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

[Bobic]

This is the problem with internet polls, the typical nerdy denizens of the internet get way too much sway due to us all outweighing other groups. So you get Notch as the number 2 most influential person of the year, and EA as the worst company of the year, despite both being massively outdone by other, non-gaming/nerd, contenders. (and also, you get Kim Jong Un up there, which is most likely a troll vote, though he could be counted as having a negative influence on the world, if that counts)

 

[Albino Boo]

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/

Bill Gates has given $28 billion to charity and built a multibillion dollar company from nothing and developed the worlds most commonly used gaming operating system. He isn't even in the top 10. Notch is small fry.

 

[Woodsey]

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.

Yep, because people have never pissed about with their choices in these polls before.

 

[Vhite]

Wow, some gamers need to get their priorities right. Even when it comes to gaming he isn't all that good or important.

 

[Squidbulb]

I'd say he's definitely influential, but the most influential person in the world? Hell no.

 

[Piorn]

Notch? Hm, ok.
What is he doing these days, anyways?
His firefly game is going nowhere and his friend has taken over Minecraft developement, right?
Is this a joke? Am I missing the joke here?

 

[DeadlyYellow]

That guy is still relevant? I haven't really seen anything about him since 2011.

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

I'm a bit disappointed at the the lack vote-fucking this year.

Last year was so much fun...

[image/]http://cdn.ph.upi.com/sv/i/UPI-1051355177328/2012/1/13551786958173/Hackers-spell-out-KJU-GAS-CHAMBERS-in-Times-Person-of-the-Year-poll.jpg[/IMG]

 

[Deathfish15]

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/

Bill Gates has given $28 billion to charity and built a multibillion dollar company from nothing and developed the worlds most commonly used gaming operating system. He isn't even in the top 10. Notch is small fry.

100 most influential this past year. Bill gates made Windows decades ago, gave money away years ago. He's not in the top 10 because he also retired nearly 1/2 a decade ago too. Notch went from nothing, programmed a sandbox video game in a basement, and sold it to become the most popular sandbox game in over a decade. All that by himself. Then he takes his riches and uses them to invest in other indie companies, to help out charities related to impoverished countries, and to expand to other cheap video games.

 

[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.

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.

The point I was making is that Notch has made multiple slip ups regarding his attitude. Another example was him criticizing Valve for the cut that they take from sales. Which is ironic considering the XBLA is notorious for raping the wallets of indie developers and Notch decided paying MS thousands of dollars to a) register Minecraft on the XBLA and b)patch the game.

There are a bunch of hypocritical things like that which Notch has done. Don't get me wrong, Notch has done amazing things for gaming, but in some aspects what he's done is overrated and people look at him through rose tinted glasses every time legitimate criticisms come up. Like I said before, as it goes for influence in the world, Notch's placement on this list shows how internet polls are frankly invalid.

For example, in my town there was an internet poll discussing what the new high school should be named. The highest voted option was to name the school after Malala Yousafzai.(This poll was started shortly after she was shot. The thing is, while what Yousafzai has done is noble and great, there were more votes on this poll than there are people in my town. By a lot. Every other option was a person from our town that are a part of its history.

Internet polls are to be taking with a grain of salt unless its a website like this with a more tight knit community.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

100 most influential this past year. Bill gates made Windows decades ago, gave money away years ago. He's not in the top 10 because he also retired nearly 1/2 a decade ago too. Notch went from nothing, programmed a sandbox video game in a basement, and sold it to become the most popular sandbox game in over a decade. All that by himself. Then he takes his riches and uses them to invest in other indie companies, to help out charities related to impoverished countries, and to expand to other cheap video games.

You do realize that while Notch started from nothing, so did Bill Gates. In very much the same manner as Notch, Bill Gates influenced the modern computer to this day. These days Biil Gates is kind of busy trying to end malaria. And If you'tr going to use the argument that Bill Gates retired nearly 5 years ago, I can bring up the fact that since Minecraft Notch really hasn't done much with Mojang. Scrolls isn't the most appealing game barring the Bethesda lawsuit. And 0x10c has no details are progress shown and was announced a year ago. If anything Mojang's biggest influence has been the alpha funding movement that is going on, but in that respect, Kickstarter was around much longer than Mojang and one could argue that Tim Schafer's success with funding a game on it was what gave the movement its major boost. And by that logic, the owners of Kickstarter should be known as the most influential people of this year rather than Notch.

 

[kouriichi]

People forget all the good Notch has done for us! Because nothing is as important to our society as a child's/manchild's smile.

