4 ms·

Are there honestly any Mojang haters in the world? These guys are just great. 1. Minecraft is an absolute work of art as a standalone game. The possibilities a

Are there honestly any Mojang haters in the world? These guys are just great. 1. Minecraft is an absolute work of art as a standalone game. The possibilities are endless and it works everywhere. It's simple to play yet is possible of incredible complexity. 2. Relative to the playtime, the game is actually very inexpensive, especially if you got the beta/alpha discount 3. Notch really seems like just about the most pleasant guy in the world and really just wears his passion on his sleeve. He's an easy guy to like. 4. Notch and everyone at Mojang really love video games and it shows. I always really respected guys like Kurt Cobain and Flea growing up because they always tried to give credit and lend their popularity to fellow musicians and influences. Everyone at Mojang does this and are surely leading kids toward a lot of great games. They even support the Minecraft clones. 5. It's been covered but Notch has used the massive profits of Minecraft in smart ways to build Mojang slowly and really help out the developers who make it possible. Great bunch of developers too, very public and responsive. They are also smart about what actually gets added to Minecraft. 6. Best community in gaming currently, hands down. The user made stuff is jaw dropping. 7. They continue to spend most of their resources working on Minecraft despite the fact that they are both working on other games now and could sit on their thumbs and rake in the cash on Minecraft if they wanted. Let users fix the bugs. You know, like Bethesda does. 8. Cutest mersh ever.

