The Biggest Cheater In Guitar Hero History Was Finally Caught

[@karljobst]

Take a shot every time I say the word 'Schmooey' Get 20% Off + Free International Shipping by visiting www.manscaped.com/karljobst! #sponsored

[@bonnibloop_]

I would like to avoid alcohol poisoning, thanks

[@SMEARGLEX75]

boi

[@tbone9474]

If we did you'd kill us :)

[@NicoTheCinderace]

@@bonnibloop_ Drink water instead.

[@Cardboard_object]

Boop

[@acai28]

Thank you for this video! It's wonderfully put together, lots of insight for people who wouldn't know anything about our community. The nail in the coffin to such a terrible situation.

[@osuplaeyurreallygood]

checkmark dont care (this is a JOKE)

[@tolman4497]

Acai! Love you.

[@arcanehornet]

hello brown man

[@cody4925]

Papa acai

[@Nate612]

how is rosey doing?

[@da_pikmin_coder8367]

Gotta give credit where it's due. When he was caught, he revealed his methods, paid back the undeserved money, and fucked off. You might be saying "well yeah. That's the least he could do, doesn't make him a good person." And I agree, but a lot of people in his position do not go that route.

[@zgrb]

As we’ve seen in the past, that’s not nearly the “least he could do.” He could’ve gone off the grid with the money, or worse fought back and cause a rift in the community using a Harvard astrophysicist or something and then just pretended it didn’t happen…

[@_V.Va_]

It's more than you can say for most others.

[@Drako2k0]

That was a snipe at Dream wasn’t it 😂😂😂 I’ve been curious about the result of that. Did they nail down something irrefutable? Or did they squeeze a confession out of him?

[@da_pikmin_coder8367]

@@Drako2k0 It was more of a jab at caught cheaters in general. But the fact that you pulled a specific example from my very vague description just goes to show how common people like Dream are.

[@Drako2k0]

@@da_pikmin_coder8367 Quite common yes, general rule of thumb, for every one caught, there's 10 more still at large. lol. but my reply was more aimed at zachary, his example seemed pretty pointed. I dunno why my reply failed to @ him.

[@Mozicon]

I love how every one of these goes like this: "I didn't cheat" "OK, those specific instances were fake" "Yeah, I was cheating the whole time"

[@ThisNameIsBanned]

A lie never crumbles all at once, it slowly falls piece by piece.

[@jayyy_doggg]

and people in the comments here are giving credit to schmooey for owning up and paying back the bounties lol, when he was caught he only owned up to 4 cheated accomplishments before having pretty much his entire channel disputed. paying back the bounties is the morally correct thing to do and it shouldn't be applauded that he did what he should have done after stealing thousands of dollars. there is no sympathy from me.

[@ComixMultiplication]

🤣🤣

[@tadeocaputo2036]

@@jayyy_doggg he is compliment because he wasnt force to doing that, he could disapear whit the money having no real punishiment. The fact that he did it shows a real intention to redemtion, and thats something to celebrate, if we dont give credit to those thing, then we are punishing redemtion which is not something we should ever do. Because if we do people are less likely to do the rigth thing at the end. He is a human who had the courage to try redemtion and thats something good. Sorry for bad english.

[@ydid687]

@@jayyy_doggg some people are demented and haplessly pathetic

[@Jabadamazo]

Hey guys, here's a great rule of thumb: If someone says they only faked one thing that they're super known for, they faked way more than that.

[@zeromihaljavic4555]

Same with crime

[@mackenziewoloschuk7375]

Yeah, or if they say that they were using cheats as "practice" or to "get some kind of weapon skin". If someone says that, then it's obvious they were using cheats to get ahead of the game and get number 1.

[@Jabadamazo]

@@mackenziewoloschuk7375 So I would say that sometimes using cheats to practice is valid if you aren't submitting that practice for any sort of record. Some cheats can make practicing certain sections much less time consuming (same with things like save states). As long as you're not doing it in legitimate runs it's fine.

[@mackenziewoloschuk7375]

​@@Jabadamazotrue, but sometimes in the heat of the moment, people forget legitimately to turn it off before doing a proper run, so it's better not to have it on in the first place. Also, that has been an actual excuse, and no one took it either.

[@kefkapalazzo1]

Makes sense to me lol

[@cecilevans9247]

Props to him for confessing, taking down everything, paying back the money, apologizing, and leaving the community. There is hope for him.

[@Veginite]

I think the initial denial is a mostly natural response of fear to avoid complete humiliation and embarrassment and is something most of us will do when we're caught lying. Like you, I also give him props for said aspects, especially returning the stolen bounties that rightfully belong to others.

[@JBHUTT09]

@@Veginite Yeah. It's important to remember the stakes from his point of view. It's easy to think it's about pride, money, fame, etc, but at the end of the day, coming clean means losing the entire community that you've been a part of for years. All those friendships gone in an instant. And if this was his only social circle, it means total isolation. His actions at the end suggest that he's not a total ass, though, so I'm hopeful that this will be a valuable learning experience for him and he'll come out the other side better for it.

[@trustypatches4042]

it literally sounds like the start of an anime villains redemption arc

[@AuroraIceFlame]

Red Guitar Redemption

[@Dyanosis]

It takes several years for him to admit he's cheating and then he finally does what he should have done long ago and what you have to say is "There's hope for him"? Is there though? I'd call this theft of the highest order and he should be put in jail just like everyone else who steals. Just because he's not stealing a physical thing, it's not different.

[@SuperStrik9]

As a guitar teacher, Guitar Hero got me and a lot of other teachers a good amount of students in the 00s. For that alone I'll never hate on the game. It made a a lot of people want to learn how to play guitar.

[@gothicMCRgirl]

I got into a music program in middle school because of the game! I didn’t keep up with it fully, but it was such a chill experience to be surrounded by a lot of musicians and kids my age eager to master their instruments.

[@tompramanaaccount8892]

As a drummer, I wish I can play guitar more than any other instruments after playing guitar hero when i was a kid.

[@mattimus13]

@@tompramanaaccount8892 As a guitarist, playing drums on Rock Band made me question if I should've been a drummer

[@tompramanaaccount8892]

@@mattimus13 rockband drum parts and notes is pretty spot on in terms of accuracy of the real drum, I assure you if you can play drum in rockband on the hardest difficulty (with the drum controller of course), you can play drums in real life too with a little bit of practice. On guitar hero, it's different story.

[@only5186]

Thats good to hear! With all those hours of practice on the game they could actually learn the instrument. Glad some did

[@MediHusky]

Ok but can we take a second to appreciate how durable some of these controllers are made.

[@videogamebookreviews]

Tested to one zillion button presses.

[@moshunit96]

Now if i could just play all my games using the guitar.

[@ObnovaDomu]

@@moshunit96 1200 APM

[@lordmuhehe4605]

Not really, players at this level burn through them fast.

[@simethigsomethingidfk]

Well they are membrane buttons. Just a silicon thing with conductive pads inside that slap onto a circuit board. Very very durable but the silicone pads still wear out pretty fast, about 1 yearish of consistent top level play. But most top players poke holes in the silicon to make the buttons easier to press so those players need to replace that every 3-6 months if that. The strum bar also begins to over sturm pretty fast (do more inputs then you play), so you need to do stuff like put tape inside them to stop them from doing that So most guitars you see (unless they are recently made custom controllers) are probably just held together by ducktape and the dreams of children.

[@EyeMixMusic]

I love how he refers to his own cheating as "suspicious". Like, "yeah, I suspect myself of cheating, I'm conducting an internal investigation" LOL

[@RyukUK]

"Update: I recently commenced a formal investigation on myself. The investigation has concluded, and I have found no evidence of wrongdoing."

[@iamamishiamamish8155]

I also enjoyed the caveat to there only being 4 instances of cheating - "as far as I know". Like, who else would know?

