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Money isn't everything, according to Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson's "increasingly despondent" tweets:
Shortly after the sale of Minecraft's parent company, Mojang's co-founder Markus Persson had reportedly left the studio in order to pursue other projects. Naturally, before immediately moving on to another enterprise, the man more affectionately known in the gaming community as "Notch" has taken several beats to reap the benefits of his success, outbidding Beyoncé and Jay-Z on a $70 million home, and hosting lavish parties in his newly acquired mansion. However, he's also been afforded plenty of time to reflect on how far he's come, and not surprisingly, it's quite lonely at the top.
Recently, Notch took to his Twitter account to air his grievances with the current situation in which he finds himself. Although Persson's net worth currently rests at $1.33 billion as of writing, the famous game designer has confessed that such prosperity has essentially cursed him in the grand scheme of things, as he's "never felt more isolated". Apparently what John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote all those years ago is true, and it's that money can't buy love. Taking that into consideration, Notch's Tweets grow increasingly despondent, as seen below.
[Extended Copy]
The problem with getting everything is you run out of reasons to keep trying, and human interaction becomes impossible due to imbalance.— Markus Persson (@notch) August 29, 2015
Hanging out in ibiza with a bunch of friends and partying with famous people, able to do whatever I want, and I've never felt more isolated.— Markus Persson (@notch) August 29, 2015
In sweden, I will sit around and wait for my friends with jobs and families to have time to do shit, watching my reflection in the monitor.— Markus Persson (@notch) August 29, 2015
When we sold the company, the biggest effort went into making sure the employees got taken care of, and they all hate me now.— Markus Persson (@notch) August 29, 2015
Found a great girl, but she's afraid of me and my life style and went with a normal person instead.— Markus Persson (@notch) August 29, 2015
I would Musk and try to save the world, but that just exposes me to the same type of assholes that made me sell minecraft again.— Markus Persson (@notch) August 29, 2015
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Monday August 31 2015, @01:07PM
"I would Musk and try to save the world, but that just exposes me to the same type of assholes that made me sell minecraft again.— Markus Persson (@notch) August 29, 2015"
Find a goal, kid. Wallowing in self pity? FFS - approach Musk, and ask him if you can partner with him. If you don't have any goals in life, you might as well take a long walk off a short pier. If Musk won't consider a partner, even a junior partner, then just go into competition against him. Buld a better electric car, or whatever. Do SOMETHING useful!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by WillAdams on Monday August 31 2015, @01:13PM
Yeah, we need a foundation which takes the long-term view and looks at the problems of increasing automation and connectedness and social displacement and loss of family connections and uneven access to resources --- something other than the current model of using credit card debt as the new ``company store''.
I don't think it even needs to be anything as high-tech as is proposed in Marshall Brain's novella _Manna_ http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm [marshallbrain.com]
What we need are new social structures which provide the same sort of safety net as family once did.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 31 2015, @02:26PM
While the family has often provided a safety net, it has also come with a heavy cost: limiting the ability of individuals to express themselves in ways that modern society increasingly considers natural. If you choose to enter a different profession than the ones your parents dreamed of, if you are LGBT or choose a opposite-sex partners your family doesn't like, or if your religious beliefs differ from your relatives', then suddenly you might lose that safety net. And of course many families have been dysfunctional, with parents or extended family abusing or neglecting the children, and so the children never got that wonderful safety net in spite of their best efforts to please their family.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday September 01 2015, @02:52PM
Yeah, we need a foundation which takes the long-term view and looks at the problems of increasing automation and connectedness and social displacement and loss of family connections and uneven access to resources --- something other than the current model of using credit card debt as the new ``company store''.
What's a foundation going to do with credit cards that you personally can't do better?
(Score: 2, Interesting) by drgibbon on Tuesday September 01 2015, @06:07PM
Noticed the ``quotes''. It would be nice if SN parsed some basic stuff from various markup languages, LaTeX, markdown, etc instead of just HTML.
Certified Soylent Fresh!
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 31 2015, @01:27PM
Something he could also consider is volunteer work or teaching.
Just dont tell anyone who you are. Just show up and help hand out cloths or food.
It gets you out among people and gives you something to do and look forward to.
Dont go Howard Hughes.
Also dont worry about the people you used to work with hating you. Having interacted with them on other forums they are just dicks. They are extremely smart but they are just dicks.
