Anonymous Speedrunner's Suspicious Record Wreaks Havoc!

[@GamerFolklore]

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[@CGoody564]

VPN's do not help you stay anonymous; please stop spreading misinformation. Your ISP still sees everything you're doing. The only purpose it has is location spoofing. If you're required to say that for the ad, you should reconsider having such a duplicitous sponsor.

[@dillan.mclenaghan]

if its 21 she or he could have got 20 cause the bump on the wall and the time wasted in the watch to change the play style so 20 is possible

[@chompythebeast]

Yeah, but didn't you use the n-word a bunch on forums during the BLM uprising?

[@chasedaily8134]

Seems like a legit record that meets the established criteria for proof. Who cares if the runner wanted to use an alias?

[@GamerFolklore]

I pretty much agree.

[@wesdog784]

I mean, I don't get what the big deal is. Sure, MirrorMage posted it on an alias account but he provided all the evidence that the mods asked for AND has a speedrunning history. By all accounts this record should be counted. It sounds like people are just jealous.

[@sobari745]

People need to chill. Pretending to be another person doesn't magically invalidate the time and effort put into the run itself. If a run can't be proven fake, and obeys all the rules relating to video quality and such for upload, then it should be accepted until otherwise proven fake. Period. Disqualifying a submission based entirely on "personal feelings" is, and always will be, the wrong decision.

[@Akuretaki_Nikolay]

exactly, i want even watch this video lmao

[@shellsterdude]

It seems to me if the run meets proof standards, especially now that we know that they are someone with legitimate skills, the run should be treated as legitimate. If the GoldenEye speedrun community wants to enforce streaming requirements like many other communities have done, that's fine, but it isn't/wasn't required at the time of this record.

[@Nolifeterran]

If that's the case then all previous runs by people who didn't stream then should be null void. What's good for me isn't good for you is dumb. If they're that good then they can get them again eventually. I think there's a lot more cheaters than we know. There needs to be a post Era records then if that's the case in needing streaming to prove its legit. It sounds like the old guard are upset like goose because people can break their records. Which he is also a known cheater.

[@MrShanester117]

Did you not watch the video? It was a hoax

[@learntooilpaint]

@@MrShanester117did you watch it? There is no evidence the runs were fake.

[@learntooilpaint]

@@Nolifeterrandid you watch the video? This is the kind of run that someone would find difficult at best, just do it again does not apply here.

[@HelenaOfDetroit]

Runs should be legitimate, yes. However, requiring live streaming for speed runs on a single player game that operates on a console that doesn't connect to the Internet or computers is just adding another barrier to entry into the speed running community. The notion that livestreaming a game could even be considered as a requirement is evidence of how horrible the entire speed running community is.

[@MirrorMage100]

It must be said that the RNG / luck factor for achieving two 21s from Dec 17th to Dec 24th should not be overstated. Yes, hostages need to escape using the best routes but this is "only" 1/42. With modern understanding of the level, if the hostages pick the best escape points in the context of a 2.3 run, they will usually escape on time for a 21 unless you do something wrong. The 2nd hostage taker doesn't even need a great death animation for a 21. I also need a specific opening cutscene at the start but that's luck required at the very beginning of the level. The real crux of the run is the corridor after the bug throw where the lured bridge room guards troll several runs by getting in the way or backboosting you (hard to quantify how often this happens). Despite this, you can afford some time loss in the corridor as is evident in my 2nd 21 as long as the rest of the run is fine since 21 is not very tight. I can see how my runs may be deemed suspicious but the "insane luck required" should not be one of the reasons why.

[@TARINunit9]

Oh wow, fancy seeing you here

[@TurnOneWin]

MirrorMage did nothing wrong!

[@tessademsky1156]

I think the main struggle ppl have is the deliberate deception with no motive.

[@Sterlin18]

Honestly surprised no one had :21 yet with KJ getting a :22 with the old strat and 1.2....the new cut scene strat is just as you described above...how could it not save a full second from the old strat is beyond me....nice job none the less however recked havoc on some people on the council during the holidays with the alias - Either way nice run and well overdue for the level tbh...

[@TooMuchDad]

I also thought it was an off point in the video. Even if it was 1/“hundreds” as he said, if a run takes 30 seconds, maybe a minute total including resetting, that’s still only a few hours to get the luck required.

[@clearspira]

Being an "unknown" doesn't automatically make you a fake. I bet there are thousands of introverts out there sitting in their bedrooms with no social media presence whatsoever. It is only fair to subject them to scrutiny however.

[@beardedgaming1337]

true. i matched some world record speed runs some years ago but never recorded or posted anything. was on a N64 retro gaming spree. of course now all those records are many, many seconds slower than any world record now so its all what ever. stil, this mirrormage stuff - it wasnt cheated so who cares. it was a fun activity to run through in the communitys.

[@nullbyt]

Lol that's also known as being butthurt

[@clearspira]

@@nullbyt Please explain.

[@THICCTHICCTHICC]

Yeah, my KZbin account is my only online presence lol. Sometimes your 'career' (in this case the speedrun) and your personal life have to collide

[@homerhat420]

​@@beardedgaming1337 holy moley

[@UltimaKeyMaster]

Demanding other proof standards such as a completely unnecessary face cam sounds way over the line to me. We're not talking about whether the game is legit anymore, we're just demanding random crap that I don't for a second trust these moderators to not publicly reveal if they're going to be THAT butthurt over a video game record. They got a better quality run, they got a live cam video that showed they really *were* a trusted member of the community, and now they want to expose this person's face. When they move goalposts that much, they make me think they're two steps away from thinking doxxing is necessary to prove a speedrun.

