I typically only browse around at the discussions here, but this one seemed really interesting, so I thought I would chime in. I originally started out in Dance with Intensity way back in 2003, which (as far back as I can remember) didn't even have an editor; my friends and I spent an immemorable amount of time in Notepad putting arrows to video game music. The stepfiles were, by just about anyone's standards, terrible and trashy, but we had loads of fun. It absolutely was the draw of being able to "play" our favorite songs that we loved so much about it. I was never really part of any online community; in fact, I've only really been part of one in the past, and that was many years ago as well (and VGM related). Back in 2003, there really wasn't much of a standard about a "right" way to do a file. Sure, we all knew when a file was offbeat, but even that didn't bother a lot of us. I imagine that some people still aren't bothered by it now, though I gather by how the times have changed that the number is far fewer.
I agree with a lot of things said in this thread. But, that's me.
Over time, I began to see more "technical" files come about - and this may have been due to the advent of Stepmania - and I began to appreciate the relation of certain patterns to phrases of music and began incorporating them in my own stepfiles. But as files became more "technical", they became, to me, less enjoyable. But that's really where all of this idealism about "to each his own" in terms of "fun factor" falls apart; the fact that "to each his own" inherently brings us to where we are now, not away from it. You see, many people now have chosen to be "technical" over including "fun factor", and just as they really have no right to call our methods wrong, we really have no right to call theirs the same. For example:
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Originally Posted by lnick
I mean, if a simfile you made was fun for you and maybe fun for other people too, then why should someone else have the power to tell you otherwise?
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They have to power to do this because it is what they really think. As someone said in this thread, consider Stepmania a form of art (and it really is, in a way); a person crafts a stepfile in a way she thinks is appropriate, whatever that entails. She may not care if it's "technical", or she may not care if it's "fun", but what matters to her is the end result she is striving for. Now, in the end, one group of people will think one thing about it, and another group of people will think something entirely different. There really isn't a file that exists that everyone thinks is fun. I guarantee you. And that's just the nature of people. We all have different opinions. And, just like any form of art, someone may look at your painting and say "Man, that's terrible" and someone may say "That's absolutely amazing" and both are within their rightful opinions.
I think that, in a fashion similar to the way we try to call stepfiles "right" or "wrong", we try to reach some higher level of appreciation and cultural awareness by saying that all art is "good" and that it's only a person's taste and opinion about art that make them *think* it is "bad". This is a silly argument because its root is in establishing some sort of fact about an outlet based purely on taste and opinion. If you are behind this argument, then you have to be able to honestly argue that every single song in the world is good, and every single movie, and every single game, and every single other creative outlet; at that point, we've essentially established that "bad" does not exist. Sure, "good" and "bad" are based on taste and opinion, but taste and opinion are valid arguments because they are what a person truly feels about something, and that is what matters in a creative world. So, you can't beat comments like
Quote:
Originally Posted by lnick
your simfiles are bad, the simfiles you play and think are fun are bad
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because they are the very territory of the creative world. And really, it's the nature of people, to be critical, blunt, and say things that offend you (even if it wasn't their goal to offend you). I don't mean to sound pessimistic - that's not what this is about - it's just that people are like that. There's no way to change it. When you get a group of people together that want to make a pack of stepfiles, they have to like the stepfiles that they're putting in. It's only fair; it's their pack. They have to be satisfied with its contents in some way. A different set of people will accept a different type of files because they will have different judges. Apparently FFR has some really strict guidelines about how "technical" a file is. It's their game. They have to like what goes into it. It's impossible to try and achieve a sort of Utopian "everything goes and step anything you want" because let's face it, none of us want every single file ever made to be released in the places we go to for some form of "quality control", which I think someone mentioned in this thread. Very few people here can argue that they want that. Otherwise, why not just go to the Stepmania file database?
Anyway, the reason I've put a lot of things in quotes, like technical, fun factor, good and bad is because those are all subjective terms as well - yes, even "technical". With only 4 places to put arrows, true pitch relevancy and even the proper way to layer percussion (does anyone think about THAT?) goes out the window, and you make do with what you have. To some people, that interpretation is different. But since we've already established that something is left up to interpretation, that means that there isn't really a "correct" way because interpretation is subjective.
I apologize if I'm repeating some things that have already been said, because I only read some of the posts in this thread, but I thought I would just give my point of view. In a way, I don't know where the original post was going, though I do really like the reminiscent quality of it and, again, I agree with many of the things said; stepfile artists have gone away from stepping levels that "play well" and have instead moved to making things "technically sound". I felt like there was some need in the post to fix things regarding how the community views stepfiles, but really, the community's take on files is like any democracy's take on any issue: some people will agree, some people won't. It's true, really; you can't make everyone happy. The best you can do is try to find a group of people that agree with the way you think and enjoy your similar tastes and opinions with them.