Re: second-based records
Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2020 4:12 pm
As an outsider of the speed running community I'd like present my thoughts on this. We are still living in the stone age here by following a minute-based system ruleset. I've watched lots of speed runs on Games Done Quick every year and I have never seen anything other than second (or smaller increment) based records. We are the exception here by running minute-based records and mostly based on what I can gather the reasons are; archaic tradition, perhaps a technological issue or subjectivity on when a run starts and ends.
It should be obvious that if second based records were introduced then there would be a requirement for a stricter ruleset. Modern problems require modern solutions. The idea that we should use to in game /age only for records in my mind is an extremely idealist mindset. Trying to apply old rules to a new class of records is just naïve and of course bundled with problems that have already been discussed. Trying to account for players who don’t want to use third party timers so they can play vanilla guild wars in records is just pandering for an insignificant portion of the community, the approach here should just be “them the rules”. To be clear I am not saying that vanilla players going for records don’t exist, you need to crack a few eggs to make an omelette, a second-base ruleset would not suit everyone and that’s the price of progress.
Most of the records we currently have are unbreakable, it is clear why that is, so I won’t go into that. With the current minute-base ruleset, the speed running is doomed to die. We are currently on a trajectory of diminishing records and the destination is a list of unbreakable records and a player base that never attempts records again. For a while we have been approaching the horizontal on this curve.
An argument I’ve seen is that it would not be fun to have records broken by seconds because of RNG. This is an emotional argument and to be honest its ridiculous. In the sport of powerlifting, there is a 500kg deadlift record, that will be broken with 501kg eventually, and that’s the way it is. If people keep breaking records with 1kg, eventually it adds up to a significant difference over the original 500kg. My point is that beating a 1:56 record with a 1:55 isn’t a bad thing, it’s just the nature of records.
I’m not here to solve all the problems that come with second based records, basically here to just say +1. Although moving forward with the assumption of a stricter ruleset and a toolbox assisted timer, taking the fastest load timer (longest time) from each party member on each level would be the fairest way to ensure there’s no subjectivity on the records and no requirement for admins to frame-by-frame a video.
It should be obvious that if second based records were introduced then there would be a requirement for a stricter ruleset. Modern problems require modern solutions. The idea that we should use to in game /age only for records in my mind is an extremely idealist mindset. Trying to apply old rules to a new class of records is just naïve and of course bundled with problems that have already been discussed. Trying to account for players who don’t want to use third party timers so they can play vanilla guild wars in records is just pandering for an insignificant portion of the community, the approach here should just be “them the rules”. To be clear I am not saying that vanilla players going for records don’t exist, you need to crack a few eggs to make an omelette, a second-base ruleset would not suit everyone and that’s the price of progress.
Most of the records we currently have are unbreakable, it is clear why that is, so I won’t go into that. With the current minute-base ruleset, the speed running is doomed to die. We are currently on a trajectory of diminishing records and the destination is a list of unbreakable records and a player base that never attempts records again. For a while we have been approaching the horizontal on this curve.
An argument I’ve seen is that it would not be fun to have records broken by seconds because of RNG. This is an emotional argument and to be honest its ridiculous. In the sport of powerlifting, there is a 500kg deadlift record, that will be broken with 501kg eventually, and that’s the way it is. If people keep breaking records with 1kg, eventually it adds up to a significant difference over the original 500kg. My point is that beating a 1:56 record with a 1:55 isn’t a bad thing, it’s just the nature of records.
I’m not here to solve all the problems that come with second based records, basically here to just say +1. Although moving forward with the assumption of a stricter ruleset and a toolbox assisted timer, taking the fastest load timer (longest time) from each party member on each level would be the fairest way to ensure there’s no subjectivity on the records and no requirement for admins to frame-by-frame a video.