programming streams that I
can just tune in.

------
jokoon
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
it and approach game companies to negotiate deals, and share his vision of
gaming.

Hasn't he ever tried to lead some team and get in touch with programmers he
likes to do something ? Can't individuals like him hire a manager to do the
job and project his vision into something ? I mean aren't there decent people
able to know when there's potential, and solve the relational stuff ?

I mean you can't be modest like that all the time. at some point it's
grumpiness, not modesty.

I wish there were businessmen able to notice those modest, hard working loners
and just get small companies working with them. Not even companies, just small
teams and projects. Some coaching. I wonder what's Carmack's story. I'd love
to hear about the work stories of those guys, or maybe hear them talk about
work politics. Of course they don't want to, because they might be made fun
of, but meh.

~~~
tacotime
"...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.

~~~
jokoon
> 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.

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

But why? If he doesn't want to run Mojang, he probably doesn't want to start
another game company at the moment.

Can he enjoy tinkering around himself without having to go on some divine
mission to spread his ideas and passions around the world?

~~~
jokoon
> some divine mission

you're exaggerating. that's not what I'm saying. maybe he just doesn't really
like video games after all, he just like writing lines of code without any
interest in the result ?

Why does he keep having small projects though ? I don't understand what's the
purpose of keeping it small. Why not hire people and tell them what sort of
algorithms he wants ?

Some programmers have a fetish for the code itself, not for the result. Just
being proud of "I did it myself". How about making a game that can be enjoyed,
that's the only thing I think that really matters I think.

------
ErikRogneby
This was the hardest line to read: "If I ever accidentally make something that
seems to gain traction, I’ll probably abandon it immediately."

I hope when he says "abandon" he means upload it on github with an MIT
license.

Seriously though, what a horrible thing to be fearful of creating something
that people might like.

~~~
tcfunk
Yeah that was the line that caught my attention, too. I hope that fear will
subside somewhat with time out of the spotlight (if indeed he manages to get
out of it in the first place).

------
joshfinnie
This is super sad. I never want to read the following from a programmer:

    
    
        As soon as this deal is finalized, I will leave Mojang and go back to doing Ludum Dares and small web experiments. If I ever accidentally make something that seems to gain traction, I’ll probably abandon it immediately.
    

I feel for anyone who has felt such stress to want to kill anything that they
are working on that gains traction...

~~~
xarien
It's actually quite inspiring. He's essentially saying that he's chasing
curiosity instead of profits. A lot of us would love to be able to do that.
For many of us, it's why we got into programming or engineering in the first
place...

~~~
MadManE
How is that inspiring? To me, it's incredibly depressing. It's basically
saying that he will aim to make mediocre (or terrible) things now that he has
more money than he needs.

This means that unless I win the lottery of life, I am condemned to doing what
I'm doing and if I actually _do_ succeed in what I'm doing, I'll never want to
touch anything like it again.

Edit: Sorry that I inadvertently insulted one of your heroes.

I realize that I'm _incredibly lucky_ already because I have
food/water/shelter/etc. But "gaining perspective" seems like code to me for
"I've given up, so you should too".

~~~
stdgy
You're performing some monumental gymnastics if your take away from his post
is that he intends to intentionally go waste his time creating _bad things_.

He clearly states that he isn't comfortable with the responsibilities that
come bundled with being part of the operations of a marvelously popular
product. His love lies with creating, tinkering and exploring. And with the
sale, he has finally extricated himself from the part of his life he disliked
so that he can spend his time doing things he enjoys. If any of his side
creations wind up blowing up again, he now knows to just leave them behind
instead of going through the process of hurting himself, doing things he
doesn't like to do.

I don't think it's exactly great that he feels the need to abandon his
creations, but I'm happy that his experiences with Minecraft may lead him to
make some different decisions in the future to keep himself sane, and enjoy
life a bit more.

------
80ProofPudding
Good for you, Notch. You made something awesome, got rich doing it, and stayed
a mensch throughout.

------
JacobEdelman
Notch has done it. By leaving mojang he can no longer be blamed for any major
disasters and has already achieved a place of honor in nerd communities. And
now he does what every nerd dreams of doing but isn't sure they can do,
leaving their company once it gets to big so they can just go and code. By
specifically stating he doesn't want to be a huge symbol for the nerd
community he has permanently affixed himself as one.

------
corbinpage
Instead of pulling a Wozniak, why not pull a Sergey Brin?

Use the incredible resources you gained from your first success to finance all
the cool side-projects you ever dreamed of?

Notch could start any web experiment he wanted, and when he got bored, pass it
along to an army of coders to refine and finish.

