Minecon Drama Between Notch & Yogscast – Including Official Yogscast Statement
Minecon has just finished and we are all feeling a lot of love for Minecraft, Notch and just everyone really…
Notch has been thanking everyone for coming along – as well as showing some love for deadmau5.
notch: @deadmau5 <3
Although he hasn’t been feeling the love for everyone…
notch: We also learned who not to work with at Minecon. Shame.. :/
notch: Other than that, Minecon was perfect!
notch: I’m very sorry about the behavior of the people we won’t work with any more. Celebrity or not, you don’t f-bomb kids.
jahkob: @notch /me agrees
There was then nothing more about it for quite some time.. In the end I think Notch got fed up of people asking so he tweeted the following;
I honestly found this very hard to take in… Yogscast seem fine in their vids, they swear from time to time but doesn’t everyone? There was even an interview notch did with the Yogscast were he was ruder than them? (talking about Simons mum..)
See Minecraft Update 20 Minecon
Either way… It seemed notch got a hell of a lot of hate from this so…
He let it all out…
notch: Wow. Hate, insults and threats are flooding in from Yogscast fans. I’ll stop biting my tongue now.
notch: Yogscast repeatedly insulted people, talked behind their backs, refused to cooperate, and acted like total spoiled divas nonstop.
notch: They called us “a bunch of nerds who don’t know how to run a company”, demanded that we pay them to come here (nobody else got paid).
notch: And they claim they’re the reason minecraft is big and that we should thank them more than anyone else in the community. They’re total dicks
notch: A kid wanted them to sign something I had signed, and they said they’d cross it out and put “fuck you” there instead.
notch: All this said, I’m very tired at the moment, and this will probably pass. I do like the work they do, very much.
Notch's Full Twitter Stream
Wow that really is something!
Yogscast left us with a few short posts on Facebook just before boarding their flight;
The YoGPoD: An Official statement/Vlog will be released when Simon, Lewis and Hannah return from Las Vegas to clarify what has happened. Hopefully this will clear everything up for everyone. – MintyMinute
The YoGPoD: we are about to embark on a 24 hour journey home so will officially respond when back in the UK – Lewis
Yogscast Forum Post
There is also a post on the Yogscast forum where people are asking about what happened.
Hanna (Lomadia) posted a reply that I thought was interesting;
I find the words ‘work with’ to be very interesting in this – you will see why when Lewis gets home and makes his v-log of Minecon.
Click the images to see the full post
This puts another element in? It will be worth keeping an eye on this forum post.
Check back here as I will link the video once it is up. (p.s. this video watched by hundreds of thousands of people will make them more money) Good old UChoob M0NAYS!
Personal Experience With Yogscast Reddit Post
There is also a very interesting Reddit post by Shadolanas
Click above to read in full.
Read the rest of the story here My Experience with the Yogscast team at MineCon
Here is a reply to the above post but someone stating they were ‘with The Yogscast’ sushifishpirate
My Initial Thoughts…
I really don’t know what to think, I love both Notch and the Yogscast boys. Though, if this is true then I’m really having doubts about how the boys have taken their fame. I always thought they were quite humble about it. But you really cannot know how they are behind closed doors.
I think I will wait for Yogscast to respond before passing my final judgement.
I do think it was very unprofessional of Notch do such a thing over twitter – a press release or a blog post with better chosen words would have been a much better route to take. Taking action the way he did over Twitter is just going to do more harm professionally than good.
What did you think of it all? comment below..
I hope there is some resolve to it soon.
Footnote - You can check out the original tweets on Notch's Twitter
New Developments
MintyMinute posted an update from Yogscast.. I guess they are getting a large amount of people asking about it;
YOGSCAST: the guys are currently travelling back to the UK, once they’re back, give them 24 hours or so to create an official statement – MintyMinute
As you can see from the comments below one user ‘Yogcloaks FTW’ has an interesting take on it all.
