This page was last updated February 13, 2002.
1. MARP is a self-regulating community. It is expected that all players will behave honorably as a part of this community, contributing not only to the leaderboard but to the discussions regarding the community as well. Everyone has a say at MARP, whether you're 1st on the leaderboard or 101st, and whether you've been at MARP for four years or for forty seconds. Therefore:
b) If you have a dispute with another MARPer, please contact them personally instead of flaming them publicly.
c) Be honest in your scoring and recording techniques.
2. If MAME's goal, as Nicola Salmoria has stated, is to emulate the arcade game as closely as possible, then MARP's goal is to emulate the experience of "watching a virtual master play an arcade game", true to the arcade experience, as closely as possible. This has led to the following rulings:
b) Autofire is not permitted.
c) Cheats are not permitted. (although many powerups are)
d) NVRAM, including the default NVRAM, is prohibited, with the exception of extraordinary circumstances. It's best to delete the NVRAM directory to ensure this doesn't happen. You can also download this file to ensure no nvram is used if you use the DOS Prompt. (usage: record {gamename})
e) There may be special rules involved OR special recording circumstances required in a particular game you want to submit a recording in. PLEASE read those rules before making a submission. There is a special rules link in the second column of each submitted recording if there are any.
f) Point or life leeching is strongly discouraged, and banned on some games, as described in the banned techniques list.
g) Games must be played at a MINIMUM of 90% of their full speed. Use a framerate counter if you are unsure.
h) Recording submissions must be recorded with that particular ROMset's defaults, not at easier or different settings. The only exception to this rule is TG (Twin Galaxies) settings, which are the official arcade game settings. Recording on TG settings when possible is preferred, but not yet required, and will gain your scores further notice from your fellow players.
i) When recording an .inp, your recording is valid for the particular romset that you are playing ONLY. Many romsets have different difficulties, life settings, or funny nudity, so it is important that you make a different recording for each individual romset.
j) It is considered improper etiquette to record more than one game per .inp session. If this occurs only the first game's score will count.
k) Two player and four player games are not permitted for recording at MARP. They make for very boring replays.
l) Submit only games that you feel are worthy of the notice of other MARPers, owing either to personal effort, or display of skill.
3. Playback in a specified version of MAME is required to prove your scores. Detailed instructions about recording and playing back .inp files can be found here. It is therefore a player's responsibility to double-check their recordings to ensure that they playback properly. Recordings which do not play back under the version of MAME that you specified are subject to score-zeroing, modification, or deletion.
4. Submitting just one recording gives you several rights as a member. Click here for more details on those procedures.
5. After a certain period of activity, you can vote in elections that take place every December, or even become a coordinator or editor yourself. Click here for more details about the positions and who/how to vote in a general election.
6. And most importantly, have fun. This site is free, and has been conceived of and run by one of the greatest web gurus around. Feel free to e-mail Zwaxy and tell him what a great job he's done. If you have questions about the rules or the rules page, and don't want to post to the message board, try contacting Pat Laffaye, Gameboy9, or Ben Jos Walbeehm.
Special Scoring Page (page maintained by Phil Lamat)
Mahjong Rules and Scoring (page maintained by Phil Lamat)