Record Attempts - NOT a Waste of Time

[ROBERT]

Hello fellow gamers:

 

I wanted to start a fresh thread...that "Barnstorming" one was getting out of hand and going for it's own record for most number of hits.

 

Well, I have to disagree with the currently next-to-last posting on the thread by "PhilFlound" who says that gamers are basically wasting their time with "300 attempts" at games like Barnstorming, the position being that in a 100 years who will care.

 

I do like that quote...it was said early on in the first "Terminator" movie by Sarah Connors' co-worker, but that aspect aside, a serious gamer either (A) wants to finish a game that has an ending or (B) wants to get good at the game...good being defined in quantifiable terms (higher points, faster completion, etc.

 

To "get good" at a game, or any sport for that matter, requires the following..."P-R-A-C-T-I-C-E"...and lots of it.

 

To be blunt, we have all seen what happens when you do not practice your game...just look at 2-3 years ago when Shaq couldn't make a free throw to save his life, thus the "Hack-a-Shaq" defense coming into play by his opponents.

 

And we're seen how godawful it was to watch far-less-than-perfect football players in action (i.e. the "XFL").

 

And, to be equally blunt, there are other non-gaming pursuits that also improve with practice (unless you're a total spazz, that is !!)

 

A serious GAMER makes a decision to invest their own time into their pursuits. Everyone has a hobby, some requiring more of an investment in time than others. Basically...to each their own.

 

The Twin Galaxies Intergalactic Scoreboard, like the "Farmer's Almanac" and the "Baseball Digest" all maintain records of one type or another that eventually will date way back. Granted, in 100 years, no one will know who I am, or who PhilFlound is, but they surely will still (I hope) be able to play Pacman if they want to, or Space Invaders, and see what all the hub-bub was about 100 years before.

 

Maybe 100 years from now someone will say "Hey...I can beat that", or "How the HECK did someone do this back then ?"

 

I am hoping that, like the orgs that track sports and weather records, that my organization, Twin Galaxies, will be around for some time to come. If so, I'll be proud to see my name there for records that I set going back as far as 1984. See...already 20 years have went by. And if I live to be 120 years old, then it will be 100 years and I'll be able to tell PhilFlound that I told you so !!

 

Robert T Mruczek

Twin Galaxies - Editor and Chief referee

Star Wars classic arcade champion

(212) 366-3036 (work-day)

rmruczek@doremus.com (work E-MAIL)

 

******************************

[Thomas Jentzsch]

It is a waste of time, like having protected sex.

[TG Ref Mike]

Robert -

 

"Philfound" isn't worth commenting on. He doesn't realize that he reveals himself to be the bigger "dork" (his words, not mine). There is a simple question to ask oneself to determine this:

 

How is wasting more of there lives?

 

A) A person devoted to a hobby, whether its video games, sports, model trains, collecting Baseball cards, etc?

 

or

 

B) A person who is so bothered by what someone else does with their spare time, that he feels the need to post a flame about it?

 

Seems pretty clear to me who is wasting more time.

[+Atari_Warlord]

There is and always will be people that need to win an argument. The "Fart on your Hobby" technique is a favorite among the immature as an attempt to pull the rug out from under you.

 

We've all experienced the argument over a toy where someone doesn't want to share and when they are forced to they say, "I really didn't want that anyway".

 

My response to this technique is usually silence. Since I enjoy my hobby and the person believes it is a waste of time, we have nothing in common, so I move on. Maybe I'm older than the average AtariAge member and I've been hearing the same put downs since I started gaming in 1975, so I just tune them out.

[Room 34]

Well, I have to disagree with the currently next-to-last posting on the thread by "PhilFlound" who says that gamers are basically wasting their time with "300 attempts" at games like Barnstorming, the position being that in a 100 years who will care.

I'm personally not that interested in Barnstorming, but in response to your general message, I have to say, I would be surprised if, in 100 years, anyone cares about anything I did during my lifetime. About the only thing I do that will matter is have kids, who will have kids, who will have kids. I can hope that in 100 years, my great-grandchildren will be happy that I fathered their grandparents, so that eventually they themselves would be born.

 

Unless I manage to do something of profound political or cultural significance (which sadly seems fairly unlikely), then I can acknowledge that most of the things I do in my lifetime are fairly inconsequential to the universe. The best I can do is try to make a small positive impact on my environment with each thing I do, and hope that overall it contributes to a "positive spin" on the world. And there's plenty of negative spin going on these days to counteract.

 

That said, I think that for this brief lifetime each of us is given, it is up to us to find things that give us a sense of meaning, fulfillment, and happiness. And one of the things I get that from is collecting and playing video games. So even if it is completely meaningless to everyone else in the world (even just today, much less in 100 years), the fact that I get satisfaction out of completing my collection of all of the pre-silver label Atari 2600 releases, or collecting all 6 label variations of Space Invaders, or rolling over the score in Video Pinball, or actually winning Solaris (not that that will ever happen ), then that's still worth something to me.

