To the admins and staff:
So I came by here today to find a run for a friend and noticed the front page about the site. I read through this thread and seen the thoughts and opinions of the staff here on site and while I do see the points your making let me use a personal example for why this site needs to keep going.
I run a Halo modding website. You could say it's pretty popular among the modders around there. The staff on my site as well as the modders put alot of work and devotion into our mods to make the best things we can for the community. So when its late at night, were all in Team Speak and winding down do you know what we like to do? We come here to find some vids to watch together until its time to call it a night.
So why do we watch them? For the simple fact of how much work and effort you guys place into these runs. For us the speed is one thing but planing out your routes in the game, getting knowledge on how the game works and how to exploit its weaknesses is what we love the most. Recently we pulled out the LoZ: OoT TAS and just laughed at the trick and glitches in it along with the clever use of routes and items.
I personally found TAS videos by watching a member of this site named "Swordless Link" on YouTube and it lead me here long ago and have been a fan since. I never paid it any mind to actually make a account cause the only thing I could really contribute is simply saying a run was awesome and so forth. I don't know the technical side of these run nor do I wish to. I want to know when I invest time into watching a run on a game im assured that im going to get some entertainment and also some trickery. Hell, there has been a few runs I have simply watched cause I remember owning the game as a kid and just want to see someone reply it again and beat it cause I never did back then.
For the members of my site and friend who I share TAS videos with it was never a debate on if someone is cheating, hell, the average schmo on YouTube who see's on of these vids automatically think your cheating hence why Link has to put up that god aweful disclaimer on each vid description saying "This is not meant to show skill cause your to stupid to know what a TAS is about".
I think the meaning behind a good TAS has been lost in my opinion. If you spend so much time worrying about who has the best time by a few frames or seconds or arguing over is this valid and that valid the true meaning of all of it gets lost for me. It's about the games, pushing the games to the limit and finding new and more improved ways of doing so.
So your emulator isnt perfect. So what? Do what you did by announcing that you found out this and that some things may be off some and merely change the obsolete time for a vid to adjust for whatever you need to do. Like I said, I don't know how any of this stuff works, what I do know is that I, my friends and my community enjoy these vids. How many other community's out there do you think feel the same way I do? I bet there are tons and your YouTube video views more then prove that.
I never want to see this place go but if it came down to that I would be more then willing to offer a archive for the vids and so forth for future viewers to see the vids I have grown to love. It would be such a shame to see so many people's time and effort just get removed over something being so imperfect. The games you play are imperfect as well you know hence why you strive to keep doing run after run on them. Well, the system of these TAS runs may be in that same category to which you just keep plugging away like always of either trying to find a way to fix the emulator or simply correcting the issues with TAS policy and mandate. Throwing in the towel was never a option for a TAS runner or we would still have to get that star on Dire Dire Docks for SMB64.
I have never known any of you to quit or simply walk away from a challenge and now you have your biggest one in front of you. So what do you do? Do you simply say this is the best we can do for the fate of our site or do you get off your butt, try to find a resolve for the mayhem and try to continue on looking for a answer to which there seem to not be one.
My offer on making a archive for this place is legit and if you wish to view our website it can be found at the bottom of this post. I will simply buy a domain to reflect the TAS name and keep a archive of this place and its achievements for future gamers and old school gamers who love to linger in the golden days of gaming.
In closing either thanks for the memories and the time you invested in your runs for my own entertainment and others..
or..
glad to see something is going to get worked out eventually.
-Pepsi
http://www.halomodding.com