[@GaiaGoddessOfTheEarth]

This. Plus the forum admins checking IPs for both Rebecca and MirrorMage feels a bit over the line too.

[@diabeticmonkey]

It doesn’t surprise me that a bunch of people who base their self worth entirely on playing Goldeneye fast would do that. Threatening someone’s ego can have catastrophic results.

[@jmsytbe]

That was my takeaway as well. This incident does nothing to cure my (probably unfair) preconception, that adults who obsess over niche hobbies invovling decades old video games tend to be, in a lot of cases, *not quite there* when it comes to things like basic social skills. If there's evidence that the actual runs were fake then by all means, reject them and ban the person. But this just makes it seem like everyone involved (except MirrorMage) is a joyless old fart who gets angry when someone even *pretends* to invade their little bubble.

[@joeyoest1105]

Very well said. This runner wasn’t “in the club”, so they started making up arbitrary hoops to jump through. They absolutely would have shared the video with their face in it given that they’ve already shared the extra video showing the hands and TV (that was already outside of the proof standards).

[@SpaceRaccoon22]

I think at that point they already knew it was actually MirrorMage and the face cam thing was just to force him to give up the ruse.

[@beardalaxy]

I don't use this word ever, but what kind of manchild is going to get so upset at someone pulling a small prank like this with a legitimate run that they want them banned? That's such dumb behavior. Chill out a little bit.

[@NoisyProtagonist]

It is certainly interesting to see how a tightly knit speedrunning community might react to someone they perceive as an outsider. As with your previous videos on Bopeep and Lucid, knee jerk dismissal or even hostility from the community can drive away talented runners or give speedrunning a bad name. In this particular case it may have been one big troll, but it is still a good opportunity for the community to reflect on itself and how it treats potential newcomers. Healthy skepticism is to be expected, but a warm welcome shouldn't be far behind. Mirrormage's punishment should be minimal imo.

[@jtown2909]

imo this is extremely poor behavior from the moderators and community. rejecting runs because of video is one thing, which I can understand if the quality is really bad, but just interpolating is not enough to do so. even after the second 0:21 was achieved (with better quality and no signs of cheating having taken place), the nerve the mods had to ask for hand cam, weren’t satisfied, went beyond that and asked for FACE CAM is a literal invasion of privacy. definitely a community I hope I never have to be a part of.

[@kylejoly577]

The fact that some people were clamoring for bans is just sad haha

[@jamesknapp64]

Yeah, at most the run should be disqualified for not following the no pranks without approval rule. And not having Frigate 21 count should be enough.

[@tessademsky1156]

@@jamesknapp64 why would it be disqualified if its a legitimate run

[@Kylora2112]

@@tessademsky1156It'd be like disqualifying a sprinter from a legit record because they wore silly-colored cleats. "This run is legit and meets proof standards, but how dare you challenge our egos."

[@blankff906]

Bro wtf is this 'throwing a wrench in the moderators holiday plans' shit. You're in control of your own actions, if you want to jump on and vet this speedrun asap then that's your choice. Just because you're incapable of waiting a fucking week doesn't mean this person is some kind of evil doer.

[@jakobjas4212]

Yeah it wouldn't have really been that big a deal if they'd just left the submission pending until the new year to look into it. An extra week to ratify the record wouldn't have been a problem.

[@106adamm]

spergs be spergy

[@HKlink]

Calling for a ban is ridiculous XD It's a funny prank and the run is legitimate. There are no rules against alt accounts and the run was not a prank. The run has all intention of being legitimate and does not break any existing rules. The Christmas timing was perhaps a bit poor, but nobody forced the moderators to do their volunteer job immediately. "We are not putting this on the leaderboard until we've examined it after New Year" would be a perfectly reasonable thing to say if you don't want to spend Christmas doing that. This whole thing needs to be laughed about immediately and a new rule added to count this type of run as a prank that needs to be cleared. No trust has been broken, the runner has just proven that some alt accounts may be theirs. This does nothing to affect the legitimacy of runs uploaded by their main account as every other part was legit. And it wasn't even against the rules.

[@Winsane]

NO FUN ALLOWED IN THE ANCIENT JAMES BOND NINTENDO GAME. HE POSTED THE WR ON A SOCK ACC AND MADE THE COMMUNITY HAVE A DISCUSSION ABOUT IT. WAAAAAAAAAAH NO NO NO BAN BAN BAN!!!

[@OrangeRhymesWithGorange]

Despite the outcome, I find the "clearly the only people who can earn a WR are people who already have a WR; Who tf does this Rebecca think she is?" attitude pretty gross. Not everybody is terminally online, either; so having a tiny online presence shouldn't mean automatic disqualification from participating.

[@pirate4460]

The "R" in R White Goose actually stands for RebeccaSmiths. Goose actually has multi-personality syndrome. Evidence: He changed the channel name to "Goose's Gamer Folklore" to distance the two personalities.

[@joeshittheragman6252]

Lol

[@RhetticusRex]

Goose Smith. He knows a lot. Is this the Everything Goose theory?

[@MahDryBread]

A ban makes no sense to me. If the runs are real, then I say keep them up

[@kevino13]

I think he was just pulling a weird prank, and was planning to reveal it was secretly him behind the Rebecca account a short time after posting. There’s been plenty of stories of speedrunners hiding records, or posting things under different aliases, or planning big reveals for records, so I think it was just a weird idea he thought would be funny. I think all that deserves to happen at this point is refile the video under MirrorMage, and move on from this (or if they really feel strong about the “prank video” infraction, then I guess wait until he does a proper third video). I don’t think the fact that he posted it under a fake account is any evidence that the run itself is faked, and if all other verification/proof standards are met, then there shouldn’t be a reason to ban it, just because he posted it under a different account/name.

