Sex, lies and videotape (aka: Discoballs, fakes and VCR) for gem tests

I’m looking at ways to optimize the testing for the following: GitHub - superacidjax/userbin-ruby: Ruby gem for Userbin

…currently VCR is being used for the tests, however, I think this might be a better case for a fake. Can you run Discoball within a gem (i.e. not inside a Rails app.) I’m sure you can, but I’m not quite sure of the structure – where to put things.

Could anyone perhaps provide a mid-high level walkthrough on where to put the different things in this kind of context?

Also, I’m not very familiar with VCR – so would Fakes be something that would replace VCR? Pros and Cons? I’m about at the edge of my knowledge when it comes to this kind of testing, so please excuse the ignorance!