[@panickedshears]

The Nixon administration of guitar hero

[@ChillavaKirby]

@@RyukUK FBI moment

[@cradleofgoth]

​@@ChillavaKirbyor CIA

[@HonkeyKongLive]

The craziest part is that doing what he did at 75% speed is STILL insanely difficult. Dude was a great player but couldn't be satisfied with not being number one.

[@youtubewontletme]

Yea, or maybe its not just that, maybe he just wanted to be noticed and validated

[@themadpyro8560]

@L Did you miss the part where he played alongside other people in person? He was good - he just wasn't the best

[@jeremyzak654]

It's like what Karl said in another video. Some of these players are so fixated on a perfect run or a high score they forgot they are supposed to have fun.

[@DoctorJammer]

MoNeY

[@tafua_a]

@@user-qv5sm5dw1v if he were so bad, he would have been spotted immediately and had egg on his face day one

[@Ifeno]

Fun fact: Schmu (pronounced: "shmoo") is a German slang word for "scam / fraud". It seems even Schmooey's nn was indicative.

[@Blankult]

So "Schmooey" would be a funny way of saying fraud lmao

[@fruitloopz311]

No fucking way lmao

[@AcIdBARRY]

Hab ich noch nie gehört? Ist das n Dialekt? Edit: NVM it's true it means something along the lines of (light) scam so that's really funny 😂

[@RTU130]

Ye

[@imfamoushero]

names have power

[@Generik_]

I’ve always been impressed by how much abuse the guitars can take.

[@PiroKUSS]

They're usually modded.

[@Brent-jj6qi]

@@PiroKUSS they did actually use originals up until a couple years ago, just with slight mods. A few years ago, Xplorers (White angled bodies) were the meta, and those were usually completely base. Then there was the Wii Revolution, which brought forth wii guitars but those were only minorly modified, and were just made better due to an adaptor for where the wii remote would ping in. Recently however, yeah, most of the internals are very very custom

[@sorcererCermet]

yep they are absolute beasts of equipment! especially the xbox guitar hero 3 les paul. the only weak point was the contacts in the neck which could be fixed with solder. things are absolute tanks

The GP2040-CE open source controller firmware project has at least one person working on supporting the Wii guitars, so that also paves the way for interesting optimisation down the line.

[@paulsd9255]

Meanwhile Rock Band Stratocasters seem to be way off meta, not least because of mushy feedback on both the strumbar and the frets

[@NehNehNehNeh42]

He didn’t confess because he felt bad, he confessed because there was absolutely, no chance in hell he could come back from the amount of evidence they had against him. There’s nothing to celebrate in regards to him. He was forced in a corner

[@HiHi-oc3gh]

he at least did admit to it and gave all the money he got from the bounties. I have some respect for him because he did that. He could have not given back the money or not admitted it and just ghosted the community like Riolu did for Trackmania

[@incongruous4]

Tell that to billy mitchell lol

[@Damaniel3]

i.e. "I'm sorry I got caught."

[@gamerskingdom4897]

​@incongruous4 he could have deleated all his accounts without saying anything or tried sueing people wich would both be worse He also could have not given back the bounty money

[@coooolibri]

that's what I said above the 11k liked comment on top... nothing honorable about all that after the fact. saving face, otherwise how are you gonna step another foot into the internet as a personality. totally agree with you.

[@shybzrk]

When someone who has been denying claims of cheating then says "Ok fine, I cheated but it was only these few videos", it's time to dig much deeper

[@my08impalass]

Especially when they use the phrase "that im aware of". Its an immediate red flag that theres more.

[@CowMaam]

@Stewie Griffin go outside

[@thesilverblueman]

*cough* dream *cough*

[@clearspira]

Yep. Absolute worst thing you can say. Either deny it completely or admit to it.

[@DD-ym3nk]

Cops use this technique in interrogation science as well.

[@Spinnight]

It always pisses me off when there’s a discussion of cheating in speedrunning and someone goes “So? It’s just a game, lol!” Karl summarizes why it’s such a harmful and damaging thing so well. I’d like to see those people saying it’s just a game spend hundreds of hours putting effort into something then loose all of it while getting mocked about complaining and see if they still say the same thing

[@planescaped]

He stole my dissertation! Lol so what, it's just math.

[@alexandrerodrigues9844]

Gonna cry?

[@rognogog5092]

Especially when there is money involved (like in this case).

[@GiuseppeGaetanoSabatelli]

It's like how LCK (Korean League of Legends circuit) peaked at 759,000 concurrent viewers yesterday, hit a record of over 3.5 million a few months ago, and there's hundreds of millions, possibly $$billions over all worldwide regions and media types, at play in that game alone. But I still hear some players say "it's just a game." Pro gaming is no joke. All this time, this guy was stealing the spotlight from whoever would have been the actual best player. In fact, his unrealistic expectations maybe have had long term or even irreparable damage to the community. Taking the wind out of up and coming players' sails, discouraging new records, etc. It would be like finding irrefutably that all six Michael Jordan championships were rigged or something. The sheer damage that would deal to this history of basketball would be unfathomable. Even LeBron James wears #23 because of Jordan. The game would never be the same.

[@andrewrobinson1634]

Hate that argument too, whether it's speedrunning or any game casual or serious. If it's "just a game," why cheat?

[@ja-vishaara]

You either die a Guitar Hero or live long enough to see yourself become the Guitar Villain

[@defrostedxyz8537]

that's just AdvyStyles (he goes by GuitarHeroStyles in some places and he got revealed to be a pedo)

[@icommitedarson]

So true 🥵😫😩🦨

[@GarryTale]

Ong 🤚🤚🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@seinfan9]

He is the Badman.

[@anonymoose2474]

Stolen comment yikes

[@shrimplysuperior]

Honestly, the community routinely manages to impress me. Playing techniques such as 20:23 truly redefine what talent means.

[@Akechi_The_Phantom_Detective]

One. Single. Note. The dude who managed to catch this managed to do it based on one key input. It's a shame Schmooey did go down that path it seems he was really respected but mad props to the dude who actually caught it.

[@valentinemiller8680]

It's especially a shame he did so since he would actually go to events and hang out with other really good players, and he was still a very good player, he was just obsessed with being the absolute best at it.

[@Poolehful]

Reminds me of "I recognize that gay blowjob!" It's just so absurd that he actually caught it. The absolute legend.

[@garfieldandfriends1]

@@valentinemiller8680 sounds oddly similar to Trackmania Riolu

[@meraak1]

what note? I still don't understand this comment. and how it has 800 likes without anyone questioning it

[@Akechi_The_Phantom_Detective]

@@meraak1 It was a single note within one song across his entire speedrun's that caused the dude who discovered Schmooey's deception. That's an insane attention to detail, which really highlights how difficult it must be to catch cheated runs without the right technical analysis.

[@NightSkye27]

Always love how you actually look into the games themselves when covering a topic. You don't have to, but the video is more special for it.

[@underreboot6418]

Glad you pointed this out, he literally learns how to play the game, researches speedrunning strats and game mechanics, and then explains it to viewers in a way where they can understand even if they never touched the game. Must delay a video's release date the dedication really adds to the quality.

[@SomeSlushies]

Karl is honestly more of a journalist than most other modern journalists for this reason alone. The dedication he has to the craft and to immersing himself in whatever topic he’s researching is incredibly admirable. It’s a shame there aren’t more people like him in the profession

[@dsova9366]

When your talking about something it helps to do the research.

[@dossey5174]

I didn't see Karl doing any fence clip attempts however 😉

[@Anomaly92]

As someone who might not be nearly as good as the people shown in the video but still goes for high tier FCs on expert I can guarantee that Karls progress here is astonishingly fast. The medium FC he gets in the end is by no means easy, most of my friends cant FC a song on easy after several weeks. He really is an awesome allround gamer.

[@Iron-Bridge]

On the plus side, he contributed to the body of forensic knowledge for analysing audio video technology in cheating.

[@Utonian21]

"Frame by frame analysis" 😭

[@StefunnyStrange]

Somehow I’ve become addicted to these cheater exposed videos and I don’t even play video games! 😂 Is it just me? I’m very invested despite not touching video game controller in over a decade.

