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Games Done Quick
#1

Games Done Quick
Twice a year, the speedrunning community holds a week-long 24/7 charity marathon.  The winter marathon is called Awesome Games Done Quick and supports the Prevent Cancer Foundation, while the summer marathon is (appropriately) called Summer Games Done Quick and supports Doctors Without Borders.  SGDQ is Doctors Without Borders' largest single donation contributor.

What is speedrunning?

Speedrunning is exactly what it sounds like - someone trying to beat a game in the fastest time possible.

Really?  That's it?

Well, not entirely.  The GDQs are more of a showcase than an actual attempt at setting a world record.  The entire marathon is a celebration of games, gaming, and gamers, all for a good cause.

What are these weird caveats like "100%" or "any%" or "no out of bounds"?

There are different kinds of speedruns.  Think of these as modifiers to the general challenge of trying to beat a game as fast as possible.  100%, for instance, generally means collecting every item.  Any% means beating the game as fast as possible.  No out of bounds means no clipping through walls, or going outside of a level to skip content.  And there's a whole bunch more.

Is this legit?

Yes.  It started in either 2010 with Classic Games Done Quick.  It's quickly become a huge event, generating millions of dollars for charity.  Last year's AGDQ raised nearly $2.3 million for the Prevent Cancer Foundation, while last year's SGDQ generated nearly $2.2 million for Doctors Without Borders.

Okay, so how to I watch?  Or donate?

The marathon is streamed on Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/gamesdonequick).  You can donate through the GDQ website (https://gamesdonequick.com/).

Wait... what's all this extra stuff when I donate?

In order to drive donations, the marathon has various incentives, such as naming a game's save file a funny name, to picking a character's color/outfit, to even deciding whether a game is run or not.

Moreover, you can enter to win one of the many prizes available throughout the marathon, ranging from home made, custom perlers, all the way to console packages (Xbox, PS4, Switch, etc.).

So, when does all this happen?

AGDQ 2019 started today.  SGDQ will likely be the week after July 4th.
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#2

Games Done Quick
In case anyone is interested, AGDQ 2019 made nearly $2.4 million this year (https://gamesdonequick.com/tracker/index/agdq2019 - the tracker is a bit misleading... they made ~$2.1 million through direct donations, and then another ~$300k through Twitch subscriptions and bits (Twitch currency)).

SGDQ 2019 will be June 23rd - 30th.
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#3

Games Done Quick
2010?

These ones date back to 1997:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quake_Done_Quick
My Argument Against Free Will Wrote:(1) Ultimately, to control your actions you have to originate your original nature.

(2) But you can't originate your original nature—it's already there.

(3) So, ultimately, you can't control your actions.
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#4

Games Done Quick
(01-14-2019, 06:54 PM)EvieTheAvocado Wrote: 2010?

These ones date back to 1997:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quake_Done_Quick

That has nothing to do with the charity marathons which started in 2010. Moreover, the charity marathons happen live, without any machinima at all. Outside of the name, they're not related.
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#5

Games Done Quick
(01-14-2019, 09:33 PM)KevinM1 Wrote:  Outside of the name, they're not related.

???

(01-06-2019, 07:02 PM)KevinM1 Wrote: What is speedrunning?

Speedrunning is exactly what it sounds like - someone trying to beat a game in the fastest time possible.

... sounds pretty related to me lol. It's the same thing + charity, right?
My Argument Against Free Will Wrote:(1) Ultimately, to control your actions you have to originate your original nature.

(2) But you can't originate your original nature—it's already there.

(3) So, ultimately, you can't control your actions.
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#6

Games Done Quick
The differences:

1. This is for charity
2. There's different kinds of speedrunning. The Quake thing you linked is essentially TAS - tool assisted speedruns.  The players go through the various levels with an emulator in order to make the best possible level a human could possibly do.  The end result is an ideal... something a human could potentially do if they nailed all of the inputs/timing correctly.  Which is why it was largely created/released as machinima. The odds of any one person being able to do a perfect run like what can be done in a TAS is astronomically low, for a variety of reasons.

GDQ runs are RTA - real time attacks.  That means an actual human playing the actual game (not something on an emulator where you can futz around with save states, frame rates, or anything else) in an attempt to get through it as quickly as possible.  Both are technically speed runs, but, well, there's a reason why RTAs are held in higher regard.

Trying to equate the two is like trying to say football and baseball are the same thing because they're both sports with 'ball' in the name.  They're actually completely different animals despite surface similarities.
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#7

Games Done Quick
Also keep in mind that I'm not saying that speedrunning as an endeavor started in 2010, but rather that the GDQs - specific live speedrunning marathons for specific charities - did. There are other similar marathons that were inspired by the GDQs (the largest likely being the ESA - European Speedrunner Assembly).
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#8

Games Done Quick
Of course, not all of the old school speed runs are tool assisted or Machimas, though.

I'm just trying to point out that all kinds of speedruns are very much a lot older than 2010!

(01-15-2019, 01:22 AM)KevinM1 Wrote: GDQ runs are RTA - real time attacks.  That means an actual human playing the actual game

Real non-tool assisted speedruns have also been going far before 2010 as well of course! And speedrunning was definitely a thing long before emulators and tools to perfect the speedruns even existed. I am just trying to point out that this is all definitely a lot older than 2010, lol. I am really not seeing or hearing anything new here! But I appreciate that it's awesome that this speedrunning project is for charity. That's so cool.
My Argument Against Free Will Wrote:(1) Ultimately, to control your actions you have to originate your original nature.

(2) But you can't originate your original nature—it's already there.

(3) So, ultimately, you can't control your actions.
Reply
#9

Games Done Quick
(01-15-2019, 01:22 AM)KevinM1 Wrote: Trying to equate the two is like trying to say football and baseball are the same thing because they're both sports with 'ball' in the name.  They're actually completely different animals despite surface similarities.

I'm definitely not trying to equate the two I'm just pointing out that speedrunning is very old and that includes both types!

Hell, there have been people trying to complete each Doom level on the original Doom for DOS with as low of a level times as possible far before there was quake machimas or emulators or anything like that. When it comes to shooters it started with Doom and DOS first. Not with quake and Machimas. It just got largely popularized by the whole Quake Done Quick thing. People got so excited about making the times even faster that they started to use tools and emulators and stuff which were of course more exciting and less lame back then because such tools were all very new and impressive in the 90s .... now it's all of course just lame and the original speedruns that were done before emulators and machima was a thing are a lot more impressive.

The new speedruns are impressive too ... and the new records are better than the old ones ... but speedrunning is definitely a lot older than 2010 and I'm not conflating a thing! I've been enjoying speedrunning for many years before 2010 and it was always the non-emulated kind that I enjoyed the most too.

And some of my favorite speedruns aren't even professional or record holders! There have been people trying to win games as quickly as possible for as long as they've been games!

Here's one of my recent favorites:



Although checking the records ... this YouTuber did actually top the record:

https://www.speedrun.com/doom2

I actually enjoy longplays more than speedrunning, though. Here's one of my favorite websites:

https://www.longplays.eu/news.php

I love 100% completion and enjoy a game completed to perfection, regardless of time, a lot more than pure flashy speed. 100% completion on the hardest difficulty is always fun to watch. Of course that isn't about holding records, though. I just find that more fun to watch. Great way to pass several hours Big Grin
My Argument Against Free Will Wrote:(1) Ultimately, to control your actions you have to originate your original nature.

(2) But you can't originate your original nature—it's already there.

(3) So, ultimately, you can't control your actions.
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