You probably looked at "creative mode" for 5 seconds (which is completely free and always has been, mind you) for the purpose of replying to this thread, then quickly closed it because you already had your mind made up and a negative comment readied, and you'll be damned if you're not going to post it!

Even if Minecraft was nothing more than virtual legos, guess what? That's enough if people say it is. If people decide that's what they like, then that's that. The value of something is in what people will pay. Minecraft doesn't have to defer to your game design snobbery which says "Only vertex-shaded space marines are good". You don't have to do anything that "merits" earning that sum. You don't have to obey some exterior standard for what is deserving and what is not. We all can like whatever we damn well please, and pay whatever to whoever we want to for the privilege of experiencing the wonderful thing, in our opinion (the only opinion that matters), that they have created.

The issue here is that if a big company doesn't "get it" anymore than you do and arbitrarily wants to shit on you, they think they can steal 3/4 of a million dollars from you based on their personal judgement of the legitimacy of the situation.

As for making "crappy" Java apps, just go ahead and try. You'll find it isn't very easy because his code isn't "crappy" at all. Just to rub salt in your wound, I'll also point out that Notch was the programmer who made "Infinite Mario Brothers", another beloved, massive viral success that spawned an annual AI competition. Look on Youtube for "Infinite Mario AI". A demo video of the winning entry in the contest he spawned has 730,000 views since last year: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlkMs4ZHHr8

He released the code as public domain because he's just such a cool guy (If you prefer Flash, a Japanese programmer translated it to AS3 and also released it as public domain). Go ahead and test your "crappy Java app" chops by improving upon his quite clean and organized public domain code.

Dwarf Fortress isn't old, it just looks it because of the ASCII ;) But that's irrelevant....

Yes, that's the most offensive part of this, for me, which a lot of people aren't getting: I don't care that PayPal is slow and inefficient and can't sort through these payments quicker than a few weeks. I have no interest in entertaining the conspiracy theories surrounding that, that they're sitting on it to collect interest. It's that last bit, that they have the gall even think of robbing someone of 750K in broad daylight. They've assigned themselves judge, jury, and executioner, the final authority on a matter concerning 3/4 of a MILLION dollars. Fuck no, you are merely a business, you are not the law. I don't care what you THINK your TOSes and contracts entitle you to, you do not get to extend your power to that level. If there is "funny business", then you had it over to the feds and law enforcement makes the final decision. We as a society cannot tolerate the move they're trying to pull here.

Why is it suspicious just because it's indie? You need permission to be successful? You need signed authorization from the big name players in the industry in order to make something people like? You have to register for a Fun License before you're allowed to distribute Fun(tm) to the masses?

It's sickening to me that people keep saying this, this complete antithesis of the "American Dream", and ideal that you all love to go on about with hollow praise. You shouldn't have to go through proper channels to be liked and respected. What Notch is doing is exactly how the world should work: Some cool dude makes something he likes without pre-screening his ideas through focus groups or begging publishers to allow him to do something that's actually interesting rather than soul-less and derivative, and the fans throw money at him in support (Disclosure: Yes, I bought it. Months ago, back in March)

Let this be a lesson to you that not everything is accessible on search engines, and you are not a God at your computer with the world at your fingertips. Most of the hype over Minecraft isn't archived, because 4chan's /v/ was instrumental in propelling it to massive success, and 4chan threads are deleted within hours

You guys are just out of the loop, that's all; You and PayPal employees both. There's nothing fishy about your obliviousness to this piece of internet culture. Minecraft is about as sinister and underground as lolcats and rickrolling.

But anyway, the problem with this isn't so much that they're oblivious to who he is and that he's obviously NOT a money laundering mobster cleverly disguised as a 4chan superhero hiding his activities in plain sight. (Fine, so their fraud-checking bureaucracy is slow and overburdened, whatever, that's business for you!) No, what is enraging is that they even consider attempting to hijack 750,000 USD. For that, they need to be destroyed. Their empire needs to be neutered, they are a menace to society. They have far too much power. They're acting like they're an arm of the government, except unlike the recent wiretapping case with the telecoms, nobody appointed them as such.