… leads me to suspect that this whole incident is a collaborative troll by Notch and the Yogscast. Think about it. The whole time during the interview they were discussing their love of Skyrim. Maybe they decided to see how a civil war in the Minecraft community would go. I mean this doesn’t sound like something Simon and Lewis would do, and Notch just blabbing about it and badmouthing them on twitter isn’t like him, either. I truly hope that this is the case, and I’ll be anticipating the Yogscast statement on this matter with great interest.
I did consider this at one stage.. I think we will just have to wait and see. It seems we have a little over 24hrs.
22-11-2011
There have been a few more developments this evening;
Someone on twitter posted a video of Simon, Lewis & Hannah signing autographs at Minecon (Ultra polite)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKC1hJ-WX4U[/youtube]dickieadams: If you are looking for video proof of how @YOGSCAST behaved at #minecon @notch, here you go http://t.co/daLUg0Mf (ultra polite)
Hannah posted the following on FaceBook this evening;
We are still awaiting the official response from them. Also why are all the posts about Simon? (Simon’s VLog?) can Lewis not present a statement.. Is there something odd going on here?
Daniel Yount (The guy that makes the music) is also being hounded for answers.. He will not say anything till he has spoken with the guys;
You can watch the full Yogscast Panel at Minecon here (Hosted by IGN);
I have now watched the entire panel video and they were quite rude about Mojang at points, but nothing more than they would be in their video series, maybe it was in slightly bad taste (being that they were at Minecon) but there was nothing to really fall out about. The fact that the panel consisted of them showing video was a shame, It would have been nice to hear from the rest of the ‘crew’ along with hearing some of the burning questions I expect the audience had. But again, that is no big deal.
I did feel they went on about the YogBox ‘making Minecraft playable’ a bit too much for my liking but maybe that is just me? I’m not really that into mods.
23-11-2011
Notch has been tweeting a little more recently, Firstly he Re-Tweeted the following;
Aesirn:
@YOGSCAST@notch what happend in vegas stays in vegas? minecraft is about love and friendship and they are about mistakes and forgivness
I thought this was quite good – So did notch it seems..
Notch then formally apologised for ‘the ugly public airing of dirty laundry.’
I have also had to make a correction to some of the information above.
:::::::::::CORRECTION:::::::::::
In light of some new information I have had to make a correction, I am sorry about the incorrect information regarding the Yogscast Forum. I was told something by what I thought was a trusted source that sadly was not entirely true.
The site was down for a time and I made the following joke;
Down for maintenance or down for hate?
I initially wrote this when the site came back online;
The Site is now back up. Apparently they have secured it so you can only post if you are logged in and approved.. Too much hate?
This was in fact incorrect. I am sorry about that.
Dyneslott himself has very kindly provided some more information on the Yogscast Forum maintenance;
We really did have maintenance, I was recovering from a database corruption that occurred.
And no, we have not touched the security settings on the forum for a while now, you have NEVER been able to post without an account on our forums.
:::::::::::CORRECTION:::::::::::
I have also been searching around on other forums a little and came across this post on MinecraftForum;
YOGSCAST BANNED FROM MINECON FOREVER
The well known “Yogscast” have gotten into a lot of trouble during this Minecon.. causing them to banned from any more.
I had not actually heard officially that they had been banned. this is news to me? can anyone confirm this?
This forum post also linked to an interesting video explaining a little more about what has been going on;
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfobRqu9dxQ[/youtube]Please bear in mind this video is heavily weighted in Notch’s favour. It does bring up some good points (and clips) showing the Yogscast guys insulting Mojang. The video also plays some of the ‘bad language’ during the address (but we have heard that in their series before) so it is nothing new.
If you get a chance you should watch the full Yogscast Panel. They were going on about the YogBox quite a bit.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPd9oci4ers[/youtube]I leave it to you to make up your mind on that though.
The Minecraft Forum post also took me on to this story (From Before Minecon 25th October);
Yogscast: credit us for Minecraft success
This story contained some interesting information;
Lewis: The entire game has had $0 spent on PR yet has sold 3.5 million copies – I think a large part of that is due to us.
