Why do people hate Mojang?

[Continuity]

I don't hate mojang, not in the slightest, i'm ambivalent actually having not played minecraft. However I find it hard to accept that the gaming community thinks mojang is the best developer, a stand out developer certainly, and innovative and surprise success developer jep... but best over all?

 

[Grickit]

I love the prevalent logic that "Minecraft is winning because of all its fanboys" and therefore its victory is undeserved. Is there a place where such convoluted deductive reasoning is taught?

1. So we've got this internet poll where developers are voted on.
2. The more fans a developer has the more votes they get.
3. At the end, the developer with the most votes wins.
4. Minecraft has lots of fans - "fanboys" if you're really angry and want to insult them, but can't think of anything better to say.
5. Minecraft gets lots of votes.
6. Minecraft doesn't deserve to win because they have too many fans.

lulwot?


The people who hate Mojang are - as shown by the very March Mayhem threads wherein their spew their anger - just a vocal minority. Ignore them.

It's never about the trackrecord of a company, it's about what they did recently that defines how votes go. Bioware releases a lackluster sequal to Dragon Age, so it falls out of favor. Activision-Blizzard introduces more micro-transactions to WoW, it falls out of favor. Things like these all add up.

That and people do like rooting for the underdog. I mean, here you have 1 (one) guy who programs a good game by accident, earns millions and sets up a small indie development team, and probably outsold most of the AAA titles released in 2010. That's a bit of a dream that most people have, and if not, at least they can relate to it.

Heck, I am willing to bet that quite a few voters have never played Minecraft. They are just voting 'cause it feels right.

And of course, seeing as how Valve hasn't released anything at all the past few years, that probably helped.

[see also: Movie Bob's rant about how the Oscars voting works]

 

[ryai458]

They made one beta while over developers are releasing games of much higher caliber.

 

[Lokithrsourcerer]

My only problem is that they rarely update their fucking game and when they do its something small that probably didn't take 4 weeks.

I'm sorry, but have you ever really tried to code anything? I ask because people that make ignorant statements like this usually haven't. I used to code websites a bit back in the day (Yes, I wrote websites in wordpad), which are FAR simpler than a video game, and let me tell you- it's a *****.

If you change one thing or move another thing, then odds are you've just broken something else. That one thing that broke can lead to another thing breaking, and another thing breaking, and another thing breaking. It is NOT an easy process and nothing at all takes "five minutes" to add in as I hear so many people claim it should.

no offence but it sounds like you arent that good a coder i used to write html webpages for a living about 12 years ago and i could knock out a good 5-10 page site in a day easy.

my current creative partner (i'm not a coder any more) has written a physics engine from scratch in 3 months (we'll be posting a demo soon as the copywrite is sorted)so adding new items to a game inventory should not take long especially in a game like mincraft where it is little more than cut, paste, edit, save its not like they need to create new 12million polygon wire models or anything.

 

[The Human Torch]

People are just mad because an indie dev with a java game that's still in beta beat [insert AAA developer X that they like] in March Mayhem.

They'll get over it or they'll ragequit. *shrugs*

It just goes to show how tired people are of copy paste sequels, RealIsBrown, and everything else Yahtzee rants about on a weekly basis.

I myself have only bought one AAA game this year (LBP2), and while it is pretty much a copy paste sequel, the little big planet series itself is as far from the rest of the tired tropes of the industry as one can get.

On the other hand I've been absolutely thrilled with all my purchases from smaller companies this year. Castle Crashers, Plants versus Zombies, Minecraft, most of the Humble Bundle(s).

Apparently I'm in a minority here and the rest of the Escapist is stunned silly (sadly not stunned speechless) that indie games are becoming more popular.

Keep in mind that Blizzard was Indie as well at the beginning (when they called themselves Synapse and Silicone) and the same can be said for EA, Nintendo and Bioware. All these companies have one thing in common, they started out small, released one commercially successful title and from there on started to expand.

Indie games are not becoming more popular, anyone who has ever purchased a Blizzard/Bioware/Nintendo/EA title has (in a way), supported an Indie developer.

Will Mojang go the same way? Who knows.