~~~
AVTizzle
Great point. He can still do that though, he's walking away a rich man.

------
cmdrfred
I love ya notch, you inspired me. Games don't have to have a story, great
graphics, or even a point. They have to be fun. After years of being a gamer,
Minecraft is the only game I come back to.

I will buy anything you have for sale.

~~~
chris_mahan
Minecraft's my favorite game, and my son's. We also both like Dune2. He's 9.
(I'm not :)

~~~
cmdrfred
I just checked out Dune2, looks good thanks for the recommendation.

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

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

~~~
chris_mahan
Ya dune2 is dos based. Once you get used to it, though, it'll be very
enjoyable. You can't rely on the Fremen unless you have 5+castles and send
them all at once. Watch out or you'll run out of spice and won't be able to
repair your missile launchers.

~~~
msh
I tried playing dune2 again, it was still a good game but it was so annoying
that you could only select one unit at a time.

~~~
chris_mahan
Use the keyboard shortcuts. A attack. M move. (Muscle memory)

Also, use the missile launcher. stay away from missle turret range, and fire
one square away from missile tower. Enough missiles miss target, land on
turret, that with enough missile launchers you can defeat missile turrets, or
bleed enemy spice reserves at least.

Protect your missile launchers with a line of heavy tanks just behind, in case
the enemy makes a sortie.

(Ohhh, I have to play it again now... See what you've done!)

~~~
ido
I did. still too tedious to control, after getting used to modern games.

------
bilalhusain
Heartbreaking to read what we do to people.

~~~
gadders
Well, there are a lot of dicks online, but I think twitter rage-storms or
whatever seem to affect some people a lot more deeply than others.

~~~
_delirium
The people who deal with it best I think are sort of the aloof types. They may
not even read their own Twitter feed, delegating it to a social-media staffer.
Notch has the problem that he uses it as a personal account and is on it
regularly, so he reads comments @directed at him, tries to reply to them, etc.
He also has a public email address that he reads, and it sounds like people
send weird/angry emails to that, too, so it ends up going beyond just Twitter.
I could see getting annoyed if people were constantly emailing me in that
manner.

~~~
gadders
I think he's clearly a nice guy and cares deeply about what he has created and
the people that use it.

However, I think a saying I heard today summed it up quite well: "A few boos
can drown out a lot of cheers."

With a sense of perspective as to what he has achieved, the people that
complain must be a very small minority.

~~~
bilalhusain
Also, I feel that people are reluctant to say "thank you". They'll join if the
crowd is cheering, but are hesitant to say it out loud by themselves.

------
ianstallings
He reminds me of Steve Wozniak a little bit. He's disconnected from _the
scene_ and it's refreshing in every way. Good luck to him.

------
blueskin_
Site is massively overloaded.

Text: [http://pastebin.com/GLuR7T9t](http://pastebin.com/GLuR7T9t)

archive.today: [https://archive.today/KKNNA](https://archive.today/KKNNA)

------
phlakaton
Something in a novel I just read last night comes back into my head: "I
reflected bitterly that I had walked away from people I had known and cared
about to avoid the very situation I was now in with comparative strangers. I
wondered if there was any way to live amongst other people and refuse to be
harnessed by their expectations and dependencies." (Robin Hobb)

If there's sadness I see in Notch's story, it's only that Notch appears to see
and define his public persona in such a negative light. I wish he could see
his contributions and influence on fellow hackers as a beautiful thing. But I
totally understand and support his intent to find a new playground, free of
expectations, regardless of his success on previous playgrounds. I hope that
Notch finds the happiness that he seeks.

(I also hope his comment about abandoning his next project on the first sign
of success was more tongue-in-cheek than it came off...)

------
sergiotapia
"It's not about the money (BECAUSE I HAVE TWO BILLION OF THEM!)."