You are finding out the hard way that having that much money is a responsibility. Good luck.
(Score: 2) by Hyperturtle on Monday August 31 2015, @10:11PM
Yes, not identifying who he is would be a great way to be able to get out there. He isn't a celebrity by looks alone, and should be able to fly out to a location for a week or more, rent modest settings, and work a soup kitchen.
He can even anonymously leave money at some other soup kitchen that he isn't going to, to draw attention away from any money going to where the new guy that showed up for a month was at.
People can correlate amazing things when it comes to identifying sources of money, so he is best to provide sweat equity if wants to remain anonymous.
But if he is lonely, maybe he doesn't want to be anonymous anyway, but just doesn't know who to trust without getting exploited.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 31 2015, @11:37PM
The obvious: he can create a new ID so that people can't just Google him. Then again, these days, Google will find a way to link his new identity to his old one ... there will be some organization out there.
There are also a lot of really cool people that do have a lot of money that own their own businesses. Sure, nothing crazy like into the billions but at least millions/tens of millions. Of course most of them are very busy running their business but they also try to balance their time with friends and family to hang out. Perhaps you can find some of them. You guys can go bowling, fishing (boring... but for some reason people like to fish), out to dinner, etc...
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday September 01 2015, @01:23PM
I can empathize with the guy. Who would want to hang out with the super rich? The vast majority of them are not self-made. They have never created anything or done anything useful in their lives. They are churlish, petty, and cruel. Everyone else who is not one of the super rich (which is virtually everyone anymore) is being crushed under the clusterfuck that is crony capitalism in the 21st century; of course they're not gonna be much fun to hang around with, especially since it's easy for them to lump you in with the super rich who are ruining their lives.
Helping others is the right impulse, but against the afore-mentioned background that can be tough to do in a way that will make them happy, and you happy. It is really harder than most people think. Even the poorest people have their pride and resent having to rely on charity. Giving them handouts is more likely to make them resent and hate you and hate their own lives more, after the 5 milliseconds of relief have evaporated. Worse yet, you might find that the person you're trying to help takes you for a mark and tries to take advantage of your guilt. You quickly reach the point of anger, despising them, and sinking into a misanthropic spiral.
The best thing is to help anonymously, in such a way that seems miraculous and that gives everyone hope for the future. That's a very specific set of circumstances, and it's hard to come by.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by MadTinfoilHatter on Monday August 31 2015, @01:51PM
Do SOMETHING useful!
You make that sound easy. The problem is that we're mortal beings living on a planet that won't last forever in a universe that is dying of entrophy. What exactly would be a useful course of action? No matter what you do, be it genocide, altruism, a brilliant carreer or wallowing in self pity, eventually it will all amount to absolutely nothing. This isn't just sophistry. This guy's crisis is clearly existential in nature. I bring this up because I went through a similar crisis myself, and the "just get on with life"-type-advice is just utterly unhelpful in such a situation, and indeed reveals a shortsightedness and lack of understanding of the deeper questions of life.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 31 2015, @02:21PM
If you didn't live in a 70 million dollar house, then you didn't go through a similar crisis.
Sorry but McCartney later remarked the song should have said "CAN buy me love" because he got incredible advantages throughout life by having money and fame.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by MadTinfoilHatter on Monday August 31 2015, @02:47PM
If you didn't live in a 70 million dollar house, then you didn't go through a similar crisis.
Oh, trust me on this one: you can have an existential crisis without gaining either fame, wealth or power. Having these things may certainly speed up the process, since actually having them will help you realize that they're don't actually possess the value that people who haven't tasted these things typically ascribe to them. The realization that triggers the crisis can certainly be had without actually experiencing these things first hand, though so they're by no means necessary.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 31 2015, @02:32PM
The problem is that we're mortal beings living on a planet that won't last forever in a universe that is dying of entrophy
If that's true that's not a problem at all, that would be great. It would only be a problem if you are an immortal being trapped in a dying universe. If you thought being mortal in this universe was a problem, then you're actually the one who is short sighted and lacks understanding. So if you're mortal, be thankful. If you're immortal, good luck, you better go figure stuff out before it's too late.
So for the mortals how important are those deeper questions of life really? Billions and billions of animals have just got on with it. If they didn't they wouldn't have been evolutionarily fit.