[@tylerisntasheep6854]

I play games but I don't play the majority of the games he talks about. It is so interesting to me too

[@Ninkira]

Same here it's relaxing when I'm stressed lol

[@turingtestingmypatience]

It's pretty common to hear about people who aren't held accountable, especially with all the stories shared on the internet. Videos like these are a kind of relief, where someone is caught, definitively or all-but proven to be in the wrong and rightly condemned - and they double as long video essays to kill time or add background noise.

[@didijunior971]

It's fascinating to watch. The closest I can think of is like watching a magician's trick getting revealed.

[@thecaptain6520]

​@didijunior971 at least a magicians trick is just that. A trick. These guys, however are proclaiming to possess skills that they know they don't have.

[@Churahm]

"At the end of the day, cheaters are thieves. Stealing time, stealing energy, stealing fame and stealing dreams from everyone else". This kind of quote is the reason why I love your channel and videos. It's so refreshing having someone say it how it is, no beating around the bush, no bullshit.

[@peterhawes9680]

And the video's sponsor suggests a way of dealing with 'the bush' too. I'll show myself out....

[@androidphone1901]

Good quote

[@Arionid]

some cheaters just want to have fun

[@truthboom]

but you can't cheat in real life, or is there?

[@scanbbb]

@@truthboom Child slavery

[@toxicitych]

1 very important detail you forgot to mention: at a recent meetup (the same meetup where 7:04 happened), one of the other players got onto Schmooey's PC to fetch a clip for a compilation and actually found cheat engine in his most used programs in the start menu clear as day. This is primarily why people started digging deeper into speedhacking evidence.

[@masterleo4932]

oh interesting fact! thanks for sharing the info

[@Koalaz1]

I mean knowing what he did now it makes sense but I wouldnt think twice of someone having cheat engine on their computer. Wouldnt say much on its own imo.

[@RenewedRS]

This is a trivial detail though lol

[@Koalaz1]

@@RenewedRS Yeah i know, as i said, in hindsight knowing what he did it was pretty obvious.

[@NullConflict]

Can you confirm this caused suspicion before other evidence emerged? There would be Discord logs or something similar. It fits with the evidence but it's trivial without prior suspicions or the benefit of hindsight. Tons of legitimate uses for memory hacking software, many outside of games. It's named "Cheat Engine" because a common use is advantage in single-player games. It's also used for modding games with new features, fixing bugs in old/abandoned software and removing obsolete/intrusive/dangerous DRM. Speedhacking without disclosure for speedruns or high scores is extremely rare.

[@NathanielBandy]

Man, I spent all of high school playing Guitar Hero and Rock Band. It's crazy to see someone go through this much effort just for some clout and money

[@Koalaz1]

Hi Nathaniel

[@JbugGaming]

Fr

[@LucDaMan4]

Finally someone mentions Rock Band it always gets overshadowed by Guitar Hero when Rock Band is so much better

[@Skarz1989]

@@LucDaMan4 I always felt guitar hero had the much better UI but rock band had much more official looking charts

[@LucDaMan4]

@@Skarz1989 True the main thing for me is that I can play with my family and the singing option in Rock Band 4 is so underrated and I love i

[@risingpheonix7740]

Absolutely loved Karl parodying a Schmooey video to show what the cheating would look like to a more experienced player.

[@UKOGmonkey]

Karl you legend thanks for making this video. I don't play much rhythm games anymore, but it was sad to see all the cheating drama from a game that gave me so much joy. Cheating sucks. Don't do it.

[@bonnibloop_]

I'm reading this directly after cheating on all my math homework lmao I feel called out

[@CharlieKellyEsq]

The cheating drama makes it even more enjoyable, I don't know what you're talking about

[@osuplaeyurreallygood]

@Agent 39 cheating in a RHYTHM game makes no sense even when it's singleplayer

[@VD-cc4hx]

@@osuplaeyurreallygood cheaters don't need a reason to cheat. there is still a ton of athletes who cheat in the olympics. And that's displayed to the entire world having much higher stakes and money won than guitar hero, but its hard to tell without dna tests.

[@TPD]

hope you're well, george

[@turtleo4732]

He isn't a Guitar Hero, he's a Guitar Villain!

[@Pyro-0369]

Got a chuckle outa me

[@turtleo4732]

@@Pyro-0369 you're welcome

[@moviemaker2011z]

How long were you sitting on that one?

[@turtleo4732]

@@moviemaker2011z when I started watching the video.

[@moviemaker2011z]

@@turtleo4732 well then I applaud you sir for a good joke.

[@ChengTeoh]

Am I the only person wondering how long these controllers last after playing at these speeds?

[@thebudderdanny]

either multiple years or a few weeks, its almost random with how old most of them are

[@alphabrother6823]

Couple months at best. They either find wii guitars for cheap or order Arduinos from this guy named Super Katana that are made for this sort of thing

[@dumdum7786]

they dont last very long lmao, I can say from experience

[@tylerangle2269]

I still have a GH2 Xplorer guitar that I've had for about 8 years now still going strong. Obviously I'm no pro but it has at least 1000 hours of Expert plays in there

[@hanthonyc]

It varies pretty wildly. I don't play GH but since my rhythm game of choice is a little more violent on the controller (Taiko, lol)... I think I can say that there's a few factors. If you have a cheap knockoff controller that you use to grind Full Combos 16 hours a day and also sometimes use as a makeshift weapon for home intruders, it'll only last a few months, just under a year maybe. But if you get lucky with manufacturing, take care of your controller, and only play at this level every other weekend gently with the boys, it can definitely last you a few years, easily.

[@josephschultz3301]

I love that this is both a video on catching Guitar hero's biggest cheater _and_ Karl learning to play the game himself. That's a really cool combo, yo.

[@thepatientrunningtheasylum8285]

This guy I dated in high-school was crazy good at this game. He played Through the Fire and Flames in the bandroom on expert. It was probably the most intense silence I ever heard in a music room. The director broke it when he said "I think I shit myself" this was around 2007 or so when the games were absurdly popular

[@danmoore1427]

Literally watched one of my best friends play it without looking at the TV and get 2 1000 note streaks in it

[@tokivikerness8863]

And everyone applauded.

[@NaughtiusMaximmus]

@@tokivikerness8863 can't tell if you're trying to be THAT guy or not

[@tokivikerness8863]

@@NaughtiusMaximmus I don't know. The guy that thinks the original story is absurd? Or is the "applauded" thing out of date? I'm 33 cut me some slack.

[@NaughtiusMaximmus]

@@tokivikerness8863 the guy that thinks the original story is absurd. I'm probably just being weird about it tho, sorry

[@TheRealGuywithoutaMustache]

20:23 I love your perfect exaggerated demonstration of faking a recording by licking the controller and still getting the notes right

[@rahirz4234]

Since when did you got a checkmark?

[@mickytananu5908]

@@rahirz4234 true when did he got check mark, and when did he changed his pfp.

[@trevorbeatz5741]

hi

[@matigamer329]

It made me laugh ngl.

[@Astral_Incarnate]

Holy fuck you're here too

[@wayner396]

The confession and refunding of credits is admirable so I'll give him some respect for that. He took his consequences about as gracefully as one could in what I'm sure was a deserved but embarrassing public fall from grace.

[@ThisNameIsBanned]

Hes also quite young, so he can get away with it.

[@UhWatchMe]

Great mention that he refunded, he also could've just ghosted.

[@kostyatszyu]

nothing admirable about it, probably feared incoming lawsuits

[@FriendlyAC130Online]

@@kostyatszyu again. Could have ghosted. Most people wouldn’t sue and throw tens of thousands in legal fees at someone who owes them a fraction of that amount and most likely will just end up settling anyways.

[@UhWatchMe]

@@kostyatszyu You can lawsuit donations? But hmm yeah maybe that I don't know.

[@Dave_Langer]

Also with the splicing at around 19:49 you can see the mouse magically move, giving away it was spliced.

