Thus far, I've enjoyed Ring Fit (because how on earth does that speedrun even work?), Minish Cap (because 2D Zelda being played at a very high level with decent commentary), and Peggle (because...
Thus far, I've enjoyed Ring Fit (because how on earth does that speedrun even work?), Minish Cap (because 2D Zelda being played at a very high level with decent commentary), and Peggle (because watching someone beat the main campaign in 0 fails is something I haven't ever seen before).
Thanks! Peggle actually was a lot of fun, it's crazy to think how random it seems but there's clearly some real skill there in lining up these shots, I never thought that was possible, lol!
Thanks! Peggle actually was a lot of fun, it's crazy to think how random it seems but there's clearly some real skill there in lining up these shots, I never thought that was possible, lol!
By gaming the system calibration test, so it thinks he's working out way harder than he actually is. ;) Verxl still has to have insanely good cardio, muscle endurance, and timing to do what he did...
I've enjoyed Ring Fit (because how on earth does that speedrun even work?)
By gaming the system calibration test, so it thinks he's working out way harder than he actually is. ;)
Verxl still has to have insanely good cardio, muscle endurance, and timing to do what he did though. That run was super impressive, especially since he did it with a mask on.
That was clear after watching the run, but wasn't when all I knew about the game was "something about fitness" and "it has that wacky controller add on"
because how on earth does that speedrun even work?
That was clear after watching the run, but wasn't when all I knew about the game was "something about fitness" and "it has that wacky controller add on"
I always recommend looking for games you know, as watching a game you don’t is usually harder to appreciate. Speedrunners make everything look so easy, and when you know a particular game...
I always recommend looking for games you know, as watching a game you don’t is usually harder to appreciate. Speedrunners make everything look so easy, and when you know a particular game yourself, it makes their skill stand out a lot more.
Now that’s also a complete cop-out non-answer 😆 so in the spirit of giving an actual recommendation: The event my husband and I always look forward to most is the Mario Maker relay (currently scheduled for Saturday night — time-zone dependent of course). Two teams race each other on new Mario Maker levels made specifically for the event by some of the world’s best MM level designers. The teams pass off the controller after each death, so while one person is playing the others are watching and noting what to do when they get their chance with the controller.
It’s always one of the most exciting events, with the levels being stunningly well-made and the skill on display being absolutely top notch.
HHHYYYYYPPPPEEEE Can't wait to have a messed up sleeping schedule as a result of this. Something about a weeklong event running 24/7 is super addictive. Looking forward to donating and getting the...
HHHYYYYYPPPPEEEE
Can't wait to have a messed up sleeping schedule as a result of this. Something about a weeklong event running 24/7 is super addictive. Looking forward to donating and getting the event tee.
Couple of things I've noticed looking at the schedule:
No TASbot event? Tbh, it was cool the first couple of times, but it got repetitive as time went on.
Ending it on Super Metroid (save the animals yo). I think it's been a couple of years since they did this, glad they are bringing this back.
Pepsiman is back!
I'm really digging the games they have scheduled. Glad that they sorta did away with the themed blocks, where you might get just side rolling platformers (something like back to back Mega Man) for an entire morning.
Holy guac. Can't wait to tune in to "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Any% Blindfolded"
I always love the TASbot blocks, but they seem to be unexpectedly controversial, with many people hating them for some reason? They’ve been absent before and come back though, so I expect we’ll...
I always love the TASbot blocks, but they seem to be unexpectedly controversial, with many people hating them for some reason? They’ve been absent before and come back though, so I expect we’ll see them again in the future. TASbot and dwangoAC are iconic GDQ staples at this point.
Also, I was fine with Super Metroid leaving as an ending game, but it’s a nice throwback to have it return. I do wish they would change the incentives to “Save the Animals vs. Save the Frames” because it feels like it’s more in the spirit of the event, and it’s honestly always kind of weird and jarring to hear the announcer plug the “Kill the Animals” incentive.
Yeah, that was a ridiculous and thoroughly entertaining run. I also ended up ordering Ring Fit Adventure as a result. My husband and I were watching and thought that it looked fun, so we’re going...