 

[Grickit]

People are just mad because an indie dev with a java game that's still in beta beat [insert AAA developer X that they like] in March Mayhem.

They'll get over it or they'll ragequit. *shrugs*

It just goes to show how tired people are of copy paste sequels, RealIsBrown, and everything else Yahtzee rants about on a weekly basis.

I myself have only bought one AAA game this year (LBP2), and while it is pretty much a copy paste sequel, the little big planet series itself is as far from the rest of the tired tropes of the industry as one can get.

On the other hand I've been absolutely thrilled with all my purchases from smaller companies this year. Castle Crashers, Plants versus Zombies, Minecraft, most of the Humble Bundle(s).

Apparently I'm in a minority here and the rest of the Escapist is stunned silly (sadly not stunned speechless) that indie games are becoming more popular.

Keep in mind that Blizzard was Indie as well at the beginning (when they called themselves Synapse and Silicone) and the same can be said for EA, Nintendo and Bioware. All these companies have one thing in common, they started out small, released one commercially successful title and from there on started to expand.

Indie games are not becoming more popular, anyone who has ever purchased a Blizzard/Bioware/Nintendo/EA title has (in a way), supported an Indie developer.

Will Mojang go the same way? Who knows.

Hmmm. Good point. Today's innovative indie devs are tomorrow's boring trend-setters/followers.

Also, as a FOSS developer, I'm slightly biased towards Mojang from the get-go. Even when you strip away the amazing sandbox gameplay, Minecraft is left with a lot of attributes I look for in software. No DRM, fully cross-platform, easy to mod, and they even promised to open-source it some day.

 

[Octorok]

I don't get it. I think its a nice story of the little persons triumph over all the big people that run the industry.
People are getting upset that Mojang is beating the other companys, but why? They made a SINGLE good game (too my knowledge), do people think this victory will last forever? Of course it won't, nintendo isn't going to stop makeing games, nor will Valve or any other competition.

Please keep it a bit civil by the way, thanks.
Below i get a bit ranty and might be a bit "Uncivil" upon reflection , feel free to skip it, can't say i didn't give you an option ;D

Frankly im getting board of all this copy paste crap the gameing industry is shoveing down our througts and i am finding more and more games made by tiny companys that i enjoy way more than anything nintendo, valve, capcom or nintendo realeased in the past 5 years.

I'll just speak for myself, as someone who has voted against Mojang in March Mayhem.

It's not hate. I honestly bear no grudge against them, and I love Minecraft to bits. Serious Minecrafter, who didn't vote Mojang? Teh whut????

Despite what idiots are will to shout at each other about, it's not about Minecraft being a "game" or "looking bad" or "not being fun". I vote against Mojang because - what have they done? Notch made one great indie game. Mojang is a company made from his profits, and has literally released nothing. However, let's be generous and equate Mojang to Minecraft.

Minecraft isn't finished. It's one game, in beta. Sure, it might be great fun, and it's nice to hear of talent being rewarded and not EVERYTHING is owned by the big dogs, but nonetheless. March Mayhem is about developers. Not games. As in - you can judge a game without judging its developer, but you cannot judge a developer without judging its games.

If it was just about games, it would be a purely subjective popularity contest. But you must also consider things like - consistent quality and quantity of work, the effort and time put in, efficiency, how good they are to the consumer, how they handle PR etc. There's a lot to game developers that can't be summed up by their games.

Therefore, by taking Mojang by its merits, and not Minecraft, and measuring it against companies like Valve and Bioware, I have to consider - which of these two companies has provided me with the best possible experience?

I think of Bioware, with its consistently great focus on character, and its landmark titles. I think of Valve with its great community service, and how it shaped gaming history. I think of Steam, and free TF2 updates, of mod tools and character builders.

It's not that Mojang haven't made a great game, or that they won't go on to greater heights. It's not that I have some personal hatred of them or their game. But let's face facts.

They are not the single greatest developer of all time. It's just not true to say that Minecraft alone, and its plans and updates, can possibly measure up to the many years of quality and customer-orientated service brought to the table by companies that the Escapist voted as "worse" than Mojang.

 

[Zeraki]

Considering Mojang crushed all their competition in March Madness, I don't really see much hate. I didn't realize just how popular Minecraft was until that.