[@GamerFolklore]

I pretty much agree.

[@tomlaw8821]

Well one thing we know for sure. A girl didn't do this run.

[@alexhobbs1208]

​@@tomlaw8821 how's your hand treating you?

[@Dash120z]

​@@tomlaw882115:53 who's hands was that then

[@tomlaw8821]

Real women like it when a man tells the truth. I don't go for blue haired women.@@alexhobbs1208

[@NegotiableHemingway]

This is a case of innocent until proven guilty.

[@JadeSune]

Huh? What the fuck? Permanent ban? "Trust has been broken"? That's childish as shit tbh. Proof was provided beyond reasonable doubt, there is no issue here besides people's genuinely overreactive emotions, which is *their* problem and they are *not* valid for it. It makes my 'trust' in their emotions being genuine 'break.'

[@LinkageAX]

This kind of thing makes it hard for any new runner that might have been practicing in the dark from submitting runs imo. Why submit runs if you're just going to be questioned and harassed by moderators just because you're new?

[@dynamixdj9506]

It's not a question of being new, all new players are welcomed and encouraged as much as possible within the GE community. Mirror was not a new player, he was trolling The Elite on the level that is by far the easiest to submit a faked run on, which is the cause of the controversy.

[@CycloneFN]

It would appear that the title of "the man who trolled and lost everything" has been passed to someone else.

[@PunkNDisorderlyGamer]

I think it was unnecessary of the elite mods to expose that mirrormage and Rebecca smiths were on the same IP. If that info is only available to mods it shouldn’t be shared to everyone.

[@sebastiancardenasholik]

People should chill. He didn't fake it. He just didn't play with the rules. He might not have the record in the community but it has it in the reality. Remember communities don't own the records or the judgement

[@helloofthebeach]

Disqualifying what should be a valid run because of how it was introduced will accomplish nothing, because everyone will still know the run exists, whether or not it's on the official leaderboard. A new 0:21 run from someone else will be an untied record in name only, and this situation will be the only thing anyone will be thinking about when it happens. Taking the glory away from MirrorMage won't free it up for anyone else. I'm not in the community and it's not my business, but I think it'd be much better to let this be a weird footnote in Frigate's history than forcing it to be an awkward shadow hanging over every future record.

[@Vmac1394]

I adore the Frigate ending video. I love how Bond takes the time to adjust his tie and cuff links before escaping.

[@AnimeFrankReynolds]

No community more untrusting and petty than speedrunners, of course they wouldn't want a legitimate time included for moral reasons.

[@Wourghk]

You'd be surprised at the commonality of introverted perfectionists creating new accounts whenever they post something, since they take so long to do one thing well and want to enshrine it somehow, but prefer not to build a following. This happens extremely often in the music community, where a composer might post a few experiments and one pretty good track on their first Soundcloud account, then vanish for years only to post an amazing track on another new account and immediately vanish again. It's a very awkward behavior, but it's not uncommon.

[@sebastienr7852]

Exactly. It seems dumb to me to reject the speed run just because that person doesn't have a constant online presence and following. seems like dumb gatekeeping from streamers. some people have 9 to 5 jobs and still enjoy speedrunning.

[@SaintDorado]

Why exactly are people calling for them to get banned? As far as I understand from this video, the run is considered more or less legit. Why is it a big deal that they used a different account? Honestly until it was revealed that Rebecca is MirrorMage, I thought this person might just have transitioned and didn't identify with their old accounts anymore. How is it anybodies business which account you use? Shouldn't your skill and the runs you make be the only relevant thing in this context? Why should my runs be any less valid if I create a new account for each upload? Sure it's maybe a little weird, but the runs are still there. To be clear: I am not part of the GoldenEye community, so I really don't have any say in this. The fact that people are calling for a ban just made me raise my eyebrows a little.

[@Kylora2112]

That was my initial thought. My ex did that with her old Red Dead Redemption/XBox Live account (we started dating a few months after she transitioned) and she was getting called out for being "too good" (she was working back up the PvP ladder I think...I never really played RDR, but that was her jam) for her ranking. She just didn't want to see her old account name and was reestablishing herself with her new presentation..

[@Hafaechaes]

As an outsider looking in, I recommend the parts of the community calling for a ban and asking to see the face of the speedrunner etc. chill out a bit. Prank or not, this is not a good look and will not attract new people to the community.

[@R3_dacted0]

I'm sorry but anyone giving this any negative connotation is the type of person that gives speed running a bad name. The run was done. It was legitimate. Why does it matter who they where? How is this even at all considered a prank in the first place? Any mod who even remotely considers this to be bannable or for the run to be taken down, should not be allowed to be a mod. Period. As someone who does not participate in speedrunning, my one main takeaway from this entire situation is that the speedrunning community sucks. How can anyone rationalize doxxing a person over numbers on a screen?

[@vinterbjork4128]

I do not think that the problem here is the run itself, but the communitys reaction. If posting on an alt account for whatever reason gets you this much hate, it is not a community I would want to be a part of.

[@FinnMobber]

I only found out about this due to catching the last few mins of your year end review stream that happened a few hours ago, and i still haven't watched this video, but hot damn the talk on The Elite forums about this sure was something to say the least. I am honestly perplexed at the responses/actions of some of the people on there, like they managed to come off as more childish than the guy who posted a speedrun under a fake name as a joke, like i really feel like i'm missing a part of the puzzle in understanding why this got the response it did. Well on a lighter note, I hope anyone reading this has a nice day, take care everyone.