[@BiLLz66614]

You know .. while it is a bad thing to do. He's 20. The fact he's that young... And didn't deny anymore once caught... admitted everything and even paid stuff back is pretty noble. Hopefully the kid will learn now. Seems like he has. There are loads of youtubers and streamers in their 30s and up that do this stuff or bad stuff and never admit it or pay anything back. So props to him for that at least.

[@MaurycyZarzycki]

It's also worth noting that it's beneficial for the society to allow people who did something wrong to be able to come clean, make amends and be welcomed back in the society. Otherwise they have no incentive to "be good" again, since then it leaves them with two options: a) come clean, be ostracized and never trusted again; b) don't come clean, maybe never be found out, and if you are then see a). This comes into play with rehabilitation and prisons - if society doesn't give convicts the second chance the only thing they are left with once they're out of prison is to do illegal stuff again. This comes into play with children - if coming clean after making a mistake results in a punishment, you may as well not admit to it and have the chance of avoiding it. This comes into play at work - if an employee makes a mistake they'll avoid coming clean, which will cost the company money but they may as well avoid being found out. So I agree, props to him for doing the right thing in the end and I hope he learns the lesson and becomes a better person from this.

[@Duckbusinessman]

20 isn’t very young.

[@illseeyaonthedarksideofthemoon]

@@MaurycyZarzycki always forgive your enemies, but remember their names

[@thatoneboi9178]

@@Duckbusinessman its only 2 years older than a legal adult in the U.S. and not even being able to legally drink yet. I'd say that 20 is still young.

[@Duckbusinessman]

@@thatoneboi9178 let’s be real learning to not cheat in life is something people should’ve figured out by 12. But that’s probably just me. It’s unbelievable that 15 year olds are still getting lured in by candy vans.

[@murpium]

25:27 is what I feel some comments are missing. Yes, good on him for paying back the bounties, but this damage is irreversible. I feel bad for the legit players who were robbed of their big world record moments.

[@popcorny007]

Very good point, it's hard to forgive the stolen time, no matter how much he did to correct his mistakes

[@batouttahell24]

Exactly, it’s good that he repaid everyone...but the bottom line is that he cheated.

[@PeachiPrism]

he literally talked about that right after

[@tankerd1847]

Not to mention the insane amount of wasted time from his honest competitors, and the fact that he happily took thousands of dollars while he knew full well he was cheating. Cheating for glory and overlooking the people you're shutting out from that is one thing, but knowingly cheating to win money is straight up fraud.

[@enormousiserratic8276]

@@tankerd1847 but what if spending 60 hours a week to achieve a world record in guitar hero is ALSO a waste of time? Just slightly less of a waste

[@MedivalNinja500]

One of the biggest cheats in gaming ever, as painful as it was to uncover and document this. I am very glad the community has stayed together through this. Thank you very much for working with us.

[@MacClariggs]

I know it's hard, but I know you can get through this!

[@roysamuels9468]

20:28 AYO. Talking about finger dexterity.. my boy has a supersonic tongue.

[@opiniononion919]

I really don't get why people are saying he admitted everything. He denied everything he could as long as he could and only admitted his cheating when it wasn't even needed anymore because most of his videos were proven to be cheated. Only props he gets is for paying back all the money.

[@duyphan4617]

Because he eventually admitted. You know. Not everyone got the BALLZ to admit it right away. Even when their crime is minor for the least.

[@suezuccati304]

To be fair, if he didnt give the money back, the people who paid him could sue the hell out of him.

[@NUFCOfficial]

You're acting like cheating at speedrunning is a crime nobody cares bro it's just a game

[@suezuccati304]

@@NUFCOfficial it's not a crime but it's frustrating. Nobody likes being lied to.

[@jamestaylor9802]

Most people would just carry on the lie no matter how obvious it has become and just go bigger as an attempt to waive suspicion. He did deny as long as reasonably possible, but then admitted when he knew he could just keep denying but it wasn’t worth it

[@DGAvalon]

For me the worst thing about this is that he took bounties, real cash, from his cheating. I know his given the money back, but he wouldn't have if he wasn't caught. It's deplorable.

[@themanidentifiedasdinosaur8138]

Imagine Faker having cheats on League of Legends for the insane reaction timing on some of the games, especially the earlier seasons. FAKER IS NOT A CHEATER. Just a "what if" scenario.

[@lightningteam8560]

The thing is even by giving the bounties back the people that reached legit didn't get the money

[@DGAvalon]

@@lightningteam8560 yeah, and some people may have given up the grind too. It's really disgusting, and I don't get why people are defending him because he gave the money back.

[@soccerdude9784]

@@themanidentifiedasdinosaur8138 EVERY player would hear about it and I would be completely baffled.

[@hillaryclinton2415]

And real winners were denied...

[@emilyofjane]

I lacked the coordination to strum and press the buttons at the same time as a kid, so I was *embarrassingly* bad at this game. I remember playing it at a birthday party once and I kept getting booed off the stage on the easiest difficulty lol. It blows my mind that people can not only play the hardest difficulties, but that they’re making custom songs that are EVEN FASTER because the original ones aren’t challenging enough. The amount of skill and coordination that requires is truly insane. 🤯

[@SeviathTheHumanDrago]

Same, my sister pulled it out once as a kid and or rockband whatever one it was and everyone was playing but I got booed off the stage on the first song and stopped playing immediately afterwards. My sister kept trying to convince me to play but I wouldn't do it lol. She still won't let me live it down but whenever she's had a boss fight she couldn't beat in a game I somehow manage to do it oftentimes on my first try and she hates me for it so it evens out lol

[@joetomp]

i NEVER condone cheating, but hear me out. Despite his cheating, I am glad that he returned the money that he scammed from people.

[@popeyboy5108]

I woulda respected the hustle more

[@shadowdaber284]

Imagine training for a tournament for months playing songs for hours and then hopefully to get the prize of a few grand and a guy just cheats and wins , a few years later he announced that he cheats and gives some but not all the money back to the rightful owners. If you got the money he stolen from you back, excited because you would have gone first place or maybe second but the Glory from it was taken away from you.

[@MacSmithvox]

@@popeyboy5108 Derp.

[@anvil-o4l]

@@shadowdaber284 sure, but he can't do that

[@dovahchicken935]

At least he was after glory over money and gave away both (even though it was stolen)

[@JustStayingGroovy]

At 20, he's literally spent most of his life perfecting his Guitar Hero playing. And now he's back at square one. All due to hubris.

[@BITCOIlN]

Aand many kids that are 20 now spent half of their life playing LoL and still aren't that great at it, I didn't play myself that long but I played some games for years without being good.

[@ABIADAB]

I seriously wonder how the fuck can people play one game more than 300 hours without mods, i guess i just have limited attention span.

[@AdamOwenBrowning]

@@ABIADAB I quickly checked my Steam (I have more games but no playtime count) and I found twelve games with over 300 hours but even I feel like I have a really short attention span, I don't play a game for over an hour in one sitting.

[@ASingleSpaghetti]

@@ABIADAB I've put about that much time into Civilization 5. Of course, the average time I've had for each game is about 12 hours., so it adds up.

[@thomasjay4498]

Being the greatest Guitar Hero play is still not comparable to being the greatest real guitar playing. Guitar skills gets girls. Videos games don't.

[@4juze745]

Imagine Karl would have spliced his own full combo run at the end😂

[@Kawa-oneechan]

Release the full four minutes and we'll know *exactly* what to look for.

[@D_Winds]

In homage.

[@timlarsson]

I was waiting for the Media Player UI to show up at the end 😂

[@LukeNolen]

@@timlarsson 9fc2

[@Danno04]

@@timlarsson DUDE, It would've been hilarious 😂😂😂

[@musicaccount7116]

I really like that you're using Mass Effect background music. I noticed that instantly and always enjoyed it. Great video!

[@SwankyBox]

Guitar Hero players will always mesmerize me. I've always loved watching the game and seeing something like this come to light is honestly terrible to see. Great coverage as always, Karl!

