The amount of people trying to reach out to him or trying to "be friends" with him is probably outstanding. That would make it even harder for an introvert to make real friends or not be sceptic about who's approaching him and with what intent.
Then again, to his point of "what's next", it makes it seem like he doesn't have much passion or drive for what he loves. Many people have made it big time like this and money is definitely not a stopping point to say well I've achieved all my goals, nothing left for me to do.
Clean up those tears with a couple of stacks of benjamins and start working on something new!
The amount of people trying to reach out to him or trying to "be friends" with him is probably outstanding. That would make it even harder for an introvert to make real friends or not be sceptic about who's approaching him and with what intent.
Then again, to his point of "what's next", it makes it seem like he doesn't have much passion or drive for what he loves. Many people have made it big time like this and money is definitely not a stopping point to say well I've achieved all my goals, nothing left me for me to do.
Clean up those tears with a couple of stacks of benjamins and start working on something new!
Seriously. "I don't need money, so I guess there's no point creating anymore" is not the sort of conclusion most people would reach.
I question why he even got in to game development in the first place.
If all he cared about was money, there were far more practical ways to go about it. He basically just managed to win the lottery.
However, just to remind you people, when he sold his company, the company he had founded with his friend, he took 70% of the money while leaving his friends picking up the rest..
Didn't he own 70% of the company? It's not like he was actively working on Minecraft or left them in a bad situation, Mojang is still making so much money, $2.5 billion x 30% is still 750 million, and even if that's broken up evenly by there 10 person staff, $75 million, stupid amounts of money. Anything over $5-10 million, you can pretty much have and do anything you want, start a company, buy a mansion, retire, whatever.
Alright that house is just ridiculously stupidly big, I get slightly depressed enough by being alone in my own studio apartment for too long, let alone a giant freaking mansion.
Kind of reminds me of how Bruce Wayne in Tim Burton's batman first ate in the dining room on his date, but decided it was way too big and pretentious so instead ate in Alfred's quaint and comfortable room.
Honestly sounds like he just needs to get back to doing work versus being stir crazy waiting for his friends to get off of work and hangout, that or find his Pepper Potts.
Hope he enjoys his life anyways, regardless of what everyone says about the strengths of his ability as a programmer or to finish projects, he did succeed in developing an enormously successful game and thus deserves his piece of happiness.
He went from someone who says he coded and made games for the love of it, to buying an insane house in LA because thats were celbs live, moved from Sweeden and just throws these big huge partys.
He gave up what he enjoyed doing because he knows he cant out do Minecraft and thinks that now that he has money he should be partying with other rich celbs all the time because that will make him happy? No, that wont make you happy at all.
Might be fun to do once in a while, but if he really loves coding then he should be doing that. He should travel the world and meet people who dont know him as Notch, the guy who made billions off Minecraft.
I mean are we really framing this as "it's a real shame this guy has depression, regardless of whether he's rich or not" because I can think of many people I personally know who have serious issues with depression and things like bipolar disorder, who are far worse off than this guy is. I mean, yeah it sucks and I have empathy for that. But I have trouble vocalising my empathy for him over them when for example - he doesn't have to worry about being unable to work his (minimum hourly wage) job to pay his rent to make sure he isn't homeless. That is a real struggle for many people battling mental illness.
After that, he buys a 80M house and organize parties with rich posers that probably dont give much fuck about him.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZhM56v9UVQ
Image living alone in this place...when everone is gone after the party..
Whoa, wait, THAT"S HIS HOUSE !?? Fk that. Anyone would be depressed living in that thing alone. (not that having bunch of kids around gonna make it any better, though).
I would just turn it into Penthouse or something. Then I can study anatomy all day long watching those sexy models walking around in bikini. O o' Just kidding. Sell it and buy a small house would be better idea.
Also, it's easier for rich people to actually do something about depression, because they can afford getting diagnosed and get treatment. People in less fortunately circumstances might not be able to spend money on getting something done about it, and have to take the hard route around it.
It's all too easy to pour scorn on a guy who has more money and financial security then many of us can only dream of.
We simply can't begin to understand what it must be like to be in this situation. Yes, we can all say about what we we do, etc, etc, but then that's the easy part. We can do this because we know that the odds are stacked against us and we know that its (in most part) unlikely to happen to us. But when/if it does, the realisation must be very hard hitting.
You don't have to look very far to find stories lottery winners who have struggled after scooping their big win. The list is longer than you think. Many battle with depression, and struggle with the pressure.
I agree, Justin. There's some pretty cold and ugly stuff in this thread.
I think this sums up Polycount's general forums section these days...
I have much sympathy for him and anyone else who becomes "bigger than life" in a relatively short amount of time. I don't think it's natural and I think even fewer people can handle it in the long run... mentally this must be a mind fack and utterly draining.