[@jmsytbe]

I certainly understand the initial suspicion. However, the fact that the moderators received evidence that the run was indeed from a skilled person with a history of GoldenEye speedrunning, and that their reaction to this was to get pissed and start talking about banning them for deception or whatever BS, as opposed to accepting the run as being probably legit, is telling. Online communties centered around niche topics, especially very old one like the Elite, tend to be EXTREMELY insular and closed off to outsiders. The mere idea that someone might have "invaded" their little internet bubble seems to completely override the question of whether or not the run was actually legit. The runs, especially the 2nd, lived op to all formal standards of proof. If you can prove they're fake, ban MirrorMage. And if not.. what exactly is the excuse for not accepting the new record?

[@LadyMourne]

I always feel like maybe i should get into speedrunning. But then i see the communities attached to the games id be interested in learning and its all just kind of insane. I checked the forums out after this and to say that these dozens of adults act like children is an understatement. I feel like if you call some of them a poopiehead, they'd try and kill you over it. Its just uncomfortable and absolutely pushes anyone who wants to be apart of a community around speedrunning away

[@CalderTF2]

Man imagine being so butthurt by some harmless trolling that you want the dude banned.

[@jthrash9081]

Not really. It wastes the proof moderators' time when you intentionally withhold any evidence that could help verify the legitimacy of your speedrun. However, if the runs are real then, absolutely, they should count.

[@Piratederp]

@@jthrash9081 There is no evidence withheld. The runs were uploaded, one didn't meet proof standards the second did. A run should be analyzed based on the run itself, not the runner. Asking for face came is just bizarre. And checking IP addresses is also weird. Does it matter who did the run? The only thing that should mater is if it's real or not. Treating different people with different rules/expectations just leads to corruption and laziness.

[@jthrash9081]

@Piratederp "a run should be analyzed based on the run, not the runner." I agree. I'm just saying that if you can provide additional evidence (even if it's not required), then you should. Providing false identity (or any data for that matter) goes against the integrity of competition and is immature. It wastes time. Period.

[@Piratederp]

@@jthrash9081 How can you both agree with me about the run being the thing that matters not the player and then also say "Providing false identity goes against the integrity of competition and is immature." The competition is beating the time not the player. Who did it doesn't matter.

[@jthrash9081]

@Piratederp my argument is things can still be frowned upon, although legal. Sorry if I said it wrong.

[@Cewrin]

There shouldn't be one standard of proof for people respected in 'the community' and another for everyone else. If there's no reason to think the score is fake, a leaderboard with integrity should include it. If the proof meets the supposed standard but still isn't good enough, then raise the standards for everyone.

[@adrianjansen89]

I don’t think it matters who make the WR as long as the run is legit, in this case i think it would be funny to keep Rebecca as MirrorMage’s alter ego

[@-LOTO-]

Ridiculous. A frankly absurd and unfair level of mod scrutiny for what should be a huge run. Either prove it's fake or verify it. Genuinely embarrassing for The Elite community.

[@averagewhiteguy2]

This feels like a prank/joke that went a lot better in MirrorMage's head than what we actually got.

[@lenol0315]

“Frigate 0:09”

[@thedude5295]

He's got the record. If the mods can't prove that it was faked, it's a legit record. None of that alias BS matters. No bans are warranted. Anyone crying about this needs to leave the community themselves and go out and touch grass.

[@Alex-vm6ef]

Thanks for your videos man, truly goated video game content, great stories that go beyond the games and become about communities + people Ive been burned out of games lately, barely playing or taking part in discussion online, been reckoning with maybe not being much of a gamer anymore. But you remind me what is good about gaming, even as the industry shifts focus into these aspects which obscure and pervert what we've all loved so much. Hope you had a merry Christmas man, Christ is born! Have a blessed new year

[@Glockenspheal]

Plot twist: Rebecca is just that good at the game and just keeps forgetting their KZbin and Discord passwords so they have to make new accounts every time their session expires, also, they are MirrorMage's roomate and use the same computer.

[@Kylora2112]

I assumed that MirrorMage was just trans and forgot what their login was. I can confirm I've done that at least a couple of times (though not for speedrunning world records lol).

[@ChaosRagorA]

I think it was a brilliant ploy to hopefully get the community to reflect and to not be so openly negative/hostile to the unknown element. I think its safe to say that some people out there dont want an online persona, they just want to upload a speedrun for the sake of enjoying the speedrun. Personally, spending time posting on forums, discord and streaming is time im wasting not going fast in my videogames but somehow that is seen as a bad thing by the community.

[@NewLegacy93]

The idea that these runs wouldn’t be legitimate for factors that are entirely outside of the gameplay itself is rediculous. Suspend them for a bit if you want but disallowing the records is erasing speedrunning history out of bitterness

[@Casprizzle]

Next the mods are gonna ask for your social security number and mother's maiden name to verify your runs lmao

[@foreignuser_]

This seems like an elaborate way to come out as trans.

[@deshaefromarounthawayricha7324]

MY FRIENDS!

[@wareforcoin5780]

It just. Keeps. Happening.

[@deshaefromarounthawayricha7324]

@@wareforcoin5780 lol!!!

