5 ms·

How can you call asking for nothing entitlement?

dcow 4y ago
It's the attitude espoused in the writing. The outcome was literally his way of not letting his own frustration consume him and only available to him after doing heavy doses of psychedelics. I'm glad he was able to let go because his attitude of being entitled to something when he was, in fact, not, is what has been causing him all the pain.
- dr_dshiv 4y ago
  I think we all can empathize with the guy. He was close to massively successful people and he clearly contributed something soulful. It is the end jewel of the most successful game of all time! I feel for him and think this was a really nice outcome for everyone. (I just wish the essay was edited down by 1/3, but that’s me)
colonwqbang 4y ago
Isn't the whole point that the author thinks he deserves more compensation than he got? He's quoting the compensation for various Mojang employees and comparing it to what he got. He seems quite jelaous and/or entitled. 20000€ would in most European countries be a pretty good compensation for about 3 months of work, after taxes. It doesn't seem unreasonable on the face of it.
- Moru 4y ago
  It wasn't just 20k, it was also some publicity for his other works which never happened.
  - fastball 4y ago
    Well he never signed the contract so...
  - nigamanth 4y ago
    Agreed, other companies/video games would have asked him for his stories on their games considering that he'd done it for one of the biggest video games.
- operator-name 4y ago
  I'm not sure that is the point, as if you believe the author's summary: > I wrote a story for a friend, but in the end, he didn't treat me like a friend, and I'm hurt. In this framing, these are examples of being treated as an outsider.
  - colonwqbang 4y ago
    This is the part I'm thinking of > Early next year, Markus earned a three-million-dollar dividend on his shares in Mojang. But, as the actual value of his company, which he mostly owned, had gone up by many tens of millions, he figured he didn’t really need another three million on top. So he divided it between the twenty-five staff at Mojang, as a late Christmas bonus. That’s $120,000 each. Five or six times what I got for writing the actual ending. (Since the author seems to have spent about a month or so working on the game, you could reason that his compensation is about on par with the employees who worked for a full year. But he doesn't seem to see it that way, or he thinks he should be compensated better than them? I don't know.)
    - operator-name 4y ago
      Or he's upset that he didn't even hear from Notch at all at this point? That at the success of the game he felt forgotten for his contribution and was using this as an example of other contributors being kept in mind? I'm speculating, but having known "artists", some of them think very differently to the average HN crowd.
      - Jarwain 4y ago
        Never before has the HN bubble been so clear to me before reading the comments of this post. He outright says it in the article, about how it wasn't about the money. If it was, there are more effective ways of going about getting that compensation than putting the story into the public domain
  - true_religion 4y ago
    To me, it seems clear that he was not a friend. The people, who slaved away for months or years as employees to build the game may have been friends. That would explain the outsized compensation they all got. However, he was just a contractor found via twitter who wrote a few pages of text for the ending credits. They really did not think of him as a friend, and when he was done with work they never contacted him again except for legal reasons.
- wikfwikf 4y ago
  I would be shocked if the Minecraft end text took 3 months to write.
  - BlueTemplar 4y ago
    For better or worse, that's not how artists make a living.
- somrand0 4y ago
  wrong. that's not the point. the point is the gift economy
ohbtvz 4y ago
Is he asking for nothing? Half of the post is about how Mojang got millions then billions and he got nothing. If he's not asking for what he considers to be his share of the pie, then I don't know what the whole post is about.
- zamalek 4y ago
  And the other half of the post is about how he grew to understand that he was wrong.
  - europeanguy 4y ago
    No, that's what he says. But someone who genuinely grew to understand he was wrong doesn't write blog posts like this, explaining how he was wrong, like that's a question in everyone's mind (honestly until now I'd never known there was an end to Minecraft) No, this is a person who's burning with envy and finds telling yourself stories an outlet.
    - jack_pp 4y ago
      Or it's a person who burned with envy, is introspective enough to recall that feeling and write from that perspective in order for his readers to learn from his own shortcomings.
      - TheCapn 4y ago
        Or, it's a writer, who writes for a living, spinning a story to draw the reader in. He pitches his product at the end: he want's subscriptions to pay his rent and buy his socks. I have no ire towards the author. I thoroughly enjoyed the post and found several aspects of it that helped me find some introspection to something I was talking about with my wife just the other day (regarding capitalism, career, compensation). I think in the end that's what he's doing. It's an overly long winded way to say he wrote the poem. He's trying to wrestle that recognition for his work he thought Mojang was going to provide him and he's sharing a tale of one artist who wants to live above Intellectual Property law and create beautiful things while recognizing he has to eat and put a roof over his head. I pass no judgment on the author. I might slip him a few bucks in the paypal link he gave because I acquired Minecraft during beta and continue to play it off and on today and consider his contribution to be a nice addition to the game. Perhaps I will buy his novel. I think he did a great job trying to market himself here.
whywhywhywhy 4y ago
I read between the lines and don’t think that’s what’s happening at all here.