 

[Grickit]

*snip*

But that's just your perspective. I've never played their supposedly fun games. I've never contacted their supposedly good technical support. I've never witnessed their supposedly excellent PR.

I'm inclined to agree with everything you said. They're excellent aspects of a company. But my personal experience, and probably the experience of most of the Mojang voters don't include contact with those aspects of Nintendo, Bioware, or Valve.

Actually I've had pretty crappy experience with Nintendo all around.

 

[Cenequus]

Didn't knew people hated Minecraft. I mean I don't like this kind of sandbox games but I don't see nothing wrong with it.

 

[ultimateownage]

I don't get it. I think its a nice story of the little persons triumph over all the big people that run the industry.
People are getting upset that Mojang is beating the other companys, but why? They made a SINGLE good game (too my knowledge), do people think this victory will last forever? Of course it won't, nintendo isn't going to stop makeing games, nor will Valve or any other competition.

Please keep it a bit civil by the way, thanks.
Below i get a bit ranty and might be a bit "Uncivil" upon reflection , feel free to skip it, can't say i didn't give you an option ;D

Frankly im getting board of all this copy paste crap the gameing industry is shoveing down our througts and i am finding more and more games made by tiny companys that i enjoy way more than anything nintendo, valve, capcom or nintendo realeased in the past 5 years.

1. No one hates them.
2. You just explained why people are annoyed by them yourself.

It's a nice story of the little 'persons' (What?) triumph(ing) over all the big people that run the industry.

That mentality is what is ruining this fucking industry. This isn't a guerilla fucking war guys. Cuba was a nice story of the small beating the large, this is just people dramatizing something that isn't there.
Also, they haven't made a single game. They're MAKING a single game, which is why people dislike them being in March Mayhem. The escapist bent it's own rules to enter a developer that has released not one game. All because they have a hard on for the beta of it that is being developed extremely incompetently.
Oh, and as for

Frankly im getting board of all this copy paste crap the gameing industry is shoveing down our througts and i am finding more and more games made by tiny companys that i enjoy way more than anything nintendo, valve, capcom or nintendo realeased in the past 5 years.

You aren't looking hard enough. This is the worst excuse I've seen, and it gets thrown around way too much. Can't find unique games? Stop playing Activision games and open your damn eyes. What about Portal, Team Fortress 2, Left 4 Dead, Mirror's Edge? Why do small developers always get a free pass, while unique games made by large developers get ignored?

Hell, Minecraft isn't even Mojang's fucking game. It's Notch's, it started as a clone of another game made by someone sitting in his basement. Removing 70% of the features most games have and being made by one person with a beard doesn't make this a gaming revolution.
Now stop bitching about people bitching about Mojang.

 

[Octorok]

*snip*

But that's just your perspective. I've never played their supposedly fun games. I've never contacted their supposedly good technical support. I've never witnessed their supposedly excellent PR.

I'm inclined to agree with everything you said. They're excellent aspects of a company. But my personal experience, and probably the experience of most of the Mojang voters don't include contact with those aspects of Nintendo, Bioware, or Valve.

Actually I've had pretty crappy experience with Nintendo all around.

I'm aware of that. I'm just speaking for myself. It's why, despite my amazingly strong belief that Mojang really don't deserve to "win" this (since they don't actually get anything it's not much of a win), I'm not in the trenches on the March Mayhem forum yelling, "SCROOOOO YOOOOOO MOJANG!!!!one!".

I'm trying to bridge the gap between the original poster, putting his hands up and going, "Hey, why everybody hate Mojang?" and the frustrated people on the other side frothing at the mouth and trying to get across the concept that sometimes the big guy is big for a reason and the little guy doesn't get some kind of free pass just because.

Again, personally it just confuses me. I really don't see how Mojang having made a fun game, despite being little, gives them some kind of insta-pass that cancels out what Valve have done in the past 15 years. Even if I hated Steam, or had never played a Valve game, I'd still accept the force for good they've been on the gaming landscape and that they most certainly don't deserve the bile people have put forth as some kind of justification of having it on record that the Escapist thinks that Mojang is the single greatest game developing company that currently exists.