Haha, and who can blame Notch, I wouldn't work a day in my life and become a
full time carpenter for the rest of my life.

~~~
masklinn
He already had "fuck you money" before that deal, it's not like he needed the
deal for that.

------
craigching
I'm really happy for Notch as long as he's happy. To me, the most
disappointing thing about this is that the story becomes more complex. I loved
telling my kids "this was created and developed by one person in his spare
time." That's not been true for awhile now I realize, but it was fun telling
my kids that. I guess I can figure out a different way to convey reality, but
it's more complex when they say "but isn't it from Microsoft?"

Anyway Notch, good luck to you and I love you too! You really gave us
something great and no matter what you do going forward, you can't take back
what you've given!

------
netcraft
> It’s not about the money. It’s about my sanity.

This does make the most sense, in looking at everything hes said in the past.
Sounds like MS had the right offer at the right time.

------
archildress
At the opposite end of the spectrum of the startup CEO who's intent on cashing
out for fame is Notch, who sold to remove himself from the center of
attention.

I think we all believe we could handle the spotlight and the attention and
fame that comes with it. But until we're faced with it, we'll never know.

All the best to Notch and thanks for a game that brought many people many
hours of happiness and shared experiences.

------
antirez
He should not give a fuck about random people on the internet, but just about
opinions of the few he knows in one way or the other and respect. I understand
this is more complex to do than to say, but still, how to have fun working in
the current IT development scene without this crucial step, especially for a
famous person like him?

~~~
burkaman
Don't run a company. You cannot run any kind of business without caring what
people think and are saying about you.

~~~
antirez
You can get a "general feeling" about your customers without actually feeling
responsible/bad about the individual opinion of each of your users. Actually
IMHO it is probably _not possible_ to run a company caring in depth about
everyone of your users. Of course there is from time to time this totally
stranger that may send you a well argued / fact-supported opinion that may
ring some bell, and this is great when happens, but here I believe we are
talking about "Notch you suck because of the TOS change!" or similar toned
messages.

------
dasmithii
\- "If I ever accidentally make something that seems to gain traction, I’ll
probably abandon it immediately."

These words describe how I've been feeling since the beginning of this year,
when I first became a self-described programmer. Before then, I loved playing
around with little toy projects, but I never considered myself as a
programmer. Instead, I was a regular kid who programmed sometimes.

After realizing that, over some time, I had gained some real skills, I felt
obligated to make use of them. It was no longer a playful activity, I put a
burden on my own shoulders that my programs had to be significant or important
to others in some way.

This sense of importance ruined programming for me. Though self-imposed, the
homework-effect took over and I lost interest right away.

I'm sure many of you code for a defined purpose, whether it be profit or world
effect. But for me, my computer is a toy.

------
rafaqueque
It's not always about money, as he said.

Classy move by Notch. Respect.

------
lnanek2
Too bad, his claim that he isn't a developer and just wants to have fun
playing and tinker makes him sound a lot like the famous Miyamoto from the
StarFox development stories. Miyamoto apparently often played with many
different implementations, making the programmers throw out a lot of work, but
this was done to find something fun. Notch now had the money and organization
to do that without worrying about having to push out a release. I wonder if
his descent into writing useless things like Doom map viewers is just sort of
chickening out. It's fun and easy to write for him maybe, no stress, but
completely meaningless for the industry.

------
pingwing
I don't blame the guy and now he has plenty of money to do what he wants and
not deal with the bullshit. Corporate America sucks. it is a horrible
"culture". Not everyone wants fame, fortune maybe, but not fame.

------
tdicola
I can't help but think this deal is going to have the exact opposite effect on
Notch as he intended. Now everyone knows he's a billionaire and people will
come crawling out of the woodwork to try and get something from him. Also
parts of the Minecraft community will be pretty upset about the decision, and
if a year from now things go sour and Minecraft isn't what it used to be then
people will be even more upset with him. I dunno, if he wanted to get away
from it all why not just leave? No need to sell the company for billions. Give
his ownership to the other founders and walk away.

~~~
adventured
Fine points, but he's not likely to be a billionaire.

He's a part of owner. Throw in the 30% Sweden tax on the sale, he's more
likely to land around $600m to $700m (including previous income realized from
Mojang). He's close to being a billionaire.

~~~
neohaven
He had money before the deal. Notch is _solidly_ a billionaire.

------
huhtenberg
I really like Notch and I really like how having all that money didn't seem to
change him. The sale is interesting news, but seeing him go through it with
integrity is even more interesting.

------
lubujackson
Notch seems like the closest thing to a modern day Woz, at least in his "doing
it for the fun" approach. I wish him well in the future!

------
mcguire
" _If I ever accidentally make something that seems to gain traction, I’ll
probably abandon it immediately._ "

That is a very nice option to have.

------
AnonJ
I think what people dislike about this statement is how downbeat and escapist
he sounds.

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

Frankly I can't think of anybody who would be glad to hear such a almost
childish and impetus irresponsible statement. Not to mention from the mouth of
somebody who created so many wonderful things altogether.

------
diltonm
Marcus has earned the right to do what he wishes, enjoy life instead of
stressing. Best wishes to him and continued success to Mojang!

------
jackvalentine
The only real response I feel is appropriate: "Fair enough. Have fun with what
you're going to do in the future."

------
ryan-allen
I say good luck to him I say. Everyone has the right to make their own
choices, and I hope he has a good time post-mojang.

A lot of people have thoroughly enjoyed Minecraft, it's a true phenomenon.
Hopefully Microsoft do a good job keeping it going (and more importantly,
improving it, of which I suspect they'll do a pretty ace job).

------
noonespecial
He's doing the only thing that makes a repeat of Minecraft possible. If he
stayed "on" and tried to make "the next big thing" as part of a Mircosoft team
there would be no chance.

Going straight up _why is about the only way he might create another important
work. I'd lay even odds.

------
nperez
As someone who took my lifelong fascination and turned it into a "job", I
respect the hell out of this. Granted, not everyone is financially capable of
just coding small experiments and getting by, but that's where the magic is.

------
seymour7
Google cache:
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Ahttp%...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fnotch.net%2F2014%2F09%2Fim-
leaving-mojang%2F)

------
im3w1l
I bought Minecraft pretty late in the game, but I really liked it. It's a
great work. I'm glad for your exit, even though I realize that you quit on a
sad note. I wish you joy in your future endeavors.

------
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

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

This reminds me of the unwanted flappy-bird fame.

What a strange idea for an entrepreneurial mind to read.

------
mentos
I would love to see him consider investing in other video game projects. There
is a game 10x better than Minecraft out there somewhere and he has the money
to find it.

------
nXqd
this is so awesome that he can make things that he loves. Become super rich
with it, but still staying who he is. This kind of achievement is incredibly
hard.

Thanks for great work !

------
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'.

------
jonifico
While I do see his point in saying Minecraft has become too big for him, he
might also be backing out a bit from a responsibility that could bring a
fascinating challenge. But then again, he doesn't see himself as a true
developer. Hope he finds a way to fulfill himself apart from spending billions
of dollars.

~~~
Mikeb85
He'll probably just hire someone smarter than him to invest his billion
dollars. Heck, even an index fund or super conservative portfolio of dividend
stocks would earn him enough to never work again, and maintain a pretty
awesome lifestyle...

------
beauzero
Good for you. When it's not fun anymore...it's just not fun anymore.

------
atriix
The HN effect... A pastebin
[http://pastebin.com/n1qTeikM](http://pastebin.com/n1qTeikM) from
[https://twitter.com/notch/status/511508557200498688](https://twitter.com/notch/status/511508557200498688)

~~~
Kiro
The HN effect is real but pretty sure it's just a tiny factor in this case.

------
sgtnasty
Then why didnt he just open source it? That question deserves to be answered
by Notch.

I watched my kids grow up on Minecraft, and how I led them to learning
technology, enabling their future. Minecraft is more than just a game, and
really the users own it, it's not Notch's anymore.

------
dsego
He could've given a share to Zachary Barth. Just saying.

------
alexvr
I hope he puts that money to good use.

------
god_bless_texas
I'm sorry, but did notch go on reddit and indicate that Minecraft sold for
2.5B. That bastard.

~~~
naiyt
Huh? What are you talking about? This is his Reddit account:

[https://www.reddit.com/user/xnotch](https://www.reddit.com/user/xnotch)

Three comments since the announcement that have nothing to do with the money.

------
seanv
i can respect that, can't argue with honesty.

------
31reasons
Flappybird situation at a much bigger sale ( I mean scale)

------
melvinmt
There was once a businessman who was sitting by the beach in a small Brazilian
village. As he sat, he saw a Brazilian fisherman rowing a small boat towards
the shore having caught quite few big fish. The businessman was impressed and
asked the fisherman, “How long does it take you to catch so many fish?” The
fisherman replied, “Oh, just a short while.” “Then why don’t you stay longer
at sea and catch even more?” The businessman was astonished. “This is enough
to feed my whole family,” the fisherman said. The businessman then asked, “So,
what do you do for the rest of the day?” The fisherman replied, “Well, I
usually wake up early in the morning, go out to sea and catch a few fish, then
go back and play with my kids. In the afternoon, I take a nap with my wife,
and evening comes, I join my buddies in the village for a drink — we play
guitar, sing and dance throughout the night.”

The businessman offered a suggestion to the fisherman. “I am a PhD in business
management. I could help you to become a more successful person. From now on,
you should spend more time at sea and try to catch as many fish as possible.
When you have saved enough money, you could buy a bigger boat and catch even
more fish. Soon you will be able to afford to buy more boats, set up your own
company, your own production plant for canned food and distribution network.
By then, you will have moved out of this village and to Sao Paulo, where you
can set up HQ to manage your other branches.”

The fisherman continues, “And after that?” The businessman laughs heartily,
“After that, you can live like a king in your own house, and when the time is
right, you can go public and float your shares in the Stock Exchange, and you
will be rich.” The fisherman asks, “And after that?” The businessman says,
“After that, you can finally retire, you can move to a house by the fishing
village, wake up early in the morning, catch a few fish, then return home to
play with kids, have a nice afternoon nap with your wife, and when evening
comes, you can join your buddies for a drink, play the guitar, sing and dance
throughout the night!” The fisherman was puzzled, “Isn’t that what I am doing
now?”

[http://paulocoelhoblog.com/2010/09/08/the-fisherman-and-
the-...](http://paulocoelhoblog.com/2010/09/08/the-fisherman-and-the-
businessman/)

~~~
raldi
And then the fisherman got a horrible toothache and there was nothing he could
do about it. A few years later, overfishing led to near-depletion of the local
supply, and new restrictions were implemented on fishing licenses. The
fisherman was unable to afford one, and yet he had no other means of
supporting his family. By the end of the decade his wife and children were
begging on the street.

Meanwhile, the businessman was getting a massage at a ski resort in
Switzerland.

~~~
TeMPOraL
The point being, we who are like the businessman are the slaves of our
economy. We get great perks from that Moloch, like healthcare, million types
of foods, computers, cinemas, all the awesome technology - but in exchange, we
need to slave away our lives. It's a trade-off.

We're entering the times when we can build machines to relieve us from our
chains, but (apart from needing to restructure the capitalist economy) the
transition is being slowed down by the deeply ingrained meme that Everyone Has
To Work, Or Else Is A Lazy And Bad Person. It was a reasonable assumption in
the times of high scarcity, but nowdays it's becoming hurtful.

What is striving to earn "FU money" if not trying to free oneself from the
slavery?

~~~
jedmeyers
Since the beginning of humanity people have been slaves to the necessity of
survival.

~~~
TeMPOraL
Yes, but for the first time ever, we've reached the theoretical capacity to
change that.

What's funny (for some definitions of fun), we will actually _need_ to do that
- given how our current economy pushes automation to replace humans
everywhere, we can either accept that people should be allowed to live and
thrive without having to earn for the living, or we'll see a _massive_
increase of poverty.

~~~
jedmeyers
I would like to ask if you have any hard data or studies that prove your first
point, or you just feel that this is indeed the case? The reality is that
there is no "we", there is no "economy" that pushes something - there are
specific people and groups of people, like governments and corporations.
Everyone is "allowed" to live and thrive if you have the means to do it. And
being in poverty now has much more benefits to it than being relatively rich
200 years ago.

~~~
TeMPOraL
> _I would like to ask if you have any hard data or studies that prove your
> first point, or you just feel that this is indeed the case?_

I don't think one needs to go and find hard studies to realize that we're
living in times of prosperity, producing more food than needed, being able to
construct a shelter for everyone and that more and more jobs are getting
automated. But for citations and elaborations on that I direct you to any
random HN discussion about automation and/or basic income; they seem to happen
here every other month.

> _The reality is that there is no "we", there is no "economy" that pushes
> something - there are specific people, governments and corporations._

The reality is, there are no specific people. The world at this level doesn't
work like that. Human volition, randomness of individual values, all average
out creating a predictable mass behaviour, following the incentive structures
as surely and as predictably as water flows toward lowest points, going along
the shape of underlying terrain.

This is econ 101, I don't think I need to support that with citations. There
is The Economy, we can treat it as a complex system made of individual humans
that still behaves in predictable ways, much in the same way we can talk about
human beings and their behaviours without referencing all those cells human
bodies are made of.

~~~
jedmeyers
> _I don 't think one needs to go and find hard studies to realize that we're
> living in times of prosperity_

Almost every generation in history thought that they live in prosperity
compared to generations before them. And I don't think one needs to go find
hard studies to realize that.

> _producing more food than needed, being able to construct a shelter for
> everyone_

Are you personally producing food or constructing shelters? If not, then
apparently you expect someone else to construct shelters for everyone because
in your opinion they have the ability to do so? If someone has the ability to
do something do they have to do it just because of the fact that they can?

------
UnfalseDesign
Full text of post until the site becomes less overloaded:

\------------------

I don’t see myself as a real game developer. I make games because it’s fun,
and because I love games and I love to program, but I don’t make games with
the intention of them becoming huge hits, and I don’t try to change the world.
Minecraft certainly became a huge hit, and people are telling me it’s changed
games. I never meant for it to do either. It’s certainly flattering, and to
gradually get thrust into some kind of public spotlight is interesting.

A relatively long time ago, I decided to step down from Minecraft development.
Jens was the perfect person to take over leading it, and I wanted to try to do
new things. At first, I failed by trying to make something big again, but
since I decided to just stick to small prototypes and interesting challenges,
I’ve had so much fun with work. I wasn’t exactly sure how I fit into Mojang
where people did actual work, but since people said I was important for the
culture, I stayed.

I was at home with a bad cold a couple of weeks ago when the internet exploded
with hate against me over some kind of EULA situation that I had nothing to do
with. I was confused. I didn’t understand. I tweeted this in frustration.
Later on, I watched the This is Phil Fish video on YouTube and started to
realize I didn’t have the connection to my fans I thought I had. I’ve become a
symbol. I don’t want to be a symbol, responsible for something huge that I
don’t understand, that I don’t want to work on, that keeps coming back to me.
I’m not an entrepreneur. I’m not a CEO. I’m a nerdy computer programmer who
likes to have opinions on Twitter.

As soon as this deal is finalized, I will leave Mojang and go back to doing
Ludum Dares and small web experiments. If I ever accidentally make something
that seems to gain traction, I’ll probably abandon it immediately.

Considering the public image of me already is a bit skewed, I don’t expect to
get away from negative comments by doing this, but at least now I won’t feel a
responsibility to read them.

I’m aware this goes against a lot of what I’ve said in public. I have no good
response to that. I’m also aware a lot of you were using me as a symbol of
some perceived struggle. I’m not. I’m a person, and I’m right there struggling
with you.

I love you. All of you. Thank you for turning Minecraft into what it has
become, but there are too many of you, and I can’t be responsible for
something this big. In one sense, it belongs to Microsoft now. In a much
bigger sense, it’s belonged to all of you for a long time, and that will never
change.

It’s not about the money. It’s about my sanity.

~~~
pbhjpbhj
This, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmTUW-
owa2w](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmTUW-owa2w), presumably is the "This Is
Phil Fish" video referenced ("talking about Phil is talking about fame").

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=PmT...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=PmTUW-
owa2w#t=924) for the tl;dr.

~~~
willvarfar
Got a text summary for the phone users please?

~~~
talmand
It's hard for me to describe it in simpler terms. It does make interesting
points about fame and how people react to those that are considered famous.

It makes an excellent example using Nickelback. When people say they hate
Nickelback they aren't necessarily saying they hate the band, but the music
industry system that they somehow represent. But it doesn't seem to suggest
the possibility that when people say they hate Nickelback, that they mean they
actually do hate the music the band produces.

It attempts to say that maybe Fish isn't as bad he's made out to be. But it
goes about it in a strange way. First it says that people overreact to the
things that Fish says or does because he's famous, but then it goes into how
he isn't really famous in terms of traditional fame. Basically, if you didn't
know who Fish was then you wouldn't care what he said.

Which is probably true.

But my feelings about Fish is based off of what I saw of him in the Indie Game
doc before I even knew who he was or that I was supposed to think of him as
famous. Then there's his behavior after the Fez release that didn't
necessarily make me think more highly of him, whether he was antagonized by
others or not. As the many versions of the saying goes; if you are the only
reasonable person always surrounded by assholes, maybe you are the asshole.

In all of this, I really hope Notch doesn't think of himself in terms of what
people think of Fish. They are most definitely not the same, nowhere near
close. There's a difference between saying I've had enough of this path in my
life to wish to go down a different one and rage-quitting like a child.

Multiple times.

I for one, hope that he finds what he's looking for and I hope to hear about
the new things he creates. If I never hear of Notch ever again, that's okay
too.

~~~
soperj
Truthfully though, their music is awful.

~~~
mikeash
Their song is pretty decent, their problem is simply that they repeat it
constantly instead of making more.

------
hyperliner
This is really a sad statement about the evil "consumers." It does not happen
only to simple nerdy game developers. It happens to everybody who does
something huge.

It happens to small business owners. Then, people "tell them" that they "must"
raise the wages of their employees, without ever having created a small
business.

It happens to activists. Then, people "tell" them they "must" support this
other cause, when those activists simply want to change a small part of the
world that they care about.

It bothers me the most when it happens to presidents. (Pres. Bush, Pres.
Obama, depending on your political inclinations). Just simple guys asked to
carry the weight of a nation just because they were at the right time, the
right place, did the right things, a few mistakes, wanted to change the world
a little, and worked really hard.

Maybe all of us who instead of sweating are going for the ride should simply
enjoy the game. Just put a few blocks on the game, build a small tiny house,
put a glass window, a small bed in there with the tiny cool candle on the wall
(my favorite block in Minecraft), and stare out the window. And watch for
creepers.

But leave these folks alone to do what we did not do, and let them enjoy a
reward for their hard work.

------
Nib
It's the end of an era...

This may be the last time a post from Notch makes it to HN Frontpage...

We all know what's gonna happen next, microsft is gonna try to messup with the
game, and, somehow, it'll end up dead...

RIP Minecraft

~~~
jacquesm
On the contrary, I expect plenty of posts from Notch to make it to the HN
frontpage.

~~~
Nib
I suppose that you haven't read the letter he wrote(the link, the parent of
this comment), he clearly says that I'll abandon anything if it gains
traction... So, maybe this is it...

~~~
jacquesm
Plenty of stuff on the front page is merely 'interesting' and will never gain
traction.

------
LeicaLatte
Say Facebook had acquired Minecraft I believe Notch might have had a chance at
continuing at Mojang. But Microsoft's history with killing talent is legendary
(Nokia, Rare, etc) and there was no question of him taking a chance with them.

~~~
barnumdee
No, he probably wouldn't have sold it to begin with if they were the only ones
buying. Notch specifically said he wouldn't create a Minecraft version for the
Oculus Rift after the Facebook purchase because he found it 'creepy'.

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

He seems to have an awful attitude for a guy who just made a billion dollars
and gets to spend the rest of his life doing exactly what he wants.

~~~
DanBC
He is saying "I made a mistake; I have learnt from that mistake and will try
to avoid making the same mistake in future".

That's a fucking great attitude and is -to me at least- much better than "I
made minecraft and I'm awesome and the success of Minecraft has nothing to do
with luck but is totally all those decisions I made because I'm brilliant"
which is the kind of thing we hear from a bunch of other devs.

~~~
tbrock
Good point, agreed. I think abandoning is a little much though. I guess it
would have rubbed me differently if he had said I'll make it open source or
hand it off to other developers earlier, etc.

~~~
DanBC
He did hand it off to other developers. He was still gettin hate for stuff
those other people were doing.

I kind of wish that mental health support was better and that he'd had some
kind of mentoring to help him deal with it.

Perhaps that's a startup idea: support with all the hate and bullshit that
comes your way when you're a public figure. More expensive service would
include rapid rebuttal service to quash lies and myth.

~~~
jiggy2011
You mean a PR firm?

~~~
DanBC
Well, a PR firm with cups of tea and hugs.

------
theflubba
Notch is an idiot. He should just ignore what people say on the internet, stop
taking things so personally, and work on a new idea. There's nothing stopping
him but himself.

~~~
seanflyon
> stop taking things so personally, and work on a new idea. There's nothing
> stopping him but himself.

There is nothing stopping him at all; that is exactly what he is doing.

------
iamleppert
He should donate some of that money to some good causes if he's really a
simple man like he says he is. Of course he doesn't have to do anything, and
fully deserves to take the money and run, and build some giant evil castle or
something.

~~~
voltagex_
I see this all the time on HN, I'm probably guilty of saying it myself
sometimes too. Why should he donate $X?