intended 14y ago
On number 6) I think you have to meet a few people at a place called bay12.
- shocks 14y ago
  DWARF FORTRESS :3
  - MrFoof 14y ago
    The Dwarf Fortress community is an incredible anomaly. It is donation-ware, yet, Tarn brings in enough money to live on (albeit, not comfortably) and to pay his brother for some help. Aside from perhaps Richard Stallman, are there any other software developers that can lay the claim that they've lived off a tip jar? Revenue growth is slow, but not bad considering he attempted to live off of donations at the start of the financial crisis. There is still organic growth however, and as larger milestones are reached I am genuinely curious to see how the community responds, especially once the global economy is out of the current creep its in now: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AhPaW9RBi5v4dGFYZ05PVTY4dGxxSVBVVXUzY3dkTFE&usp=sharing https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AhPaW9RBi5v4dGF... It's like watching the rise of Banksy. The game is now featured in MoMA. He's had a 6-page article in the New York Times magazine. Every AAA game studio I've walked into at least deeply respects Dwarf Fortress and Bay 12, even if they don't play the game. If he ever gets to finish it (2030 perhaps), it makes you wonder where it will end up in the zeitgeist.
    - jiggy2011 14y ago
      One other example that comes to mind is Paul Davis the developer of the ardour audio system. I suppose you could include Linux Torvalds etc but only if you consider big corporate sponsorships as donations.
shocks 14y ago
I would add that Minecraft is incredibly accessible for all ages. No matter how old you are there is something for you to do - be it building red stone circuits or making a wooden hut. There is something for everyone.
SCdF 14y ago
9. He made some pretty sweet amateur techno back in the day under the name Markus Alexei on (remember this one?) mp3.com. Some of the more treasured stuff in my mp3 collection.
- yuvadam 14y ago
  Is it possible to find mp3.com-era stuff in some archive?
  - citricsquid 14y ago
    There's a few songs on his bandcamp page: http://markusalexei.bandcamp.com/ http://markusalexei.bandcamp.com/
  - SCdF 14y ago
    I sent him an email yonks ago and he put up all his stuff for a week or so. This was pre-fame so maybe that won't work anymore.. if you're really keen I'm sure I could put up what I have somewhere (I managed to mangle some of the id3 tags unfortunately, I need to clean that up sometime, it's on a list...)
    - DanOWar 14y ago
      Could you kindly? I'd love to check out his songs. Bandcamp only hosts a couple of his songs, but the archive.org page of his old music page shows plenty more songs. [http://web.archive.org/web/20090728013239/http://www.mojang.com/music http://web.archive.org/web/20090728013239/http://www.mojang....] I can't seem to find them anywhere, so if you do upload them, please let me know!
      - SCdF 14y ago
        Heh, you have no contact information in your profile. Flick me an email (my email is in my contact page) and if I get around to it I'll let you know.
- citricsquid 14y ago
arrrg 14y ago
There are plenty of people who hate Mojang. I think it's just standard gamer-entitlement, though. Plus, neither Notch nor Mojang are perfect (obviously) but that seems to be a requirement for some people to not hate something.
samspot 14y ago
3. Notch really seems like just about the most pleasant guy in the world and really just wears his passion on his sleeve. He's an easy guy to like. I realize I am in the minority, but something about him just rubs me the wrong way. This is not a criticism of him, more just a personal preference.
- megapatch 14y ago
  Yes, indeed, you are right! You are in the minority!
- Lambdanaut 14y ago
  My social group hates the guy. I can't bring up Mojang without them ranting about how he has an undeserved ego and takes all the credit for Minecraft when really Jeb did all the work. I will say that I think it's incredibly self-absorbed that he hosts livestreams of him coding, but a lot of people seem to enjoy watching them, so it's not too bad. Is there anything specific that rubs you the wrong way about him?
  - DavidBradbury 14y ago
    Man, he even streams himself coding to help others who want to pursue their hobbies and people find a way to spin that into a bad thing? Seriously?
  - usea 14y ago
    Livestreams of a game develpment sessions are very popular in the indie game scene[1]. It's just a trendy way to communicate things about your process to help other people who might benefit from the information. Think of it like a "tips and tricks" article for game development, in a form more suited for the media-focused game dev community. Game jams such as Ludum Dare heavily encourage participants to stream their sessions and include tutorials on how to get the whole thing set up. [1] http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/tag/livestream/ http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/tag/livestream/
  - homosaur 14y ago
    It really does take a certain amount of ego and guts just to try to get into the indie game dev (or software period) industry. You have to be a decent coder and you have to have an incredibly thick skin because you don't have 5 layers of marketing and PR like EA where you could basically ignore the fact that you game sucked if your bonus didn't depend on the Metacritic scores. I read all this stuff all the time about how Phil Fish or Blow or whoever is such an asshole, and I just don't get what drives people to saying that stuff. There's a lot of people out there who I admire whose personality is sometimes grating or who is blinded by ego but that's in all walks of life. I don't need to be in love with someone to love their work. Plus I simply think it's too judgmental to call someone you don't know an asshole. You can say someone is being an asshole, but I don't think you can judge them personally by their persona online. It's the same with Linus, people think he's a jerk, and maybe he is sometimes but if he was really, I mean REALLY a huge jerk then the Linux kernel would never exist. He'd be programming weapons systems somewhere or something. It takes a certain kind. Although I don't stalk Notch online except when he dips into Twitter, I mostly see that guy giving a ton of credit to other people at Mojang or at least often enough where it's my general impression of him.
tossacct 14y ago
I have nothing against Notch, Mojang, or Minecraft, but I have to mention Infiniminer, an earlier fpb(first person block) style game that I wish hadn't been cracked and then maliciously destroyed, and then abandoned by Zachary Barth. >>>5. It's been covered but Notch has used the massive profits of Minecraft ... and really help out the developers who make it possible Notch may have helped out some of the developers who made Minecraft possible, but I hadn't heard that he helped out the ONE developer who made Minecraft possible. Here are Notch's words for which developer made the game "Minecraft" possible. http://notch.tumblr.com/post/227922045/the-origins-of-minecraft http://notch.tumblr.com/post/227922045/the-origins-of-minecr... >>>But then I found Infiniminer. My god, I realized that that was the game I wanted to do. Has Notch given some of his massive profits to Zachary Barth, the developer who made Minecraft possible? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zachary_Barth http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zachary_Barth
- forrestthewoods 14y ago
  There is not one among us who does not stand on the shoulders of giants. Incremental improvements is what makes the world go round. It makes me think of "Dizzying but Invisible Depth" Google+ post from awhile back. https://plus.google.com/112218872649456413744/posts/dfydM2Cnepe https://plus.google.com/112218872649456413744/posts/dfydM2Cn...
  - tossacct 14y ago
    Agreed! I think most of us are sitting on those great shoulders as opposed to standing, but that's semantics for you. To clarify, I think it speaks positively to Notch's character when he says that Infiniminer was the game he wanted to make, and also publishes the statement on his own website for all the web to see. And I think it's great that he and others were inspired by Infiniminer, and added their own tweaks. I just wish the original inspiration was still around so everyone could see where it all came from. It honestly surprises me that I haven't heard about Notch helping Zach out financially, since most people seem to think that Notch is a pretty nice and honorable person.
alexjeffrey 14y ago
Not to mention 9. using their game as a platform for urban planning and development in poorer countries: http://www.mojang.com/2012/09/mojang-and-un-presents-block-by-block/ http://www.mojang.com/2012/09/mojang-and-un-presents-block-b... It doesn't get a lot of mention which only really adds to the idea that they're doing this out of honest kindness rather than marketing.

