Notch Voted as TIME's Second Most Influential Person in the World

[Cognimancer]

Notch Voted as TIME's Second Most Influential Person in the World

Apparently, making a game about blocks makes you more important than most world leaders.

The TIME 100 poll is the world's High Scores chart. Anyone can cast their vote for world leaders, artists, and other iconic individuals to determine the most influential people around the globe. Amid the politicians and music stars is a name that's very familiar to gamers: Markus Persson, creator of craft-em-up indie success Minecraft and better known by his alias Notch, is ranked pretty high on the 2013 poll. Incredibly high, actually - with the poll coming to a close, Notch has been voted as the 2nd most influential person in the world.

The only person with more votes than Notch is Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, who holds the #1 spot. Notch is ranked higher than many, many notable individuals, including Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom (ranked 3rd), North Korea's aggressive "Supreme Leader" Kim Jong Un (ranked 6th), K-pop sensation Psy (ranked 7th), US president Barack Obama (ranked 12th), and the newly elected Pope Francis (ranked 22nd). Notably, Kim Dotcom is encouraging followers to vote for Notch over himself [https://twitter.com/KimDotcom/status/322635626950307840], tweeting that Notch "deserves to win." No other game developers are on the list.

Notch is certainly deserving of recognition, as far as game developers go. Minecraft recently broke 10 million sales [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/123100-Minecraft-Sells-10-Million-Copies-Teases-Horses-in-Update] between PC and Mac, plus more sales from the Xbox Live version and the mobile Pocket Edition. The game has been used as an educational device in classrooms, as part of UN projects, and as an artistic medium for countless recreations of iconic locations. Notch himself received a Special Award at last year's BAFTAs for his contribution to the games industry. I don't know how to rate him against the leader of a country, but he's definitely an accomplished game designer.

The poll officially closes later today, so you can still jump in and throw a few votes his way [http://time100.time.com/2013/03/28/time-100-poll/slide/the-results/] if you like. The final list will be chosen by the TIME editors and revealed on April 18.

Source: TIME 100 [http://time100.time.com/2013/03/28/time-100-poll/slide/the-results/]

Permalink

 

[Legion]

It says a lot about what most of us think about politicians if we vote an indie developer that high.

Then again, number one is the Egyptian President, so perhaps that ought to be a clue that we shouldn't take this seriously.

 

[Aglynugga]

Completely undeserved. Amazing how unrealistic gamers have become. 2cnd most influential person in the world for creating alongside a small development team a sandbox with a toolkit. Wow.

 

[Mufujumon]

Remember people, this is influential people, which is not the same as important people. Notch has had an undeniable impact on the entertainment industry, especially the indie scene, and entertainment arguably affects more people on a personal level than any other medium. Add to that his product is available on console, mobile, PC, and Mac, and worldwide... Yeah, he's got reach.

 

[Denamic]

Queue unreasonable hatred for Notch.
For some reason, the man is a fury magnet. He's like one of the nicest guys in the industry, yet people are adamant about just raging about him as hard as possible. He used his money to create a game studio and moved on to a new project while still having Minecraft worked on by an entire team? WHAT A DOUCHEBAG! He he declined to pay more money than he had to fund Psychonauts 2? ASSHOLE! He got voted as 2nd most influential person on TIME by people that have nothing to to with him? THE NERVE!

 

[synobal]

Cripes, this is silly. The guy makes a videogame, other than that I dunno. I guess he has a lot of fans but is he really more influential than oh I dunno anyone with a lot of money? Hell I think Kim Kardashian is likely more influential than him. I don't even like writing that.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well it's completely understandable, who do you think has time to chime in on all internet polls... nerds.

 

[SecondPrize]

I'm not sure how the "should they be on the list?" bit works. I'll assume it's in there because of our groruius reader's victory last year. Can Morsi get booted for being a bit less enthusiastic about democracy in practice then many Egyptians would like and getting all those no votes?

 

[Whoatemysupper]

Well, I like Notch but, this seems a tad excessive. Really? Number two?

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

Queue unreasonable hatred for Notch.
For some reason, the man is a fury magnet. He's like one of the nicest guys in the industry, yet people are adamant about just raging about him as hard as possible. He used his money to create a game studio and moved on to a new project while still having Minecraft worked on by an entire team? WHAT A DOUCHEBAG! He he declined to pay more money than he had to fund Psychonauts 2? ASSHOLE! He got voted as 2nd most influential person on TIME by people that have nothing to to with him? THE NERVE!

Well there was the Minecon incident where he completely threw the Yogscast guys under the bus. He got mad at them for their presentation involving cursing. The presentation was pre-approved by Notch though. Swearing included. Apparently Notch was cursing it up as well, and has been known to do so. But after a few complaints, presumably from parents as Minecraft does have a large youth community, Notch got on Twitter and spouted out unprofessional bashing. He also spouted out unconfirmed examples of things the Yogscast said. This was all before going to the Yogscast about it at all.

