6 ms·

"I really feel for Notch" I don't. He cashed in and, well somehow wants the sympathy of free & open-source wish-keepers. He's in the money; and that was his

"I really feel for Notch" I don't. He cashed in and, well somehow wants the sympathy of free & open-source wish-keepers. He's in the money; and that was his choice.

TruthSHIFT 12y ago
Would Minecraft be in better hands if Notch open-sourced it instead of selling it to Microsoft?
- opendais 12y ago
  Maybe but is it really a fair question? Notch wasn't the only owner. In fact, he owns less than 50% and they have 40+ employees. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mojang http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mojang Open sourcing it would likely screw his co-founders, employees with stock options, etc. compared to the size of this deal. Tbh, I'd be happier if he donated 10% of his earnings from this sale to Open Source projects and feeding people. Rather than, y'know, having gone the route you suggested. He also seems like the kind of guy that would.
  - nightcracker 12y ago
    Why would open sourcing it screw his co-founders? You can open source the code, interact with the community and improve Minecraft, while still selling the game. You don't have to open source the artwork and assets. Piracy is not an argument in this, because pirating Minecraft for single player has always been and will always be piss easy, and multiplayer will still be impossible.
    - opendais 12y ago
      Microsoft wouldn't pay $2 billion if he open sourced it. So they'd get a smaller payout.
  - rpdillon 12y ago
    He said he'd open source it, but it never happened. I think this pre-dates Mojang, but I'm not certain about the exact timing. http://web.archive.org/web/20100301103851/http://www.minecraft.net/about.jsp http://web.archive.org/web/20100301103851/http://www.minecra...
    - ngokevin 12y ago
      He didn't really. "Once sales start dying...as some kind of open source".
    - opendais 12y ago
      I think you are ignoring the condition on that sentence. "Once sales start dying and a minimum time has passed, I will release the game source code as some kind of open source."
      - Florin_Andrei 12y ago
        Right. He never thought he was going to make the current juggernaut. He thought it was going to be yet another moderately popular project with a limited duration and impact.
      - rpdillon 12y ago
        Sales will, at some point, start dying. He has, as far as I can tell, relinquished control of the source in a manner that will forbid him from open sourcing the game at that point.
        MortenK 12y ago
        You think it's reasonable that he should continue at the helm of Mojang and retain control of Minecraft IP until what exactly? 10 years pass and the brand (which Minecraft has become) finally fades in popularity? So he can release it as open source, to make good on what? Some "About" page he wrote fucking 4 years ago when Minecraft was nothing but a PC indie sleeper hit? Get real.
        opendais 12y ago
  - kazagistar 12y ago
    Dunno, he would have to be a strong man to donate that much to open source after all the hate vomited his way about it. I somehow suspect he might give money to something else in the end.
dasil003 12y ago
I don't think he wants sympathy, that's not how I read this at all. I think he wants freedom, and he is not asking for it but simply stating for the record how he is going about this. One of the thing's I admire about Notch's communication is that it always comes off as sincere and matter of fact. I think that is admirable in the face of the reality one faces in becoming internet-famous. The internet has a big problem with mob-mentality entitlement. People jumping up to call Notch a hypocrite for going back on his word, or otherwise critiquing every little move he makes really don't have a leg to stand on. I mean sure everyone is entitled to their opinion, but the actual power that these people deserve to have over Notch is infinitesimal; it's just noise on the internet with no significance. Look at it this way, if suddenly 10 million people started scrutinizing what you were up to, I'm sure they'd have a lot of complaints, but what do you owe to them?
- clarkevans 12y ago
  Perhaps it's that Notch invited the entitlement with an explicit promise ? http://web.archive.org/web/20100301103851/http://www.minecraft.net/about.jsp http://web.archive.org/web/20100301103851/http://www.minecra... Included there is a dedication to (eventually) make the work open-source or public domain, and to contribute to it so long as people are paying. Those promises drove MindCraft praise, good will, and adoption. Do you think asking someone to keep these promises, the ones that drove adoption (and hence his current good fortune) is... entitlement?
  - anigbrowl 12y ago
    I don't see that he, personally, has to contribute free expansions, it's enough if Mojang does. A lot of people seem to be assuming that purchase by MS means the end of mods and the start of paid expansion packs. Is there definite evidence for this claim, or is it just speculation? As for releasing it as open source, I went to your link and it says 'Once sales start dying and a minimum time has passed, I will release the game source code as some kind of open source.' How do you know he has gone back on this promise, as I have not seen any statement to the contrary so far? Your claims of entitlement seem to rest on unproven assumptions. Is there some evidence out there you could link to, for those of us who don't follow the company/product closely?