[@GGSpeedruns]

I was really hoping you'd cover this. It's hard chasing the news via forums and discord lol

[@Mornings]

More people should do this its hilarious how riled up people get over pixels on a screen lmao

[@MikeWalls7829]

It was a nice touch putting red nail varnish on while pretending to be Rebecca on video lol

[@TDAdvocate]

This situation is ridiculous. Who cares if they went by an alias. They are almost undeniably legitimate, they ended up being from a known person, and they realistically didn't break that pranking rule. Actually insane how pathetic some of these communities are at times. The people wanting total bans need to go touch grass frfr.

[@sarah22180]

this reminds me of a prank that would happen in the 2008 era internet

[@hammerheadshark45]

im having a hard time seeing why this is such a big deal? i get having to prove that it's real when you come out of nowhere with something like this, but once that had been done couldn't they just accept it? and what would be the worst thing that would happen if one person submitted times under two aliases, assuming they weren't submitting the same exact times or hogging space on specific leaderboards? and this is a personal aside because of my own experience, i dont know anything about mirrormage / rebecca smiths, but i personally have at times just abandoned old accounts and picked up new aliases in an attempt to distance myself from things in the past, and more specifically, to reinvent my image online, especially when i came out as trans. it kept eating away at me during the video that what if someone used one of those alias changes against me, accused me of not being who i claimed to be because i used to go by a different name? and what if i was punished by a community for that? it doesnt seem like a single person even considered they might *want* to be known as rebecca smiths, and maybe they wanted to keep up the image that they werent the same person so that they wouldnt be associated with the old alias. nothing about it read as a "joke" to me, and that made the situation more sad than anything from my perspective

[@GamerFolklore]

That's a great point and thank you for sharing your story. I agree, there is nothing wrong with having a few aliases online to interact with different communities, or at different points in one's life.

[@vincenthall5908]

This is exactly how it came off to me. As someone who has several online aliases (and maybe 4 youtube accounts lol), I can absolutely see how someone may want to post under a different name to distance themself from their past identity. I saw zero issue with posting it as Rebecca. I understand some extra scrutiny because the poster is unknown, but the asking for facecam felt WAY out of line. My main youtube/twitch account, where I do play and speedrun games, is entirely faceless. If mods of any community asked me to show my face to submit my score, I’d tell them to fuck right off. Thats absolutely out of line to ask anyone who has made it clear they want to stay relatively anonymous. This also makes me wonder how it’ll go if I ever get a decent record speedrunning. I do a majority of my runs offline. Most of what I stream is just playing fun games with my viewers to spend time together. My actual youtube account is song covers and soon, game challenge videos. But if I posted a record I recorded offline, and someone asked me to show them my face to prove it?? I’d probably make a whole ass video essay on why thats fucked up

[@hammerheadshark45]

@@GamerFolklore i'm glad you see where i'm coming from. i just hate too make too many assumptions about the intent of the runner without more information in their own words about what happened. we may never know for sure but i hope things work out for the best for everyone and there isn't too much toxicity or hatred spread in the community

[@stonecole4703]

How do you explain him getting the UWR twice in a week? Seems highly sus. @@GamerFolklore

[@ecocodex4431]

@@stonecole4703 I mean, if they are a highly skilled player, than I see no issue with accepting UWR.

[@joeshittheragman6252]

This is why you never throw out your measuring tapes that happen to be just laying around the house

[@GamerFolklore]

I should try to get sponsored by Home Depot next.

[@lenol0315]

Home De-PN

[@LittlePlant888]

Adult language: Fuck it. Kid language: frig' it. 007 Goldeneye players: Frigate.

[@jameswilson591]

I find it hilarious. A little light hearted trolling is harmless and keeps things interesting.

[@joeyoest1105]

So, ‘Rebecca’ uploaded a video that essentially met proof standards, then was turned down on a technicality. They uploaded another run that met all the proof standards, and that was arbitrarily turned down. They gave the video evidence that was asked for, showing their skill - that still wasn’t enough. It seems that these rankings are as much a popularity contest as a compilation of best times achieved in the game. If you’re buddy-buddy with the mods, your times get rubber stamped - if not, you face more scrutiny than the published standards call for. 20 years ago, not a big deal, but in an era where streaming can be a career this kind of gatekeeping is really unfortunate. If the standards are allowing questionable runs past, it’s the standards that need to be challenged, not the runs.

[@CameronB773]

Asking for face proof is just absurd, imposter or not you're not going to get new people into this community by being so paranoid and dismissive of new entries, top tier or not

[@frankbauerful]

​@@CameronB773So? Why would the community be so eager to get anonymous weirdos to join? Do people get to participate in traditional sports with full face masks?

[@Snakebyte42]

@@frankbauerful The community is MADE OF 'anonymous weirdos'.

[@frankbauerful]

@@Snakebyte42 I meant to say "faceless". If you want to hide your face, don't compete for a world record. As I said, you can't show up to traditional sporting events with a face mask.

[@yommmrr]

Totally agree, absolute bs.

[@DannysDome]

Who cares if it was a prank or not, I really think the 21 is legit, Mirrormage should be credited for having done a 21 run!

[@Kylora2112]

If it's legit and meets proof standards, who cares how it was submitted?

[@mathprodigy]

Great video as always. My opinion is since it's over, nobody should punish him or worry about it anymore but maybe put him on notice, don't do that anymore.

[@noodlespoo]

Could be a closeted trans person trying to quietly change their online persona

[@koca6685]

You don´t need a face, name or years of speedrunning documented on the internet for your speedrun to count.