 

[Alssadar]

When I saw this on the Minecraft Facebook page, I automatically didn't want to vote for Notch.
I mean, sure, he created a game based off the creative principles of giving a man the tools needed to create great works of beauty. It's a fun game, and I enjoy building things. It embraces the childlike concepts of making things without a care for reality or the physics involved--I just want to make an entire castle in a video game.
But that's what it is. A game. It's influential, yes, but, in the end, there are stronger things that other people have done to be listed in the ranks.
There are many more scientists and good natured Samaritans out there who would be a bit more deserving of such a prestigious award.

 

[Atmos Duality]

The joys of open polls and the internet.
That list is chuck full of the lulz.

People forget all the good Notch has done for us! Because nothing is as important to our society as a child's/manchild's smile.

Actually, he's done precisely nothing for me.
I dunno, maybe I'm just not part of this imaginary club you seem to be lumping everyone into just you can shame them.

 

[MrHide-Patten]

Really, I suppose if me wanting to be sucessful enough that I can kick him in the nads and he'll say "please sir may I have another?" is influential, then sure. But that aside being able to create giant gold penis's with virtual lego blows some peoples minds.

 

[Evil Smurf]

Minecraft, makes you wonder why there is no underwear line yet.

Pretty good work to be given such a title, but I think we all know who number 1 is...

Yes!

I'm Evil Smurf and I endorse this message

 

[Denamic]

The point I was making is that Notch has made multiple slip ups regarding his attitude. Another example was him criticizing Valve for the cut that they take from sales. Which is ironic considering the XBLA is notorious for raping the wallets of indie developers and Notch decided paying MS thousands of dollars to a) register Minecraft on the XBLA and b)patch the game.

You're not forced to use steam on the PC. Notch has also praised Steam for what it's done, and how useful it is for indie devs. But when releasing for the 360, it's not like you have much choice but use live. Steam is great for indie devs, letting their product get some spotlight without bankrupting them. But Minecraft doesn't need steam. They have their own publicity, and their own release platform that they can use without any kind of third party verification processes, and no one else telling them what they can and can't do. Why add something they don't need?

There are a bunch of hypocritical things like that which Notch has done. Don't get me wrong, Notch has done amazing things for gaming, but in some aspects what he's done is overrated and people look at him through rose tinted glasses every time legitimate criticisms come up. Like I said before, as it goes for influence in the world, Notch's placement on this list shows how internet polls are frankly invalid.

You imply that he's done a lot of hypocritical things, yet the example you gave wasn't very good. Why not just go for the best example, or was that it? You say people look at him through rose tinted glasses. I say a lot of people try really hard to hate him.

For example, in my town there was an internet poll discussing what the new high school should be named. The highest voted option was to name the school after Malala Yousafzai.(This poll was started shortly after she was shot. The thing is, while what Yousafzai has done is noble and great, there were more votes on this poll than there are people in my town. By a lot. Every other option was a person from our town that are a part of its history.

Internet polls are to be taking with a grain of salt unless its a website like this with a more tight knit community.

Did I not just say any large mass of people is stupid?

 

[Frotality]

i think mayhap gamers are too numerous to be having such skewed priorities... while im right there with the rest of them arguing for hours on end over the evils of EA and the horrible failures of our once beloved bioware, this is all kind of a different ballpark compared to say, bankrupting a country or declaring war on one. if notch can successfully detter north korea from war, than i suppose he should be ranked as more influential, but as it stands... no.

 

[kouriichi]

The joys of open polls and the internet.
That list is chuck full of the lulz.

People forget all the good Notch has done for us! Because nothing is as important to our society as a child's/manchild's smile.

Actually, he's done precisely nothing for me.
I dunno, maybe I'm just not part of this imaginary club you seem to be lumping everyone into just you can shame them.

The same can be said for the majority of the people on the list.

To be honest, 1/3rd of these people dont "deserve" to be on the list if you want to go by the way people are looking at it. OH NO! Notch is on the list! So is Jackie Chan, Pussy Riot, Paula Deen, Jay-Z. To be honest, i dont recognize more than half the names on the list, and im more than sure they've done less for ME than Notch.

Apparently Emad Burnat made a documentary that ive never heard of. He was nominated for something, but didn't win it. And then theres Li Na. Apparently a famous tennis star. Never seen or heard of her.

This whole list is bupkis, which is why i dont see why people are complaining about Notch being at the top. Hes got alot of fans. So does Psy, a man famous for nothing but a catchy song most people probably can't even sing/understand.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I'm sorry, I know Notch is cool and all and everyone loves Minecraft, but that's just sad.