I am wholly embarrased that I didn't notice "illegitimate hoax" was infact a double negative, technically stating the opposite of what I wanted to imply. However, I still have an agenda, and I will hold fast to my vigil.
If I had my way, these videos and the methods used in their production wouldn't exist. All speedruns would be produced by unaided hand, separating the strong players from the weak. But people will continue to make these videos and I'll be damned if anything I say or do can change that. I just have difficulty comprehending how someone can call themselves a gamer when they deliberately break the written rules of a game by repeating sequences add infinitum, slowing down the game speed to a crawl, and coming out with a video that shows no obvious evidence of said techniques.
The fact is that there are still people who can't tell the difference between legitimate and illegitimate speedruns. The best way I can think of solving this problem is to use a disclaimer that people will be able to understand. When I say people I'm specifcally referring to the 1000s of 14 year olds who receive these videos over peer to peer connections, links posted in ignorant forums, and AIM conversations daily. They are the ones spreading the lies and misinformation, certainly not myself.
'blip' suggested a disclaimer that appears to have a semblence of merit. The problem I have with it is that the term "Tool-Assissted" is too politically correct and/or esoteric. I know people who have attained legitimate records on emulators like zsnes. According to the popular logic exhibited on this forum, the legitimate runs I am referring to are technically "Tool-Assissted" as well. Therein lies the confusion.
Before you explain to me how the "Tool" being reffered to in blip's disclaimer is pertaining to techniques like save-stating and/or in game slow-down, there exists a more fitting definition for said techniques known popularily as 'cheating'.
Instead of pulling out your dictionaries, come to terms with the fact that these games do not feature a built-in save-state mode, (at best they have periodic checkpoints that the player will return to should he/she screw up) or slow-down mode.
Please spare me the 'save-staters mantra' of "They are exactly what they claim to be" as I've been pelted with that sentence so many times that it now holds less than negative meaning. By saying you cheated, I am not attacking your right or resolve to continue to produce these videos, and I hope you people can crawl out of your tortoise shells and debate intelligently rather than immediately going on the defensive. But honestly, anyone with the logical capacity about equal to that of a bowl of cereal can tell that the methods used to produce these videos embody the notion of cheating. Inserting 'cheated' or 'cheat' into a disclaimer is a perfectly reasonable request.
But I already know you people would sooner receive a ground-glass enema than delegitimize your art with the matter-of-fact truth that I am proposing; the truth that would eliminate all confusion and doubt among the ignorant masses.
In the long run however, even said disclaimer won't stop little Billy from submitting save-stated recordings as legitimate runs, and for that I can offer no solution. A legitimate-looking run would be very easy to concoct, just think about the variables. You can edit in 5 seconds of black easily, you can put the run on a VHS cassette easily and you can make deliberate slip-ups in the run to feign legitimacy if need be. Not to mention that the emulators being used already look exactly like the real thing. It would be THAT simple, and that is the main reason I feel the way I do.
You people keep misinterpretting my motive as narcissism or arrogance when all I am doing is looking out for the legitimate community that I have been a part of for so long, that same community that provided the stepping stones for this one.
But ultimately, I'm just some guy with an opinion and of course I have come off as rash, because gaming is a part of my life as it is for all of you. I didn't nessassarily intend for my first post in that zelda topic to be a war cry, and I didn't nessassarily intend for the wild fire that ensued because of it.
And if banning me, or locking my threads is your strategy for meeting a mutually beneficial agenda then so be it. I couldn't care less.