Hopefully he'll make time and find a solid support group to help him navigate all this.
Aside from paying someone to edit my face into Kung Fury and paying off my parents mortgage for them. There's some pretty big life questions you'd have to ask yourself in his position; when you can do anything, what do you decide to do? What Should you do? Even morally.
Could be exciting or petrifyingly paralyzing.
I compare Notch's success to winning the lottery. There's more than a few articles about the aftermath of lottery winners. One of the better quotes:
"If you're unhappy, you’re not good at managing money and you’re surrounded by people you don’t trust, a big win will probably make your problems worse. If you feel fulfilled, you are a careful financial planner and you have strong relationships in your life, a lottery win is likely to build on those strengths."
Examining Notch's life before Minecraft's success paints a pretty good picture on which category he fell under.
In the end, wealth and happiness aren't as intertwined as people want them to be.
I agree, Justin. There's some pretty cold and ugly stuff in this thread.
I kind of feel like this is the very same reason why though I'd love to someday make a hit of a game, I'd be terrified of the whole internet knowing my name.
Not to mention how impossible it would be to please people, as no matter how you'd spend your money, either on yourself, a company, or charity, someone is going to be judging you. Then again I guess that's just a part of life in the modern age.
I'd definitely would stay away from twitter though, seems to me like the root of all problems caused by the internet.
whats the fuss? he made the money, he spent it, now he 'suffers' from it and all that drama, but thats his life, yes? why he doesn't put the money to good use? well thats bloody good use to me, and if you beg to differ why can't you do the right thing only after you can make that amount of money.
However, just to remind you people, when he sold his company, the company he had founded with his friend, he took 70% of the money while leaving his friends picking up the rest..
After that, he buys a 80M house and organize parties with rich posers that probably dont give much fuck about him..
''Bou hou, I'm sad''..
He kind've deserved it in a way.
I've never head such story for exemple with Zuckerberg..
Seriously. "I don't need money, so I guess there's no point creating anymore" is not the sort of conclusion most people would reach.
I question why he even got in to game development in the first place.
If all he cared about was money, there were far more practical ways to go about it. He basically just managed to win the lottery.
look at people who win the lottery, they often end up unhappy and miserable because basic genuine human interaction becomes really difficult. family and friends around you will change and trust becomes a huge issue. if you can't see how that would affect motivation and mental health I think you have quite a naive take on things.
gaining so much wealth in such a short time basically makes you incredibly isolated which is something most people should be able to empathize with.
it feels weird to say but maybe the solution is to give away the money. I mean, keep enough that you never have to work again and give the rest to the Gates Foundation or something. Might solve some of his issues. No more hangers-on, no more people with their hands out, and he can get back to obscurity if that's what he wants ... buy a condo on a tropical island somewhere and nap in a hammock.
I'm pretty sure this is just the internet (and journalists who know better) taking a thread and pulling it into a story we can all argue about on twitter.
Notch tweeted the next day that he was having 'one bad day' and that people spun it into depression. This didn't come out in some tell all interview, this is us thinking we know intimate details of someones life because we read six tweets.
This is the fourth or so story I've read recently where one line (or sometimes less!) is spun into a story that plays on our preconceptions about whoever said it.
"lonely billionaire who has traded passion for money is left empty!"
It's just too good!
It's almost as if depression operates entirely independently of financial status.
Thats why it's not called Depression anymore. ( Cuz most people associate depression with a choice and/or being sad instead of whats is happening in a synaptic space )
Depressive mood disorder is not much better. I think a better description would be synaptic amputation and change it's designation to a physical phenomena instead of necessarily a mental one. ( what should exist in a physical space is not.. physically amputated )
With that being said it's up to a real doctor to determine who is just choosing to be a whiny bitch and who is suffering from a debilitating and sometimes chronic disease that can at it extremes require hospitalization.
Replies
Then again, to his point of "what's next", it makes it seem like he doesn't have much passion or drive for what he loves. Many people have made it big time like this and money is definitely not a stopping point to say well I've achieved all my goals, nothing left for me to do.
Clean up those tears with a couple of stacks of benjamins and start working on something new!
I question why he even got in to game development in the first place.
If all he cared about was money, there were far more practical ways to go about it. He basically just managed to win the lottery.
Didn't he own 70% of the company? It's not like he was actively working on Minecraft or left them in a bad situation, Mojang is still making so much money, $2.5 billion x 30% is still 750 million, and even if that's broken up evenly by there 10 person staff, $75 million, stupid amounts of money. Anything over $5-10 million, you can pretty much have and do anything you want, start a company, buy a mansion, retire, whatever.
