There is only one written narrative in Minecraft. It happens right at the end, after you defeat the Ender Dragon. It’s about 8 minutes long—roughly the game’s entire world record sprint time—and it includes a scrolling text poem written by an artist named Julian Gough.
Gough won the gig by replying to a tweet made in 2011 by Minecraft creator Markus Persson: “Are you a talented writer (famous is a plus ;D), who wants to write a silly text that’s too silly for when you win Minecraft?” Gough’s friends and fans have supported him, and the rest is history.
But Gough never signed off the rights to the poem, it was a strange, aimless conversation between two anonymous people talking about and arrive you, the player.
The fact that Gough never signed off on the rights — despite pressure from Persson, and later Microsoft — left a rift between the two sides. “I wrote a story for a friend” is how Gough describes it, “but in the end, he didn’t treat me like a friend, and I got hurt.” But, as Gough put it in a comprehensive 10,000-word story of events (which you can read in full here):
“The contract is a full buyback, taking away all my rights forever, which is exactly what I told Carl. [Manneh, former Mojang CEO] which I’ve never done with my job.”
But legal stories and 10,000 words aside, what does this mean?
That means Gough has sole rights to the text of the Minecraft ending poem, and neither Mojang nor Microsoft can sell anything related to that poem. They cannot use it for commercial purposes. They can’t print t-shirts with it. Only Julian Gough can profit from it.
To this day, that is, because he gives it to everybody.
“I wrote Ending Poems for Minecraft, the most popular video game of all time. I never signed a contract giving Mojang the rights to Ending Poems, and so Microsoft (purchased Minecraft from Mojang) ) also don’t own it.I do.
Instead of suing the company or fighting with my old friend who founded the company and has since gone downhill, I dedicate the poem to the public. You’ll find it at the end of this post, along with a dedication to the Creative Commons Public Domain.
Now anyone can play with it. Have fun.”
In return, Julian Gough is not demanding much, though he opened his PayPal to donate if anyone wants to say thanks for his work. He also hopes that, when it comes to art, people will consider what they buy and from where.
“Five global corporations shouldn’t own all of the characters of our dreams,” he said. “To fix that, just make a direct connection with the artists you love… You don’t know how powerful you are: how profoundly different you can make a difference, just by doing it.”
What do you think about this news? What would you do with Minecraft’s Ending Poem? Talk to us in the comments (also a kind of concluding poem).
