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I don't mean to knock this video or anyone that gets a kick out of it. But does anyone else feel a sense of despair when they see that someone has put so much t

I don't mean to knock this video or anyone that gets a kick out of it. But does anyone else feel a sense of despair when they see that someone has put so much time and effort into something like this? I feel the same about speedrunners. Yes, they aren't hurting anyone, and yes they're following their passion, but I still feel an instinctual sense of despair when I see someone work so hard on something like this. I'm sincerely not trying to hate on anyone.

fb03 2y ago
Not really. I wish I had: - that much drive and - that much time to sink into pleasurable (useful or not) endeavor watching people talk about something they have a passion in (whatever that topic might be) is really interesting to me
eddieroger 2y ago
Some people really like to know how things work and are willing to put a lot of time in to understanding the thing that interests them. I don't feel despair. I'm glad they have a passion and feel so strongly about something that they wish to dedicate their time to their passion. If anything, I'm a little jealous. To each their own.
vsnf 2y ago
My despair is that you think he should have spent his effort on something you find, I assume, to be more productive than this. He’s an expert is a video game, it’s wonderful that we have the material abundance to allow that.
bongodongobob 2y ago
[flagged]
- throwaway74432 2y ago
  I feel very deeply that my life is full of meaning, so it can't be projection. Not interested in trying to suppress my feelings with drugs either.
  - bongodongobob 2y ago
    [flagged]
    - dang 2y ago
      Crossing into personal attack will get you banned here, so please don't do that. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful.
    - throwaway74432 2y ago
      I'm not dismissing anyone, nor am I a "DARE kid", nor am I projecting my own "meaningless life." I'm simply sharing my own unprocessed genuine reaction to this kind of content, and trying to see if anyone else can relate to it. You obviously don't, which is fine, but I don't see why you seem to be taking it personally.
    - icebergonfire 2y ago
      I love videogames, understanding how a speedrun is made is technically fascinating for me and I am also known to love some other things under the appropiate set and setting[1]... but I'll defend the OP because certainly don't think it follows that someone is a bad human that needs to do drugs just because they don't see the allure of Super Mario 64 and the people who are knowledge-hungry and obsess in understanding its guts. [1]: Readers please do the research before experimenting, you are tweaking your brain's running config with extremely opaque tooling that is not fully understood. Most of the time the calamity-event chance is low, it's a high impact event if it happens. Plural of anecdotes is not data, and oh do people confuse these.
- mazdayasna 2y ago
  This is probably the most condescending comment I have read on HN all year.
  - bongodongobob 2y ago
    Condescending is feeling sorry for someone who is doing brilliant shit because it's a waste of time, they should be bettering themselves. Like working harder at their job, or having a normal hobby like playing golf or watching football or fishing. You know, normal things like I do. It just seems so sad they what they are doing is a waste of time. Sorry I didn't add a "I don't mean to be a dick" comment like parent did.
    - pests 2y ago
      Who says he doesn't? Stop being so judgemental, get your nose out of others business. He may have a more fulfilling life than you even. Go find a hobby you actually enjoy instead of harassing someone whose found theirs.
- nonethewiser 2y ago
  > Not at all. It's the reason we have literally everything we have. This is the type of person that society needs I think this misses his point. I believe the despair is precisely that we dont need speedrunners and such. And that its not benefitting is like the mattress spring expert is. > There is no meaning or purpose If you believe this, then surely you can understand why he would feel despair over something that justifies itself in there being no meaning nor purpose.