Most of those deep questions are good masturbation just like most other stuff we're doing. Enjoy them if you wish but they really are not that important (at least to mere mortals).
To me the real issue is not the questions etc, the real issue seems to be he's not finding joy in stuff anymore. The eat, drink, be merry with friends stuff is not working for him. Maybe it's a sign of the beginnings of depression. Or that incident with the girl was a big downer for him (and if it's just the usual, then he'll recover normally after some time, he just has to keep going on till he recovers).
(Score: 3, Insightful) by tangomargarine on Monday August 31 2015, @03:38PM
Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged. I liked how he handled the situation :)
Douglas Adams wasn't just about the entertainment.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday August 31 2015, @02:55PM
Sophistry? Sounds more like nihilism to me. Not that there's a lot of difference.
Maybe he should go to Tibet, and take up residence in one of their famous monasteries.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Monday August 31 2015, @08:07PM
I expect nihilism, ennui, and boredom will eventually be a big issue for all of humanity-- if we survive the huge challenges, many self-made, that we're currently facing. Right now, thanks to those challenges, it's pretty exciting to be alive. What are these challenges? Perhaps Greed is the root problem. Seems everyone wants more, more, and we seem unable to exercise much restraint. Lot of people seem perfectly willing to damn the environment, full speed ahead with suburban sprawl, power guzzling conveniences, and making more babies. Keeping up with the Joneses, coveting thy neighbor's goods is a favorite game. The Earth can look after itself, and only pansies and wimps worry otherwise.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday August 31 2015, @10:02PM
Perhaps Greed is the root problem.
I think it's ignorance.
Lot of people seem perfectly willing to damn the environment, full speed ahead with suburban sprawl, power guzzling conveniences, and making more babies.
You ought to pay attention to who is making more babies. It isn't the people with the power guzzling conveniences or the suburban sprawl.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Tuesday September 01 2015, @10:13AM
Making more babies seems to correlate with patriarchal society, in both rich and poor nations. The Duggars are an example of this. Others are the Quiverfull movement, and the Mormons and Islamic groups who practice polygamy. Afghanistan and Rwanda show where that thinking leads. Can there be too many children? Of course! What happens then? Life becomes cheap. In Afghanistan, women average 8 children each. Half the children don't make it to adulthood, dying of malnutrition, disease, or accidents, or caught in the crossfire of wars. That still leaves too many, and the young adults then face the problem of there being no place for them. Not enough land, not enough jobs. They have only a choice of evils: fight, or starve. The fighting never ends. It continues until the population has been beat back down to a sustainable level, which can be never so long as attitudes do not change. Many Afghans accept that's just the way life is, don't see that it doesn't have to be that way.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by kurenai.tsubasa on Monday August 31 2015, @08:56PM
Seconded.
This guy sounds like he needs to work on detachment from the material world and do some meditation on the nature of impermanence. Badly. Even better, since he seems to support Doctors without Borders, an alternative might be to do some volunteering for Engineers without Borders (donating optional). The hope is actually getting on the ground and helping out communities that don't even have basic sanitation would go a long way towards bringing this guy some perspective.
(15 bathrooms in that mansion to 8 bedrooms—WTF? Is that normal for mansions?)
(Score: 5, Insightful) by ilPapa on Monday August 31 2015, @03:10PM
That's easy. A useful course of action is STOP THINKING ABOUT YOURSELF. Be decent to other people, find out what they're interested in, what they need and how you can help.
It doesn't matter that after the universe dies of entropy it will amount to nothing. It will amount to something now. And it will keep you from being miserable.
It all starts with not making yourself the center of your universe. And don't just write a check, but actually go do something for someone. I don't care if it's just walking over to a neighbor and say hello. Just make sure you listen to what they have to say.
There are a million things that you can do right now, today, to make yourself less lonely and less unhappy. Even if at first you have to pretend to care about other people, eventually you'll get the hang of it and you will actually care, unless you are a true sociopath, in which case I am unqualified to help you.
This really is not "just get on with it" advice, and I hope you understand that. It's a very specific prescription for happiness.
You are still welcome on my lawn.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 31 2015, @09:19PM
This is foolishness... "do for others"... bah!
What he needs to do is do for himself.
