4 ms·

Proposed Minecraft fan film canceled on Kickstarter by Notch

24 points by frik 13y ago

frik 13y ago
Minecraft Movie 'The Birth of Man' Nixed by Notch: http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/02/07/minecraft-movie-the-birth-of-man-nixed-by-notch http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/02/07/minecraft-movie-the-b...
TazeTSchnitzel 13y ago
Well, it's Mojang's right.
- onli 13y ago
  To cancel a film based in a virtual scenario created by them? Then that is not necessarily true. Depends on the jurisdiction.
  - TazeTSchnitzel 13y ago
    Trademark issues might be a problem, though.
- perbu 13y ago
  Still sucks.
skore 13y ago
Absolutely their right. Pretty sure they would have made a very good deal with the film author and everybody would have benefited. > We don't allow half a million kickstarters based on our ip without any deals in place. :/ Using the term "IP" leaves a sour taste in my mouth, though.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
sillysaurus2 13y ago
A surprisingly poor move from someone who historically has been a game development hero. Before reading the article and understanding the campaign, I initially thought Notch axed it because this guy wanted to create a film about Notch. It would be reasonable to cancel such an endeavor: leaving your legacy up to filmmakers is not a wise move, as Woz recently discovered. Since that's the only scenario in which this cancellation would be reasonable, I assumed that was the reason. Actually not. This is purely a creative work which has been completely sunk for no reason other than "You didn't run it by me ahead of time." It was clearly a work of passion. Watch the video: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/878782324/birth-of-man-a-minecraft-feature-film https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/878782324/birth-of-man-... Yes, it's Notch's right to cancel this artist's dream. It's also his right to add in-game purchases to Minecraft, and force people to pay extra for the privilege of using diamond pickaxes. Both of those decisions wouldn't reflect favorably upon him, however. EDIT: My main problem with this move is that the film didn't involve Notch in any way. It's unrelated to him except insofar as it uses his game as a setting for an artistic work. It seems like the primary motivation for the cancellation was rooted in greed.
- hoggle 13y ago
  The problem with "documentaries" is that they tend to be really simplistic these days with a lot of bad music (emotions!) and manipulative editing. As you stated yourself things often go so wrong that it's probably not worth the hassle of auditing. I would very much prefer to see Notch have all his time & energy invested in himself because with that we might see 0x10c one day. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/0x10c https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/0x10c Edit: This article puts things into perspective, we should probably all be less opinionated. How many of us know about the creative struggle after success? http://mikebithell.tumblr.com/post/76030689478/on-success http://mikebithell.tumblr.com/post/76030689478/on-success
- djt 13y ago
  How can they set a price without having a price for IP? If a lightbulb kickstarter hadnt contacted a factory before coming up with how much it would cost for production then we'd be riding their asses
- 13y ago
tinco 13y ago
This is crazy, how can someone publicly raise money for a project, when he hasn't even negotiated property critical to the whole idea of the movie? Just think of the negotiation position of both parties. How much money did the guy budget for the rights? What if Mojang wanted more? This is just bad business practice and Notch is right for nipping it in the bud.
deletes 13y ago
Apparently one of the co-creators of the freddiew channel on youtube. They make really good videos, with film level cgi. https://www.youtube.com/user/freddiew/videos?view=0&flow=grid https://www.youtube.com/user/freddiew/videos?view=0&flow=gri... Too bad they didn't talk to Mojang first.
- frik 13y ago
  If you mean me, no, I am unrelated. I just read about the announcement of the film the other day. And saw a cryptic Twitter message from Notch today. A quick "Google News" search turned up this story. I searched on HN if the news was already there, and then submitted it.
jamesbrownuhh 13y ago
If it's not yours, you need permission. It's not really that hard to understand.
yaddayadda 13y ago
From the polygon article and the short video on the Birth of a Man's Kickstarter page, this seems like massive IP overreach. It's like an artist advertising their favorite paint by making a painting of the paint and then the paint company saying they can't use the paints in commercial ventures. For example, Devoe paint prohibiting Jackson Pollock from allowing museum showings of #5 (http://www.nga.gov/feature/pollock/painting5.shtm http://www.nga.gov/feature/pollock/painting5.shtm).