Simon: We are Minecraft‘s PR! I think we enjoy a symbiotic relationship with Mojang and have definitely contributed to each other’s success. I’m very thankful we’ve done so well out of it.
Although this may well be true It does make me side with Notch a little as they may well have demanded financial recognition for the ‘PR’ they have been doing? What do you guys think?
Hannah just posted an update from the Yogscast;
just woke up after about 14 hours sleep, horribly jetlagged, will try and record something about this tonight – Hannah
We should be seeing something soon..
23:57 on 23-11-2011
Yogscast just released an official statement!
They posted a very short intro video linking to the Reddit post containing their written response.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HddMANh3Xis[/youtube]
Click above to read in full
The full Yogscast Reponse can be seen here
I thought I would also include some quotes from the release here;
We are very disappointed by these tweets from someone we admire and respect. We can understand that it was the morning after the deadmau5 party and Notch was very tired, but we are still fairly upset. The quotes and actions that Notch attributed to us were not said by us or published anywhere by us.
…
Regarding dropping f-bombs at the show – we apologise for this, but had rehearsed the whole show in front of the organisers and half of Mojang and they had approved it. We were given no guidelines or oversight in the weeks leading up to Minecon and there were ample opportunities at the rehearsal for Mojang to inform us of problems, such as being careful about swearing, which is pretty common in our youtube videos.
…
Out of all the tweets that Notch sent out, most hurtful was the accusation that we told a kid to “fuck off” and crossed out another signature – which is something we would never ever do.
…
We were not paid, and never demanded to be paid. We asked for some support, and Mojang said they could offer us two hotel rooms for the duration of the stay and a small boardroom to rest in. We spent a huge amount of money on flights, rooms, food and equipment for the 10 people that we brought along to support us, act as security, make videos/posts and generally help out.
…
We’re not gonna stop making videos, not going to stop loving you guys, and hopefully we’ll see you at more gaming conventions in the future.
Lewis & Simon & Hannah
Well there you go… Thanks guys for that response. I think that pretty much closes off the issue now.. A big misunderstanding? Lets hope it all blows over and Notch eventually loves them again and they can make beautiful babies I mean videos together…
24-11-2011
Notch tweets in was of apology;
notch: I apologize for bringing it online before talking to them.
The panel videos have now been (being) put up on The Yogscast Channel. I guess this makes sense.. If enough people watch them then they will make back the money they spent traveling to Minecon anyway. 
The Team Mojang twitter also posted a closing response stating it was ‘hard working with Yogscast’ and stating that they would now ‘sort this out with them directly’;
BomuBoi from Mojang also had a few tweets for us on the matter this morning;
bomuboi: If you find that our official statement sounds a bit harsh, this is how you should read it:
bomuboi: “We’re not dementing what’s already been said, but we’d like to keep further discussions private” So no more shouting and DDoSing, ok? D: <3
bomuboi: And yes, this ends my comments on the matter! <3 time to talk about nice things. … it’ll come eventually. ‘ A ‘;;
I guess he is having issue with people spamming them and DDoSing the sites? I think it is time people grew up and left both parties alone to sort out their differences in private.
The Afternoon of 24-11-2011
Notch has just put up some funny tweets;
I’m sorry about being a dick.
notch:
@MojangTeam Also, sorry about getting you guys in trouble.
I have to say I found this quite funny.. I think it shows everything will be ok. Notch is chilled, Yogscast are chilled.. All is good.
Lines are now closed, if you call in your vote will not be counted but you may still be charged…
I really cannot take a side here but we are planning to make a short video on the Gamer Euphoria YouTube channel talking about it all soon. Please check back for that.
Join the Forum discussion on this post
Interesting, we will see what happens from this and how many subs they loose on youtube and not to mention how many people will unfollow notch.
