Spurred on by recurring discussions about what people want this site to be, it seems worthwhile to log my own wishes here. This however is more so what I value, and I recognize that what I value is not always the same as what others value, to the point our values may even conflict. What the site becomes (or what a new different site does) doesn't have to match my values precisely.

I may have additional relevant values than what are provided here.

Non-human techniques have previously been used as a cheating method in RTA. Whether that be via splicing, macros, cheatcodes, game mods, or something else. TASing has also been passed off as RTA, both in long-past and recent history. When TASing was still relatively new, the problem was so prevalent that many considered TASing solely as cheating. It wasn't its own unique art, it was just a cheat.

One of the primary reasons TASVideos was created was as a way to provide TAS movie files, and other metadata, along side the videos that people watched. In this way, the video (encode) could be verified as legitimate by other people. It still took years of hard work by many people to change the public's view of TASes away from a form of cheating and into its own unique art form.

Any form of misrepresentation goes against this ideal in my opinion, and should be avoided as best as possible. For example, if the video presented to the viewer does not match the TAS provided, then either the TAS or the video is a misrepresentation of the other, and casts doubt on the legitimacy of both. Much in the same way that TASes being passed off as RTA speedruns, devalues TASing and casts doubt on both RTA videos and TASing as a whole.

I value ensuring TASes are authentic, and are represented accurately to the public. No deception, whether intended or accidental.

On the surface, a TAS is just a sequence of inputs which we store in a file, and play in an emulator to produce a video. However, there's sooo much more information we can glean from a TAS than just its inputs. People invariably use that information when seeking out more TASes to watch, research, or share with others. This includes details like the game title, the goal of the TAS, the set of tasks the TAS completes within the game (category/branch name), the authors' names, which ROM was used, and so much more.

Compiling all this data for every TAS, and making it reasonably accessible for everyone, is a monumental task. Yet an important one. However, because of the depth to which this could be taken, I can accept that entries for a TAS may be incomplete. But what does exist, should not be inaccurate! Inaccurate data may easily lead to confusion, misunderstandings, and misrepresentations.

I value providing accurate data about a TAS in human and computer accessible forms.

Many things in life can be enjoyed multiple times, both by the same individual and by others in the future, whether as a form of entertainment or learning. Art is perhaps the most clear example of this throughout human history. How many times have you heard or seen the Mona Lisa, or some derivative work inspired by it? That work is over 500 years old! Yet still it has value.

I assert that video games, and by extension, TASes, are equally important to preserve. Whether be good or bad, short or long, they have value that can benefit people now, and people 500 years in the future. As such, I feel preserving as much of them as we possibly can is an extremely important goal. (Especially considering that some companies actively choose to destroy video games out of greed.)

Preserving TASes is a huge topic that I find difficult to summarize concisely. I think successfully preserving a TAS, at minimum, involves accurately documenting what they are, what they do, and what they've been used to produce (whether that be subsequent improvements, or visual/audible products like video encodes.)

Preservation also ties into emulator accuracy and console verification, but those pieces can be discussed at a future time.