intended 14y ago

On number 6) I think you have to meet a few people at a place called bay12.

shocks 14y ago
DWARF FORTRESS :3
- MrFoof 14y ago
  The Dwarf Fortress community is an incredible anomaly. It is donation-ware, yet, Tarn brings in enough money to live on (albeit, not comfortably) and to pay his brother for some help. Aside from perhaps Richard Stallman, are there any other software developers that can lay the claim that they've lived off a tip jar? Revenue growth is slow, but not bad considering he attempted to live off of donations at the start of the financial crisis. There is still organic growth however, and as larger milestones are reached I am genuinely curious to see how the community responds, especially once the global economy is out of the current creep its in now: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AhPaW9RBi5v4dGFYZ05PVTY4dGxxSVBVVXUzY3dkTFE&usp=sharing https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AhPaW9RBi5v4dGF... It's like watching the rise of Banksy. The game is now featured in MoMA. He's had a 6-page article in the New York Times magazine. Every AAA game studio I've walked into at least deeply respects Dwarf Fortress and Bay 12, even if they don't play the game. If he ever gets to finish it (2030 perhaps), it makes you wonder where it will end up in the zeitgeist.
  - jiggy2011 14y ago
    One other example that comes to mind is Paul Davis the developer of the ardour audio system. I suppose you could include Linux Torvalds etc but only if you consider big corporate sponsorships as donations.

shocks 14y ago

I would add that Minecraft is incredibly accessible for all ages. No matter how old you are there is something for you to do - be it building red stone circuits or making a wooden hut. There is something for everyone.

SCdF 14y ago

9. He made some pretty sweet amateur techno back in the day under the name Markus Alexei on (remember this one?) mp3.com. Some of the more treasured stuff in my mp3 collection.

yuvadam 14y ago
Is it possible to find mp3.com-era stuff in some archive?
- citricsquid 14y ago
  There's a few songs on his bandcamp page: http://markusalexei.bandcamp.com/ http://markusalexei.bandcamp.com/
- SCdF 14y ago
  I sent him an email yonks ago and he put up all his stuff for a week or so. This was pre-fame so maybe that won't work anymore.. if you're really keen I'm sure I could put up what I have somewhere (I managed to mangle some of the id3 tags unfortunately, I need to clean that up sometime, it's on a list...)
  - DanOWar 14y ago
    Could you kindly? I'd love to check out his songs. Bandcamp only hosts a couple of his songs, but the archive.org page of his old music page shows plenty more songs. [http://web.archive.org/web/20090728013239/http://www.mojang.com/music http://web.archive.org/web/20090728013239/http://www.mojang....] I can't seem to find them anywhere, so if you do upload them, please let me know!
    - SCdF 14y ago
      Heh, you have no contact information in your profile. Flick me an email (my email is in my contact page) and if I get around to it I'll let you know.
citricsquid 14y ago

arrrg 14y ago

There are plenty of people who hate Mojang. I think it's just standard gamer-entitlement, though. Plus, neither Notch nor Mojang are perfect (obviously) but that seems to be a requirement for some people to not hate something.

samspot 14y ago

3. Notch really seems like just about the most pleasant guy in the world and really just wears his passion on his sleeve. He's an easy guy to like. I realize I am in the minority, but something about him just rubs me the wrong way. This is not a criticism of him, more just a personal preference.