[@kieralexander]

It is a legit run. Once enough salve has been applied to sooth the collective butthurt of the community, it should stand. Happy new year all - love dreyfussgwynn

[@sad2540]

Truly the best video game storyteller on the planet goose. Always a good day when you post a video

[@pickles3128]

I just want a female (who's not Narcissa Wright) to be an established speed runner with some clout. Perhaps there have been; I used to pretend to be male on forums etc., even asking random friends to talk on headset, so I wasn't treated differently. (The KZbinr Scribble Kibble goes into a very similar experience.)

[@kyoai]

I don't get why people would demand a ban for this. As long as the run is legit, there should not be any issue. Is it against the rules to have multiple accounts/alias accounts, even though all the submitted runs are legit? And if it's a legit record, I wouldn't count it as a "troll".

[@disputeone]

Rebecca is a girls name, you can say it Goose.

[@dotcom137]

10 minutes into the video and I was 100% positive it was a trans person. They have the abilities to beat these insane records and are weird enough to post it in mysterious fashion.

[@kareliask]

Great storytelling, thank you.

[@tiporosso]

Not only he deserves to be banned FOREVER but he should also go to jail. The man is a menace, he has to leave the GE community ASAP, he's not worthy.

[@GamerFolklore]

Life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years. For the crime "posting a speedrun under a fake name on the internet".

[@SuperAronGamerMNO]

I don't get why such a harmless prank received negative backlash. Roughly the same series of events would have happened if it truly was someone unknown who only decided to upload once they got the record, and I wouldn't say it should be against the rules to not be known. The only possible problem I can see was with the proof, but given the fact that MirrorMage revealed it was him, which adds credibility, and since he sent the proof that was requested from him, I don't get what the problem was.

[@djamamiya476]

Sounds like a lot of people salty that someone beat the record and it wasn't them. This entire thing is wayyyy ridiculous. Credit Mirrormage with their record until someone can prove, with the game footage submitted, that it's fake.

[@MofoMan2000]

So, the first two N64 games I ever owned were GoldenEye 007, and Top Gear Rally. It's pretty jarring to me to see both of them on screen at once, in one of your videos. That gave me a laugh.

[@zomgtehrei]

The nail polish, at least on the thumbs. Makes me wonder if there isn't something else going on. The reaction from the community - suspicion into outright hostility, says a lot about the boys club mentality. If anything, the alias being a woman seems to have enraged them judging by the backlash on discord. Maybe that was the point - unintentionally or otherwise. Outsider posts record, they null the record using that Goose calls 'an out' a better quality copy is uploaded, provide a video of you playing it, now a face cam - promise we won't leak it! This should be a warning for all looking to join the 007 speed running community of what to expect.

[@kim-fg9bb]

totally agree.. this was my thought too

[@insentia8424]

I think it's hilarious that the speed running community treats unknown people with more scrutiny than people they know. Everyone should be up to the same scrutiny. Not saying the scrutiny was unwarranted. But there is no excuse in giving established runners even the smallest measure of scrutiny less. And last time I checked, there is no requirement in submitting all your runs under the same name/handle to the leaderboards. In my opinion the cries for a ban are bullying. Or maybe people being butthurt over their bad personality traits being exposed in the process of the drama.

[@TheJacklikesvideos]

this video is surprisingly smoothbrained throughout. my favorite bad take was the whole "i'm totally not comparing the speedrun to climbing Everest or painting the Mona Lisa, i just wanted to randomly assert that these feats were achieved out of boredom" tangent.

[@abarkadabra]

My son practiced a Sonic 2 Level Speed run for 30mins at 8-Year-Old & got the World Record for PS4 and I recorded him playing it and he got it again on the second try. That was his first ever involvement with any speed running and had to make new accounts for everything. Also, personally, as someone who doesn't use Discord much I've had to make multiple when signing up for people's Discord Servers, even the same ones, because I've forgotten my user or password for my previous ones - that's easily doable on both Discord and KZbin if you don't use them much and lose the login details. Even though it turned out to be a troll, a situation like this could happen legitimately. Also I like that he went to the lengths to polish his nails for the proof video xD

[@MechMK1]

Sharing the same IP address isn't necessarily proof of the same identity. There are very small ISPs out there who only have one public IP address and all their customers, a few hundred households, share the same external IP. Then there are situations like dorms, or shared households. Back when my ex lived with me, we would have had the same IP too. Also, asking for a facecam is kind of uncalled for. I don't believe anyone should be obligated to reveal their real-life identity for their records to count

[@Scotty_AV]

The end cutscene skipping might suggest A was completing every time.

[@Paladont]

A lot of people in the comments don't understand that speedrunning communities NEED to gatekeep random people who because a cheater can make a new account and submit a new record every day of the week. If you wanted to cheat using a consistent identity, you only need to be caught once. If you use a new identity every time, you'll need to be caught every time.

[@GamerFolklore]

I actually agree. I've never been one who thinks gatekeeping is bad, personally. Gatekeeping is good most of the time.

[@SteffedPepper]

Ok. Faking a speedrun should be bannable and absolutely makes you unrespectable. Setting a legitimate time under a different name..... that shouldn't matter. Grow up speedrun Grandpa, it's *ahem* 2024. Time to realize an achievement is an achievement regardless of what you'd like to be called. No "trust" was lost. (This is not at all pointed at you, Goose! More those who were upset by the reveal)

[@sandspider247]

It's Billy Mitchell proving he is the video game player of the century

[@toms6538]

The fact speed runners think they’re the best to ever pick up the sticks- lots of great players out there…. , bc a person didn’t care to be part of an incredibly small niche community that arbitrarily make decisions on what’s good vs what’s not.

[@MrLordZenki]

Maybe MirrorMage is trying to come out as trans and isn't sure how the GoldenEye speed running community will accept it. That nail polish seemed pretty carefully done for just a prank.