[Fretwobbler]

ROBERT wrote -

 

I do like that quote...it was said early on in the first "Terminator" movie by Sarah Connors' co-worker, but that aspect aside, a serious gamer either (A) wants to finish a game that has an ending or (B) wants to get good at the game...good being defined in quantifiable terms (higher points, faster completion, etc.

 

Im an "A" man myself, i'm sure Al will confirm that for ya as well . Once I set my eyes on a goal I go forever until ive got it

 

Adam

[Rick Weis]

i say what ever floats your boat! if you like it!! do it!! if you like wasting your time setting a record on and atari games or wasting your time collecting atari games! if it makes your life interesting to you, just do it!

 

"personaly i don't think it's a waste of time or i have wasted many years when i was young!" sorry no world records! ;(

 

take care,

 

rick

[DuckandCover]

My quests for high scores have not led to a great deal of success, but I've had an enormous amount of fun trying. I figured that's why we're all in this hobby: because we enjoy it. If others don't like attempting to crack records, then let 'em leave it to the record crackers. For me, I'm generally pretty thrilled anytime I surpass my personal best on a given game.

[RangerG]

All this talk about records made me check out the Twin Galaxies website and see how cool it is. I am very average at video games, but I can see how fun it would be to set a world record and the website and score-keeping serve a purpose. If you want to get philosophical, I always say that sports and competitive hobbies are important. If you look through history you see that people end up going to war and killing each other when they have nothing to do. Competition, adrenaline and testoterone are all part of humanity and war is a sad result. I am convinced that sports and hobbies address some of this and are positive ways to have a more peaceful society. Look at soccer around the world -- England and France used to rountinely kill each other every few years (if not every few months), but now they can play soccer and have a sense of victory (or defeat) without the bloodshed (well not always). This holds true with other countries, etc. Ok -- I'm getting too deep nd maybe streching the point, but I do believe there is some truth to it. By the way, I realized in the Twin Galaxies book that to get a world record I need to get really good at an obscure or unpopular system. I'm going to go break out the CoCo computer and have several world records within the hour.

[Philflound]

Cool, I love people bringing my name up. I just thought it was ridiculous that people were bitching about someone getting a score, and that it's on video tape and what else. When I played games with my friends, we had tons of fun (and thrown joysticks) when playing competitive time based games. I'm not knocking the fact that people play their games and like it, but I hate the "I'm trying to be better than you" attitude that seems to be portrayed on the thread.

 

"Todd can't have gotten this score because it's impossible." Who cares? Maybe Todd has magic and can get the score. I smell jealousy by others who feel it the need to justify that this 32.04 score was not possible. Again, a waste of time.

 

As for not being a gamer or collector... tell my fiancee that. I have about 2200 different carts for like 35 different systems. Though I've been busy with moving, I think I spend at least 20 hours a week playing games. It lifts some frustrations, it bonds me with friends as we play together, or even against each other, and for me it's overall fun. But I don't throw a fit when I don't beat Todd's score and start posting, "I've only gotten so and so time so Todd's score is fake". Screw that. Hooray for Todd and his bogus score. I hope he can video tape a 31.something to piss more people off. I can just picture everyone digging out their barnstorming carts just to see what they can get.

 

I think what it boils down to is compulsive, not enjoyable. At times I can say I get this way, but you know what? I don't think it's right. Complaining about this score to me doesn't enhance the hobby, but starts wars like with this April chick because someone has an opinion differing yours and people start taking offense to it.

 

So I type my controversial post. It'll make me be remembered.

 

Phil

[Philflound]

Oh, forgot to mention something. As for sports and such bringing up Shaq. These people get paid MILLIONS to perform at a high level. They practice because they will LOSE THEIR JOBS if they don't. Or just possibly lose their bonuses. So they have a monetary gain from all this.

 

Phil

[RCorcoran]

There is and always will be people that need to win an argument.  The "Fart on your Hobby" technique is a favorite among the immature as an attempt to pull the rug out from under you.

 

We've all experienced the argument over a toy where someone doesn't want to share and when they are forced to they say, "I really didn't want that anyway".

 

My response to this technique is usually silence.  Since I enjoy my hobby and the person believes it is a waste of time, we have nothing in common, so I move on.  Maybe I'm older than the average AtariAge member and I've been hearing the same put downs since I started gaming in 1975, so I just tune them out.

 

Right on! I too started playing videogames around 75-76 so I know where you're coming from. It does get absurd from time to time...

[Doc4]

I hope no one thinks I am a "troll" here, I kind of felt that way in the last post on Barnstorming, but I want to thank RC for sticking up for us when we were being attacked, in fact I want to thank the whole mess of TG refs that got on this board and helped to clear this whole mess up. I had been following the entire thread and decided my two cents were being well spoken for by others. And to sum everything up here and in the other thread, I have a total respect for the guys at TG.

 

As for people attacking the hobbyists in us all I feel the same way, they need to move on and stop throwing in useless comments about how were stupid for arguing this point. I personally believe it is the people (gamers) who read through these scores to make sure everything is legit or at least assist in that manner, after all we are the ones reading it, I also believe no one is perfect about this kind of info, especially since there is so much of it.

