Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote:
> You know, I really hate when someone does a speed run that I watch in order 
> to see how they handle the tricky roundabout problem on a particular level, 
> and the runner manages to basically bypass the entire level in about 3 
> seconds by exploiting a timing flaw/rocket jump/laser mine ladder/whatever.

  Speedruns are always a kind of compromise among several things, such as
the entertainment value for the casual viewer (who might or might not have
played the game himself), the entertainment value for the speedrun community
(ie. those who know the game inside and out and can really appreciate the
subtleties of the skills involved) and the sense of accomplishment of the
speedrunner himself (especially if there is a lot of competition in running
that particular game, and he succeeded in getting the best time).

  Usually the entertainment value from the point of the casual viewer ranks
very low in the priority list when creating a speedrun. Sometimes it would
indeed be really cool to see an extremely skillful player beat a really
difficult part of a game (eg. some boss fight with multiple enemies), but
if there's a bug or scene design flaw in the game which can be exploited to
completely skip that part, speed has always priority over entertainment.
Also, part of the reason is that speedruns are *not* walkthroughs, and not
even intended as such.

  The tool-assisted speedrunning community at least tries to maximize
entertainment (because parts of the game being difficult in regular play,
and consequently in a regular speedrun, is inconsequential), but even there
if something can be skipped, it will usually be skipped because the goal is,
after all, to complete the game as fast as possible.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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