- whamlastxmas 2y ago
  The comment you’re responding to is trying to genuinely explore their beliefs and it’s kinda gross for you to shit all over it in an ostracizing way. If you disagree then engage with your perspective without being unkind. The style of your response is in general the root of many society’s problems and I would have thought someone who espouses mind expanding practices would be better aware of that
bakugo 2y ago
Our eternally insatiable urge to learn how things around us work and create new things from that knowledge is what makes us human. This is a bit of an extreme case, yes, but it's still fundamentally the same thing: someone dedicating their time to understanding something and sharing that knowledge with others, even if it's not particularly useful knowledge. Pannen's insane dedication to SM64 and the quality of his content have earned him a sort of small cult following over the years of people who watch almost every video he uploads, including me. With that in mind, it's hard for me to say the time was wasted on his part.
icebergonfire 2y ago
Whether you consider videogames worthy of extended time and attention or not, that's entirely subjective and you are correct (for yourself) whatever your take is. Even in the case of assuming that you consider videogames completely worthless and a blight on humanity, surely you can appreciate that the person in this video has demonstrated an ability to reverse-engineer and understand extremely complex systems that were designed and shipped under very tight deadlines and not-very-good tooling... plus they have the ability to teach this knowledge in ways that non-experts can easily follow and understand. I would not say loving videogames makes for a good engineer, but I will say that my engineering growth was boosted by the opportunities granted to those videogames I loved when I was younger and how easy it was to inspect and disassemble them. For some The Cutting Room Floor is a website about unused content, but for other people that website is a gateway drug to needing to peel behind the curtain and understand how the sausage is made.
modeless 2y ago
It seems to me that if/when AI gets good enough to take over all the jobs then stuff like this is what we'll have left to do. We can always make up games to play and compete on and analyze. Maybe that's depressing to you, but I guess I don't see anything wrong with it.
nonethewiser 2y ago
I guess I just wonder how someone can afford to spend 10 months working on a SM64 video full time. Self-funded by his YouTube videos? Ok. Lives at home and taken care of by enabling parents? Suddenly not a harmless passion project.
silver_silver 2y ago
I agree. The insights are a small subset of what you’d discover writing a game. It’s like watching someone paint a wall with a model brush. This to me is an example of an unhealthy special interest. I don’t doubt that it makes them happy, but one has to wonder about the personal consequences of a lifestyle which allows for a 10 month project like this. Will they still be content after another decade of this, or will they regret spending their youth studying a toy?
add-sub-mul-div 2y ago
> But does anyone else feel a sense of despair when they see that someone has put so much time and effort into something like this? No, but I feel a sense of despair when someone is so solipsist as to consider their own values as some kind of objectivity against which to measure others.
eska 2y ago
Psychologically speaking my knee jerk diagnosis would be that you have an ego problem. Some random guy out there does something that doesn’t have anything to do with you, but you feel “attacked” because it makes you question your own lifestyle and values. And no, please don’t take substances to fix psychological issues that just take some awareness and reflection.
megadog3 2y ago
> Yes, they aren't hurting anyone, and yes they're following their passion Good, you're able to explain why it shouldn't bother you. The next question is why does it bother you? Any explanations from your side?