[@kallixo]

ive only seen like 1 guitar hero video before this one and i really wanna try it but i dont got the plastic guitar

[@Tom3kkk]

just more proof rockband is better, guitar hero is what call of duty was to battlefield

[@diavologh7418]

@@Tom3kkk What?

[@LucianDevine]

Hell, sometimes they are just fun to listen to! The song with the strumming just draws me in sometimes.

[@irvancrocs1753]

You should see OSU and Geometry Dash players as well, people on these games along with guitar hero are probably the most nuts community i've ever seen.. They are so dedicated..

[@itsdomtoo]

It really hit when he repaid the bounties. A lesser man would’ve gone ghost and kept the money, but he repaid it in full, admitted to cheating and how he cheated, and left the community in a relatively honorable way, the best way in my opinion for the crappy thing he did

[@carlostelevida]

he made thousand of dollars with his YT videos. cheater should be banned from using computers forever.

[@SomeoneThatIsHappy]

@@carlostelevida no?

[@Bongbongo]

@@carlostelevida calm down dude all the man did was cheat on a video game 💀

[@carlostelevida]

@@Bongbongo he stripped legit players the recognition they deserved for the grinding, it should mean nothing for you but for them it could even change their life forever, regards.

[@ihavenonamestilldonthaveon8970]

@@carlostelevida they can get their recognition now, nothing's been taken away. He didn't murder them. He even refunded people their money, and he left. The end. It's not that fuckin serious. You don't gotta take it that far.

[@CarnyJared.]

Great video. Hopefully the Clone Hero community can see some positive light after this. We all really appreciate you covering this situation Karl.

[@bigfatgh]

BRO STREAM

[@admiralAlfonso9001]

I saw this comment when your icon was on the screen in video during interview

[@ryukoonsp]

Hi Carny!

[@admiralAlfonso9001]

I respect the skill

[@cordudemax]

Cj spliced s6 you heard it here first

[@Fadedshadows]

Of all the games to cheat on….. guitar hero? That’s sad.

[@sailoroftheinternet3290]

Wdym?

[@AegisRick]

I love how in all these speedrun games theres always that tiny indicator that was never intended to be used as an anticheat, but it inadvertently does. I remember they caught those Super meatboy splicers using nothing but those tiny loading screen animations. But, as much as I love condemning cheaters to their fates, I really do hand it to him for owning up to it, and even paying back all those bounties. That's not something you'd ever expect a cheater to do, so if nothing else, I do have a little respect for the guy.

[@redholm]

Yea. Once bounties where brought up I started thinking "Poor those people putting up the bounties". So I gotta give a small props to the guy for paying those back.

[@tankerd1847]

I have to imagine he knew he could've been in deep shit if he didn't give that money back. I'm no legal expert but knowingly cheating in a contest to secure the purse sounds like fraud to me.

[@DanielLCarrier]

If I ever make a game that can be speedrun, I'm going to include so many subtle indicators like this.

[@magnus0017]

@@tankerd1847 that could definitely be the case, and honestly what he did do should be the minimum we expect someone who cheated to do; admit it and take down the false achievements and remove that which he gained from the falsehoods. It's sad that it feels positive because so few do that. Especially compared to a number of other cheaters explored on this channel, and not even the big ones. Maybe as a watcher more than a runner cheaters never feel quite so infuriating to me, but doing the right thing in the end is better than not at all. And I'm sure there are ways he could have delayed, avoided, and evaded to where, even if not legal, too expensive and time consuming to bother.

[@johnwrath3612]

Nah, fuck that. He wouldn't have paid them back if he hadn't been caught.

[@UmbTheUmbreon]

Thank you for bringing attention to this! This was definitely a difficult situation for the CH community and I'm glad it's getting the coverage it warrants

[@MrJJSpazz]

@@R-Lee- clone hero

[@bernkastel7438]

You have good taste in Pokémon. Umbreon is pretty cool

[@rismosch]

As horrendous as these cheaters are, I still respect them for confessing. Every time it makes me so much angrier at Billy Mitchell, because he seems to be the only person who just cannot confess.

[@0neDoomedSpaceMarine]

I'll give this guy props for actually refunding all his bounties, there's a LOT of people who wouldn't do that.

[@googlgfacef218]

Billy Mitchell is the best gamer in his Era. I vividly recall him beating Mario Kart 64 in 1983, 13 years before the game was even released.

[@shaidenunya2146]

Completely agree. Yea, he did a horrible thing and deserves to be punished.. but I believe he will grow from this and I give him respect for admitting that what he did was wrong.

[@peco1551]

Not only confessing what suprised me the most is that he payed back the bounties.

[@johnfrian]

Agreed! The fact that he confessed, apologised and paid back rewards is such a rare thing. So many bad people would do the opposite, double down on their claims and keep the cash. It's the best possible outcome of a bad situation, which is respectable. I would share a beer with this cheater and help them look forwards to a better future now that they've done the right thing.

[@GuiasMaurelChile]

I was waiting for the Windows Media Player UI to appear at the end of your run 😂 Good job on your hard work!

[@jippy33]

Was immediately reminded of Henning Blom. Given his young age, and the fact that he paid everything back, owned up to everything, apologized, and then left the community, I find it hard to be too harsh on him. Cheating is often a sign of low self-esteem as well, hopefully he learned from this and changed his attitude.

[@szeweisoo153]

Its often a combination of low self-esteem and desperation to move up the social ladder quickly

[@vismattress5760]

Y’all are soft lmao

[@w7ll203]

@@vismattress5760 it’s just called being a nice person bro 💀

[@nvrndingsmmr]

@@vismattress5760 I don't understand, explain what you're trying to say . xD

[@nobody-bt7mu]

@@vismattress5760 You should practice empathy. And if you can't contribute anything meaning full to a conversation, just move along.

[@roymontgrand561]

I gotta say Karl, I appreciate the hell out of you and everything you do. You make the videos interesting, riveting and extremely informative. Giving us the info we need to understand the game, the community and every other aspect involved. You handle these things so well and I have to say you are definitely one of the best youtubers that cover these things. I have a deep respect for you and a huge appreciation of the evenings I spend watching your videos.

[@-Mintyy]

Literally came here to say the same thing but you worded it better lol.

[@hateWinVista]

I have no idea about community of speedrunning or hardcore play of particular games. And Karl can explain everything from basic game mechanism, current story/drama, history of the community and verdict of the topic so everyone can understand and enjoy the video. Simply doing god's work.

[@samusx2175]

Well said. He does put things together well on here. I've been a fan ever since he covered the old Billy Mitchell dumpster fire.

[@tadyoshi3610]

Karl at 20:24 is the best player move in a speed run I’ve ever seen.

[@StanimalKingdom]

you can actually tell the video is sped up when he activates star power. His guitar practically looks like he's twitching at lightning speed

[@hatman4818]

I was half expecting a windows media player easter egg at the end of your run as a joke, but I'm glad you did it legitimately, lol

[@myopinion69420]

i'm kind of just more confused that people use windows media player.

[@OneTrueBelmont]

Props to the experts who could tell someone was cheating by just the key smashing. But them figuring out to pay attention to the swirly light bits was genius because even nonexperts like me could tell something was wrong.

[@jockdouglass3824]

Well I just looked at his fingers some bits didn't seem to line up with the notes

[@ajfornes6728]

What’s really sad to me is that even though he had some legitimate skill, he still chose to sacrifice his reputation and just lie. Very sad situation.

[@62cum]

“Some” skill is underplaying it tbh. Even tho he cheated he still is genuinely one of the greatest players he just didn’t have the patience to get the FCs legitimately

[@flamefusion8963]

@@62cum the best cheaters tend to be the best players.

[@diegomontoya8095]

Chumps

[@AJ-dx6bn]

Well that's how fake people can be for clouts

[@nloc1929]

They cheated themselves. Maybe the real cheating was the friends we lost on the way...

