John Callaham: Don’t be a goat murderer*

http://notch.tumblr.com/post/32726020631/john-callaham-dont-be-a-goat-rapist

by _ikke_ • 14 years ago

35 59 14 years ago

notch.tumblr.com

praptak• 14 years ago

This is a response to this piece by John Callaham: http://www.neowin.net/news/notch-dont-be-a-hypocrite-about-m...

arkitaip• 14 years ago

Pretty pathetic by both Callaham and notch.

simias2• 14 years ago

After reading this I still don't get what Notch's getting at with his "goat raping" joke. I didn't feel like John Callaham's editorial was that violent.

masklinn4• 14 years ago

> After reading this I still don't get what Notch's getting at with his "goat raping" joke.

Lies about other people and their stance. Callaham chides notch supposed hypocrisy regarding closed v open, but notch never said he minds closed platforms (he uses them and publishes on them), he said he minds the PC getting closed off, as it breaks a path to indiedom (which he knows about, since he needed it to make Minecraft in the first place, a 2 years alpha/beta taking money the whole way would never have flown on closed stores, as far as I can see)

The goat raping thing is a strawman, just as Callaham's "notch hypocrisy" is one.

jacquesm• 14 years ago

Good thing John Callaham stopped beating his wife.

Classy response by Notch (ahem). But I do wished more developers would take such a principled stance.

chris_wot6• 14 years ago

That doesn't work. There is no answer to the question "when did you stop beating your wife" except "I never started!"?

Or if you are unmarried, just say "I don't have a wife".

jlgreco3• 14 years ago

Yes, it doesn't withstand careful examination. It is almost as though that phrase were a joke...

ben0x5398• 14 years ago

I appreciate notch's position on the whole thing, but I wish he didn't feel the need to make his point with rape jokes.

(Edit: It's not made with rape jokes anymore. Previously, it said "goat rapist", now it says "goat murderer", which is rather preferable to me.)

guelo• 14 years ago

Well, at least goat rape is a bunch of notches below human rape in awfulness.

ben0x5398• 14 years ago

Sure. But goat rape jokes still contribute to an atmosphere where rape is treated as a joke.

snogglethorpe• 14 years ago

Try telling that to the goat!

VMG2• 14 years ago

He just changed it to "goat murderer".

I wonder if a "is murder ever funny?" discussion will ensue now...

ben0x5398• 14 years ago

Here is an argument that rape jokes and "murder jokes" are not entirely equivalent: http://opinionade.blogspot.com/2012/07/why-murder-is-funnier...

jamesmiller52• 14 years ago

The "Jimquisition" does a great piece on why murder is more socially acceptable than rape in the context of video games.

rhplus• 14 years ago

When you have a multi-million selling game and a new platform comes along, you don't tell the world you're definitely going to port it. You wait for the 6 figure check to arrive and then port it. If it's 7 figures, you call it a platform exclusive.

eckyptang• 14 years ago

Yes we'll see how principled Notch is when they wave a fat cheque in front of him...

Money is the divider between words and actions.

kanamekun• 14 years ago

Money is not a huge motivator for Notch... back in March of this year, he gave seven figures ($3 million) of his personal dividends to his fellow Mojang employees:

http://www.develop-online.net/news/40013/Notch-gifts-3-milli...

Given his taken on money — and that Notch has taken a very public stance against participating in helping to close the PC — it is very unlikely that a fat cheque would result in a change of his actions. Time will tell, I suppose.

prodigal_erik• 14 years ago

It does seem arbitrary that only Microsoft ought to treat their consumers like tool-using human beings.

John Callaham: Don’t be a goat murderer*

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