Anti-trans Minecraft creator Markus ‘Notch’ Persson removed from game
Trans gamers are applauding Microsoft’s move to delete splashes about Markus “Notch” Persson. (Forbes/youtube and Twitter)
Minecraft has scrubbed mentions of anti-trans creator Markus “Notch” Persson from the game, prompting celebrations from trans gamers.
An update to the game on March 27 removed messages greeting gamers when they load up Minecraft, according to gaming news site Kotaku. The deleted splashes read: “Made by Notch!” and “The Work of Notch!”
Persson’s name reportedly still appears in the credits.
Markus “Notch” Persson’s company sold Minecraft to Microsoft in 2014. (Microsoft)
The Swedish programmer, who left Minecraft in 2014 after it was bought by Microsoft for $2.5 billion, attracted criticism for a recent series of tweets attacking trans people.
Markus “Notch” Persson has posted multiple controversial tweets
After the sale of his sandbox video game, which had 91 million players as of October 2018, Persson started expressing views which many have found offensive.
In 2017, he was widely condemned for tweeting: “If you’re against the concept of a #HeterosexualPrideDay, you’re a complete fucking c**t and deserve to be shot.”
And earlier this month, he posted a series of anti-trans messages. Writing about “the demand” that he use trans people’s correct pronouns, he tweeted: “THEY ARE THE ONES USING THE WRONG PRONOUNS F**KING HELL.”
Markus “Notch” Persson has made multiple anti-trans comments online. (notch/twitter)
The programmer, who has 3.7 million Twitter followers, also responded to a user’s statement that “trans women are women” by saying: “No. They feel like they are, and it’s serious, and deserves love.
“My sister thought she was fat and got dangerously thin. At no point was she. At no point did I hate her.
“You are absolutely evil if you want to encourage delusion. What happened to not stigmatising mental illness? There is no love in pretence. There is no you when you appease.”
He also wrote that he would “rather be a fascist c**t than have a feminine d**k.”
Trans gamers applaud move to eradicate mentions of Markus Persson from Minecraft
Trans gamers have expressed their joy and relief at the news that Minecraft would no long pay homage to Persson.
One person wrote on Reddit: “NOTCH IS F**KING DEAD THANK CHRIST.”
Many of the comments simply read “f**k Notch,” but one particularly expressive gamer wrote: “Burn in hell and have Satan’s flaming d**k so far up your ass you begin chocking you absolute monster of a human being.”
“Minecraft is now 100% notch free. You can stop sh**ting on Minecraft bc of him and let him turn to dust due to irrelevancy now.”
— @nefarious_skull
Another person wrote: “I don’t usually swear, but… F**K YOU NOTCH YA F**KIN BIGOTED ASSWIPE OF A HUMAN. YA CURDLED GOAT MILK LOOKIN NECKBEARD OF A F**KER!”
A different gamer tweeted: “Holy s**t they went and did it, bless the maker.”
One person wrote: “Normally the idea of a corporation scrubbing the credit of the original indie developer would be a monstrous act, but I guess that’s fine here since the dev turned out to be an awful person.”
And yet another gamer said: “Minecraft is now 100% notch free. You can stop sh**ting on Minecraft bc of him and let him turn to dust due to irrelevancy now.”