dcow 4y ago

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

dr_dshiv 4y ago
I think we all can empathize with the guy. He was close to massively successful people and he clearly contributed something soulful. It is the end jewel of the most successful game of all time! I feel for him and think this was a really nice outcome for everyone. (I just wish the essay was edited down by 1/3, but that’s me)

colonwqbang 4y ago

Isn't the whole point that the author thinks he deserves more compensation than he got? He's quoting the compensation for various Mojang employees and comparing it to what he got. He seems quite jelaous and/or entitled. 20000€ would in most European countries be a pretty good compensation for about 3 months of work, after taxes. It doesn't seem unreasonable on the face of it.

Moru 4y ago
It wasn't just 20k, it was also some publicity for his other works which never happened.
- fastball 4y ago
  Well he never signed the contract so...
- nigamanth 4y ago
  Agreed, other companies/video games would have asked him for his stories on their games considering that he'd done it for one of the biggest video games.
operator-name 4y ago
I'm not sure that is the point, as if you believe the author's summary: > I wrote a story for a friend, but in the end, he didn't treat me like a friend, and I'm hurt. In this framing, these are examples of being treated as an outsider.
- colonwqbang 4y ago
  This is the part I'm thinking of > Early next year, Markus earned a three-million-dollar dividend on his shares in Mojang. But, as the actual value of his company, which he mostly owned, had gone up by many tens of millions, he figured he didn’t really need another three million on top. So he divided it between the twenty-five staff at Mojang, as a late Christmas bonus. That’s $120,000 each. Five or six times what I got for writing the actual ending. (Since the author seems to have spent about a month or so working on the game, you could reason that his compensation is about on par with the employees who worked for a full year. But he doesn't seem to see it that way, or he thinks he should be compensated better than them? I don't know.)
  - operator-name 4y ago
    Or he's upset that he didn't even hear from Notch at all at this point? That at the success of the game he felt forgotten for his contribution and was using this as an example of other contributors being kept in mind? I'm speculating, but having known "artists", some of them think very differently to the average HN crowd.
    - Jarwain 4y ago
      Never before has the HN bubble been so clear to me before reading the comments of this post. He outright says it in the article, about how it wasn't about the money. If it was, there are more effective ways of going about getting that compensation than putting the story into the public domain
- true_religion 4y ago
  To me, it seems clear that he was not a friend. The people, who slaved away for months or years as employees to build the game may have been friends. That would explain the outsized compensation they all got. However, he was just a contractor found via twitter who wrote a few pages of text for the ending credits. They really did not think of him as a friend, and when he was done with work they never contacted him again except for legal reasons.
wikfwikf 4y ago
I would be shocked if the Minecraft end text took 3 months to write.
- BlueTemplar 4y ago
  For better or worse, that's not how artists make a living.
somrand0 4y ago
wrong. that's not the point. the point is the gift economy

ohbtvz 4y ago

Is he asking for nothing? Half of the post is about how Mojang got millions then billions and he got nothing. If he's not asking for what he considers to be his share of the pie, then I don't know what the whole post is about.

zamalek 4y ago
And the other half of the post is about how he grew to understand that he was wrong.
- europeanguy 4y ago
  No, that's what he says. But someone who genuinely grew to understand he was wrong doesn't write blog posts like this, explaining how he was wrong, like that's a question in everyone's mind (honestly until now I'd never known there was an end to Minecraft) No, this is a person who's burning with envy and finds telling yourself stories an outlet.
  - jack_pp 4y ago
    Or it's a person who burned with envy, is introspective enough to recall that feeling and write from that perspective in order for his readers to learn from his own shortcomings.
    - TheCapn 4y ago
      Or, it's a writer, who writes for a living, spinning a story to draw the reader in. He pitches his product at the end: he want's subscriptions to pay his rent and buy his socks. I have no ire towards the author. I thoroughly enjoyed the post and found several aspects of it that helped me find some introspection to something I was talking about with my wife just the other day (regarding capitalism, career, compensation). I think in the end that's what he's doing. It's an overly long winded way to say he wrote the poem. He's trying to wrestle that recognition for his work he thought Mojang was going to provide him and he's sharing a tale of one artist who wants to live above Intellectual Property law and create beautiful things while recognizing he has to eat and put a roof over his head. I pass no judgment on the author. I might slip him a few bucks in the paypal link he gave because I acquired Minecraft during beta and continue to play it off and on today and consider his contribution to be a nice addition to the game. Perhaps I will buy his novel. I think he did a great job trying to market himself here.

whywhywhywhy 4y ago

I read between the lines and don’t think that’s what’s happening at all here.