Then their got hacked by Minecraft fans later that day. He later apologized for acting like a dick to the Yogscast and Mojang said that they would no longer publicly express any difficulties with issues like that in the future. And this isn't the only time that Notch has come out looking like a jerk. I'm not saying that he isn't influential or important for gaming, but you're painting a pretty rosy picture of the guy and that's not the case all the time with Notch.



OP: I always have a problem with internet pools like this because it automatically assumes that the voters are informed enough about the 100+ candidates. People who don't game are still the majority and while have heard of Minecraft, are definitely not influenced by it.

And while Minecraft is the forerunner of the current indie movement (something that Jonothan Blow probably hates) the community shaped what Minecraft became more that Notch ever could. Notch's final idea for Minecraft's main mode of play was a poor adventure game that could be beaten relatively quickly. The vast majority of Minecraft players don't even bother with that mode.

Regardless I personally think that the votes for this list were based purely on numbers of people voting on what names the recognized on the list. I'd say that Notch would make a good candidate for the gaming world's most influential person today. Outside gaming, non-gamers probably couldn't even name Notch or Mojang.

 

[Albino Boo]

Queue unreasonable hatred for Notch.
For some reason, the man is a fury magnet. He's like one of the nicest guys in the industry, yet people are adamant about just raging about him as hard as possible. He used his money to create a game studio and moved on to a new project while still having Minecraft worked on by an entire team? WHAT A DOUCHEBAG! He he declined to pay more money than he had to fund Psychonauts 2? ASSHOLE! He got voted as 2nd most influential person on TIME by people that have nothing to to with him? THE NERVE!

He may or may not be a nice guy but as someone who produced 1 successful indie game he isn't even the most influential person in the gaming industry let alone the world. Of the 7 billion people in world, just how many people do you think have even heard of him? I don't hate Notch but he just isn't that influential.

 

[IllumInaTIma]

I actually love the idea that person from game industry is included in that list, but that begs another question... why Notch? Sure, Minecraft is aaaaamazing game and ultimate creativity tool, but, hell, what about Gabe and Valve who revolutionized interactive storytelling and digital distribution market? What about Miyamoto? Hell, how about including guys from Yager?! Their Spec Ops is, at the very least, closer to 2013 than Minecraft is.

 

[Covarr]

I would've agreed with this a few years ago, but not for this past year. He hasn't been active on Minecraft development (right now it's mostly jeb and dinnerbone), and none of his other notable projects (Scrolls, 0x10c) are out yet. John Riccitiello, much as I can't stand him, has been far more influential recently.

P.S. Thanks

 

[Zombie_Moogle]

I actually love the idea that person from game industry is included in that list, but that begs another question... why Notch? Sure, Minecraft is aaaaamazing game and ultimate creativity tool, but, hell, what about Gabe and Valve who revolutionized interactive storytelling and digital distribution market? What about Miyamoto? Hell, how about including guys from Yager?! Their Spec Ops is, at the very least, closer to 2013 than Minecraft is.

Arguably, Notch really turned the tide on the prevalence & success of the indie market. After Minecraft exploded onto the scene, every other indie dev got more attention & sales. AAA publishers can't keep their profits up, but now a guy in his basement can do better

P.S.: Props to Kim Dotcom for backing Notch over himself. My opinion of him personally has shifted a bit

 

[IllumInaTIma]

I actually love the idea that person from game industry is included in that list, but that begs another question... why Notch? Sure, Minecraft is aaaaamazing game and ultimate creativity tool, but, hell, what about Gabe and Valve who revolutionized interactive storytelling and digital distribution market? What about Miyamoto? Hell, how about including guys from Yager?! Their Spec Ops is, at the very least, closer to 2013 than Minecraft is.

Arguably, Notch really turned the tide on the prevalence & success of the indie market. After Minecraft exploded onto the scene, every other indie dev got more attention & sales. AAA publishers can't keep their profits up, but now a guy in his basement can do better

P.S.: Props to Kim Dotcom for backing Notch over himself. My opinion of him personally has shifted a bit

I agree on that, still, I think that there are much more influential people in our industry who are not even included in that list.

 

[Deathfish15]

Completely undeserved. Amazing how unrealistic gamers have become. 2cnd most influential person in the world for creating alongside a small development team a sandbox with a toolkit. Wow.

He created Minecraft by himself as a 1-man team. Later after selling, and pre-selling, so many copies he was able to hire on a staff that helped expand the game's content, put a team on Scrolls, and start up the 0x10c project that he's currently developing. But, the original product -in a fully playable version- was created by just him during 99% of it's Beta prior to "actual release". May want to get educated on the subject you complain about prior to complaining about it.

Queue unreasonable hatred for Notch.
For some reason, the man is a fury magnet. He's like one of the nicest guys in the industry, yet people are adamant about just raging about him as hard as possible. He used his money to create a game studio and moved on to a new project while still having Minecraft worked on by an entire team? WHAT A DOUCHEBAG! He he declined to pay more money than he had to fund Psychonauts 2? ASSHOLE! He got voted as 2nd most influential person on TIME by people that have nothing to to with him? THE NERVE!

