A philosophical discussion of speedrunning

[Corbin Dallas Multipass]

Some people get really mad when other people enjoy things they do not. That's because they're insecure little shits, and view people liking something they don't as an attack on the things they do like.

Basically, there are a lot of 13 year olds in this thread, is what I'm saying

 

[Inhabitants of Khorinis]

The only speedrunning that matters:

 

[Silentstorm]

Ok...anyways, i find some speedruns fun, but ones i really find a bit too much are blindfolded runs, there are people that can speedrun Sekiro or Castlevania:SOTN with blindfolds due to playing the games so much they memorized it and only need sound to beat them.

I recall GDQ had some Super Mario World run where a guy did that and the people on the couch read an article stating that the runner could have learned a new language or started a new hobby with the time he spent learning Super Mario World...now, while i care less about those things and think it makes someone automatically more mature in a world...this is one of those cases where as an adult my mind instantly agrees even if i know the runners spent those hours playing games blind pretty fun and rewarding when they beat a game blind.

Heck, i would rather play other games instead of doing the same game 999 times in a row, particularly blind.

 

[throwaway69420]

One time there was a System Shock 2 speedrunner who decided to roast a comment that was criticizing all the bugs he was using (such as dying mid air into a loading zone to get invincibility for the rest of the run at the cost of your camera being angled halfway into the ground.) by making a Speedrun that adhered to this random commenters arbitrary standards, such as no invincibility glitch, no clipping through walls, etc. During this run, the speedrunner made sure to ridicule the anonymous commenter for thinking his random opinion was somehow definitive compared to the speedrunning community that had been at it for years.

The funny part and the point of this wall of text is that this arbitrary Speedrun was one of the most fun speedruns I've seen, and by far more enjoyable than the "standard" glitched run. I thought it was funny that this random know-nothing commentator came up with a more enjoyable run than the actual community of the game.

 

[baud]

One time there was a System Shock 2 speedrunner who decided to roast a comment that was criticizing all the bugs he was using (such as dying mid air into a loading zone to get invincibility for the rest of the run at the cost of your camera being angled halfway into the ground.) by making a Speedrun that adhered to this random commenters arbitrary standards, such as no invincibility glitch, no clipping through walls, etc. During this run, the speedrunner made sure to ridicule the anonymous commenter for thinking his random opinion was somehow definitive compared to the speedrunning community that had been at it for years.

The funny part and the point of this wall of text is that this arbitrary Speedrun was one of the most fun speedruns I've seen, and by far more enjoyable than the "standard" glitched run. I thought it was funny that this random know-nothing commentator came up with a more enjoyable run than the actual community of the game.

aren't glitchless a category that's usually present? Though in such category, run times would tend to plateau once an optimal route's been found, so the community would look for glitches instead (bigger possible search space and bigger impacts). But yeah, I find without glitches more interesting as that's usually how games are usually played, so it's more interesting as a comparison (ie between a normal player and one that has perfected the run).

 

[throwaway69420]

One time there was a System Shock 2 speedrunner who decided to roast a comment that was criticizing all the bugs he was using (such as dying mid air into a loading zone to get invincibility for the rest of the run at the cost of your camera being angled halfway into the ground.) by making a Speedrun that adhered to this random commenters arbitrary standards, such as no invincibility glitch, no clipping through walls, etc. During this run, the speedrunner made sure to ridicule the anonymous commenter for thinking his random opinion was somehow definitive compared to the speedrunning community that had been at it for years.

The funny part and the point of this wall of text is that this arbitrary Speedrun was one of the most fun speedruns I've seen, and by far more enjoyable than the "standard" glitched run. I thought it was funny that this random know-nothing commentator came up with a more enjoyable run than the actual community of the game.

aren't glitchless a category that's usually present? Though in such category, run times would tend to plateau once an optimal route's been found, so the community would look for glitches instead (bigger possible search space and bigger impacts). But yeah, I find without glitches more interesting as that's usually how games are usually played, so it's more interesting as a comparison (ie between a normal player and one that has perfected the run).

First, you're correct that there are almost always both categories officially.

However, the arbitrary standards I mentioned were arbitrary because the commenter didn't allow some glitches (invincibility and clipping to sequence break and skip large portions of the game) but allowed other ones like going faster than the intended speed limit.

It turned the game from staring halfway through the ground, ignoring all enemies since you were invincible, and essentially teleporting through the game by extreme clipping abuse into playing the game normally with no skips, treating enemies with at least a tiny bit of respect, but doing so incredibly efficiently and quickly. It was so much fun to watch, since you were now playing through the entire game without skipping any content or ignoring game mechanics, but moving incredibly fast through said content all the same.

 

[Naraya]

I enjoy a good speedrun but I don't like Any% runs / skipping large parts of the game (case in point: Oblivion that can be finished in ~3 minutes, or Morrowind, or SOMA etc.). In general I like speedruns where the game is played 'properly, but fast' (eg. Quake).

 

[Morenatsu.]

Sorry, nope, no way, 100% glitch all the way. Skill is for fags, I just want to see how hard the devs fucked up.

 

[Naraya]

Oh I suppose that the majority of people watching speedruns agrees with you. But as I said, I much prefer watching the 'how skilled I am' contest than 'how much I can break the game' one.

 

[Sarathiour]

GDQ was way more funnier before the tranny takeover. One of the most hilarious thing was a guy larping as a psychanalyst trying to explain to his baffled audience the freudian concept behind crash bandicoot while commentating the run and insulting the runner when he failed a trick or a jump. Plenty of stellar passage, notably the moment when the chat was protesting against the commentator for behind too harsh, for him only to reply that they have to understand that the objective value of a speedrunner is somewhere between a trainee and a roach.

 

[JarlFrank]

I don't care about speedruns themselves, but speedrun history videos that explain how people managed to beat faster and faster times by discovering new glitches and tricks are pretty interesting because they go deep into the game's design.

 

[Duraframe300]

Sorry, nope, no way, 100% glitch all the way. Skill is for fags, I just want to see how hard the devs fucked up.

Pulling off glitches often requires more skill than playing the game normally. (Unless said glitches completely break them, in which case additional categories are introduced as mentioned above).

 

[Spukrian]

One time there was a System Shock 2 speedrunner who decided to roast a comment that was criticizing all the bugs he was using (such as dying mid air into a loading zone to get invincibility for the rest of the run at the cost of your camera being angled halfway into the ground.) by making a Speedrun that adhered to this random commenters arbitrary standards, such as no invincibility glitch, no clipping through walls, etc. During this run, the speedrunner made sure to ridicule the anonymous commenter for thinking his random opinion was somehow definitive compared to the speedrunning community that had been at it for years.

The funny part and the point of this wall of text is that this arbitrary Speedrun was one of the most fun speedruns I've seen, and by far more enjoyable than the "standard" glitched run. I thought it was funny that this random know-nothing commentator came up with a more enjoyable run than the actual community of the game.

You mean this video?

 

[Naraya]

Interesting trivia regarding Wolf3D: