7 ms·

It seems like a sad life, and he has also lost out forever on meeting a woman he knows without a doubt isn't marrying him for his success. His mansion and part

It seems like a sad life, and he has also lost out forever on meeting a woman he knows without a doubt isn't marrying him for his success. His mansion and parties seem like desperate attempts to fill the emotional void inside himself. But it's hollow, as he's now seen. The way to fill it is by dedicating himself to something that has no financial upside--doing good, in the vein of Clinton, Carter, and Gates. That will give him the kind of fulfillment that a candy wall never will. In the course of doing so, he may even meet someone similarly like minded. Less altruistically, he could also create games and release them pseudonymously through a shell company, so he knows any success is because it's a good game, and not because it's from the creator of Minecraft.

MichaelGG 11y ago
Is his face that famous? Especially if he lost a bit of weight? Seems like it would be very easy to setup a new identity that'll pass any checks done by potential spouses and he's unlikeky to be recognized by most people. If anyone says he looks like that Minecraft guy, give them a strange look and a "I wish" or a "hah, my nephew said the same thing". The strangest thing about the whole thing is that Mojang employees got rather little. If you were out with workmates and found a $2500 lottery ticket, it might be seen odd to say "here's 23 cents". Sure, the scale and absolute values make it different. Why not bring those folks along for a ride? If they could stand your code and they all got along well enough to make games together...
- weaksauce 11y ago
  out of curiosity, how much did they get? he seems to think that he "took care of them" based on his tweets.
  - erics32 11y ago
    About 250k USD after tax.
    - MichaelGG 11y ago
      So, he gets enough to live a luxurious life a couple dozen times over. They get part of a house in a non-expensive city. Sure, they aren't entitled to anything, but Im not surprised people feel like that's rude. Sorta like how employees resent not getting bonuses while the partners get millions.
- swang 11y ago
  I mean. I assume he paid his employees full salaries? If they were brought on after all the risk was over, why should they get any money from the sale other than the 250K (which is a ton of money regardless)? Was there something deceptive about what he did that screwed the rank-and-file? I mean what if Minecraft was just a fad and they ended up going broke? Would they have beared extra burden for Notch had it not been as successful?
  - MichaelGG 11y ago
    No, it was nice of him to give them any money. He owed them nothing. Hence my comparison to finding a lotto ticket. Minecraft being sold for 2.5bn is likely beyond what anyone would have bet on. And it wasn't all just him (not to engage in speculation, but I've read that the original code code wasn't fantastic, so certainly employees contributed tons). So if we'd think someone that found a lotto ticket to be a dick to not get the lunch check, perhaps that logic carries over to larger amounts. Hell, I even feel like a jerk if I get an upgrade on a flight but traveling companions don't. Maybe I'm weird. I've certainly seen both types of behaviour, albeit at far lesser amounts. This is only relevant in context of his tweets. Also: Beverly Hills? That part of California is pretty, but damn, not where I'd go to find people disinterested in money.
    - mratzloff 11y ago
      It's pretty simple. He valued those friendships. Human nature dictates that they would be pissed off about him not sharing the wealth that they had a hand in creating (regardless of whether they started before or after Minecraft was successful). He could have easily given each employee $5 MM. It would have cost him about $250 MM. What is that compared to $2500 MM? 10% of a vast fortune he could never spend. Would his former employees still resent him? Or would they be grateful to him that he made it possible for them to start their own businesses, retire (with some smart investing), live lavishly and stay employed, whatever? Maybe he wasn't obligated to give them a small fortune, but was that the right decision for him, personally, to make? It doesn't sound like it.

MichaelGG 11y ago

Is his face that famous? Especially if he lost a bit of weight? Seems like it would be very easy to setup a new identity that'll pass any checks done by potential spouses and he's unlikeky to be recognized by most people. If anyone says he looks like that Minecraft guy, give them a strange look and a "I wish" or a "hah, my nephew said the same thing". The strangest thing about the whole thing is that Mojang employees got rather little. If you were out with workmates and found a $2500 lottery ticket, it might be seen odd to say "here's 23 cents". Sure, the scale and absolute values make it different. Why not bring those folks along for a ride? If they could stand your code and they all got along well enough to make games together...

weaksauce 11y ago
out of curiosity, how much did they get? he seems to think that he "took care of them" based on his tweets.
- erics32 11y ago
  About 250k USD after tax.
  - MichaelGG 11y ago
    So, he gets enough to live a luxurious life a couple dozen times over. They get part of a house in a non-expensive city. Sure, they aren't entitled to anything, but Im not surprised people feel like that's rude. Sorta like how employees resent not getting bonuses while the partners get millions.
swang 11y ago
I mean. I assume he paid his employees full salaries? If they were brought on after all the risk was over, why should they get any money from the sale other than the 250K (which is a ton of money regardless)? Was there something deceptive about what he did that screwed the rank-and-file? I mean what if Minecraft was just a fad and they ended up going broke? Would they have beared extra burden for Notch had it not been as successful?
- MichaelGG 11y ago
  No, it was nice of him to give them any money. He owed them nothing. Hence my comparison to finding a lotto ticket. Minecraft being sold for 2.5bn is likely beyond what anyone would have bet on. And it wasn't all just him (not to engage in speculation, but I've read that the original code code wasn't fantastic, so certainly employees contributed tons). So if we'd think someone that found a lotto ticket to be a dick to not get the lunch check, perhaps that logic carries over to larger amounts. Hell, I even feel like a jerk if I get an upgrade on a flight but traveling companions don't. Maybe I'm weird. I've certainly seen both types of behaviour, albeit at far lesser amounts. This is only relevant in context of his tweets. Also: Beverly Hills? That part of California is pretty, but damn, not where I'd go to find people disinterested in money.
  - mratzloff 11y ago
    It's pretty simple. He valued those friendships. Human nature dictates that they would be pissed off about him not sharing the wealth that they had a hand in creating (regardless of whether they started before or after Minecraft was successful). He could have easily given each employee $5 MM. It would have cost him about $250 MM. What is that compared to $2500 MM? 10% of a vast fortune he could never spend. Would his former employees still resent him? Or would they be grateful to him that he made it possible for them to start their own businesses, retire (with some smart investing), live lavishly and stay employed, whatever? Maybe he wasn't obligated to give them a small fortune, but was that the right decision for him, personally, to make? It doesn't sound like it.