@moozooh: If the irc-channel associated (not on legal grounds, but still) with this site would be extensively used to illegally distribute roms, I bet that after a few years game developers/publishers would start to care more about the main site.
Et tu, Brute? –_–
Did you ever see the channel "extensively used to illegally distribute ROMs" before the whole banning thing? Right, you didn't. Why? Because, surprisingly, its users were mature enough to moderate themselves and stay out of trouble. These doomsday scenarios are bollocks, because they never happen yet continue to come up all the time as if companies didn't know better than sending agents in every major gaming IRC channel out there to find some anonymous dude requesting a ROM link once in a blue moon. Doing so alone costs a lot more resources than they could ever hope of getting out of the whole situation. They don't care, because if they did, they would never have waited this long.
But now, with so much attention drawn to it, the situation won't go back either way, so discussing it further is pointless I'm afraid. If anybody else is willing to challenge my point, which adelikat has already accepted as fair (although disagreed to comply, which I also already accepted), do not do it in this thread. It shouldn't have been used for the purpose of discussing the bans anyway.
Warp wrote:
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
Well, creating an emulator keypress record file is not illegal. You can suspect that an illegal copy of the game was used in the making of that record file, but such a suspicion is not enough to file a lawsuit. You can't sue people because they might have used an illegal copy of the game, if you don't have any kind of proof.
It's exactly why nobody has bothered to do something about it. Proving something concrete in this case is close to impossible, trying to suppress making videos/screenshots is as pointless as using a fishing rod to exterminate all fish in the ocean, and suing singular people for money doesn't make sense because they don't have enough money for it to matter nor make enough resonance for others to become afraid (if anything, the opposite is more often the case).
There are sites and torrent trackers that are dedicated solely to distributing ROMs, and even those don't receive any pursuit nowadays because it finally seems like the attention focus has shifted towards making legally offered things more attractive than piracy by means of value-added services rather than trying to fight in a war that is impossible to win. Which is, in fact, a perfect solution that should have been put in place since day one.
Warp wrote:
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
Well, it is extremely easy to take the moral high ground when you are not the one taking the risk. Each copyright violation could cost up to 250,000 dollars per user that downloaded the ROM from this site. Sure, you can wax on poetically about the reality of the situation, and how little game publishers care, but you AREN'T THE ONE PUTTING YOUR ASS ON THE LINE.
Given that the ramifications can be in the MILLIONS OF DOLLARS, legal liability isn't something to trust to 'everyone knowing and understanding the situation.' So, get off your high horse of superiority, and realize that in the real world, people have to cover their own asses.
I'm not sure you understand what I'm suggesting, because this argument seems to completely miss the point.
What the point was: not enforcing rules in the channel.
List of things the point wasn't:
— not enforcing rules on the forum;
— openly distributing ROMs and other copyrighted content;
— announcing any kind of illegal activities;
— anything else.
Your noble attempt at exaggerating the issue failed here because TASVideos administration doesn't own or otherwise legally tied to the IRC channel, the userbase, and whatever is said there. Exactly as the police (as a bunch of guys or as a social institution) can not be held responsible for crimes they didn't prevent, even though they are the main law enforcing/upkeeping institution. As long as nothing illegal takes place on things the administration does own, they can never be held responsible.
And yes, in situations when I'm linking to copyrighted content anywhere on IRC you can bet I'm the one putting my ass on the line right there. Because neither you nor adelikat nor anybody else is liable, they are not responsible for my actions; I am, and it's something that's not going to change on a whim. Otherwise no end-user would ever get sued for this — they would put the blame on their ISPs, the sites that hosted the material or links to it, Google for helping them find it, and so on, spreading it indefinitely because at least somebody out there was involved in making or serving the infrastructure that helped them obtain illegal content, and surely they need to take part of the guilt upon they shoulders. Which, as you know, is not the case.
As you now see (I hope!), my suggestion, rephrased, was to allow those who are willing to take the risk take it in a place where it makes sense to.
