{"id":637,"date":"2014-09-16T13:59:36","date_gmt":"2014-09-16T13:59:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.horsetailnebula.com\/?p=637"},"modified":"2014-09-16T13:59:36","modified_gmt":"2014-09-16T13:59:36","slug":"notch-and-the-saber-toothed-tiger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.horsetailnebula.com\/?p=637","title":{"rendered":"Notch and the Saber Toothed Tiger"},"content":{"rendered":"

What if you bought a tiny, adorable kitten<\/p>\n

\"Young_Maine_Coon_in_paper_bag<\/a><\/p>\n

And it grew and grew, getting harder and harder to handle, adding more and more stress to your life…<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Saber<\/a><\/p>\n

…and finally it started to attack you?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Saber<\/a><\/p>\n

What would you do? I know in that situation I would\u00a0 research the options, and then (sadly) turn the creature over to an organization that was able to handle it. Maybe a zoo or a museum.<\/p>\n

After hearing the news yesterday about Notch selling Mojang to Microsoft, I was very upset — and as I often do when I’m upset, I stayed up late\u00a0 reading about it. I’m sure that I still don’t understand the story very well, but I certainly feel differently than I did when I first got the news.<\/p>\n

One of the things I read was Notch’s statement here<\/p>\n

http:\/\/notch.net\/<\/a><\/p>\n

It’s worth reading in its entirety. My heart went out to him. Notch’s statement concludes “It’s not about the money. It’s about my sanity”.<\/p>\n

One of the things Notch mentions that influenced his decision was the following video. It tells the story of another game designer, Phil Fish. The video talks about how, although Fish was sort of a mixed bag as a person (and who of us isn’t?), the internet attacked him, chewed him up and spit him out in little pieces. It turned him into a symbol, then attacked the symbol.<\/p>\n

This video is a sad but fascinating commentary on internet culture. I can see why Notch was moved by it. It also makes me hope that I never, never, never achieve internet fame.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n