I would like to see the use of autofire banned or at least the auto/noauto games should be in separate categories. The reason for this is simple, the use of autofire is an advantage - the same player will get higher scores with the use auotofire than without.(posted 9583 days ago)If we don't aim for a level playing field with equality for all players then the whole point of hi-scores is meaningless. I would hate to see the hi-scores table become a matter of who's got the most souped up joystick.
Take for example starforc. Currently, the 1st place starforc playback uses autofire and reaches stage 20. The players impressive score is higher than my best effort of reaching stage 27 playing on an actual arcade machine I have at home (completing all 24 levels of the greek alphabet + 3 infinity levels). In my game I played 7 more levels (the really hard ones) but got a lesser score. The reason for the score difference rests on one factor - firepower, I can't press the fire button 20 shots/sec. Our game styles don't differ by much, it's just that in a fixed scrolling game with more enemies than you can shoot at any given time, the auto fire will win everytime. My point here is that I think that reaching stage 27 in starforc is a far more difficult and impressive feat than reaching stage 20 with turbo fire, but that doesn't reflect in game score which would place the auto fire first. I believe this anomaly applies to most games, especially shoot-em-ups.
I for one will always prefer playing back a game recorded by someone who is using actual game skills to fight their way through a level rather than a higher scoring game by someone using brute force fire power and lesser skill. Unfortunately game skill does not exactly equate to higher scores so many great recording won't get a look in unless this problem is addressed.
The problem is of course that it is hard to prove that someone is using autofire (unless they have admitted it). This means that each suspicious recording has to be put to a vote - which is of course a subjective approach. It would be great if an objective test could be developed, but it seems hard to think of one.
This issue is one of 3 that I am concerned about. The other 2 issues are the use of slow motion software when recording and pausing midgame to take a break and coming back refreshed. There are solutions to those two issue though, I'll raise these as a separate board item.
Cheers, Tim