He needs to leave egalitarian Sweden where people look at him with suspicion for being rich, and also not bother with the US where people only like him for his money and would otherwise consider him a 'fedora-wearing neck-beard'. And look for something new. He needs to search for happiness if he wants it and doesn't have it.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by inertnet on Monday August 31 2015, @08:18PM
The problem is that we're mortal beings living on a planet that won't last forever in a universe that is dying of entrophy.
Well, yes but maybe there's a way out. I've recently developed a new (?) theory why we haven't contacted any aliens yet. Many theories come to the conclusion that our galaxy should have been colonized by now, but we can't find any evidence of that. So I thought, what if sufficiently advanced races eventually all either die off, or develop the 'magic' that enables them to escape from this universe to one that is more stable? For them there's no more point in exploring this universe, all efforts would be spent in order to leave this place for good. With this theory it's perfectly understandable why we can't find anyone out there.
On the subject, most people are struggling most of their lives, thinking unlimited money would solve all of their problems. So it's hard to empathize with rich people that are unhappy. I hope to be able to know how it feels to be rich someday, only without becoming a public figure. I'll let y'all know how that turns out.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 31 2015, @02:29PM
That he is lonely shows that he is weak-minded. You should not need much interaction with others to be happy. And just because you have enough money to retire, that does not mean you must do nothing. I would suggest developing Free Software, but Minecraft's coding work was atrocious; what saved it was its gameplay.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Thexalon on Monday August 31 2015, @02:37PM
The people he really needs to be talking to, if he isn't: Bill Gates, Elon Musk, or Steve Wozniak. Seriously, put down the Twitter, man, and ring up people who found themselves in a situation very similar if not identical to yours. My suspicion is that if you called up and offered to help any of those guys with their projects, they'd be happy to share some time and advice.
What's also true, though, is that very few who were single and friendless before striking it rich find themselves happily married afterwords. That has a lot to do with the constant tension of "Is she digging me, or is she digging my wallet?" and the constant threat of divorce = wealth cut in half. That means his dating pool needs to consist of women who are already rich (and thus aren't after his money) or women who were part of his social circle before he was rich (if they exist).
The issue that nearly all really rich people run into is that nearly everybody who they meet is looking to get their hands on some of that wealth, and so rich people feel (very justifiably) that they can't really trust anybody. Sometimes even family members: more than a few athletes and child stars have been ripped off by their own parents.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by AnonTechie on Monday August 31 2015, @02:43PM
Pick up a hobby, like Amateur Radio, Amateur Astronomy, both of which can keep him in touch with like minded geeks and can keep him occupied for hours. Reading is another great hobby to reduce boredom. Has he considered volunteering at a third world NGO and trying to make a real difference either in Africa or Asia ?
“You're never alone when you're reading a book.” ― Susan Wiggs
Albert Einstein - "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 31 2015, @03:07PM
The guy is looking at things the wrong way. He's thinking, "what should a fairly young person with over $1 billion be doing with his life?" He should be thinking, what should I be doing with my life, BTW I have over $1 billion in assets which may or may not figure in the solution.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Anne Nonymous on Monday August 31 2015, @06:00PM
2,000 chicks at the same time?
(Score: 2) by TheGratefulNet on Monday August 31 2015, @07:05PM
does not sound pleasant being *cooped up* with that many chicks!
oblig: ..."damn, it feels good to be a gansta!"
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
(Score: 2) by Mr Big in the Pants on Monday August 31 2015, @10:27PM
"Wallowing in self pity? "
You are being overly harsh. (its the internet so its expected though) He is having a existential crisis because there is a massive gap between how he thinks he should be now he "made it" and where he is.
This happens to people of all walks of life.
Sounds a lot like he has been on autopilot for too long and thus getting dragged along in the wake of his success and that of those around him. Too many choices overall and many of the choices being made for you or not thought about enough. Losing contact with real people and good friends to keep you stable cannot be helping either.
Strangely your suggestion seems to be a good one although only one part of a whole solution. Goal setting is very important but you first have to work out how to work out the best goals - it's harder than you think.
For example finding and working on yourself and becoming the person you want to be also: if you have not achieved this then how the hell are you suppose to work out what you want and thus what goal you should set!?
For example, his girl left him because of fear of him and his lifestyle....no, that would just be fear of him. His lifestyle is actually something HE chose.
Meh. Most people on the web will just consider this touchy feely nonsense in their scramble to appear the most machoist man they can be.
Those people are knuckle-dragging morons. :)