I don't understand how this keeps happening, over and over, in the speedrunning and hi-score communities. It's pretty much always the same exact fight too, on one side you have claimants who...
I don't understand how this keeps happening, over and over, in the speedrunning and hi-score communities. It's pretty much always the same exact fight too, on one side you have claimants who almost always have decompiled source code, frame data that shows signs of dropped frames or splicing, or mathematical analysis that disproves the legitimacy of a score by establishing a lower bounds of possibility. On the defendant's side you have appeals to various authority figures, who seem to rely on nothing more than a good prior relationship with the defendant as a sort of character defense. Guinness is tossing away their legitimacy here as they continue to lose relevance in the internet age, by using gatekeepers that are directly affiliated with someone accused of cheating.
Luckily the speedrun.com community is both more open to newcomers, and also far more skeptical of WR breaking runs, but even there it still happens. Twin Galaxies and Guinness seem like old figures of authority that have been vastly outperformed by a newer, friendlier, more efficient model for record-keeping.
It's essentially a clash between an older, trust-based informal community and a newer, more anonymous internet-based community that values verifiability. I hope that these incidents become more...
It's essentially a clash between an older, trust-based informal community and a newer, more anonymous internet-based community that values verifiability. I hope that these incidents become more rare as the older community is rapidly losing relevance and credibility.
And indeed as you pointed out, the dynamic of trust clashing with verifiability is even apparent within the newer, largely internet-based community. Whenever a modern speedrunner commits fraud, their defenders tend to be people closely connected to them on forums and in discord channels, who often keep insisting that the fraudster couldn't have possibly faked their speedrun, "because reasons".
"I do not see a reason why Billy would need to even use MAME or save states to film both games with this style of play." This statement rests on the mistaken assumption that high level players...
"I do not see a reason why Billy would need to even use MAME or save states to film both games with this style of play."
This statement rests on the mistaken assumption that high level players don't feel compelled to cheat as much as lower level players. In fact, I'd say that high level players have as much if not more reasons to cheat: in one of his videos on fraud in speedrunning, Karl Jobst pointed out that lots of high level speedrunners get frustrated with just missing out on world records despite their high level of ability. They feel entitled to getting a world record, so they resort to cheating to shave off those final few (mili)seconds. A similar dynamic almost certainly exists for players focused on high scores, like Billy Mitchell.
On a more general note: I have been realizing more and more that Guinness World Records is straight-up a garbage organization. A short while ago, they started falsely copyright striking dozen of SMB speedrunning videos after they included a clip of Kosmic's SMB speedrun in one of their official videos. There's also an entertaining John Oliver video on GWR's association with nationally sanctioned world records by authoritarian states, in particular Turkmenistan.
Wasn't that automated, i.e. more YouTube's doing? I know that they reversed it.
A short while ago, they started falsely copyright striking dozen of SMB speedrunning videos after they included a clip of Kosmic's SMB speedrun in one of their official videos.
Wasn't that automated, i.e. more YouTube's doing? I know that they reversed it.
There was definitely MAME in 2005, though. It's not even that he couldn't do that, on an original board or MAME cabinet, but the specific submission. Sorry, I found that part particularly annoying.
they also knew that there was no MAME capable of being played on back in the golden age.
There was definitely MAME in 2005, though. It's not even that he couldn't do that, on an original board or MAME cabinet, but the specific submission. Sorry, I found that part particularly annoying.
So I watched that with my wife and at the end I asked her what she thought. Her opinion was that it was pretty entertaining but she thought some of the characters were a bit over the top and...
So I watched that with my wife and at the end I asked her what she thought. Her opinion was that it was pretty entertaining but she thought some of the characters were a bit over the top and unbelievable.
It was at this point I realised she had thought it was fiction.
:) So..... what's next? Tiger king? Living Dolls? American Pimp? Anvil? Sick? Then maybe throw in some faux documentaries? Best in Class? Forgotten Silver?
:)
So..... what's next?
Tiger king? Living Dolls? American Pimp? Anvil? Sick?
Then maybe throw in some faux documentaries? Best in Class? Forgotten Silver?
I don't understand how this keeps happening, over and over, in the speedrunning and hi-score communities. It's pretty much always the same exact fight too, on one side you have claimants who almost always have decompiled source code, frame data that shows signs of dropped frames or splicing, or mathematical analysis that disproves the legitimacy of a score by establishing a lower bounds of possibility. On the defendant's side you have appeals to various authority figures, who seem to rely on nothing more than a good prior relationship with the defendant as a sort of character defense. Guinness is tossing away their legitimacy here as they continue to lose relevance in the internet age, by using gatekeepers that are directly affiliated with someone accused of cheating.
Luckily the speedrun.com community is both more open to newcomers, and also far more skeptical of WR breaking runs, but even there it still happens. Twin Galaxies and Guinness seem like old figures of authority that have been vastly outperformed by a newer, friendlier, more efficient model for record-keeping.
It's essentially a clash between an older, trust-based informal community and a newer, more anonymous internet-based community that values verifiability. I hope that these incidents become more rare as the older community is rapidly losing relevance and credibility.
And indeed as you pointed out, the dynamic of trust clashing with verifiability is even apparent within the newer, largely internet-based community. Whenever a modern speedrunner commits fraud, their defenders tend to be people closely connected to them on forums and in discord channels, who often keep insisting that the fraudster couldn't have possibly faked their speedrun, "because reasons".
"I do not see a reason why Billy would need to even use MAME or save states to film both games with this style of play."
This statement rests on the mistaken assumption that high level players don't feel compelled to cheat as much as lower level players. In fact, I'd say that high level players have as much if not more reasons to cheat: in one of his videos on fraud in speedrunning, Karl Jobst pointed out that lots of high level speedrunners get frustrated with just missing out on world records despite their high level of ability. They feel entitled to getting a world record, so they resort to cheating to shave off those final few (mili)seconds. A similar dynamic almost certainly exists for players focused on high scores, like Billy Mitchell.
On a more general note: I have been realizing more and more that Guinness World Records is straight-up a garbage organization. A short while ago, they started falsely copyright striking dozen of SMB speedrunning videos after they included a clip of Kosmic's SMB speedrun in one of their official videos. There's also an entertaining John Oliver video on GWR's association with nationally sanctioned world records by authoritarian states, in particular Turkmenistan.
Wasn't that automated, i.e. more YouTube's doing? I know that they reversed it.
There was definitely MAME in 2005, though. It's not even that he couldn't do that, on an original board or MAME cabinet, but the specific submission. Sorry, I found that part particularly annoying.
p.s. For anyone who hasn't seen it, I highly recommend checking out The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters.
So I watched that with my wife and at the end I asked her what she thought. Her opinion was that it was pretty entertaining but she thought some of the characters were a bit over the top and unbelievable.
It was at this point I realised she had thought it was fiction.
:)
So..... what's next?
Tiger king? Living Dolls? American Pimp? Anvil? Sick?
Then maybe throw in some faux documentaries? Best in Class? Forgotten Silver?
Funnily enough the next week we watched Morris: A Life With Bells On, which she only clocked wasn't legit about halfway through.
I recommend the Bladen Sofa Sleeper.
Both the couch and pull-out bed are incredibly comfy.
It's like he's doing all that stuff to score a starring role in another documentary titled "The Man of Pac: For a Few Quarters More".
Egregious misuse of that meme by Twin Galaxies.