Kind of reminds me of how Bruce Wayne in Tim Burton's batman first ate in the dining room on his date, but decided it was way too big and pretentious so instead ate in Alfred's quaint and comfortable room.
Honestly sounds like he just needs to get back to doing work versus being stir crazy waiting for his friends to get off of work and hangout, that or find his Pepper Potts.
Hope he enjoys his life anyways, regardless of what everyone says about the strengths of his ability as a programmer or to finish projects, he did succeed in developing an enormously successful game and thus deserves his piece of happiness.
He went from someone who says he coded and made games for the love of it, to buying an insane house in LA because thats were celbs live, moved from Sweeden and just throws these big huge partys.
He gave up what he enjoyed doing because he knows he cant out do Minecraft and thinks that now that he has money he should be partying with other rich celbs all the time because that will make him happy? No, that wont make you happy at all.
Might be fun to do once in a while, but if he really loves coding then he should be doing that. He should travel the world and meet people who dont know him as Notch, the guy who made billions off Minecraft.
Whoa, wait, THAT"S HIS HOUSE !?? Fk that. Anyone would be depressed living in that thing alone. (not that having bunch of kids around gonna make it any better, though).
I would just turn it into Penthouse or something. Then I can study anatomy all day long watching those sexy models walking around in bikini. O o' Just kidding. Sell it and buy a small house would be better idea.
Also:
"People who made sudden success are telling me this is normal and will pass. That's good to know! I guess I'll take a shower then!"
Don't let reading the article get in the way of competing for the gold medal in caring less.
https://twitter.com/notch
a hundred times that and you have 250 million
That's only 1/10 of what he has.
We simply can't begin to understand what it must be like to be in this situation. Yes, we can all say about what we we do, etc, etc, but then that's the easy part. We can do this because we know that the odds are stacked against us and we know that its (in most part) unlikely to happen to us. But when/if it does, the realisation must be very hard hitting.
You don't have to look very far to find stories lottery winners who have struggled after scooping their big win. The list is longer than you think. Many battle with depression, and struggle with the pressure.
I think this sums up Polycount's general forums section these days...
I have much sympathy for him and anyone else who becomes "bigger than life" in a relatively short amount of time. I don't think it's natural and I think even fewer people can handle it in the long run... mentally this must be a mind fack and utterly draining.
Hopefully he'll make time and find a solid support group to help him navigate all this.
Aside from paying someone to edit my face into Kung Fury and paying off my parents mortgage for them. There's some pretty big life questions you'd have to ask yourself in his position; when you can do anything, what do you decide to do? What Should you do? Even morally.
Could be exciting or petrifyingly paralyzing.
+1 waelthy investorx plez tho ;P
"If you're unhappy, you’re not good at managing money and you’re surrounded by people you don’t trust, a big win will probably make your problems worse. If you feel fulfilled, you are a careful financial planner and you have strong relationships in your life, a lottery win is likely to build on those strengths."
Examining Notch's life before Minecraft's success paints a pretty good picture on which category he fell under.
In the end, wealth and happiness aren't as intertwined as people want them to be.
Not to mention how impossible it would be to please people, as no matter how you'd spend your money, either on yourself, a company, or charity, someone is going to be judging you. Then again I guess that's just a part of life in the modern age.
I'd definitely would stay away from twitter though, seems to me like the root of all problems caused by the internet.
There's a parallel to life in there somewhere.
you say "took", well he owned 70% of the company. his co-owning friends are good for hundreds of millions after the deal.
Bringing up the house sounds a lot like envy to me.
look at people who win the lottery, they often end up unhappy and miserable because basic genuine human interaction becomes really difficult. family and friends around you will change and trust becomes a huge issue. if you can't see how that would affect motivation and mental health I think you have quite a naive take on things.
gaining so much wealth in such a short time basically makes you incredibly isolated which is something most people should be able to empathize with.
Notch tweeted the next day that he was having 'one bad day' and that people spun it into depression. This didn't come out in some tell all interview, this is us thinking we know intimate details of someones life because we read six tweets.
This is the fourth or so story I've read recently where one line (or sometimes less!) is spun into a story that plays on our preconceptions about whoever said it.
"lonely billionaire who has traded passion for money is left empty!"
It's just too good!
Thats why it's not called Depression anymore. ( Cuz most people associate depression with a choice and/or being sad instead of whats is happening in a synaptic space )
Depressive mood disorder is not much better. I think a better description would be synaptic amputation and change it's designation to a physical phenomena instead of necessarily a mental one. ( what should exist in a physical space is not.. physically amputated )
With that being said it's up to a real doctor to determine who is just choosing to be a whiny bitch and who is suffering from a debilitating and sometimes chronic disease that can at it extremes require hospitalization.