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Last week I visited my family in Michigan. I was leaning against the doorway of my little brother’s bedroom as he enthusiastically showed me a game he found. He clicked on the minecraft shortcut and upon its loading I innocently asked what it was, to which he replied, “Minecraft. Notch made it. He’s the best game-maker of all time, and he talks funny.” Growing up I played a lot of videogames, but never once did I even think about the person who made the game, and yet here is this child who couldn’t wait to tell me all about Notch. And so began my quest to find just how much “Notch” influenced Minecraft.
Firstly, Markus Persson was born in Sweden in 1979 (If you’re lazy that’s would make him 32 now). When Markus was eight years old he wasn’t outside eating worms but rather developing his first video game. If you’re a parent and you still think your child is gifted, but he hasn’t yet developed a video game, I’ve heard playing him some Mozart can help. Luckily for all of us Markus did not burn out like a childhood star, and he continued to work with video games. He worked for King.com for four years, founded Wurm.com, and also spent some time as a programmer for Jalbum. Now that’s all nice and dandy, but what every one of us knows him for is Minecraft and the founding of Mojang. With his Minecraft startup he began publicly using the alias Notch. I’m not sure how much of Notch’s persona is deliberate, but I do know how much of it the gaming world loves: all of it. He’s funny, charming, he has an awesome accent (maybe it’s just me and my brother who like it, but whatever), and he loves to wear that awesome hat. His twitter, http://twitter.com/#!/notch,is a constant community- favorite spot for Minecraft news and for fan boys like me to get their daily Notch fix. The community loves Notch so much there’s even an independent movie in development entitled “Minecraft: the Story of Mojang”. Recently Notch announced Mojang’s next project: Scrolls, which takes elements from board games and collectible card games. Unfortunately he ran into some trouble with this one. A law firm representing Bethesda studios filed a suit against Mojang claiming their name Scrolls conflicted with the copyrighted “The Elder Scrolls”. Notch did not disappoint, however. He did exactly what anyone of us would have done in that situation: challenge Bethesda to a Quake 3 tournament to determine the outcome of the case.
Minecraft? Oh that old thing…Eh.
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So Notch is a great guy, but just how is he an indie phenomenon you ask? An incredibly anticipated game and part of a beloved franchise, The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, developed by Bethesda game studios, (their game developers don’t have anything to do with Bethesda’s legal actions, so don’t grab your pitchfork yet) is set to release this November. The lead developer for Skyrim is a guy named Craig Lafferty. By the time you finish this article you won’t remember his name, and if you do, it’s because you’re a competitive douche. Craig is not an exception, the majority of lead developers or even solo developers like Notch don’t get widespread recognition. Notch is completely unique in this sense. No matter how popular the title, no developer is better known than him, and until Minecraft, there was no reason for this to be addressed at all. But Notch has shown that this recognition can boost your game and your studio into unparalleled levels of audience adoration. The Minecraft community has a person to love, not just a studio. When the community doesn’t like something they attribute it to Notch, not Mojang. When the community loves something they attribute it to Notch, not Mojang. This sense of “it’s Notch’s game” gives Minecraft a sort of small-town feel. No one likes knowing their complaint is falling upon def ears, which is why they enjoy complaining to Notch. But, on the same token, minecraft criticism comes in a much more constructive package than that of other games, because really man, who wants to yell “your game sucks!” at Notch?
Oh? Let me just tell my friends you said that
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I attribute the fantastic community around minecraft to Notch and his position as a figurehead. He gives all those pig-slaughtering, dungeon-plundering mining fanatics someone to thank. So I’ll be the first to say thank you, Notch, for taking away all of my free time, and being the best game-maker ever. Oh and one question, who’s the lead developer for Skyrim? … Douche.