Game developer refuses $11 million of royalties
February 5, 2008
and it’s not because he’s rich. It’s because he says that his hobby is work, and “Everyone in my family is mad at me but I tell them that if they want money, go out and earn it.“
My friend showed me the article on a gamer site a few days ago, and it still makes me chuckle.
For one thing, his family must REALLY be ticked at him. For another, it’s not like he won the lottery and chose not to accept after all. He actually earned that money through his own hard work, and just doesn’t care to take it.
This reminds me of Grigory Perelman who declined the top math prize.
I have to admire these purists for their dedication to their work, but I wonder what passes for work-life balance in their lives. Ah well, that’s the concern of non-geniuses. 🙂
There maybe a fair bit of wisdom in what he did. A large lump sum of money tends to bring people out of the woodwork. If I got a huge lump sum of money like that when I didn’t really need it I would feel some expectation from the world to spend it.
If I didn’t need it (truly didn’t need it) I would donate it to something worthy.
~Matt~ I’m sure there were many plans being hatched by his family for the spending of that money.
He ended up donating it to his employer (a university) for construction, so at least he’s supporting education. I think a scholarship fund might have been a great thing, too.