[@brandonmohle9282]

Love the use of the Mass Effect galaxy map theme as the background music, so much nostalgia...

[@Shvok]

I love how in addition to all the research you do for specific games, you also actually PLAY the game to better understand them. KEEP IT GOING!

[@carfo]

he was sorry he got caught but for the most part he handled it well--returned the money, removed the videos, left the scene, and was honest about his techniques and led to better detection of fakes

[@Daniel_WR_Hart]

This is the one time I saw a content creator ACTUALLY take responsibility for their actions

[@FlaskFlash]

I'm no speedrunner, but this dude is so good at storytelling that makes me wish i were exposed lool.

[@Xpwnxage]

Just go find a TAS run online and upload it like it's your own. That'll do the trick. "THE MOST SHAMEFUL SPEEDRUNNING CHEATER IN HISTORY!!"

[@Shawno625]

@@Xpwnxage I cant believe FlakFlash would ever do such a thing

[@adopted996]

@@Shawno625 yeah I truly and utterly trusted him

[@Jartran72]

@@adopted996 Did you just assume this persons gender? How could you (sarc)

[@junjun8855]

@@Shawno625 he even drank 2 coke bottles instead of one in his speedruns!!!!

[@JJBeauregard1]

One thing I find great about Karl and his videos is that he doesn't just look up the "latest drama" of a specific community and uses it to make a quick narration with no real substance. He takes deep dives and makes a genuine effort to learn more about the community and the game in question to be able to explain things in more detail. I appreciate that a lot and it makes the videos a thousand times more interesting and enjoyable to watch!

[@CelticGuardian7]

Great video! I happened to see this topic covered by a KZbinr named Abyssoft, and both his analysis and yours were fantastic looks at the subject. One small light that I wanted to add from watching his is that apparently this incident has had at least one positive outcome. Some of the players are now determined to prove that they can legitimately do what the cheated videos claimed. I hope that enthusiasm and the fresh infusion of interest from these videos will help mitigate this awful situation.

[@martinferrand4711]

@@rogercruz1547 that would be awesome :D

[@psyjinx]

Abyssoft's was great for sure. Glad someone threw his name out there.

[@CelticGuardian7]

@@psyjinx I didn't want to take away from Karl's video by promoting another one, but since they're good compliments to each other, I figured people who liked one would like the other. =)

[@RetroDeath]

The shot where you play with your tongue absolutely killed me, lmao! I love the 'cheaters getting caught' videos, they are always so satisfying. Thanks for your hard work, man!

[@Radii_DC]

I spat my coffee all over my keyboard when he did that. Was well worth it.

[@poulanthrope]

So basically, the biggest factor in catching him is that he never learned the basics of fractions? GG math.

[@ДаниилРабинович-б9п]

I suspect that the editing software just didn't allow for a coefficient of 133.3, probably working in increments of 2.5 percent or something like that.

[@bman12three43]

@@ДаниилРабинович-б9п I guess he was to impatient to slow down by 50% and speed up by 200%

[@pedrosilvaproductions]

"oh education is not important, who uses maths"

[@alext3811]

@@bman12three43 Heck, I can do this with two console commands (FFmpeg)

[@Thesnakerox]

I was actually thinking to myself: "Wouldn't it be more convincing to slow the game down to 80%, then speed the footage up to 125%?"

[@kenju8929]

him seeing himself out at the end is actually pretty respectable

[@nomore6167]

At 21:53, naming the bot "Todd Togers" is just priceless. One thing cheaters don't seem to realize is they will most likely be taken down and exposed exclusively because of their ego. Cheat small and people may not notice. Keep cheating bigger and bigger and you will eventually screw up, which people WILL notice.

[@alexiacorbin3052]

and not only that, if you get people to hate you enough, you might just be famous enough for someone to mix your name with a synonym for fecese

[@ts4gv]

considering the hours he put into the game it’s crazy to me how sloppy he got i reckon it was self sabotage driven by subconscious. guitar hero had an unhealthy influence he both did & didn’t want out

[@JJFX-]

@@ts4gv I'm just surprised that it doesn't seem like anyone did detailed comparisons earlier. I would never cheat against competition in any game but if was going to cheat in GH, I'd be obsessively checking everything for days. Needing to mask off the notes from the rest of the UI would be obvious. As would validating the time ends up identical. Everything else surely gets harder to account for but this guy just did the bare minimum and got away with it for a decade. Pretty mind blowing.

[@beepboop3812]

Two things to note: 1) He actually was very gifted at this game and in the top 1 percent of players worldwide in terms of skill/potential but he still chose to cheat and in turn lost any chance at being taken seriously with this type of stuff again. 2) The clone hero community generally isn’t that gigantic (though it is growing). Acai does have over 1 million subs yes but in terms of people who actively play and watch Clone Hero frequently and interact with the community, that number is probably somewhere between 100k-500k people if I had to guess, as Acai gained a lot of subs from a more generalized audience with popular videos like the Dicko Mode one he had. But because of the community’s growing size, & the fact Karl did such a great job with this video while not being a Clone Hero or Guitar Hero channel… this video a few months from now is going to have several million views at least, I’d bet. To be fair though, all of this never would’ve happened if Schmooey didn’t cheat in the first place.

[@teabaggingtime1415]

this made me respect the guitar hero community. in games like warzone everyone cheats and has a following of people defending their cheating

[@lvl5charmander]

cause this game takes years of skills and wants to preserve it

[@simonextra9689]

Sort of an exaggeration

[@SchlaftaterNrzZz]

I dont get why people Care about a Video Game that much So He Cheated Wow In some Casual childrens Game Get a life

[@CChissel]

@@SchlaftaterNrzZz why do you care enough to comment about it then? Live and let live, it’s not hurting anyone.

[@teabaggingtime1415]

@@SchlaftaterNrzZz if you dont get it then you truly dont like a single thing in this world and I pity you bud. it's people caring about something they like, every human does it

[@racinmason888]

Lmao the lingo is cracking me up at 17:15 Fretting the ol gryb quad zig and tappin the gybo quad 🤙

[@profcalculus474]

That's nothing, wait until you see my gryo quad reverse chimney into the alt tapping ladder with no ghosts 😎

[@mondogecko3279]

His own joke splice at 20:18 made me laugh so hard…making easy level look he was playing expert😂😂😂

[@zymethamp6596]

That tongue action tho

[@mrjspeed]

That was the best part of the video. Love nuggets like this

[@Veginite]

I almost spat out my drink lol

[@Patbenn]

@@zymethamp6596 I suspect he wasn't really playing with his tongue. the tongue flicks didn't match up with the note pace. I'm at work right now but will have time to investigate further when I get home

[@minuano2ndtrueancestor865]

idk if the deadpan voice or the splice joke makes me laugh damn that is hilarious

[@Relentless966]

20:17 That is absolutely hilarious, I love that even you jumped in on the memeing of Schmooey

[@arxil3810]

I came to the comments to see if anyone else noticed 😂

[@3x3x3_]

the way he starts licking it 😭

[@gmoney9469]

I almost made this same comment

[@josh1234567892]

Lmfao, this caught me off guard

[@jerubaal101]

I think that Jobst guy needs to be investigated.

[@chloec4009]

The fact he paid the bounties back, and admitted to it all, tells me he was probably looking for attention and glory. The money was more of a bonus.

[@Luna_Aberra]

I don't get here something. He admitted his crimes, he gave back the money and step aside unlike people like Billy Mitchell and yet it sounds from your comments like he still receiving comments that he just "looking for attention and glory"?!. For all bad Schmooey have done, he couldn't step aside in any better manner he did, at least with some honor.

[@mccarthy5825]

Well he got the attention... But no glory. He just comes across as a lying cheating muppet... Of Guitar Hero of all things... 🤷🏼‍♀️ 😂 Like come on?! Talk about setting your sights low!

[@TransRoofKorean]

Tbh in the end he apparently did everything he could to make amends. Whatever satisfaction he got for himself getting praise definitely gets taken away when you're outed like that. Gotta feel pretty low, and it's sad, because it's clearly not like he's some evil guy, just a flawed person like everyone else.