"I really feel for Notch" I don't. He cashed in and, well somehow wants the sympathy of free & open-source wish-keepers. He's in the money; and that was his choice.

TruthSHIFT 12y ago

Would Minecraft be in better hands if Notch open-sourced it instead of selling it to Microsoft?

opendais 12y ago
Maybe but is it really a fair question? Notch wasn't the only owner. In fact, he owns less than 50% and they have 40+ employees. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mojang http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mojang Open sourcing it would likely screw his co-founders, employees with stock options, etc. compared to the size of this deal. Tbh, I'd be happier if he donated 10% of his earnings from this sale to Open Source projects and feeding people. Rather than, y'know, having gone the route you suggested. He also seems like the kind of guy that would.
- nightcracker 12y ago
  Why would open sourcing it screw his co-founders? You can open source the code, interact with the community and improve Minecraft, while still selling the game. You don't have to open source the artwork and assets. Piracy is not an argument in this, because pirating Minecraft for single player has always been and will always be piss easy, and multiplayer will still be impossible.
  - opendais 12y ago
    Microsoft wouldn't pay $2 billion if he open sourced it. So they'd get a smaller payout.
- rpdillon 12y ago
  He said he'd open source it, but it never happened. I think this pre-dates Mojang, but I'm not certain about the exact timing. http://web.archive.org/web/20100301103851/http://www.minecraft.net/about.jsp http://web.archive.org/web/20100301103851/http://www.minecra...
  - ngokevin 12y ago
    He didn't really. "Once sales start dying...as some kind of open source".
  - opendais 12y ago
    I think you are ignoring the condition on that sentence. "Once sales start dying and a minimum time has passed, I will release the game source code as some kind of open source."
    - Florin_Andrei 12y ago
      Right. He never thought he was going to make the current juggernaut. He thought it was going to be yet another moderately popular project with a limited duration and impact.
    - rpdillon 12y ago
      Sales will, at some point, start dying. He has, as far as I can tell, relinquished control of the source in a manner that will forbid him from open sourcing the game at that point.
      - MortenK 12y ago
        You think it's reasonable that he should continue at the helm of Mojang and retain control of Minecraft IP until what exactly? 10 years pass and the brand (which Minecraft has become) finally fades in popularity? So he can release it as open source, to make good on what? Some "About" page he wrote fucking 4 years ago when Minecraft was nothing but a PC indie sleeper hit? Get real.
      - opendais 12y ago
- kazagistar 12y ago
  Dunno, he would have to be a strong man to donate that much to open source after all the hate vomited his way about it. I somehow suspect he might give money to something else in the end.

dasil003 12y ago

I don't think he wants sympathy, that's not how I read this at all. I think he wants freedom, and he is not asking for it but simply stating for the record how he is going about this. One of the thing's I admire about Notch's communication is that it always comes off as sincere and matter of fact. I think that is admirable in the face of the reality one faces in becoming internet-famous. The internet has a big problem with mob-mentality entitlement. People jumping up to call Notch a hypocrite for going back on his word, or otherwise critiquing every little move he makes really don't have a leg to stand on. I mean sure everyone is entitled to their opinion, but the actual power that these people deserve to have over Notch is infinitesimal; it's just noise on the internet with no significance. Look at it this way, if suddenly 10 million people started scrutinizing what you were up to, I'm sure they'd have a lot of complaints, but what do you owe to them?

clarkevans 12y ago
Perhaps it's that Notch invited the entitlement with an explicit promise ? http://web.archive.org/web/20100301103851/http://www.minecraft.net/about.jsp http://web.archive.org/web/20100301103851/http://www.minecra... Included there is a dedication to (eventually) make the work open-source or public domain, and to contribute to it so long as people are paying. Those promises drove MindCraft praise, good will, and adoption. Do you think asking someone to keep these promises, the ones that drove adoption (and hence his current good fortune) is... entitlement?
- anigbrowl 12y ago
  I don't see that he, personally, has to contribute free expansions, it's enough if Mojang does. A lot of people seem to be assuming that purchase by MS means the end of mods and the start of paid expansion packs. Is there definite evidence for this claim, or is it just speculation? As for releasing it as open source, I went to your link and it says 'Once sales start dying and a minimum time has passed, I will release the game source code as some kind of open source.' How do you know he has gone back on this promise, as I have not seen any statement to the contrary so far? Your claims of entitlement seem to rest on unproven assumptions. Is there some evidence out there you could link to, for those of us who don't follow the company/product closely?