We’ll see how it all unfolds I myself had a good experience
With them getting signatures and all. This story is interesting
and I wish to see it progress
Yes it was unprofessional of notch to do that stuff over twitter, but it’s notch.. He did the same thing over the Bethesda mess not too long ago. Everyone is picking one side over the other. I bet it was a little of both. I enjoy minecraft and i enjoy the yogscast videos in minecraft. If yogscast stops doing videos oh well. Nothing we could do about it.
I can’t help but make parralels with Skyrim here. This feud is tearing people between their love of Notch (Minecraft) and their love of the Yogscast (Vids and Minecraft). Which also leads me to suspect that this whole incident is a collaborative troll by Notch and the Yogscast. Think about it. The whole time during the interview they were discussing their love of Skyrim. Maybe they decided to see how a civil war in the Minecraft community would go. I mean this doesn’t sound like something Simon and Lewis would do, and Notch just blabbing about it and badmouthing them on twitter isn’t like him, either. I truly hope that this is the case, and I’ll be anticipating the Yogscast statement on this matter with great interest. But if the worst comes to then worst, Yogscast FTW.
That is an interesting point.. I hope you don’t mind I added it to the post
unless totalbiscuit is in on it…
“Just heard from Simon and Lewis, they got back to Gatwick airport and were met by a crazed Notch supporter who repeatedly insulted them, IRL”
i am not sure what to believe, if this is a joke then shame on them both, for trolls and a laugh they are really dividing a community that has worked so hard to come together as 1 group of gamers. if this is the case and its a big joke then i will state right now i will not follow or do anything relating to notch or the yogscast as people.
I will continue to play minecraft for Jeb and the others of the Mojang team but i will unfollow the yogscast!
I in some ways look up to those people that came from nothing to being some of the biggest names in the games industry and that really upsets me knowing they are doing for their own laughs and trolls!
rant over!!
a bit off topic but i only just realised your doneykebab! im subbed to you on youtube and only realised who it was when i read the comments, its a small world.
Secondly on the topic of this dispute i do really find this quite hard to belive, i dont see how notch could have been hacked in this way but at the same time this really doesnt seem the yogscast, i mean if you see them where they are being interviewed by that woman (in a video they put up a while back) they seemed surprised by thier succsess and quite humble about it also. Perhaps this is just notch’s humor but then again the way he later explains it seems very out of character. Also notch and the yogscast have been friends for a while, they interviewed him during minecon, and they also appered together in the team fortress 2 celbrity deathmatch video, it is even belived that it is notch who supplies the yogscasts many minecraft accounts for thier soi sereis. In conclusion i find this very hard to belive but then i suppose the statement will reavel all, the way the forum has been blocked and the yogpod facebook page now stops followers posting on it seems like something in this may be true i do hope the youtube channel doesnt follow suite and they stop making videos as it would be a sign of cowardness. However i do think we also have to see this logically, as everyone knows money is tight and if you had the chance you would try to make as much cash as you could, but i still cant account for the other accusations. I would like to see the end of this and will be very interested in how this turns out.
On another note just to let you know @guardiantechs twitter account has a link to this page, which is how i found it
Thanks for the heads-up on the Guardian link. Can you tweet me the tweet
@DoneyKebab
Glad to see one of my subscribers has found me in this way
Also I had noticed that I couldn’t post on the YoGPoD Facebook as I wanted to share this story.. I thought it was just me though… I think it is because they are trying to stop the hate.. Also notice Notch hasn’t tweeted since it all happened.
just spotted all comments sections for the yogscasts youtube main page(s) have been removed….. hate mail!!! got to love it!!!
@Jamie
The Yogscast youtube page(s) comment section has been down for awhile now, nothing new.
I would like to bring some more stuff to the table… Notch might be intimidated. I know, I know… Seems unlikely. But then i realized something: Most of the people there went to see Simon and Lewis and get their autographs. Notch might be intimidated because the Yogscast were more successful than the people who organized it. Then again, I could be wrong. But anyways, that’s my view of it. Oh, yeah. Almost forgot. The Yogscast would no do such a thing. I know them personally.
Almost forgot another thing: That was their second time being in front of their fans live. They said they were nervous about seeing that many people coming to see them.