24 points by frik 13y ago

frik 13y ago

Minecraft Movie 'The Birth of Man' Nixed by Notch: http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/02/07/minecraft-movie-the-birth-of-man-nixed-by-notch http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/02/07/minecraft-movie-the-b...

TazeTSchnitzel 13y ago

Well, it's Mojang's right.

onli 13y ago
To cancel a film based in a virtual scenario created by them? Then that is not necessarily true. Depends on the jurisdiction.
- TazeTSchnitzel 13y ago
  Trademark issues might be a problem, though.
perbu 13y ago
Still sucks.

skore 13y ago

Absolutely their right. Pretty sure they would have made a very good deal with the film author and everybody would have benefited. > We don't allow half a million kickstarters based on our ip without any deals in place. :/ Using the term "IP" leaves a sour taste in my mouth, though.

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

sillysaurus2 13y ago

A surprisingly poor move from someone who historically has been a game development hero. Before reading the article and understanding the campaign, I initially thought Notch axed it because this guy wanted to create a film about Notch. It would be reasonable to cancel such an endeavor: leaving your legacy up to filmmakers is not a wise move, as Woz recently discovered. Since that's the only scenario in which this cancellation would be reasonable, I assumed that was the reason. Actually not. This is purely a creative work which has been completely sunk for no reason other than "You didn't run it by me ahead of time." It was clearly a work of passion. Watch the video: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/878782324/birth-of-man-a-minecraft-feature-film https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/878782324/birth-of-man-... Yes, it's Notch's right to cancel this artist's dream. It's also his right to add in-game purchases to Minecraft, and force people to pay extra for the privilege of using diamond pickaxes. Both of those decisions wouldn't reflect favorably upon him, however. EDIT: My main problem with this move is that the film didn't involve Notch in any way. It's unrelated to him except insofar as it uses his game as a setting for an artistic work. It seems like the primary motivation for the cancellation was rooted in greed.

hoggle 13y ago
The problem with "documentaries" is that they tend to be really simplistic these days with a lot of bad music (emotions!) and manipulative editing. As you stated yourself things often go so wrong that it's probably not worth the hassle of auditing. I would very much prefer to see Notch have all his time & energy invested in himself because with that we might see 0x10c one day. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/0x10c https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/0x10c Edit: This article puts things into perspective, we should probably all be less opinionated. How many of us know about the creative struggle after success? http://mikebithell.tumblr.com/post/76030689478/on-success http://mikebithell.tumblr.com/post/76030689478/on-success
djt 13y ago
How can they set a price without having a price for IP? If a lightbulb kickstarter hadnt contacted a factory before coming up with how much it would cost for production then we'd be riding their asses
13y ago

tinco 13y ago

This is crazy, how can someone publicly raise money for a project, when he hasn't even negotiated property critical to the whole idea of the movie? Just think of the negotiation position of both parties. How much money did the guy budget for the rights? What if Mojang wanted more? This is just bad business practice and Notch is right for nipping it in the bud.

deletes 13y ago

Apparently one of the co-creators of the freddiew channel on youtube. They make really good videos, with film level cgi. https://www.youtube.com/user/freddiew/videos?view=0&flow=grid https://www.youtube.com/user/freddiew/videos?view=0&flow=gri... Too bad they didn't talk to Mojang first.

frik 13y ago
If you mean me, no, I am unrelated. I just read about the announcement of the film the other day. And saw a cryptic Twitter message from Notch today. A quick "Google News" search turned up this story. I searched on HN if the news was already there, and then submitted it.

jamesbrownuhh 13y ago

If it's not yours, you need permission. It's not really that hard to understand.

yaddayadda 13y ago

From the polygon article and the short video on the Birth of a Man's Kickstarter page, this seems like massive IP overreach. It's like an artist advertising their favorite paint by making a painting of the paint and then the paint company saying they can't use the paints in commercial ventures. For example, Devoe paint prohibiting Jackson Pollock from allowing museum showings of #5 (http://www.nga.gov/feature/pollock/painting5.shtm http://www.nga.gov/feature/pollock/painting5.shtm).