Fair enough. I don't lump all arcade types into the "self-taught person who causes more harm than good" category. I figure out who each is. I'd ask you to do the same with me.
I'm an engineer with four things that many engineers don't have (and having worked in Engineering for many years, in my opinion (which is in no way described as humble) desperately need):
1. I can put three words or more together in a sentence
2. I can troubleshoot.
3. I have common sense.
4. I can think out of the box. At times, too far, but I'd rather be there than elsewhere.
Just as important, I can admit when I'm wrong, and learn from my mistakes.
I don't "upgrade" stuff - my job is to get it to work the way it was designed. If I find a glitch (for example, most Gottlieb video games use a dropping resistor to drop the excessive voltage to their sound chip, until the resistor gives up and you blast the sound chip), I'll design a solution around it, or preferably, use someone else's real-world already tested design.
Arcade designers aren't perfect - why else would:
- the early pinballs be designed with tin pins and sockets that corrode, or
- why would the early digital designers mount the batteries right on the PCB (where they can corrode and damage the board), or
- why in the name of all things holy would ANYONE design chips or sockets with legs / receivers that corrode?
The list could go on for ages with all the design flaws (security chips? Really - like someone is going to steal the board WITHOUT the security chip?) but I think you get my point.
Nobody is perfect. At least, I haven't met the person yet who is.