Thanks for the inside info @Nick – I too have a hard time believing they acted as notch said.
Thanks for this great compilation. It has made it much easier for me to get up to speed with the whole controversy
I am glad you found this useful. I am attempting to keep it updated with all developments. Please do check back.
@James
Yeah, i had guessed as much.
@chris – notch did tweet the following at around 8 last night (22/11/11)
“I’m sorry about the ugly public airing of dirty laundry.”
Does this have reference to the yogscast thing?
I believe it does, Thanks for the heads-up.. I have added it to the post.
I’ve been following all of this pretty closely. Notch already apologized for the “public airing of dirty laundry” but this is just silly. As someone pointed out here already, TB tweeted that some psycho was waiting for the Yogscast’s flight to get in so he could insult them IRL, I mean this has just gotten out of hand. Notch should have NEVER tweeted that without any thought at all, he is not stupid, he knew this would start an internet shit-storm. I’m kind of losing all respect for the guy, not because I’ll blindly disregard anything negative said about the Yogscast (I’m a fan), but because he knew perfectly well that they wouldn’t be able to respond until at least 24 hours afterwards, he knew that people would immediately want answers that Yogscast couldn’t provide. Basically what he’s done is a very effective winning strategy, he gets the first word – he gets the first supporters – he gets to bash the Yogscast knowing that they are not able to answer for the allegations, also knowing that the fact that they can’t answer is in his favor – the guy is basically a douchebag.
“down for Maintenance? or down for hate?
The site is now back up. Apparently they have secured it so you can only post if you are logged in and approved.. Too much hate?”
You should probably check some facts before putting out misinformation.
We really did have maintenance, I was recovering from a database corruption that occurred.
And no, we have not touched the security settings on the forum for a while now, you have NEVER been able to post without an account on our forums.
Thanks for clearing that up. I was just posting what people have told me or I have noticed myself. The ‘down for maintenance or down for hate’ comment was just for a bit of fun. I hope you don’t mind but I have included your comment in the post by way of a correction of my information.
Thanks
DoneyKebab
This whole incident says an awful lot about the community as a whole. Many people who would describe themselves as fans of minecraft and/or Yogscast have been only too ready to round on Notch, Simon & Lewis like a pack of wild dogs. Whatever happened I love playing minecraft and love watching Yogscast videos. Why should that change just because they have fallen out? People need to be less judgemental and more mature. They are all trying to bring good things to the community.
This is really sad. Grown men discussing this drama as if it’s some kind of bad soap opera on TV? Gossiping like a bunch of middle aged ladies when getting their hair curled in a salon. Who gives a shit about this? They make VIDEO’S on YouTube. I don’t care if they smack kids around daily or not, they seem nice enough and their video’s are funny. Why would I care for all this shit behind it?
People, such as this blogger, need to grow up and stop nosing around in business of other people where you don’t have anything to do with.
You are entitled to your opinion my friend, many people have found this blog helpful.
Thanks for your input.
http://www.reddit.com/r/Minecraft/comments/mnau9/yogscast_response_to_notchs_twitterings/
Thanks for the link. I actually added it to the post just before you commented
Just like to say thanks for doing this. This morning I was looking for somewhere that had all the information together and I found it in the form of your blog
. After reading this throughout the day it did seem to me that you were starting to take a slight side with notch. Although I understand if you can’t say too much, what is your opinion of the whole thing now that the yogscast statement has been released?
Hi Ben, I am glad you found this interesting. I have not decided ‘who’s side’ I am on yet.. I love them both..
I may well update this blog with some more of my thoughts soon.
I am also planning to make a short video with some friends talking about our views on this.. Please check back for that soon.
DoneyKebab
I’m glad this whole dispute is over, I think it was such a waste of time and effort and almost started an Internet war over who was right / wrong. Looking forward to new stuff from Notch and new videos from the boys at Yogscast.
Indeed.. It was a massive deal over nothing really.
