Goldberg Daniel - Minecraft: the unlikely tale of Markus Notch Persson and the game that changed everything

Minecraft

The Unlikely Tale of Markus Notch Persson and the Game That Changed Everything

Daniel Goldberg

&

Linus Larsson

Translation by

Jennifer Hawkins

Seven Stories Press

New York Oakland

Copyright 2011 by Daniel Goldberg and Linus Larsson

English translation copyright 2013 by Jennifer Hawkins

First english language edition, November 2013

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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New York, NY 10013

www.sevenstories.com

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Book design by Janet Brusselbach

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Goldberg, Daniel, 1982

[Minecraft. English]

Minecraft : the unlikely tale of markus notch Persson and the game that changed everything / Daniel Goldberg and Linus Larsson ; Translation by Jennifer Hawkins. -- Seven Stories Press First Edition.

pages cm.

Originally published in Swedish as Minecraft: Block, Pixlar Och Att Gora Sig En Hacka.

ISBN 978-1-60980-537-1, E-ISBN 978-1-60980-538-8

1. Persson, Markus, 1979- 2. Minecraft (Game) 3. Computer programmers 4. Computer games 5. Computer games--Design I. Larsson, Linus, author. II. Title.

GV1463.G65 2013

794.8--dc23

2013016343

Printed in the United States

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Contents

Chapter 1

Three, Two, One...

Its November 18, 2011. An old man in a faded gray sweater looks up from his slot machine. A long and steady stream of children, teens, and grown-ups flows through the casino. Their outfits are odd, even for this place. In Las Vegas, you can count on seeing pretty much anything: Elvis impersonators lined up on the sidewalks, gigantic fake-gold lions, drunken weekend revelers, and fountains shooting water hundreds of yards into the air synchronized to the tune of the national anthem.

The people streaming through the casino at the Hotel Mandalay Bay are wearing cardboard boxes on their heads. Some are in full cardboard-box bodysuits with armholes that look uncomfortable and make their elbows stick straight out, like cubist comic-strip characters with the posture of bodybuilders. The cardboard suits theyve squeezed into are painted in large colorful squares, some green, some black. Others are light blue, brown, and pink. The man at the slot machines, clueless, returns to his game, his cigarette, and his morning cocktail.

The cardboard-box people arent there to win money. They continue toward the convention facilities that are next to the casino, where in a few minutes they will be cheering as they watch a thirty-two-year-old Swede pull a lever and release the finished version of their favorite game.

Minecraft . A computer game as incomprehensible to the uninitiated as it is wildly adored by tens of millions of people. Those whove traveled here are among the games most devoted fans. Not only have they paid airfare but also, before embarking for Las Vegas, they cut and glued their suits, modeled on the games primitive block graphics and shapes.

And there are thousands of them, representing a total of twenty-three countries. The youngest is four years old and the oldest is seventy-seven. Of the many parents, some have made the trip just for their kids and are now observing in awe a world their offspring adore but that is alien to them. Others are just as passionate as their children.

We play together constantly, says a dad with green-tinted hair, wearing a suit sprayed green, his face covered with black bars as he poses for pictures with his identically decked-out son.

A few minutes later. The convention hall where were seated is the largest at the Mandalay Bay. Its completely packed and the lights are off. All eyes turn toward the stage and Lydia Winters, whoimpossible not to recognize with her short, shocking pink hairis firing up the audience.

This weekend is going to be awesome!

Giant screens are mounted on both sides of the stage so that those sitting farther back can see whats happening. They all show Lydias happy, glowing, almost cartoon-character-like smile.

So many peoples... lives have been changed by this game!

Next to the stage, just to the left, the weekends big star is waiting for the signal to step up into the spotlight: Markus Persson, dressed in jeans, well-worn sneakers, and a black polo thats a bit tight around the middle. As always, hes wearing a black fedora. Markus doesnt know what to do with his hands while he waits. He pulls absentmindedly at the hem of his shirt before his hands land in his jeans pockets, thumbs out.

There is an ocean of five thousand people seated before himif seated is the right word, because many of them stand up as the first of Markuss colleagues arrive onstage. Lydia Winters calls them up and one by one they trudge onstage, shyly wave a little at the audience, and line up beside her. Jens Bergenstenthe programmer, tall, lanky, his red ponytail hanging down his back. Carl Mannehthe CEO, who is perfectly okay with Lydia keeping the microphone. Jakob PorserMarkuss old friend and the cofounder of his company. The graphics guy, Junkboyno, his real name is never given in publicwho leaps onstage wearing a cardboard box on his head and making victory signs for the audience. Theyre all Swedish men, all in their late twenties and early thirties, and they all work at Mojang, the company that produces Minecraft . Most days they sit and work at their computers in a shabby apartment on sgatan, in Stockholm. But this is no ordinary day.

This is the moment when the final version of Minecraft will be released to the public. Which means that until today, the five thousand people in the audienceand several million others around the worldhave been playing an unfinished game. A kind of prototype, which has earned Markus close to $70 million and created one of the worlds most admired companies.

The Mojang team on stage at MineCon 2011 in Las Vegas. Photo courtesy of Mojang

This is MineCon, the first convention dedicated entirely to Minecraft . The event began as a random idea at the Mojang headquarters on Sdermalm, in southern Stockholm. Markus Persson asked on his blog if anyone would pay ninety dollars to go to a Minecraft convention in Las Vegas. Within a few weeks more than 43,000 people said they would, and the Mandalay Bay was booked. The hotel is a forty-four-story monumental monstrosity built entirely of gold-tinted glass. In its twenty-two restaurants, smoke-filled poker dens, and meandering indoor malls, you can easily spend several days without leaving the hotelexactly as intended. As a rule, casinos in Las Vegas have no windows or clocks, so that gamblers will continue to feed money into the machines throughout the night. The desert gambling mecca is no place for people with regular circadian rhythms.

The coming days will be an unparalleled spectacle, bizarre for those unfamiliar with gaming conventions in general and especially so for those who dont know Minecraft in particular. People will line up for hours to get Markuss autograph. A costume contest will nearly degenerate into a riot. Two British men, known by millions of fans from their YouTube channel, will be greeted like celebrities when they play videos on the stage, showing functioning electronic equipment built entirely within Minecraft .