He may or may not be a nice guy but as someone who produced 1 successful indie game he isn't even the most influential person in the gaming industry let alone the world. Of the 7 billion people in world, just how many people do you think have even heard of him? I don't hate Notch but he just isn't that influential.

He produced one HUGE "indie game" by himself that sold better than many AAA title games: 10+ million copies+ on the PC/Mac platforms alone. He has also started creation of two new games (Scrolls and 0x10c), while helping fund and publish another company's indie game (Cobalt).




For those who are ignorant on the subject.....


HERE's HUMANITARIAN EFFORTS BY NOTCH:
In September of 2012, Mojang began a partnership with United Nations Human Settlements Programme called "Block by Block", which entails having Minecraft players constructing sites in-game to use as a basis for assisted development of the village of Kibera in the Nairobi area of Kenya
Source: http://mojang.com/2012/09/mojang-and-un-presents-block-by-block/



There's also the situation where he basically told the lawyers of Bethesda's parent company to "f-off" when they sued about the title Scrolls, claiming that video game players would related it too closely with The Elder Scrolls titles. They settled last March with Notch keeping the game's name in tact, but not trademarking it.

 

[Denamic]

Queue unreasonable hatred for Notch.
For some reason, the man is a fury magnet. He's like one of the nicest guys in the industry, yet people are adamant about just raging about him as hard as possible. He used his money to create a game studio and moved on to a new project while still having Minecraft worked on by an entire team? WHAT A DOUCHEBAG! He he declined to pay more money than he had to fund Psychonauts 2? ASSHOLE! He got voted as 2nd most influential person on TIME by people that have nothing to to with him? THE NERVE!

Well there was the Minecon incident where he completely threw the Yogscast guys under the bus. He got mad at them for their presentation involving cursing. The presentation was pre-approved by Notch though. Swearing included. Apparently Notch was cursing it up as well, and has been known to do so. But after a few complaints, presumably from parents as Minecraft does have a large youth community, Notch got on Twitter and spouted out unprofessional bashing. He also spouted out unconfirmed examples of things the Yogscast said. This was all before going to the Yogscast about it at all.

Then their got hacked by Minecraft fans later that day. He later apologized for acting like a dick to the Yogscast and Mojang said that they would no longer publicly express any difficulties with issues like that in the future. And this isn't the only time that Notch has come out looking like a jerk. I'm not saying that he isn't influential or important for gaming, but you're painting a pretty rosy picture of the guy and that's not the case all the time with Notch.

Yeah, he did slip up there. But it wasn't and entirely one-sided thing either, as the Yogscast guys really were being very obnoxious, on top of Notch misunderstanding some of the comments made. We've all been angry and said things we shouldn't have. And like you said, he did apologize about it.

Also, the Yogscast fans struck first, stirring up a massive shitstorm, which prompted the Minecraft fans to retaliate. Though what the hordes of fans do isn't very relevant to anything, as every large mass of people is tremendously stupid.

 

[Therumancer]

Hmmm, well it seems like it might be a troll attempt. Look at the first letter of the names of the winners and read downwards again when it's finished. See if it spells something like "Also Marblecake"... a referance to a famous loading of the poll. Marblecake being the "code word" being used by people like channers to hide porn in Youtube at one time.

This poll is also used to generate some international feelgood points nowadays. If it was accurate chances are you'd probably see a bunch of American and Chinese leaders filling out every spot and most of the world would be going "WTF, who the heck are some of these guys" since at the end of the day the world is pretty much run by the US and China with everyone else somewhere in the middle. Most "influential" people international being that way largely because of their abillity to influance or appeal to US or Chinese policy. A bunch of global celebrities, and a scattershot of world leaders making an apperance makes people in Time's international polls feel more relevent and wanted, and makes the everyman feel more relevent when they see the name of someone they like showing up.

That said I suppose as far as such things go "Notch" makes a degree of sense, more so than some other people on the list, his game is pretty much a global success, and is also a tool of artistic expression. There have been a few arguemens over the years as to whether someone like Minecraft can be considered an "artistic medium" much like painting, sculpture, or whatever else given some of the things people have done with it. For people to entertain even that unlikely possibility your talking about something really incredible. Minecraft has kind of gone beyond "just" being an indie game as ironic as that happens to be. Notch himself created and controls a work which is highly influential and in the homes of crazy numbers of people.

At any rate, when the poll is done take a look at it and see if there is a cipher involved. There may or may not be one, but when the Egyptian President is considered "influential" given the state of things in his country, and Kim Jong Un makes the list when he's arguably influential only as the punchline of a few jokes, it makes me suspicious. I can't figure out anything with the letters I've seen so far (and it could be more than just the first letter of the names if they don't want Time to catch it...) but I'm half expecting the concealed message "Pedobear wins!" or something like that to show up when all is said and done.