MAMEWorld Forums - EmuChat

> Don't take it by heart. He's really a nice and helpfull guy.
> It's just that he suffers from a bipolar disorder.
> Just ignore those comments like I do and reply only if you see tha he's in a good
> mood.

Truth be told, I've been going through a ton of turmoil in my personal life over the past month and a half. Normally I would be able to brook it in stride, but at the same time I've been trying to taper down (and, about a month ago, went cold turkey) from the medication I've been on for literally the past 20 years, because I'm tired of being an overweight shit, and both medications tend to make it difficult to lose weight.

As you can clearly see, it's not been going at all well.

Pity party aside, none of that excuses my behavior in the least, and as of tonight I'm going back on my medication. I'll just have to redouble my efforts to lose weight, because at the end of the day, I'm still responsible for the calories I consume.

I apologize for being a shitty person, and will do my level best to pull the general tenor of my responses upward, rather than going for the churlish, but easy, reply.

Having said that, here's what I should have said to roloway, were I thinking clearly at the time:

Although the MAME team's presence on Twitter leaves much to be desired, a few of us do have contact with Frank! He's a solid dude, and happy to help out however he can. He definitely cares a great deal about preserving digital history, nobody can deny that. That said, his ability to help is often limited, not because he doesn't want to help, but because he legally can't. At the end of the day, Digital Eclipse - and by extension, Frank himself - is in the business of making commercial emulators at the behest of IP-holders. While they're rarely privy to any more insider info than the MAME team itself - because quite often these IP-holders don't even have any relevant information to give - it also means that any of their own reverse-engineering efforts are going to be covered by a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). NDAs are just a way of life when it comes to software development - particularly game development - and while the morality of such agreements against the backdrop of digital preservation can be debated all day, Frank ultimately has to do right by his company first and foremost.