Also, for the record, my loathing wasn't centered on TASVideos or its administration, but at a general state of things. I do think Nach was an ass for the bans, though, but that's beside the point. :D
Warp wrote:
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
I loathe the utterly hypocritical state communities like this all end up in in order to save themselves from legal persecution. We all know what this is about, no matter what we are pretending to do or not to do in order to make and watch TASes and engage in related activities. Every party involved in any way does.
But I loathe it even more when the rules, whose sole reason to be there is to ensure non-liability in case major corporations decide to shut us down for piracy, get extended somewhere where it's not by any means warranted. These companies we may have problems with — Nintendo, Sony, Sega, Capcom, etc. — are older than most of us here, and I can assure you they are not living in a cave under a rock. After all we are more or less their audience. There is not a single doubt that by this point — after six years of the TASing phenomenon's boost to mainstream popularity, consistent growth, and coverage on every major gaming site — they are all aware of the concept in general and our community in particular, and have either already took actions they deem required, or don't care whatsoever, because they won't win anything by doing so anyway. They are not waiting for us to slip once with some kind of personal vendetta, because they can enforce compliance with the law, but they can't and won't control the direction the concept is going in, the related communities, or singular users. These companies are not stupid, low, or obsessed enough to bother spying on us on the IRC just to jump from behind the corner with a victorious "A-HA!".
I should also point out that, before Nach decided to enforce the forum rules in the channel, nobody ever abused them. We had something slip through the cracks from time to time (and during the 4.5 years I spent visiting it I've seen nearly everybody — including admins — do something that isn't allowed and is potentially or actually illegal), and it was rare, and it was fine because it was civil, it was for a better purpose, and nobody made a fuss of it because nobody liked hypocrisy. This paranoia is definitely untimely and I don't support it in any way.
Warp wrote:
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
Even badasses can have their soft side. What's so wrong with that?
Well, think about it! In this particular case, Samus's badassery is in direct contradiction with her soft side. The whole character seems tacked-on as a result, because what is being done de-facto receives a very, very lousy substantiation that simply doesn't work out this way. You just can't argue with the fact that a pathetically softhearted, submissive person would never be able to singlehandedly deliver violence and destruction in amounts Samus is known for during all her previous games, or even become a bounty hunter — a mercenary for what declares itself as the "good guys", pretty much — in the first place. (Well, at least it was that way before anime invaded mainstream culture.)
Warp wrote:
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
Haha, AngerFist, you're truly one of the most awesome people who have blessed this community with their existence! Go and make these games your bitches!
Warp wrote:
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
Because, if we can set the game speed to a (semi-)arbitrary value, it becomes exactly as irrelevant. If a game can process 200 frames per second with sufficient CPU power supplied, it won't even resemble itself anymore, but will naturally yield a faster TAS. There should be a limit to this, because artificially speeding games up strikes me as wrong. Though I guess that depends on what kind of changes this introduces to the gameplay.
Warp wrote:
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
That doesn't change the number of frames played, only the speed the game is played at, right? If so it doesn't matter as long as we have a standard point of reference for the game speed.
I think the question should be, what should we set the standard point of reference to then? Do we decide it per-game (in which case the framerate shouldn't be changed from the default, imo) or force it to 60, 70, or 72?
Warp wrote:
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
I'm willing to bet that you'll end up comfortably below 27 minutes at the pace you're going. The improvements have so far been genuinely surprising, and it's nice to see rare stuff like a combined level-up/soul collect screen. Excellent job!
Warp wrote:
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
New Floating Garden segment is amazing. Ghost is a hard soul to use efficiently, so the way you're sniping small enemies with it is really entertaining. :)
Warp wrote:
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
Why did you decide moving from FBA to MAME? Aside from larger game list, it's a lot less messy from what I gather.
Also, this MAME branch has reduced input delay on a number of drivers, which should help TASing. Please consider implementing the diff!
Warp wrote:
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
