Referenced here for folks who want to read:
P&R?
No way, José!
Read the summary there, then come back here.
Heh. Adam put them all together over there for easy discussion here.
Really you should read his whole feed today, Adam captures the meat of it but it’s clear the guy is isolated and depressed as hell.
This is one of very few times when I feel unqualified to offer even unsubstantiated internet advice. Becoming an instant billionaire isn’t all that relateable. I do emphasize with notch, because he’s an antisocial nerd like many of us, and I hope he can think his way out of the hole he dug for himself.
I feel pretty safe saying he should sell that ridiculous house and stop throwing coke parties for hollywood phonies, though.
That’s about where I stand. The guy is not in a great place mentally, he is lacking something he needs, but I don’t think any of us know what that is or how he can get there.
The anger towards those who remind him of the past is tough.
This is a guy with every possible option open to him, including buying a little house in the Swedish wilderness and giving the rest away if it’s bumming him out. At some point he’ll either get over himself or he won’t. For sure, Twitter isn’t gonna help.
I really liked John Carmack’s response to him.
After all, John Carmack became a millionaire overnight, and he had his “buy Ferrarris like crazy” phase, and who knows what else. But he found his “anchor” to a healthier self in the tech side of things, and Notch might just find himself there if he goes for that as well.
Jeez. https://twitter.com/notch/status/637563481139638272
Notch: When we sold the company, the biggest effort went into making sure the employees got taken care of, and they all hate me now.
Minecraft Employee: What? Who are you, stealer of Notch’s twitter account?!
Notch: like three people thanked me for the two million kronor after tax bonus i gave from my own private money. Others said I was cheap.
Minecraft Employee That seem way too few of us to me. I mostly hated you for leaving, but that was only during the shock, you know that <3
Notch: i do not know that, nobody reached out and said it was just initial shock. So fuck all of you. Fuck you so hard.
Another Minecraft Employee: I can see why both he and we would be upset. Sucks overall. Time to move on and hug others. It’s been real. I really hope you find something that makes you happy.
Interesting quote:
Lonely world. Everyone else is busy.
Notch: i do not know that, nobody reached out and said it was just initial shock. So fuck all of you. Fuck you so hard.
If this is an accurate reflection of what he’s been like all along, it’s tough to garner a lot of sympathy.
It’s so hard to be a billionaire asshole, boohoo.
Dude. It’s hard being human. And being rich and/or famous doesn’t change that, it just presents you with a different set of challenges. I feel for Notch, although I no longer admire him like I used to. Some extraordinary people can become celebrities and keep their feet on the ground; it’s sad that most end up where Notch seems to have ended up, with few friends and zero direction in his life.
It hasn’t been that long since Microsoft bought him out, has it? It seems like 6 months at the most, which I don’t think is enough time for most people to go from 0 to asshole. So he must have had a head start already.
If those billions are miking him so miserable I’d be more than happy to help lighten the load.
He ain’t heavy, he’s my bankbook.
Looks like it’s been a year. Certainly there is a mismatch between his personality and lifestyle. I know I wouldn’t do well in the Hollywood party set, so I’m not rushing to judge him here.
At this point, he’s got nothing but time and money. I’ve been in the position of having nothing but time before, and it’s actually pretty rough after a relatively short period of time – sort of like how you feel after you’ve been laid off and don’t have another gig lined up.
Of course, a few hundred million might help soothe those wounds, but it’s in the nature of being human to feel aimless if you truly don’t have anything to do. I liked Carmack’s advice – essentially, just because you no longer have to work doesn’t mean you shouldn’t work.
The part about being thanked for the 2 million dollar bonuses puzzles me. How many did he give out, and he really only got 3 thank yous? Others said he was cheap. First off, if I’ve just taken a billion dollar payout I know there’s going to be a ton of envy. There’s no bonus I could give an employee that would compare to my payout. So I’d expect a lot of “2 million?!?! What am I supposed to do with this? Give us a real bonus you cheapskate!”.
He’s a higher up(business owner) and he’s looking to the employees for validation, that’s naive at best.
I feel for the guy but if he really feels lonely and disconnected he can just pursue another of his interests. Heck, he could found another studio and start development on another game. I find it hard to believe he had no ambition other than developing Minecraft.
As for the employee “complaints,” if my company was purchased and my boss voluntarily gave me 2 million bucks out of the deal, I’d be pretty happy. But it sounds like he wanted some gratitude out of the employees, and giving people stuff and having expectations about how they’ll receive it is not the way to go. If you’re giving stuff to people, you gotta let go.
2 million kroner is just under $250,000, not that something like that is chump change. But much less than a post tax couple of million.
Seems kind of random, but I’m reminded of a phrase from an old issue of Lone Wolf and Cub. Couldn’t remember the exact wording, so I googled it:
“Waking a half mat. Sleeping, one mat. Rule the nation, a fistful of rice. No matter how many people you kill, countries you steal, fortunes you plunder, or titles you earn… You only cover a half a straw mat when you sit, one when you sleep, and your stomach only holds a fistful of rice!"
At the risk of sounding like a communist or something, this is probably more money than any one person could be asked to handle without just going nuts. I would think the best thing he could do is give the bulk of it away, or set up another Gates Foundation-like organization. There are human problems out there that can be solved with the right minds and enough funding.
Plus, it wasn’t just the money. (Although that was part of it.) There was a lot of hard feelings at Mojang when they were sold to MS because Markus had repeatedly said that wasn’t going to happen.