[@AnarchyMitsukai]

While it may have been a joke for laughs, getting two 0:21's within such a short span of time is still kind of wild.

[@Kylora2112]

It's like a time someone at your D&D table crits with disadvantage. Everyone is going to stare at their dice to confirm, but then it becomes a pretty epic moment.

[@andrewsanders17]

19:18 "laugh online" the new LOL.

[@SeanTheSnipa]

I don't know MirrorMage/Rebecca Smiths personally, but maybe they're trans, and just wanted to share their UWR under their new name.

[@FoldupKibbles26]

I agree, the 2 should not be compared. Many people have climbed Everest, but only Mirror got a 21. I honestly don't even see the controversy. They uploaded a legit run under an alt account. Mad man did it again when they removed it for interlacing. Proved on camera it's legit. The entire "problem" is that the mods did not want to allow a anonymous poster. How does a facecam impact the runs legitimacy at all outside of seeing if it's a previously banned runner? Absolutely nothing against the rules were broken. I don't even think it's in poor taste to release during Christmas since that's a nice present for the community. Mods could have easily said, "Hey we're gonna put this on hold for review until after the new years.". What trust was broken? What if he really wanted to be anonymous for whatever reason. If anything, once the mods figured out who it was, they should have asked if he wished to remain anonymous and tell the community it's been verified as legit. If they didn't, then That's in poor taste. What a big nothing burger.

[@trascendentalsunset]

I hate that idea that you have to be known in the community to be credible, honestly what if you don’t care about the community, maybe you just want to beat records on your own.

[@Showsni]

I think a run should stand on its own merits, regardless of who made it (so long as it's legitimate, of course). If this was MirrorMage's attempt to find out whether the community would treat a run from an apparent outside the way they would with an established person, it looks like it was a success - the community were very distrustful of the outsider, and seeking any way they could to scrutinise it. If it had been from a real outsider I can imagine that might have scared them off speedrunning or interacting with the community any further.

[@Nakata2021]

Funny A known cheater with a KZbin channel and years with community interaction calling someone a cheater for not being in KZbin or interacting with the community.

[@dnkys]

I’ve never quite understood the initial doubt that the elite has with new runners. I understand it’s a new runner dropping in with a UWR, but it shouldn’t be surprising. Someone new comes into the scene, a fresh face, different attitude and play style, the patience to grind it out and just risk every run over and over until they get a untied. I’m reminded of the late runner who discovered the lookdown strat and introduced the community to a staple in goldeneye speedrunning today. Had they not explained that in detail and had it not been looked into that he was legit he would have probably been branded as a splicer or cheater in some regard. If the run falls in line with the requirements for proof and there’s no evidence of splicing then let it stand until proven otherwise.

[@goldenirie]

Listen I wanted to believe this was a legit new runner at first but your point doesn't work when it was discovered that this in fact was not a new runner and was instead an established eliter doing a troll. This is why people have trust issues with these things. It was way more likely for this to be a troll, and it turned out it was, furthering people's perceptions of the odds being very low that these situations would ever be legit.

[@danielwang7793]

@@goldenirie I hate to be that guy, but there were at least two massive hints that the name was fake: 1) You're lucky if you need both hands to count the female players on the rankings. 2) "Smiths", unlike "Smith", is not at all a common surname. It has a distinctly fake ring to it. What he did was silly, but man, people really went out of their way to walk into this particular trap.

[@goldenirie]

@@danielwang7793 tbf I looked up "smiths" surname and one of the top results is from the Netherlands. That being said it's just some website that said that but yeah I was like well it's possible. The main thing with the people in charge was they didn't want that small percent chance that this was a legit new player and chase out gold talent. Even at a small chance it would be tragic.

[@dnkys]

@@goldenirie was the run ever confirmed to be legit or was it a splice/fake time? Why can’t mirror mage just upload the time on his own rankings page?

[@dnkys]

Just checked the forums I see he refused to show a console boot

[@tylerjennings8242]

Maybe Karl went back incognito and decided to secretly grind for a 21 second run? I doubt it, but it would be a good story haha Edit: Just finished the video. Bummer. Would have been a good story haha

[@larkan511]

Karl is too busy writing flamebait videos and provoking more people to sue him so he can e-beg for more donations

[@marcunbut1058]

😂 That was a genius idea, love it. In my eyes nothing bad happened here at all. Yes moderators had to work a tiny bit during christmas but, its absolutly nothing at all. For if the runs should count or not, i see no harm in counting them, specially because if they are legitimate, we know the player, we know what he is capable of, etc. The only thing who will have to change is the name both on the video and on the record page itself. Some peoples think they weren't with that argument as justification:"Tying a record is very rare, extremely hard if the revord is that strong and take a lot of time. Also wr holders don't tie themself that quickly after setting it, so it must be fake." Simple answer: Most if not almost every uwr holders, when they break the previous one , take a merited break to rest from the grind. Not everyone do it. If they continue to grind after, generally its not for too long (most likely around 1 hour more at max) and are still in the euphoria of achieving it. Which make it harder to be fully conventrated enought or simply "out of the zone" for not being able to continue playing at the same level. Its human, thats how our brains; more precisely the reward mechanism part of it; work no matter the task. For a reward as great as finally beating a very strong wr after hours and hours of sweat, tears, hard focus, anger and very hard work, the euphoria state is very very powerful. But some peoples are capable of collecting themself fast enought and have a will to improve strong enought to go back in and try to improve their wr. Which is facilitated by muscle memory of the record being way fresher and in this case being so much luck heavy. Because no matter how insignificant the chances are, there is always chances to do it twice in a row if you do your part with equal greatness. Personnaly there is 2 things i'm a bit suspicious of: - In one of the run he bulp on something in the ladt corridor but i don't see what at all, but i could simply have missed it. - The amount of cable around the console and the TV who could be used to dissimilate where the controllers are actually connected to. I don't say the runs are legit or cheated, i'm just saying the argument seemingly and understandably commonly used is flawd, and that i'm a bit suspicious about 2 details who could maybe be significant. Specially the latter as its been demonstrably used many times to fake proof videos.

