Failure messages in emulator tests

Discussion of development of software for any "obsolete" computer or video game system. See the WSdev wiki and ObscureDev wiki for more information on certain platforms.
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miker00lz
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Re: Failure messages in emulator tests

Post by miker00lz »

I am very considerate of peoples' feelings in my interactions, but I also think there comes a point where you can't just have an entire society walking around on eggshells because 0.01% of people might be slightly upset about what a test ROM displays?

I shouldn't have even said anything, but this whole discussion baffled me. Anyhow, that's all I've got to say about the matter.
Last edited by miker00lz on Sun Jan 13, 2019 6:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Alyosha_TAS
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Re: Failure messages in emulator tests

Post by Alyosha_TAS »

Personally I like it when demos or test roms give those cheeky / rude messages. Bring it on!
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koitsu
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Re: Failure messages in emulator tests

Post by koitsu »

+1 to Alyosha_TAS.

It's OT, but this classic Jerky Boys prank call always comes to mind -- Sol: he said some very vicious things about me and I'm very hurt about this!!! Lawyer: What do you mean by hurt? You were hurt by his words or you had an injury?

I think the filename and initial image was fine. It reminded me of a classic 90s warez/demo groups who'd poke/jab folks in the ribs via an NFO file while generalising (the more uncomfortable ones were when group X hated group Y and they'd literally sling crap at one another). In this case, we know it's generalising because the author stated that multiple emulators demonstrated problems (quote: "It seems to differ on all emulators I've tried, including ZSNES, SNES9X and BSNES+"), *not* just a single emulator from a single author. If the filename had been "SNES9xSuxFatDonkeyBalls.sfc" or "bsnesIsAPileOfCrap.sfc" I'd have probably taken issue with it.

Though simultaneously, I empathise with byuu's point about feeling crummy when someone might insult something you've worked on for many years/put your heart and soul into (hmm, I've been through that more times now than I can count); it's one of the risks one takes when making something/anything publicly available. But in general it's balancing act -- one has to decide what's more important (to them): fixing a thing for the greater good of mankind (better accuracy, as long as there isn't a severe trade-off), or a "sassy" filename/image. :-)
Near
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Re: Failure messages in emulator tests

Post by Near »

miker00lz wrote:If somebody takes it so personally that it cripples them emotionally, I don't know what to say. Why has everybody gotten so sensitive over the last 10 years or so? :roll:
No one even remotely said they were crippled emotionally from it. No one said they were offended. No one asked anyone to change anything. You're making up in your head that we made a much bigger deal out of it, to fit some pre-conceived notion you have. Please don't take my words out of context.

tepples magnifies and analyzes issues for the sake of trying to understand and relate to people, which is not a bad thing. We're emudevs, we spend our lives analyzing nuanced details. These kinds of discussions are intellectually stimulating to some of us. Jokes are fine, but it's also beneficial that in a few years from now, a new emudev with a folder full of test ROMs will get more helpful diagnostics. That's a good thing.
koitsu wrote:I empathise with byuu's point about feeling crummy when someone might insult something you've worked on for many years/put your heart and soul into
Well, I was trying to elaborate how it could hypothetically feel. Tell most artists their work sucks, and you're more likely to get a negative reaction than if you were more constructive with your criticism, right?

In this particular case, my only concern was that, to me, it felt confrontational without any context about who the poster was. The poster clarified, I apologized, that should have been the end of it.

Like mike said, I really shouldn't have said anything.
But in general it's balancing act -- one has to decide what's more important (to them): fixing a thing for the greater good of mankind (better accuracy, as long as there isn't a severe trade-off), or a "sassy" filename/image. :-)
I agree, I was being stupid here ... as you said, there's a balancing act we have to find between friendly joking and encouragement, constructive criticism, and outright hostility. This one was clearly friendly joking, and I over reacted based on other past experiences I had.
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