[@bungersinyourarea]

He did some trolling

[@brittig8983]

@@TransRoofKorean Most likely towards the end he started to feel that cheating for recognition didn't feel nearly as good as the real thing. Probably felt super guilty about it all and wanted to make amends as much as he could.

[@richyrich5049]

As a guitar player, my friends all expected me to dominate at Guitar Hero, but I didn’t. I would instinctively attempt to add my own nuances to the songs and trigger errors in my notes.

[@moonynight6374]

I respect the hell of out of these Guitar Hero Pros. My eyes can't even keep up with the notes and process what to press fast enough, so to see some of them press the buttons that fast and also hit the right ones is seriously impressive.

[@goosewithagibus]

At that point they're not actually looking at the notes very much, it's all muscle memory.

[@Killabeezee]

As a pretty good player it's mostly just learning the techniques and then remembering the song, I can play almost the entirety of world tour with my eyes closed after 8 years

[@dkdebest]

Not surprising, game is hard for low IQ people

[@YagamiKou]

top level playing is often an impressive muscular feat more than impressive way of reading notes they do read the notes btw, its not all memorized unless its an FC, even then memorizing isnt always needed I have over 5k songs in my game it is a fat waste of time to memorize hard songs esp when reading notes is the easy part physically being fast is way harder the reason is simple, I dont look at 1 note at a time the same way u dont read 1 letter at a time I only look at groups and their shapes as 1 item

[@maddieb.4282]

They’re not seeing the notes and processing them, you can’t really do that at those speeds. They’ve memorized the entire song and are playing it relying on muscle memory

[@keithdavison2960]

It would have been simple to pop a video together about the cheater but I really really appreciate you taking the time to show just how impressive some players can be without cheating really helps put things into context . Thank you

[@Sylocat]

Even Schmooey could be really impressive without cheating, which is one of the reasons this situation is such a shame.

[@The_Humbugg]

It’s so upsetting to see someone whose dedicated such a big chunk of their life to a game have it all go to waste because of being tempted to cheat... he set it right in the end by coming clean and refunding all those bounties, but the point still stands

[@diggitydog998]

I agree, thankfully he’s only 20 so he had a better chance than some people who are cheaters but are already in their late 30’s

[@JusterinoSan]

I was really worried he was gonna walk away with the money and possibly just never hone up to it but even though he cheated, he came clean and stepped down. All he could really do at that point. Paying the bounties back too was the best part. Never cheat, kids~!

[@Eminster]

@@JusterinoSan ehh depends

[@FGPlus]

It's just a game bud

[@FlareStorms]

@@diggitydog998 *glares at billy*

[@DavidBrocekArt]

I have zero interested in speedrunning culture, but for some weird reason I just love your deep dives and analyses. Thank you sir.

[@sixbrigands]

He did the right thing in the end but it took a forensic analysis of all of his videos to force him to admit to it.

[@ponyride23]

That's like saying someone who went to prison did the right thing by going to prison. He got caught lying over and over again, and kept doing it even when confronted, he only apologized because there was no way out for him after the in depth analysis. He was more than happy to keep the money even after being confronted, giving the money back after evidence showed you cheated your way into getting it is not "doing the right thing".

[@simonrodriguez2688]

He could have just disappeared and kept the money. Most cheaters would have done it, especially considering that he probably had spent a lot of that money.

[@GammaLoop111]

Wow! To see you covering CH is so near and dear to my heart. Wish it was under better circumstances, but bringing attention to some of the top players, while deep diving into the whole Schmooey situation was a fantastic journey. Very glad to see rhythm games come to light on your channel. Love the videos as always! Thank you, and stay cool legends 😀

[@lepe]

Cuitar Hero? lel

[@Mythical_8]

@@lepe Clone Hero

[@_Backpack_]

Oh hi Gamma, was just about to comment something about rhythm games, but you already got it!

[@bread_girl_jane]

oh hi gamma

[@luminatron]

Do you have an extra keyboard that you no longer use?

[@BeatEmUps]

Probably would of been in bad taste but I kinda half expected a windows media player overlay to appear over your gameplay at the end lol Great video!

[@jodycwilliams]

I was waiting for it. Hehe

[@mrtonyvillagomez]

Cool to see u here beatemups 👍

[@brutusjudas5842]

Hadn’t even crossed my mind. I would’ve spit my drink. I’d go so far as to recommend he reupload with it.

[@norwabb]

Missed opportunity for a lil' jab, there

[@elvickRULES]

I was waiting for it 😢

[@UchihaSumairu]

The best part of this video is you showing your FC because it really helps set in that even if it isn't a record for others personal records still are SO rewarding even at the beginning!

[@YellowLink10]

I appreciate that he owned up to it. It's not often you see a cheater like that taking responsibility and apologizing in the way that he did.

[@fisher2536]

Completely false

[@TheMTNDewd]

@@fisher2536 he gave back thousands of dollars to people he misled by cheating. He easily could have just gone silent and ran off with the money

[@fisher2536]

@@TheMTNDewd sure he could have easily done that if he didn't want to have a career anymore 💀😹. A couple thousand dollars isn't much in the grand scheme of things

[@TheMTNDewd]

@@fisher2536 he's never going to have a career in this again

[@fisher2536]

@@TheMTNDewd of course he can. It not like he murder anyone or anything. Just needs to earn back people's trust

[@royfablooo2810]

Atleast he confessed, paid the bounties and just left because if I were in his shoes there's no way I can get my reputation back after that. Hopefully He finds something he can be real proud off, hopefully he feels the good feeling of success without any cheats involves.

[@dannymoya134]

Wow. Such a positive message in a dark world. We need more people like you. We need to have more compassion as humans. We all have moments we aren't proud of. We all have a little darkness inside but it is not what defines us.

[@rogerelzenga4465]

@@dannymoya134 It's deserved, he owed up to his fuck up, took full responsibility, payed the damages, removed all his shit EXCEPT the apology, and moved away from the game. That was an honourable exit.... its a good example for anyone, its not hard to apologize, its just your own ego you need to let go off.... because face it.... how good you are means nothing in the grand scheme of things.... you still are going to die like all other humans... better go through life without regrets, everyone fucks up, its how you deal with it defines your character.

[@murrijuana2842]

@@rogerelzenga4465 he didn't pay the damages. He only payed back what he stole. A few people should sue him.

[@karlimo4034]

@@dannymoya134 Compassion? What about compassion for the people that got robbed of their effort, records, recognition, money, fame and glory? Why always do humans show compassion for the wrong person? That cheater can go f$%$% himself, he confessed and gave back the money because he got caught, as simple as that! Dude would be doing this for more years ahead if he didn´t run out of luck. Like Jesus, this "compassion" BS you show to an inconsiderate, empty of human empathy for others dude frustrates me to no end. The world is dark because humans like you let bad things go like nothing out of "forgiveness" and "rainbow" feelings.

[@AL-bw2sf]

@@karlimo4034 it’s just a video game played in your bedroom calm down not a nuclear war.

[@defiante1]

Given that cheaters are often former champions, its sad how people spotting the signs and trying to draw attention to it are shamed and ignored. That one with the video so dark you couldn't see him or his imputs should of been disregarded on that alone. Its that kind of laziness to veteran players that allows the cheating to begin.

[@G1NZOU]

This, the temptation is always there for every player, and getting away with the first attempt spurs them on to go bigger and bigger with the lie.

[@tsdobbi]

The same reason good athletes will juice. Pressure is put on them to be better than great and they will do whatever they have to do, to stay on top. Secondly, there may be that perception that "everyone is doing it" and if you don't you will get left behind.

[@marshallbeck9101]

Nope it’s on the individuals to just not be pieces of shit pretty simple

[@poweroffriendship2.0]

I think the whole "cheaters are often former champions" part reminds me of the Billy Mitchell situation. And he got his own hot sauce brand just in case for AVGN to beat the Transformers game for the NES.

