Billy Mitchell's 1M Game

[johnbart]

Hey, I respect the current grind, even though some people got screwed in the past with shenanigans. I just wish he’d come clean with the old scores and end this fiasco. The movie is over so he doesn’t need to play the villain anymore.

Like, he’s a pretty good dk player. Always was. And nobody really doubted his ability to get a million (whatever he may say). We doubted his ability to play at 1.125 pace, especially HOW he was maintaining said pace.

When he starts 1.1 runs I’m 110% sure it’ll be with actual 1.1 strats. And he’ll probably get it for real this time.

This pretty much sums it up. If he came clean and continued to grind it out to get a real score no one would doubt it and people might even respect it. Same goes for Todd. As it is, without owning the past mistakes there's no real value in anything he does in getting a score now outside of getting his disciples excited.

[QAOP Spaceman]

Billy's legitimate 1M play looks like everybody else's 1M play. If he keeps going and gets even higher scores, the gameplay style will be different in predictable ways, and it will be so different from his MAME "WR" recordings that he will further prove that he used save states on those. There's some irony in that. His "redemption" gameplay will further confirm that he had cheated previously.

The paradox is delicious, no? The more he tries, the more blatant and obvious the original lies become.

In a world riddled with violence, abuse, war, poverty, and injustice, lying and cheating about a 1981 video game clearly doesn't rank among the worst that human beings are capable of.

The real shame, as with any sociopath who can have a decent night's sleep after dissembling to their nearest and dearest, is the effect the mendacity has on others, particularly those whose trust was honourably placed in them. So Walter Day and Richie Knucklez, and other friends of billy end up being tainted with the same rancid bucket of horseshit as he does.

A man who can barefacedly lie to, and then enlist HIS OWN CHILD to help his 'redemption' efforts is truly a special kind of person. 'There's a level of difference between people', and it translates into some aspects of basic human conduct.   

[hooch66]

This pretty much sums it up. If he came clean and continued to grind it out to get a real score no one would doubt it and people might even respect it. Same goes for Todd. As it is, without owning the past mistakes there's no real value in anything he does in getting a score now outside of getting his disciples excited.

Guys like this never admit a fault though. Ever. No matter what. No matter if they are caught with the smoking gun in their hand.

[CaptainJivePants]

I wonder why someone would grind so hard trying to get a score and then not submit it to a score keeping authority?


If both DKF and TG are to be "disregarded" then what's the point?

I can understand not submitting the score, especially to TG and DKF.  That sense of pride we get from doing something like getting 1M on DK is worth it for a lot of us in many cases.  There are a lot of times I've spent a good amount of time working on a game or a particular feat with no record of it or recognition from others because I just wanted to prove to myself I could do it and feel that sense of accomplishment.  That's good enough for me and a lot of people in a lot of cases. 


Considering he has pretty much missed his chance to come clean and retain any semblance of credibility, I can see why that's pretty much his only option now.  It doesn't change the past, it doesn't change the evidence, and it doesn't mean he can start submitting scores again to reputable scorekeeping agencies.  He may be able to keep improving and one day put up great scores, but I honestly like to think we as a CAG community hold ourselves to higher standards than to allow his scores regardless.  This isn't the NFL where you get to keep your title when you get caught cheating.  You can't pull an Argentina and handball your way to a World Cup, use it to build a public image, make a movie about it, and then attack anyone who questions it with logic and valid evidence later.  There is no redemption or glory to be derived from this quest, and there is no way back as far as I am concerned. 


So, I really hope, for his own sake and that of his son who has been defending him so vigorously, that he is doing this for himself.  There's also the chance he's doing it for fun, but that doesn't seem like much of a motivator to him... or to play Donkey Kong for 1M+ scores.