 

[mew4ever23]

The reason people around here are hating on Mojang is because they came out of nowhere to beat the biggest devs in March Mayhem this year, and the key argument was "They haven't actually released a game".
Also, there were people arguing that "It's bad form to beg for votes, and Notch did that". My response? If you were in a competition, and victory depended solely on people voting for you, would you not say to people "Hey, I'm in this competition, would you mind voting for me?" I would also like to point out that The Escapist does the same damn thing when they're up for a webby, and no one calls them out on that.

A better question is "Why do people hate Mojang for winning March Mayhem this year?"

The answer? They shouldn't, and anyone who does is being childish.

 

[TerribleAssassin]

Present > Evidence > March Mayhem Results

Damn it's not April Fools anymore, i was having fun with that...

OT: I don't think anyone really hates Mojang, unless they have a crippling fear of innovation. It's just the fact that they beat Nintendo, Valve and Bioware... Seriously WTF?!

If there is any hate, thats where it spawned.

And also, didn't this happen last year with Zynga?

But, the reason people are bashing is because they beat companies with some of the best games in the world, while they've produced one sandbox creation game.

 

[IamQ]

I don't hate them, I just think it's hillarius that a game that hasn't even left the beta stage, wins over the combined games of 63 developers.

 

[nukethewhales]

L4D2 was fun but repettitive, mirrors edge blew my ass and im wondering why you brought it up, nintendo has released the same game 50 times, Team fortress two is also fun but repetitive, Capcom's only shining star was Resident evil 4 in the past 5 years, never liked Baldur's gate, nor mass effect 1, i only played KOTOR because it had lightsabers........and i forgot about portal ;D

 

[The Human Torch]

Hmmm. Good point. Today's innovative indie devs are tomorrow's boring trend-setters/followers.

Also, as a FOSS developer, I'm slightly biased towards Mojang from the get-go. Even when you strip away the amazing sandbox gameplay, Minecraft is left with a lot of attributes I look for in software. No DRM, fully cross-platform, easy to mod, and they even promised to open-source it some day.

I am not a coder/programmer, nor am I involved in any FOSS or likewise, the only slight experience I have was some HTML during the Windows 95/95 era, so I am far less looking at the code of a game and more looking with a "is this fun for me?" mentality.

Even though I enjoy the Yogscast Minecraft episodes, I have little to no interest in Minecraft myself, I want a fully functional, action packed game. I hate beta's, since I don't want to invest money/time in a bugged out, half finished product.

But I still felt like voting for Mojang, simply because it was a breath of fresh air over all the usual suspects (i.e.: EA, Nintendo, Bioware and the likes).

 

[BlueOnBlue]

I don't think it's so much that people hate them, as much as they dislike the direction this competition has gone. It's a developer competition not a game competition, if it was a competition for best game then that would be more justified, but It's about a developer's overall output, quality, and support. Nintendo has been releasing extremely high quality games and innovating and listening to fans for multiple decades, valve's games are always extremely good, a lot of them are very innovative, have good stories, well integrated multiplayer and they're constant updates and community support are probably the best in the video game industry at this moment.

Mojang (well technically not even mojang, but notch) is set to release one very good game that's currently in beta, the time put into it, compared to almost any valve game is most likely minuscule, and it is not updated all that often, despite the code already being there and now with his multiple employees theoretically should only take about a week for a large amount of the updates.

 

[mew4ever23]

Well personally I don't think Mojang deserves the praise they get because they only have one game yet and while that one was a hit, they still have to prove themselves. Because of that I also think they should have been kept out of the March Mayhem until they at least announced another game. The spot could have been given to another company like say Frictional which already has two games or any other company one might come up with.

My point is that Minecraft is just a "in" at the moment and it will just wash away after a while. It's a cute idea and executed almost decently (although I understand that it was inspired by some other game). It feels like they didn't vote for a company in the March Mayhem, but for a game.

I see someone missed the announcement of Scrolls [http://mojang.com/2011/03/02/introducing-our-new-game-scrolls/], an game ALSO in development by Mojang..

 

[V8 Ninja]

I don't hate Mojang, I just hate the fact that they're beating dozens of other developers that have actually finished a game.