megapatch 14y ago
Yes, indeed, you are right! You are in the minority!
Lambdanaut 14y ago
My social group hates the guy. I can't bring up Mojang without them ranting about how he has an undeserved ego and takes all the credit for Minecraft when really Jeb did all the work. I will say that I think it's incredibly self-absorbed that he hosts livestreams of him coding, but a lot of people seem to enjoy watching them, so it's not too bad. Is there anything specific that rubs you the wrong way about him?
- DavidBradbury 14y ago
  Man, he even streams himself coding to help others who want to pursue their hobbies and people find a way to spin that into a bad thing? Seriously?
- usea 14y ago
  Livestreams of a game develpment sessions are very popular in the indie game scene[1]. It's just a trendy way to communicate things about your process to help other people who might benefit from the information. Think of it like a "tips and tricks" article for game development, in a form more suited for the media-focused game dev community. Game jams such as Ludum Dare heavily encourage participants to stream their sessions and include tutorials on how to get the whole thing set up. [1] http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/tag/livestream/ http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/tag/livestream/
- homosaur 14y ago
  It really does take a certain amount of ego and guts just to try to get into the indie game dev (or software period) industry. You have to be a decent coder and you have to have an incredibly thick skin because you don't have 5 layers of marketing and PR like EA where you could basically ignore the fact that you game sucked if your bonus didn't depend on the Metacritic scores. I read all this stuff all the time about how Phil Fish or Blow or whoever is such an asshole, and I just don't get what drives people to saying that stuff. There's a lot of people out there who I admire whose personality is sometimes grating or who is blinded by ego but that's in all walks of life. I don't need to be in love with someone to love their work. Plus I simply think it's too judgmental to call someone you don't know an asshole. You can say someone is being an asshole, but I don't think you can judge them personally by their persona online. It's the same with Linus, people think he's a jerk, and maybe he is sometimes but if he was really, I mean REALLY a huge jerk then the Linux kernel would never exist. He'd be programming weapons systems somewhere or something. It takes a certain kind. Although I don't stalk Notch online except when he dips into Twitter, I mostly see that guy giving a ton of credit to other people at Mojang or at least often enough where it's my general impression of him.

tossacct 14y ago

I have nothing against Notch, Mojang, or Minecraft, but I have to mention Infiniminer, an earlier fpb(first person block) style game that I wish hadn't been cracked and then maliciously destroyed, and then abandoned by Zachary Barth. >>>5. It's been covered but Notch has used the massive profits of Minecraft ... and really help out the developers who make it possible Notch may have helped out some of the developers who made Minecraft possible, but I hadn't heard that he helped out the ONE developer who made Minecraft possible. Here are Notch's words for which developer made the game "Minecraft" possible. http://notch.tumblr.com/post/227922045/the-origins-of-minecraft http://notch.tumblr.com/post/227922045/the-origins-of-minecr... >>>But then I found Infiniminer. My god, I realized that that was the game I wanted to do. Has Notch given some of his massive profits to Zachary Barth, the developer who made Minecraft possible? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zachary_Barth http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zachary_Barth

forrestthewoods 14y ago
There is not one among us who does not stand on the shoulders of giants. Incremental improvements is what makes the world go round. It makes me think of "Dizzying but Invisible Depth" Google+ post from awhile back. https://plus.google.com/112218872649456413744/posts/dfydM2Cnepe https://plus.google.com/112218872649456413744/posts/dfydM2Cn...
- tossacct 14y ago
  Agreed! I think most of us are sitting on those great shoulders as opposed to standing, but that's semantics for you. To clarify, I think it speaks positively to Notch's character when he says that Infiniminer was the game he wanted to make, and also publishes the statement on his own website for all the web to see. And I think it's great that he and others were inspired by Infiniminer, and added their own tweaks. I just wish the original inspiration was still around so everyone could see where it all came from. It honestly surprises me that I haven't heard about Notch helping Zach out financially, since most people seem to think that Notch is a pretty nice and honorable person.

alexjeffrey 14y ago

Not to mention 9. using their game as a platform for urban planning and development in poorer countries: http://www.mojang.com/2012/09/mojang-and-un-presents-block-by-block/ http://www.mojang.com/2012/09/mojang-and-un-presents-block-b... It doesn't get a lot of mention which only really adds to the idea that they're doing this out of honest kindness rather than marketing.