FFRMas 2022 Token Giveaway!

[HBar]

Why did you join FFR and what makes you stick around?

I think I first saw it linked on Metafilter, or maybe the PvP Forums/Forumopolis (this would have been right around the time the forums split off from any association with PvP the webcomic and became their own separate thing). I played every once in a while for a few years, never really noticed or became part of the community, and eventually drifted away.

Then in Jan 2020 when I read all major browsers were ending their support for Flash, I thought back to FFR and wondered if it was still around and what would happen to it. I downloaded the client to see how it worked now, and then I got hooked.

What is the story behind your username?

I had previously cycled through a few online usernames that I ended up disliking after a little while. I remember there was a regular poster on the Keenspot forums whose username was Pi, and I liked that kind of idea of a username that would be something timeless and that I could always be satisfied with no matter what else changes. I took a modern physics course in my junior year of high school, and I saw the constant h-bar show up in nearly every equation related to quantum mechanics, so I chose that as my next username. And I was right, I've been happy with it for more than 20 years.

Who from FFR makes a significant impact on your involvement in the community and why?

I can think of two moments that were formative for me. One was when I happened to watch this video that Matthia posted: https://www.flashflashrevolution.com...p?songid=15152. The joke was that he was playing a mere difficulty 80 song instead of Tachyon Beam Cannon, but at the time I was level 20-something and difficulty 80 was still way above anything I thought I'd ever be able to handle. And he made it look easy, like it'd be achievable for a mere mortal with enough practice. And it motivated me to work harder on emulating those kinds of clean, precise keystrokes at a time whne I was still struggling not to split my jumps or to buttonmash when songs got too fast for me.

The other formative moment was during the Stuck at Home tournament, my first tournament and my first real interation with the FFR community. I was still in D1, not quite D2 yet, and everything was going perfectly for me in the first seven rounds. The songs all had difficulties and playstyles that I suited me well, and I was getting the best score in my division each round. First place was starting to look like a sure thing, until Round 8 when we got struck with Silly Videogame Bleep Bloops at difficulty 66. I couldn't keep up with a song that fast, and freestylemisha managed to do a little better on it. I struggled with that song for days, and I think it was during that time that I learned how to practice parts of songs in isolation. Eventually my practice paid off and I was able to just barely edge past freestylemisha's score with a day left. Then he played exactly one more time, beating my new score by just one good out of 100+. I tried and tried to take the lead once more, but at that point the frustration and exhaustion were making my scores worse instead of better, and I ended up in second place.

That frustration and that lesson in how much every good matters is part of what motivated me to get a mechanical keyboard and 144Hz monitor, and I've been really happy with both. They definitly help my scores a little bit, and now when I still lose I can be confident that it's due entirely to skill.

And of course I should mention the whole community here and so many of the people I've been in tournaments with. Themastergrant, Deathserpent2, Puzzler64, and so many others, you all have been great to play against and you motivate me to keep improving.

What kind of feature would you want the most in FFR?

In the earliest version of FFR, I remember there were at least one or two secret songs that were only accessible by clicking the right places. It might be fun to have a few easter eggs like that again (or maybe there already are and I just don't know about them).