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The Story of Markus Persson and What it Tells Us About Life

Taylor Holmes
Random

The Story of Markus Persson and What it Tells Us About Life

Occasionally the glass ceiling of wealth will shatter, and we commoners finally get a chance to see past the paparazzi photos and the glitter. And occasionally we stand agog and stare at the logic of those who have everything.

Markus Persson probably needs no introduction to 80% of you. To the other 20% of you… it’s alright… you don’t play Minecraft. (So my percentile splits are all wrong, shoot me.) Well, Persson, sold Minecraft, and in so doing basically betrayed the Indie development world, completely. And in so doing, made (personally) somewhere around 1.8 billion dollars. So here is the Wired article summation of the problem, and a bit more detail as to why Persson sold Minecraft.

Basically, Persson is tired. Since it launched in 2009, Persson said on his blog, Minecraft’s explosive growth and the public spotlight that came with it had become overwhelming. Persson acknowledges that as an outspoken critic of corporations, including Microsoft, he became a sort of figurehead for the indie developer community, a role he says he never really wanted in the first place. “I don’t want to be a symbol, responsible for something huge that I don’t understand,” he writes. “I’m not an entrepreneur. I’m not a CEO. I’m a nerdy computer programmer who likes to have opinions on Twitter.”

So, with the sale of Mincraft, Persson instantly became one of the richest people on the planet. How rich is 1.8 billion rich? Its so rich that you can outbid Jay-Z and Beyonce on a home in Beverly Hills. What kind of home is the kind of home that is worth 70 million? Here… here’s a peek:

And you know what? This house only cost him 3% of his sale to Microsoft. He could have purchased this house in a Sam’s Club 30 pack if he wanted to. Persson is crazy wealthy. Never work again and burn piles of cash daily wealthy. But this past weekend @Notch let fly on Twitter and really pulled back the current on how the ultra-wealthy feel, in SPITE of their wealth.

Woah. Right? That’s legit. But it gets better…

  And still better yet… 

And more…

Then minutes later

And then as the world started to take notice of his musings…

I can’t speak specifically for Markus, or what it is that he was saying on Twitter that particular day. But I can say that for a moment… for an infinitesimal glimmer, we saw through the veil of money and fame, to see what it might really be like to be ridiculously wealthy.  And you know what? His problems aren’t too much different from your problems. Sure, he has a fully stocked and loaded candy room in a Beverly Hills mansion that costs more than you and I will make in our entire lifetimes combined. But, really? He is dealing with the same existential angst that you and I are dealing with.

I personally solve these soul pangs by running to the creator of the universe. By putting my trust and faith in someone larger than myself. Otherwise I’d end up going insane, quite honestly. Because my mental capacity isn’t capable enough to make sense of an abyss – and I am not able to to stare down the nothingness that comes from disbelieving in a creator. And without my own personal relationship with Him my tweets on Twitter would sound very much like @notch’s with or without the money.

Obviously I will still like you all the same regardless of your spiritual disposition. I just think you’d like to put down the struggle of staring into the blackhole of nothingness that would enjoy nothing more than consuming you whole. But maybe that’s just me?