fb03 2y ago

Not really. I wish I had: - that much drive and - that much time to sink into pleasurable (useful or not) endeavor watching people talk about something they have a passion in (whatever that topic might be) is really interesting to me

eddieroger 2y ago

Some people really like to know how things work and are willing to put a lot of time in to understanding the thing that interests them. I don't feel despair. I'm glad they have a passion and feel so strongly about something that they wish to dedicate their time to their passion. If anything, I'm a little jealous. To each their own.

vsnf 2y ago

My despair is that you think he should have spent his effort on something you find, I assume, to be more productive than this. He’s an expert is a video game, it’s wonderful that we have the material abundance to allow that.

bongodongobob 2y ago

[flagged]

throwaway74432 2y ago
I feel very deeply that my life is full of meaning, so it can't be projection. Not interested in trying to suppress my feelings with drugs either.
- bongodongobob 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - dang 2y ago
    Crossing into personal attack will get you banned here, so please don't do that. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful.
  - throwaway74432 2y ago
    I'm not dismissing anyone, nor am I a "DARE kid", nor am I projecting my own "meaningless life." I'm simply sharing my own unprocessed genuine reaction to this kind of content, and trying to see if anyone else can relate to it. You obviously don't, which is fine, but I don't see why you seem to be taking it personally.
  - icebergonfire 2y ago
    I love videogames, understanding how a speedrun is made is technically fascinating for me and I am also known to love some other things under the appropiate set and setting[1]... but I'll defend the OP because certainly don't think it follows that someone is a bad human that needs to do drugs just because they don't see the allure of Super Mario 64 and the people who are knowledge-hungry and obsess in understanding its guts. [1]: Readers please do the research before experimenting, you are tweaking your brain's running config with extremely opaque tooling that is not fully understood. Most of the time the calamity-event chance is low, it's a high impact event if it happens. Plural of anecdotes is not data, and oh do people confuse these.
mazdayasna 2y ago
This is probably the most condescending comment I have read on HN all year.
- bongodongobob 2y ago
  Condescending is feeling sorry for someone who is doing brilliant shit because it's a waste of time, they should be bettering themselves. Like working harder at their job, or having a normal hobby like playing golf or watching football or fishing. You know, normal things like I do. It just seems so sad they what they are doing is a waste of time. Sorry I didn't add a "I don't mean to be a dick" comment like parent did.
  - pests 2y ago
    Who says he doesn't? Stop being so judgemental, get your nose out of others business. He may have a more fulfilling life than you even. Go find a hobby you actually enjoy instead of harassing someone whose found theirs.
nonethewiser 2y ago
> Not at all. It's the reason we have literally everything we have. This is the type of person that society needs I think this misses his point. I believe the despair is precisely that we dont need speedrunners and such. And that its not benefitting is like the mattress spring expert is. > There is no meaning or purpose If you believe this, then surely you can understand why he would feel despair over something that justifies itself in there being no meaning nor purpose.
whamlastxmas 2y ago
The comment you’re responding to is trying to genuinely explore their beliefs and it’s kinda gross for you to shit all over it in an ostracizing way. If you disagree then engage with your perspective without being unkind. The style of your response is in general the root of many society’s problems and I would have thought someone who espouses mind expanding practices would be better aware of that

bakugo 2y ago

Our eternally insatiable urge to learn how things around us work and create new things from that knowledge is what makes us human. This is a bit of an extreme case, yes, but it's still fundamentally the same thing: someone dedicating their time to understanding something and sharing that knowledge with others, even if it's not particularly useful knowledge. Pannen's insane dedication to SM64 and the quality of his content have earned him a sort of small cult following over the years of people who watch almost every video he uploads, including me. With that in mind, it's hard for me to say the time was wasted on his part.

icebergonfire 2y ago

Whether you consider videogames worthy of extended time and attention or not, that's entirely subjective and you are correct (for yourself) whatever your take is. Even in the case of assuming that you consider videogames completely worthless and a blight on humanity, surely you can appreciate that the person in this video has demonstrated an ability to reverse-engineer and understand extremely complex systems that were designed and shipped under very tight deadlines and not-very-good tooling... plus they have the ability to teach this knowledge in ways that non-experts can easily follow and understand. I would not say loving videogames makes for a good engineer, but I will say that my engineering growth was boosted by the opportunities granted to those videogames I loved when I was younger and how easy it was to inspect and disassemble them. For some The Cutting Room Floor is a website about unused content, but for other people that website is a gateway drug to needing to peel behind the curtain and understand how the sausage is made.

modeless 2y ago

It seems to me that if/when AI gets good enough to take over all the jobs then stuff like this is what we'll have left to do. We can always make up games to play and compete on and analyze. Maybe that's depressing to you, but I guess I don't see anything wrong with it.

nonethewiser 2y ago

I guess I just wonder how someone can afford to spend 10 months working on a SM64 video full time. Self-funded by his YouTube videos? Ok. Lives at home and taken care of by enabling parents? Suddenly not a harmless passion project.

silver_silver 2y ago

I agree. The insights are a small subset of what you’d discover writing a game. It’s like watching someone paint a wall with a model brush. This to me is an example of an unhealthy special interest. I don’t doubt that it makes them happy, but one has to wonder about the personal consequences of a lifestyle which allows for a 10 month project like this. Will they still be content after another decade of this, or will they regret spending their youth studying a toy?

add-sub-mul-div 2y ago

> But does anyone else feel a sense of despair when they see that someone has put so much time and effort into something like this? No, but I feel a sense of despair when someone is so solipsist as to consider their own values as some kind of objectivity against which to measure others.

eska 2y ago

Psychologically speaking my knee jerk diagnosis would be that you have an ego problem. Some random guy out there does something that doesn’t have anything to do with you, but you feel “attacked” because it makes you question your own lifestyle and values. And no, please don’t take substances to fix psychological issues that just take some awareness and reflection.

megadog3 2y ago

> Yes, they aren't hurting anyone, and yes they're following their passion Good, you're able to explain why it shouldn't bother you. The next question is why does it bother you? Any explanations from your side?