4 ms·

What exactly is the point of this article? People here are saying it's an "emotional journey" or something. What a load of shit > Early next year, Markus earne

What exactly is the point of this article? People here are saying it's an "emotional journey" or something. What a load of shit > 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. > Which was a lovely thing to do, but as I wasn’t staff at Mojang, and therefore got nothing… well, I was a bit hurt that I didn’t get even a token acknowledgement from Markus that I was one of the five people who had helped create this strangest of games. Notice how it's never about the author's own negotiation. It's always about what he "feels he's owed". Any sort of contractual agreement or unambiguous statement of what is owed is illegitimate in his eyes. Just some vague sense of entitlement and a couple of donation links

dicroce 4y ago
I think you're being too hard on him here. It looks to me like both sides fucked up in a number of ways.
- kramerger 4y ago
  How did Mojang fuck up? Their gave their "friend", a completely inexperienced unknown writer, 20.000 for a poem. This "friend" took the money, spent it but refused to sign the contract on some bogus pseudo spiritual objection. Later he became more and more upset that notch and team made a ton of money. To me this sounds like jealousy and greed.
  - spritefs 4y ago
    Maybe because they sent the money before fully coming to an agreement and getting a signed contract
    - kramerger 4y ago
      But they were all "friends"... They had a general agreement and by taking the money he basically agreed to the arrangement. I think they could have easily taken this guy to court and won. Technically, Microsoft can sue the crap out of him for giving away something they have bought and paid for.
      - lukas099 4y ago
        They paid for the rights to use the poem in the game, not ownership of the poem.
  - parkersweb 4y ago
    Also - introducing Carl as a ‘friend’, if true, was unhelpful. Introduce Carl as the commercial guy needed to negotiate contracts and payment, because it would have signalled to the author that he should be engaging his agent at that point.
hombre_fatal 4y ago
You’d think with his attitude he made the game rather than just write a poem (which he was paid $20k for). This is like my babysitter observing some windfall in my life and, despite my transaction with them already paid at the rate they negotiated, expecting me to share more with them while using language like “I was a cornerstone of his family but that apparently wasn’t enough” because they watched DVDs with my kid.
- intrepidhero 4y ago
  There are cultures in the world where the babysitter would expect to share in your windfall and everyone would think it a perfectly reasonable thing. Also, neighbors and extended family. This transactional, one and done sort of thinking that makes perfect sense in the capitalistic west, is not a mathematical, universal truth.
  - spritefs 4y ago
    > There are cultures in the world where the babysitter would expect to share in your windfall and everyone would think it a perfectly reasonable thing. Which cultures do you have in mind?
    - intrepidhero 4y ago
      I'm thinking of personal experience in sub-Saharan Africa. But really, most cultures are less individualistic then the west and have different ideas about the obligations of individuals to the group. I'm not saying one way or the other is right or wrong and that's the point. What's right is "obvious" in one culture and may well be outright wrong in another. Our ideas here should be challenged and tested and not merely accepted.
      - spritefs 4y ago
        Just curious, what brought you to sub-Saharan Africa? Are you from there or was it missionary work? How is it less individualistic than the west? Sorry if this comment is a little nosy, just curious about the different culture
JCharante 4y ago
I liked the post as it revealed stuff I didn’t know. However I think the logic is flawed. Yes he’s one of the five people and Notch gave money to a bunch of staff, but what about people who worked on the JRE? Surely they contributed more to the game as a whole than someone who wrote the ending.
- spritefs 4y ago
  > but what about people who worked on the JRE? On an unrelated note, these guys are awesome, whoever they are
deleted 4y ago
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dicroce 4y ago

I think you're being too hard on him here. It looks to me like both sides fucked up in a number of ways.

kramerger 4y ago
How did Mojang fuck up? Their gave their "friend", a completely inexperienced unknown writer, 20.000 for a poem. This "friend" took the money, spent it but refused to sign the contract on some bogus pseudo spiritual objection. Later he became more and more upset that notch and team made a ton of money. To me this sounds like jealousy and greed.
- spritefs 4y ago
  Maybe because they sent the money before fully coming to an agreement and getting a signed contract
  - kramerger 4y ago
    But they were all "friends"... They had a general agreement and by taking the money he basically agreed to the arrangement. I think they could have easily taken this guy to court and won. Technically, Microsoft can sue the crap out of him for giving away something they have bought and paid for.
    - lukas099 4y ago
      They paid for the rights to use the poem in the game, not ownership of the poem.
- parkersweb 4y ago
  Also - introducing Carl as a ‘friend’, if true, was unhelpful. Introduce Carl as the commercial guy needed to negotiate contracts and payment, because it would have signalled to the author that he should be engaging his agent at that point.

hombre_fatal 4y ago

You’d think with his attitude he made the game rather than just write a poem (which he was paid $20k for). This is like my babysitter observing some windfall in my life and, despite my transaction with them already paid at the rate they negotiated, expecting me to share more with them while using language like “I was a cornerstone of his family but that apparently wasn’t enough” because they watched DVDs with my kid.

intrepidhero 4y ago
There are cultures in the world where the babysitter would expect to share in your windfall and everyone would think it a perfectly reasonable thing. Also, neighbors and extended family. This transactional, one and done sort of thinking that makes perfect sense in the capitalistic west, is not a mathematical, universal truth.
- spritefs 4y ago
  > There are cultures in the world where the babysitter would expect to share in your windfall and everyone would think it a perfectly reasonable thing. Which cultures do you have in mind?
  - intrepidhero 4y ago
    I'm thinking of personal experience in sub-Saharan Africa. But really, most cultures are less individualistic then the west and have different ideas about the obligations of individuals to the group. I'm not saying one way or the other is right or wrong and that's the point. What's right is "obvious" in one culture and may well be outright wrong in another. Our ideas here should be challenged and tested and not merely accepted.
    - spritefs 4y ago
      Just curious, what brought you to sub-Saharan Africa? Are you from there or was it missionary work? How is it less individualistic than the west? Sorry if this comment is a little nosy, just curious about the different culture

JCharante 4y ago

I liked the post as it revealed stuff I didn’t know. However I think the logic is flawed. Yes he’s one of the five people and Notch gave money to a bunch of staff, but what about people who worked on the JRE? Surely they contributed more to the game as a whole than someone who wrote the ending.

spritefs 4y ago
> but what about people who worked on the JRE? On an unrelated note, these guys are awesome, whoever they are

deleted 4y ago

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