[@dynamixdj9506]

Reading through a lot of these comments, it seems evident that there is a lack of context. Frigate is by far THE EASIEST level to submit a fake run using a flash cart (ED etc.), or to splice on an ending. Trust is an absolute valued commodity when posting ANY high ranking Frigate run, and Phil's (Mirror's) actions abused that trust in an impactful way. As it stands, there is nothing significant that proves that the run is or isn't legit, and is met with obvious and natural suspicion. A lot of people here are the the solid assumption that the run has been proven as 100% legit, and that simply is not the case as it stands. The nature of the way this run was posted caused a lot of controversy within the community, and created a lot of work for the proof moderators over the Christmas period. I personally didn't vote one way or the other, I remain neutral in my opinion whether or not Phil should be banned, but I find it to be bordering arrogant for outsiders looking in to come to the defense of Phil's deceitfulness. Just my two cents. Goose did a good job of summarizing a sticky situation within a 22 minute long video, but people should read the forum topics to get the bigger picture before concluding that Phil should or should not be banned as a result of his actions. Karl Jobst himself states "I personally find this to be a ban worthy offence. Lying to proof moderators in order to get around a proof call (rebecca and phil are the same person so anything rebecca does, phil is doing) is a ban worthy offence in any other circumstance."

[@danielwang7793]

"A lot of people here are the the solid assumption that the run has been proven as 100% legit, and that simply is not the case as it stands." This applies to a very large number of runs presently on the rankings. Just how do you prove a run as 100% legit? There is always a theoretical possibility that a run has been faked. There are at least two known and distinct runs of 21 on Frigate, there is no evidence of any fakery, and the rankings still present 22 as the record. Whether it's a problem depends, I suppose, on whether people are supposed to take the rankings seriously or not. As for the moderators finding work at Christmas time, that wouldn't be a problem if the moderators were actually breaking for Christmas. That's a choice on their part. You can blast the outsiders all you like, but this sort of gatekeeping and navel-gazing is the perfect thing to put anyone outside of your tight-knit clique off paying any serious attention. You may be fine with that, of course.

[@danielwang7793]

Also, can I just say: the "insiders" might just be the only people on the planet to think that "Rebecca" was ever a real person.

[@dynamixdj9506]

@@danielwang7793 "This applies to a very large number of runs presently on the rankings." You are correct, but as I mentioned, *trust* is one of the most valuable commodities when posting a high ranking Frigate time, and I stand by what I said in regards to Phil breaking that trust in the way he acted. I am not a proof moderator, but the mods have deemed it fit to remove the time from the rankings, and I agree with this decision. My main point is that a lot of comments read along the lines of "the run is legit..." etc. With the trust broken, it is difficult to have confidence in the legitimacy of the run itself, and should not be taken at face value. "As for the moderators finding work at Christmas time, that wouldn't be a problem if the moderators were actually breaking for Christmas. That's a choice on their part." Again, you are correct; being a proof mod is a relentless and thank less job which they do voluntarily. That does not dismiss the fact that this incident did indeed take up a lot of their time, and as someone who is part of the community and witnessed first hand the headaches that this issue caused for them, I can understand and empathize with the hassle this issue crated. And for the record, I am not in any way trying to "blast the outsiders", I just feel like (analogy inc) people here are trying to give their reviews after having watched a commercial for a film; you can't understand the full context and scope of the film's story-line without being privy to the entirety of the film itself, and a 22 minute video is but a glimpse into the situation as a whole. But, you know, this is the internet after all, and people will interject with their opinions regardless of how informed (or rather, uninformed) they are of the situation at hand. And with that, I am entitled to my opinion that the comments here are rushing to the defense of Phil, even though this is in contradiction to the view point of the majority of the GE community, who witnessed the event from start to finish, and are mostly peeved off by it. If we can't have trust, then the integrity of TE begins to falls apart.

[@dynamixdj9506]

@@danielwang7793 " gatekeeping and navel-gazing is the perfect thing to put anyone outside of your tight-knit clique off paying any serious attention. You may be fine with that, of course." No, I am not, and I do not mean to suggest that I agree with the notion of keeping the community a "tight knit-clique". I apologize if this is the impression I have given. Newcomers are always welcomed in, and I always have the time of day to give noobs tip and strats on my stream. Most of us feel and act the same way. I am, however, allowed to disagree with the viewpoints of the outsiders in regards to the comments section here, that is my prerogative, and should not suggest a "gate-keeping" attitude; I apologize if my wording made it seem as such.

[@RaycrowX]

As soon as I heard the name “Rebecca Smiths” I knew this was an existing runner having a bit of fun 😆

[@morgothbauglirmelkar]

To me it is super simple. You meet the proof standards? It's legit. If the community is mad well then maybe have a discussion to change the proof standards. Can't be butt hurt about standards you established everyone to abide by.

[@Lovuschka]

"Anonymous" The speedrunner named 4chan.

[@heyitsrise9639]

I'm just damn happy Karl lost his time 🤣🤣🤣