[@defiante1]

@@marshallbeck9101 It's on both. People shouldn't cheat, but people protecting the community going "hey I have valid reasons why I think this person is cheating" shouldn't be ignored. This video talks about how the accusations were raised before but never taken seriously because "oh he wouldn't" and so forth. Speedrunning is a competition, and if they want to have leaderboards and treat it seriously, then they need to hold people to a standard and maintain that standard. Not just... ignore the standard once someone is already a champion. How many times are we going to get the same video of... "Biggest cheater finally caught! Right under our nose and no one bothered to check" videos. If your house gets robbed, whoever did it is a piece of shit, but its also your responsibility to lock your damn door.

[@jamesfestini]

Imagine the amount of time these kids spent on the game if they actually grabbed a real guitar and challenged each other in the same way.

[@lukeout9035]

6:08 Karl: "A guitar has 6 strings..." Also Karl: shows a guitar with 7 strings Me a bassist: "Somethings wrong, I can feel it!"

[@TheLongWind]

Haha I was just going to make this same comment. 7 string threw me off

[@knalleballkalle8365]

Definitely intentionally

[@xwddydfy_3]

checkmate

[@jannejohansson3383]

Xiit

[@nonutemperor]

john myung: I like bass but i also like 6 strings

[@Feragore]

I can't fathom what must be going through the people that were in these cheater's shadows. Noone ever commends 'world second' in much the same way. Attaining something someone has already achieved hasn't got nearly the same weight as proving a boundary can be broken at all. Not to mention all the people who may have even simply stopped trying that track, or even the game itself. I saw in the expose video that one of the people who gave bounties out to him sent one of them back out to someone else who had already got a legitimate FC (and became world-first) once they were refunded, but to have it retroactively granted takes all the emotion away.

[@D4n21]

@@dissraps I think this a very simplified view. These people pour thousands of hours into this game. Cheating reflects extremely poorly on his moral character and in any other context would have serious consequences. Imagine finding out that someone cheated through all their college final exams. You wouldn't want to hire that person, not just because they don't know enough, but also because you wouldn't trust them at the job to do things right.

[@Fattony6666]

Ohh the humanity!!

[@LukeNolen]

Thank you so much for making this video. I've always been a big fan and seeing you cover this huge topic is really big for this entire community.

[@vblazn]

This right here

[@floyddog2283]

How the hell was your comment uploaded 3 minutes before the video

[@vblazn]

@@floyddog2283 he prolly had access to it beforehand

[@LukeNolen]

@@floyddog2283 I had notis on and commented as soon as it was released

[@lostangel2319]

Congratulations on your fc. It's not about medium, hard or expert. It's not about the time length of the song. It's the dedication you, as the player, put into accomplishing something you have never done before. Big props, great video, great channel. Like and subbed to you. Stay blessed.

[@JacStone98]

What I love about Karl's breakdowns is that he doesn't just say "This is incredible." He explains "This is WHY this is incredible."

[@gixerson8212]

What I love about Jared C’s comment is that he doesn’t just say “What I love about Karl’s breakdowns is that he doesn’t just say “This is incredible so. He explains “This is WHY this is incredible.” He explains WHY this is incredible.

[@bossinater43]

19:16 "Everything else that people are looking at is gonna be, as far as *I'm* aware, legit." This was a huge red flag to me. No one would add the phrase "as far as I'm aware" when denying accusations against themselves unless they were trying to sugarcoat their actions or deflect the blow of getting caught. When he said that, I knew he was not confessing to everything he knew.

[@levilima9925]

You're absolutely right.

[@abasslinelow]

I had the same thought. It's his playing, his hardware, his recording... if it were not legit, how could he possibly not be aware?

[@ashleyneku5432]

If you can't even remember which of your own runs are legit and which are not, you might be cheating a bit too much.

[@simon_patterson]

Jumped out at me, too.

[@Thesnakerox]

For me, it was when he said "...in which I _tried_ to do anything suspicious." Something about that wording just struck me as really weird.

[@Silverset_]

Glad to hear he gave back the money he won, admitted his guilt, and left the community. Should have not ever accepted money for cheating, and it’s pretty despicable that he only offered it back AFTER getting caught…. Feel bad for the real Guitar Heroes of this community.

[@tonykarnes7043]

Maybe the only way he could learn was to get caught.

[@jamescamero4716]

Nah they all need to get a life

[@CPS42069]

@@jamescamero4716 can you give an example?

[@johnbush5347]

The people he took money from were probably also cheating

[@mateusbmedeiros]

Thought that too. He messed up real bad, and he knows it. It doesn't make the mess any better, but at least no more mess is created. Meanwhile, Billy Mitchell.

[@neplatnyudaj110]

6:10 A guitar has 6 strings ...shows 7 string guitar

[@penguinmcswaggn2936]

Yeah he cheated, but I respect him for paying back the bounties, for a person who was going to leave the entire community and the public view it could have been so easy to just keep the money as a last fuck you to the community, it at least shows some form of remorse unlike other cheaters we've seen who don't even admit they cheated

[@newcarpathia9422]

Not sure if I respect him for it. It was the right thing to do both for them and himself. He'd have left the door open for fraud lawsuits if he hadn't.

[@FortuneKOF]

when it comes to money, definitely lawsuits could have been an option

[@billko4342]

"At the end of the day, cheaters are thieves"

[@Snarkbar]

@@newcarpathia9422 Not worth it to sue over such a piddly amount of money. Good on him for giving it back, even if he cheated in the first place.

[@zimbu_]

Suing people is a bit of a hassle if you don't live in the same country. Plus it's like a few hundred usd per bounty. I'd imagine he could have kept a lot of the bounties, maybe return a few where the claimant would be local and he clearly stated he cheated on that particular bounty.

[@Tigatron1448]

Karl licking the guitar to strum it during his own “fake” video at 20:17 is priceless.

[@kanalkucker14]

it is 😂

[@beanzburriton4263]

not sure what you're referring to

[@Tigatron1448]

@beanz burriton lol just start watching Karl at 20 minutes and 17 seconds in. You'll see him pretending to play

[@xjaidenn]

I JUST GOT TO THAT BIT LMFAOO FR

[@xjaidenn]

@@beanzburriton4263 20:17

[@flappytaco]

The one redeeming thing in all this is that he ended up issuing an accountability statement and paid all the money back. It doesn't take away the damage he did, but it is a crucial step that most people do not make.

[@MrDanSpank]

For a playing a kids game on a fake plastic guitar, yeh, so damaging to society. Question.... Have you ever been outside?

[@JamesLard32]

@@MrDanSpank it's a matter of accountability and maturity. Also... The game has a community. That's just like if someone cheated a community you're part of out of special moments and achievements. Question. Have you ever been part of an actual community?

[@flappytaco]

@@MrDanSpank I am a psychotherapist and work with teens and kids regularly. Often times online communities are the only social component in their life, and are very important and influential. Being lied to by your hero can be devastating. It’s not just about a plastic guitar, it’s about trust in people. Yes, I have been outside, just a little while ago. The sun felt nice on my skin.

[@olgagaming5544]

I havent been outside in a while and the sun didnt feel nice but I got surprised he paid back the trophies... also, he did what a cheater should do, Oh I got caught, Im burnt there , gg time to move on was a fun time xD the worst is if the cheaters themselves have no life other than the speedrun community and they go in "damage control" without realizing they just need to quit and forget

[@sammyhonerd677]

@@MrDanSpank You got absolutely bodied. Now be a good boy and go book some sessions with Elio, you could probably use some couch time.

[@jayonnaise6105]

Shout out to you, Karl & shout out to Guitar Hero! It was a big reason I got into music as a teenager, and why I took up drumming for a little while. Before I played Guitar Hero, I'd really only listen to music featured in non-music based video games (PS2 era Wrestling games in particular). Your video makes me really want to get back into it though, because even though I stopped playing those instrument peripheral based games a fair while ago, I still love music & rhythm games to this day and that part is because of Guitar Hero.