@Chris, thanks for keeping this up to date, it was really an informative piece and helped to sift through everything: Kudos to you sir!
I’d like to offer an outside opinion if I may, from someone that has helped to organize conventions.
I believe both parties are at fault here. I’ll explain why I believe this, as there is quite a bit of screw ups on both sides of the coin, and like you Chris, I actually like both parties here, and found myself still even now, on the fence.
The Video
About the swearing: Yogscast claim to be professionals, they are also in a broadcasting atmosphere. They shouldn’t need anyone to hold their hand or approve anything they do, the onus falls on them, especially when it comes to content that may be unsuitable for young children. I dont care what the videos on youtube show, thats a cheap excuse and a cop out. If broadcasting is your business, I’d personally expect some accountability here.
Likewise, if what they say is true and their video was approved by mojang, then they have no right to complain about it now, If there was a conduct item or morals issue, it should have been addressed beforehand, possibly with a contract.
The Autograph signing:
Yogscast should have been provided an area to do an autograph session (from what I see, they were). However, Yogscast is still responsible for setting up their own area. Mojang is simply required to provide them with an area to do what they want. Anything extra, thats on Yogscast outside of a volunteer or two for security.
Selling IGN Broadcasting Rights & Compensation/Rooms:
Again, Yogscast are professional broadcasters, they make money doing this. They should have had a contract stipulating who could broadcast what. I understand friends are friends, but business at the end of the day, is business. If they didnt have a contract stipulating who had the rights to stream/broadcast, then again, this falls on Yogscast for not doing their due diligence. This would also have helped with any “compensation” issues that might have popped up. Yogscast brought 10 people with them, thats a cost and price point they should have factored in on, thats not Mojangs fault they brought ten people with them. Mojang would only be responsible for Simon and Lewis, not their entourage.
Also, the reverse can be said for Mojang not having a contract system in place to avoid headaches like this. Mojang, in my opinion, should have paid Yogscast to appear, as they were the “celebrities” of the con, its only fair to ask. and in reverse, if a contract had been in place, Yogscast could have charged an “appearance fee” which would have helped offset some costs.
As far as the panel and badmouthing of Mojang goes by Yogscast, I think that was a sour note for them to take, had it been my convention, and they blasted my product and staff in the way they were doing, I would not have them back either. Its bad for business.
Overall Opinion:
Mojang should have hired an outside establishment to handle the logistics of the convention, clearly they didnt know what they were doing on numerous fronts here, and that basically speaks to poor planning and implementation, especially when you try to launch a convention for the first time, with little to no experience in how a convention works. Its a hard thankless job, and if you dont know what you are doing, the task can be very daunting.
I understand Mojang wanting to do everything in house, and I believe (may be wrong) that Minecraftchick did most of the con planning and logistics. This isnt a slight towards her, but Mojang might want to think about getting a person who knows how to do a convention the correct way, instead of just stumbling through. My first con was full of issies itself, and I learned a lot going forward, but I also realized I couldnt logically handle a large project without assistance. Sadly, I think Mojang fell a bit short here.
They shelled out the money for Vegas, which shows they had the ability to dish out for the fans, sadly, it seems that they should have spent maybe a bit more on Experience rather than just a pink haired girl with a team of volunteers. Planning a convention on paper is really simple, doing it for real, is an entirely different ball game.
I hope mojang learns from this going forward, and gets someone who knows the business to handle the business. Likewise, notch should probably invest in some form of PR person(again isnt this minecraftchick?) to handle any public statements or arguements, instead of personally going public. This whole event stems from someone whos exhausted and pissed, and basically vents to the world, that wasnt a very smart thing to do, and as the owner of a Million dollar developement company, Notch should have known better.
What a brilliant comment! Thanks very much @Zero_Wolf
Very informative, by far the best place to look for minecon drama info.
Im glad its finally over, back to play MC and watch Yogscast videos.
Oh but first… SKYRIM!!!
Thanks, that means a lot.. I am glad you found it informative.
Also, now someone should buy the rights to make “Minecon: The movie”