You build a company into a massive success, you sell it for $2.5 billion, you have all the money you could hope for and a lot of time on your hands… and then what?
Markus ‘Notch’ Persson, founder of Minecraft creator Mojang, has shared some stark thoughts on life after a big exit that may make you think twice about your dreams of fame and fortune.
The problem with getting everything is you run out of reasons to keep trying, and human interaction becomes impossible due to imbalance.
— Markus Persson (@notch) August 29, 2015
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Hanging out in ibiza with a bunch of friends and partying with famous people, able to do whatever I want, and I've never felt more isolated.
— Markus Persson (@notch) August 29, 2015
Persson talks about twiddling his thumbs at home in Sweden, and how staff from Mojang “all hate me now.” One Mojang employee responds that he only hated Persson during the initial shock of him leaving, but Persson rejects that, saying “nobody reached out and said it was just initial shock. So fuck all of you. Fuck you so hard.” There’s clearly a lot of healing left to do.
While it may be hard to feel too much sympathy for someone who bought a $70 million mansion last year, he paints a picture of a man struggling to reconcile his success with normal life.
Found a great girl, but she's afraid of me and my life style and went with a normal person instead.
— Markus Persson (@notch) August 29, 2015
I would Musk and try to save the world, but that just exposes me to the same type of assholes that made me sell minecraft again.
— Markus Persson (@notch) August 29, 2015
It all ends well though, when others tell him it’s normal to feel this way…
People who made sudden success are telling me this is normal and will pass. That's good to know! I guess I'll take a shower then!
— Markus Persson (@notch) August 29, 2015
A fairytale ending to a business story doesn’t necessarily mean ‘happy ever after,’ but people have lived through it in the past and others will in the future. Enjoy your shower, Markus.
Image credit: Official GDC/Flickr