Markus "Notch" Persson

     

Markus Alexej "Notch" Persson (born June 1, 1979) is a  Swedish  video        game programmer and  designer. Persson is the owner of  Mojang, the video game company he founded alongside Carl Manneh and Jakob Porser in late 2010.  His principal venture for founding Mojang was  Minecraft<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">, a  first-person<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">  sandbox<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;"> video game that has gained popularity and support since its tech demo in 2009. <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;"> Since the release of  Minecraft<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">, Persson has gained significant notability within the  video game industry<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">, having won multiple awards and establishing relations with the industry's figureheads. <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;"> Persson retained his position as the lead designer of  Minecraft<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;"> until the game's official launch in 2011, after which he transferred creative authority to  Jens Bergensten<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">.

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">Biography
<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">Persson was born in  Stockholm<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">, <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">  Sweden<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;"> to a Finnish mother and a Swedish father. <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;"> He lived in  Ystad<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;"> for the first seven years of his life. <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;"> He began programming on his father's  Commodore 128<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;"> home computer at the age of seven. <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:11px;line-height:11px;">  <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">Having experimented with various  type-in programs<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;"> he produced his first game at the age of eight, a  text-based adventure game<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">. <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;"> Professionally he had worked as a game developer for  King.com<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;"> for over four years, until 2009. <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;"> Afterwards he worked as a programmer for  Jalbum<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">. <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;"> He is also one of the founders of  Wurm Online<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">, <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;"> although he no longer works on this game. <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;"> Outside of work, he has made seven games for competitions <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;"> for the  Java 4K Game Programming Contest<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;"> such as "Left 4K Dead" and "Mega 4K Man". <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">He has also entered the  Ludum Dare<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;"> competition. He is the central figure of a documentary in development about the rise of  Minecraft<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">and Mojang called  Minecraft: The Story of Mojang<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">.

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">Games
Minecraft

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">Persson's most popular creation is the survival  sandbox game<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">  Minecraft<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">, which was released on 18 November 2011. <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-14" style="line-height:1em;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">[14] <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;"> Persson quit his job as a game developer to work on  Minecraft<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;"> full-time until completion. In early 2011 Mojang AB sold their one millionth copy of the game, several months later their second, and several more their third. He has recently hired several new staff members to the  Minecraft<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">team. A version for  Android<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;"> and  iOS<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;"> called  Pocket Edition<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;"> has also been released. An Xbox 360 edition of  Minecraft<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;"> was released on May 9, 2012. The Xbox edition also features certain new updates including a tutorial, skin packs, etc.§k

Scrolls

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">Persson and Jakob Porser came up with the idea for  Scrolls<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;"> including elements from  board games<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;"> and  collectible card games<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">. <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;"> Persson noted he will not be actively involved in development of the game and that Porser will be developing it. <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;"> Persson revealed on his  tumblr<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;"> blog on 5 August 2011 that he was being sued by a Swedish lawyer firm representing  Bethesda Softworks<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;"> over the trademarked name of  Scrolls<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;"> claiming it conflicted with their  The Elder Scrolls<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">series of games. <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;"> On 17 August 2011 Persson challenged Bethesda to a  Quake 3<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;"> tournament to decide the outcome of the naming dispute. <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;"> On 27 September 2011 Persson confirmed on Twitter that the lawsuit was going to court. <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;"> Some clarification was made that it is  ZeniMax Media<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">, the company owning Bethesda Softworks, who are pushing for the lawsuit. <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;"> A settlement was reached in March 2012 that allowed Mojang to continue using the Scrolls trademark.

0x10c

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">Following the end to his involvement with  Minecraft<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">, Persson began pre-production of an  alternate reality<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;"> space game set in the distant future in March 2012. On  April Fools' Day<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">, Mojang launched a satirical website for  Mars Effect<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;"> (parody of  Mass Effect<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">), citing the lawsuit with Bethesda<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;"> as an inspiration. <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;"> However, the gameplay elements remained true and on April 4, Mojang revealed  0x10c<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;"> as a space<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">  sandbox<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;"> title.

Ludum Dare entries
<p style="line-height:19.200000762939453px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Persson has also participated in several Ludum Dare 48-hour game making competitions.

Breaking the Tower
<p style="line-height:19.200000762939453px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Breaking the Tower was a game Persson created for the entry to the Ludum Dare No. 12 competition. The game was written in two days. The game takes place on a small island, where the player must gather resources, construct buildings, and train soldiers in order to destroy a large tower on this island. The game received brief gaming media attention.

Metagun
<p style="line-height:19.200000762939453px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Metagun is a 2D platformer created for Ludum Dare #18.

Prelude of the Chambered
<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;"> Prelude of the Chambered is a game Persson created for the entry to the Ludum Dare No. 21 competition. The game had been written in just two days. Prelude of the Chambered is a short first-person  dungeon crawler  videogame   entirely written in  Java.

Minicraft
Main article: Minicraft<p style="line-height:19.200000762939453px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Minicraft is a game created for Ludum Dare No. 22, held 16–19 December 2011. It is a small top-down game with similarities to Zelda and influenced by Minecraft. It is written in Java.

Personal life
<p style="line-height:19.200000762939453px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">On August 13, 2011, he married Elin Zetterstrand who goes by the nickname "Ez" in the Minecraft community, and "ezchili" on Twitter.On August 15, 2012, he announced on Twitter that he was now single. He is a member of the Swedish chapter of Mensaand also makes electronica music under the name "Markus Alexei".

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.200000762939453px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">He has criticized both piracy as well as the stance of large game companies on piracy and he is a member of the Swedish Pirate Party. Persson is an atheist, and cited his theological and moral views as one of the principle donors to Médecins Sans Frontières during the Thanksgiving charity event of 2011. Under his direction, Mojang contributed a week to developing Catacomb Snatch for the Humble Bundle Mojam, for which the $458,248.99 raised would be donated to charity.

Views
<p style="line-height:19.200000762939453px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">In May 2012, Persson expressed his views on Twitter towards Electronic Arts and their release of the 'Indie Bundle' calling them a "Bunch of Cynical Bastards". "EA releases an 'indie bundle'? That's not how that works, EA," he said, "Indies are saving gaming. EA is methodically destroying it."

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.200000762939453px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">On December 19, 2012, the Electronic Frontier Foundation announced that Persson had donated $250,000 to the EFF's Defend Innovation project.