[GoNB]

Nobody on HN seems to want to address it, so I will. It's pretty obvious: Notch is incredibly wealthy and no longer is interested in programming. Can you blame the guy? Most of us would probably stop programming if we had his never ending flow of income. Minecraft is like milk: It's always selling and he hardly has to think about working anymore. Mojang doesn't even have to update Minecraft, the community drives it. The mobile version has reigned the iOS store for months. It's the holy grail of perpetual passive income we all wish we had that Notch has obtained.

[citricsquid]

Speculative and inaccurate. Notch loves to program and design games, he released a new game a couple of days ago. He's worth hundreds of millions of dollars, sure, but that doesn't change that he built Minecraft out of a love for games, not for money. He'll be programming until the day he dies.

"I should write a post about the type of games I want to make in the future." 2 hours ago: https://twitter.com/notch/status/369423842155843585

"My #7dfps is done, after 8 days of work. http://shambles.notch.net/" 4 days ago: https://twitter.com/notch/status/368058518365949953

[bdcravens]

Most of us would probably stop programming

No - I presume most on here are hackers and not only in it for success. The difference is that I'd stop coding for others, and do it for myself, pursuing the challenges that excited me, independent of the income they could generate. Which is what I think Notch is doing - he doesn't owe anyone anything.

[droopyEyelids]

What about the difference between 'programming' and 'hacking'?

No doubt everyone would keep hacking if they had unlimited money, after all, it's fun.

But programming? Tediously banging away on edge cases so a random consumer doesn't get frustrated? Polishing bullshit after the fun work is done so you have a 'product'? Maybe 3% of people enjoy the sheer grunt work involved with programming. Very few people would keep that up if they had unlimited money.

Much more likely, they'd do what we see notch doing right now. jump from interesting project to interesting project, discarding as they go along.

[mcdougle]

That's what I was going to say! I'm sure for most of us, programming is FUN when you're doing it for the enjoyment, the puzzle-solving aspect, and working on a project you love, isn't it?

Once I'm wealthy and financially free, I might take some time off of work initially, but eventually I expect I'll do fewer of others' projects and more of the things bouncing around my head right now. I just love working on this kinda stuff!

That was the feeling I got from this article -- since Notch doesn't need the money, he works on something that interests him until it doesn't anymore, regardless of whether it's the best money-making option, don't you think?

I doubt my personality would let me just shelf a project when I'm in the middle of it, though... once I start something I can't help but see it through to completion!

[jiggy2011]

Given access to massive funds though, you might find that your interest in programming now has to compete with ideas like traveling the world, building rockets, flying aircraft or solving malaria.

[reflectiv]

I think we might be seeing a bit of 80/20 rule playing here...as the old saying goes, the first 80% of the project takes 20% of the time, and the remaining 20% is the most arduous.

If I had piles of cash in the bank, I might be less inclined to see something through once I hit that 20%...from what I hear this seems to be how Notch writes code in general, and now that he is very wealthy...well....

[mcdougle]

That makes a lot of sense. Once you get to a certain point where the core of the functionality is built and the rest seems easy and/or tedious, it might be tempting to hand that part off to someone more interested/with more time/etc. wouldn't it?

[mistercow]

>Most of us would probably stop programming if we had his never ending flow of income.

If I had a never ending flow of income, I would program more. You might see less output, though, as I would be more liable to jump to whatever project seemed the most fun at the moment. If Notch's success is the cause of less output, that's the more likely reason.

[zanny]

If I had enough money not to care anymore, I'd still write code because I feel it achieves something worthwhile. I've contributed a bunch to KDE in the past, I would just work on it "full time" (aka, whenever I wanted to).

[jebblue]

Notch is human, he thought the space idea might pan out, apparently it hasn't for him. That guy was born with a keyboard in his hands. He's trying different things like the programming competitions, when he finds something that truly inspires him and captures his imagination, it will be the next Minecraft.

[laureny]

> Most of us would probably stop programming if we had his never ending flow of income.

As far as I'm concerned, quite the opposite. I would keep coding but this time, without anyone telling me what to do.

[meaydinli]

I don't know about that. A month long vacation, a year long vacation? Maybe. But it wouldn't feel right. Who am I if I don't create something?

[afterburner]

A human... being

/Simpsons

[dlhavema]

i agree with everyone here, even if i had millions i would still program, i just wouldn't be programming what my managers and higher ups tell me to program. I would work on projects that I like to work on and thought might go somewhere if i could put in 40 hours a week on them. I sadly need focus/direction on my side projects so i have trouble finishing them or sticking with a single project for long enough.. I've been building a multiplayer mobile version of Acquire for months now...

[rocky1138]

If you want it bad enough, you'll make time. It's hard as hell, but you may have to axe something you really love to make it fit.