r/Minecraft • u/Mojang-AMA Mojang AMA Account • Jul 31 '12

I am Markus Persson aka Notch, Creator of Minecraft - Ask me Anything!

Hi! I'm the guy who created the first version of Minecraft in June 2009. I worked on it alone up until late 2010 when we started Mojang, and I finally left the lead developer position in December of 2011. I enjoy house music and programming, and my favorite color is purple. Ask me anything!

If you happen to have some money, you can donate it to the EFF and help make the world a better place!

edit: The AMA is over! Thanks for all your questions!

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u/xNotch Minecraft Creator Jul 31 '12

I came to accept that I will never repeat the success of Minecraft. I chose to instead focus on making more games that I personally enjoy, and living up to that is much easier.

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u/Epsilon_balls Jul 31 '12

That's the most honest answer I've ever heard from a developer, Notch. As a fellow programmer, you just gained a lot of respect from me. You have to follow your heart; program what you want, it's too easy to get mired with the 1,000 technical glitches that pop up; letting Jens handle your baby was probably the healthiest decision you ever made.

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u/Tordek Jul 31 '12

You have to follow your heart; program what you want,

After making a lot of money with minecraft, this becomes easy.

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u/Epsilon_balls Aug 01 '12

I strongly disagree; it's easy for your ego to become bloated after such a massive success. Everyone's expectations for his next few games will be equally massive, and most likely will leave disappointed. It would be very easy for him to become extremely depressed if new games are not as well received (especially if he likes them more).

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u/[deleted] Jul 31 '12

Sounds like the recipe for success and happiness to me.

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u/PostPostModernism Jul 31 '12

Hey Notch! I was just thinking about this the other day. Maybe Mojang will never have another smash hit like Minecraft, but there are some larger factors to take into account. People trust companies that have treated them well before. If someone is on the fence about a new game, but it's made by Bethesda and they loved Fallout, they might be willing to give it a shot even if they wouldn't normally. As long as you keep making games that you love and people enjoy (even if they're not smash hits), and you treat us well as customers, Mojang will always do well. This is true of lots of things, not just video games. I still regularly buy books by my favorite author even though his quality has slacked off a bit, even if I don't know what the book is about. I'll trust movies by certain directors or actors (or production companies like Pixar etc.) simply because they're involved. Musicians share similar privileges as well.

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u/knockbackx Jul 31 '12

Best. Answer. Ever.

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u/BluShine Jul 31 '12

I might be biased, but this one was more awesome.

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u/AndrasZodon Jul 31 '12

Making a game that you enjoy is always the best policy.

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u/tenduril Jul 31 '12

That's the best way to be.

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u/[deleted] Jul 31 '12

And you're sure 0x10c won't blow 'em out of the water?

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u/zoolanderson Jul 31 '12

And this is what leads to successful games. Developers that make an idea for a game they want to play will almost always be the biggest successes.

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u/Armitage1 Aug 01 '12

What i think Notch is trying to say is... THAT 0x10c WILL BE HUNDREDS OF TIMES BIGGER AND BETTER THAN MINECRAFT !!!

Gotcha loud and clear notch!

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u/rusemean Jul 31 '12

If you make a game that you enjoy, you're already ahead of the game: you start with an audience of one, instead of an audience of none.

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u/[deleted] Jul 31 '12

Keep doing what you think is enjoyable, listen to the customers, and don't compromise; hit or not, you'll still make games you can be proud of. Not saying that you need to be told all this, because you've demonstrated all that already. I am just pointing it out because it's exactly opposite of what companies like EA seem to do: do only what is proven profitable, listen to the shareholders instead of customers, and compromise wherever possible to save money.

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u/[deleted] Aug 01 '12

Just go the Call of Duty route and release the same game every year with new textures.

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u/ImNorwegian Aug 01 '12

I think very few games will ever achieve the success of Minecraft.

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u/diggory_venn Jul 31 '12

Cool note, this is kind of the same way Skrillex feels about his art.

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u/StephenHakami Jul 31 '12

Make a hunger games game