Before digging down with Minecraft and blasting off into space in 0x10c, Markus 'Notch' Persson co-founded sandbox building MMO Wurm Online. Now, over six years since its entered open beta, Wurm is finally approaching version 1.0. If you moaned about the pace of Minecraft's development, maybe that'll put things into perspective, you big silly.

It's an awfully complex affair, where you can cut down trees to saw into logs to make a handle for an axe to... you get the point--crafting, crafting, crafting galore, with thousands of items. The big selling point was that you can found and build villages, which you need to maintain and defend. Animals can be bred and rode, crops raised, things killed, and religious wars waged. Imagine the concept of Minecraft but an awful lot more intricate and MMO-y. Hit the official site for more.

Wurm Online will finally, properly, really, launch on December 12. It hit beta in 2003, then opened up to everyone in 2006. It's been a long time coming. Persson left in 2007, but fellow founder Rolf Jansson carried on leading development.

"As most of you have noticed during all these years we've kept a low profile when it comes to attracting customers. It has been a deliberate strategy due to our special development situation," developer Code Club said in the announcement. "It has worked well and we have attracted the customer base we've needed to keep the flame burning."

While Wurm does have a €5 optional monthly charge, you can play without it. However, you'll be stuck on a smaller landmass with lower skill caps and no option to start your own village.