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This page is my work in progress attempt at writing a compact general description of the most important things about the site.

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!! What is this site?
TASVideos is a site aiming to be a collection of the best TASes. Our community creates TASes, displays TASes, creates articles on our wiki, and discusses on our forum.

!! What does TAS stand for? What is a TAS?
TAS stands for Tool-Assisted Speedrun or more generally for Tool-Assisted Superplay. Speedruns on their own are a playthrough of a video game aiming to reach the goal as fast as possible performed by a human in real-time. But humans are flawed, make mistakes, and have limits. So we asked ourselves, what would video game playthroughs look like if we go beyond humans skills? A TAS is the answer to that question, a flawless video game playthrough ignoring human limits.

!! Are TASes just made by bots? Aren't TASes boring if there is no risk of mistakes?
TASes are ''performed'' by software following a process, but TASes are ''created'' by humans. As a comparison, when humans create electronic music they program certain melodies and rhythms inside the software.%%%People don't applaud the program for making no mistakes when playing the instruments. It was programmed this way.%%%People don't applaud the program for creating good sounding music. It was programmed this way.%%%People applaud the human for telling the program how to perform something amazing. And this is exactly why people watch TASes. Not for the thrill from risking mistakes, but for the experience of watching something perfect.

!! How does this site operate?
Every TAS has to go through a certain process before it can be displayed on this site.
# A TAS has to be __created__. The result is what we call a __movie file__. This isn't a video file like a .mp4 file. A movie file is a file containing all the button presses and their timing. It also contains additional information, for example the author list or emulator settings.
# The TAS is then __submitted__ to the site. The author puts all relevant information about the TAS and the game like used tricks or routing ideas into text boxes and presses submit. This process creates a __submission page__ showing all the entered information, and a __discussion topic__ on the forum. The author is able to edit the submission page even after creation.
# Now other viewers can see the submission, download the movie file and __watch the TAS__. In the discussion topic viewers can __vote__ whether they liked what they saw or not, and even create __feedback posts__. The author should be available to answer any questions about the TAS that might come up.
# After some days of collecting feedback, a "Judge" will __judge__ the submission. Judges are designated community members who are familiar with our movie rules and are qualified to give decisions on submissions. They decide whether the submission will be __accepted__ and proceed to be displayed on the site, or if it will be __rejected__ and not be displayed. If the submission is rejected the journey of the TAS ends here.
# If the movie is accepted, it will start the final process of being __published__. A designated member in the group of "Encoders" will create high-quality videos called __encodes__ according to site standards. And finally a designated member in the group of "Publishers" will collect all relevant information about the game and the TAS. They decide the branch name, select a screenshot, write a TAS description, and put all these things together and __publish__ the TAS. This creates the __publication page__ and the TAS now has a prominent spot on the site.