 

Well, I'm rambling and tired and I am having a hard time coming to my point, but this message is not by any means meant to be a "troll" message.

 

Thanks

[ToddsGuardian]

I think what it boils down to is compulsive, not enjoyable. At times I can say I get this way, but you know what? I don't think it's right. Complaining about this score to me doesn't enhance the hobby, but starts wars like with this April chick because someone has an opinion differing yours and people start taking offense to it.  

 

Phil

 

Gee, so should I now take offense to being called a chick ?

 

April

[Rick Weis]

I think what it boils down to is compulsive, not enjoyable. At times I can say I get this way, but you know what? I don't think it's right. Complaining about this score to me doesn't enhance the hobby, but starts wars like with this April chick because someone has an opinion differing yours and people start taking offense to it.  

 

Phil

 

Gee, so should I now take offense to being called a chick ?

 

April

 

like your subject title

 

"here a chick chick, there a chick chick, everywhere a chick"

VERY Funny!!

 

Take Care,

 

Rick

[ToddsGuardian]

like your subject title  

 

"here a chick chick, there a chick chick, everywhere a chick"

   VERY Funny!!    

 

Take Care,

 

Rick

 

Thanks Rick,

 

I'm not really the HARSH B**** that they all seem to think I am, but shhhhhhh don't let it out... Gotta act like a mean "chick" to survive in todays world...

 

April

[TG Ref Mike]

Cool, I love people bringing my name up. I just thought it was ridiculous that people were bitching about someone getting a score, and that it's on video tape and what else. When I played games with my friends, we had tons of fun (and thrown joysticks) when playing competitive time based games. I'm not knocking the fact that people play their games and like it, but I hate the "I'm trying to be better than you" attitude that seems to be portrayed on the thread.  

 

"Todd can't have gotten this score because it's impossible." Who cares? Maybe Todd has magic and can get the score. I smell jealousy by others who feel it the need to justify that this 32.04 score was not possible. Again, a waste of time.

 

As for not being a gamer or collector... tell my fiancee that. I have about 2200 different carts for like 35 different systems. Though I've been busy with moving, I think I spend at least 20 hours a week playing games. It lifts some frustrations, it bonds me with friends as we play together, or even against each other, and for me it's overall fun. But I don't throw a fit when I don't beat Todd's score and start posting, "I've only gotten so and so time so Todd's score is fake". Screw that. Hooray for Todd and his bogus score. I hope he can video tape a 31.something to piss more people off. I can just picture everyone digging out their barnstorming carts just to see what they can get.  

 

I think what it boils down to is compulsive, not enjoyable. At times I can say I get this way, but you know what? I don't think it's right. Complaining about this score to me doesn't enhance the hobby, but starts wars like with this April chick because someone has an opinion differing yours and people start taking offense to it.  

 

So I type my controversial post. It'll make me be remembered.

 

Phil

 

Yeah, it'll make us remember that you you like to waste your time complaining about how other people waste their time.

 

Keep posting your arguements, it really shows us all who has less of a life.

[D.Yancey]

Anybody know me? I thought it may be my father logged on to see if I was using my time wisely!!

[Pitfall Harry]

Yeah, it'll make us remember that you you like to waste your time complaining about how other people waste their time.

 

Keep posting your arguements, it really shows us all who has less of a life.

 

 

I hope that "us" doesn't include me. I'd hate to think I'm being implicated in a fellow board member bashing campaign. That would reflect rather poorly on me.

 

 

Ben

[Jeffy Arensmeyer]

 

...I smell jealousy by others who feel it the need to justify that this 32.04 score was not possible. Again, a waste of time...

 

Hmmm...That's a strong word; jealousy. But actually, after playing Barnstorming very much in the 80's as well as trying it out lately, I knew the score was not obtainable through normal means. The perseverance to find the truth is not jealousy, to me.   

 

Records are history. Be it an Olympic World Record, a quantity of hot dogs eaten at Coney Island, a golf score in England, a number of strikeouts by a baseball player or even the dead-last competitor to finish the Boston Marathon, records are an account of history, good or bad that preserves events that have taken place.

 

The place we congregate (these forums) are a record of sorts. If some of us are so passionate about our beliefs, then why do we post them here for everyone to see?  Why not directly e-mail the people to whom you want to respond? Because these forums act as a record for others to see what we think.

 

Without comprehensive, correct records, we are unable to make comparisons of anything about our lives. Very rarely will you find a person that doesn't want to know if something they've done, seen or experienced is below average, average, or above average. Do you watch Sports Center, read food labels, have a sticker in your car from your last oil change, visit museums? All records, of sorts that keep our curiosity/vulnerability compasses "in check".

 

But what about video game records? "Come on. It's silly to keep a history about kids toys. Especially toys that are over 20 years old." If you can honestly say that, then which records are worth keeping and which do you throw away?

 

We all need comparison to others and preservation of our ideas/accomplishments. It's not neccessarily a right, but rather an instinct.

 

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