Minecraft developers make Time's list of 100 most influential people

Mojang's Markus 'Notch' Persson and Jens Bergensten have made Time magazine's list of 100 most influential people in the world for 2013.

An introductory post by SimCity designer Will Wright praised the pair's work on Minecraft, calling the game a "wonderful combination of accessibility and depth, allowing for complex output with simple input." Wright wrote that Mojang's game is introducing children to computer programming as one of the "clear landmarks" along the path towards teaching them coding. Wright watches his son play Minecraft, noting how immersive the community surrounding the game has become.

"He spends half his time playing and the other half watching video tutorials other players have made about making cool things with Minecraft," he wrote. "It's a community actively learning and discovering from one another, and Minecraft is the catalyst."

Persson founded Mojang in 2010 to work on sandbox title Minecraft, which had grown in popularity since the public unveiling of a tech demo in 2009. Bergensten joined Mojang later that year as a programmer and designer for Minecraft, and stepped up as lead designer and developer when Persson stepped down in 2011.

Last week Time held a poll in which readers could vote on the 100 more influential people worldwide. The poll closed last Friday with Persson ranking second.