Yeah, that was a ridiculous and thoroughly entertaining run.
I also ended up ordering Ring Fit Adventure as a result. My husband and I were watching and thought that it looked fun, so we’re going to try it out (but, you know, casually and not speedrun-style). I’ve been doing a lot of fitness-based VR stuff lately, and Ring Fit looks like a good complement to that.
Update: My copy of Ring Fit Adventure came in (and I accepted your friend request, @MimicSquid!). I played through only part of what Verxl did, at intensity 20 instead of 30, and it kicked my ass....
Update:
My copy of Ring Fit Adventure came in (and I accepted your friend request, @MimicSquid!). I played through only part of what Verxl did, at intensity 20 instead of 30, and it kicked my ass. I’m not exactly in shape, but I’m no stranger to exercise either (I do 30-60 minutes of VR exercise, mostly Beat Saber, daily). I have a newfound, first-hand appreciation for the speedrun and the effort and stamina it required.
I also really like the potential of the game. I’ve been on the hunt for something to diversify my VR stuff, which mostly tends to be arm flailing, boxing, or squats. Ring Fit seems to have a broad, diverse set of exercises I can work my way through, all wrapped up in a fun game-y package. I now plan to trade off between it and my VR stuff every other day.
Thanks for sharing an update! I felt the same urge to get one after watching the speedrun. Except I don't own the prerequisite Switch, and realistically, I have even less conviction in my own VR...
Thanks for sharing an update! I felt the same urge to get one after watching the speedrun. Except I don't own the prerequisite Switch, and realistically, I have even less conviction in my own VR fitness goals.
Alas, I will have to exercise vicariously through others.
I have Ring Fit, and it's both fun and a solid workout. When you get yours, let's be Switch friends? There's various friends features I haven't had an opportunity to use since I don't know anyone...
I have Ring Fit, and it's both fun and a solid workout. When you get yours, let's be Switch friends? There's various friends features I haven't had an opportunity to use since I don't know anyone who had it.
Watching SGDQ is just jarring this year. Everybody has to wear a face mask, social distancing is clearly being enforced based on the sheer number of empty seats (either that or so many were...
Watching SGDQ is just jarring this year. Everybody has to wear a face mask, social distancing is clearly being enforced based on the sheer number of empty seats (either that or so many were disinterested that they didn't buy tickets), and the stream is struggling to break 46.5k viewers on Twitch.
It's 2023... COVID-19 is no longer considered a global health emergency by the WHO and is basically endemic across the world. To my knowledge no government outside of China is really mandating restrictions to control the virus, so it's especially jarring to see the event follow the kind of guidelines you'd see from a late-2021 live event.
This might actually be GDQ's lowest viewership yet, and I don't think it's because speedrunning is necessarily dead, but because of how much the organisers have made their events feel overly corporate, sanitisied and soulless over the years. Channels like Summoning Salt, Karl Jobst, etc still prove that there is a lot of interest in speedrunning.
COVID-19 may not be considered a global health emergency anymore, but that just means it's no longer at the elevated threat level it was before. However, it's still a major worldwide health...
COVID-19 may not be considered a global health emergency anymore, but that just means it's no longer at the elevated threat level it was before. However, it's still a major worldwide health concern. And the fact that 181 people caught it recently at a CDC conference shows that it's clearly still worth being cautious about and taking precautions against.
And I also completely disagree about the "overly corporate, sanitisied and soulless" feel being behind the low viewership this year too. I've been a fan of speedrunning for a very long time, and while the thrown-together, haphazard charm of the older events is not as present, they were also full of their own problems (especially participant hygiene and inappropriate/offensive/bigoted behavior), and were far from appealing to most people outside the tight-nit (at the time) community, hence the old events' own incredibly low viewership.
So IMO the new way its being put together now is actually very likely the main reason for GDQ blowing up in popularity in the first place since it has way more mass appeal now, is more inclusive, and is far more family friendly... and not the reverse, as you suggest. And also IMO the lower viewership this year is more just a matter of oversaturation and fatigue at this point, which was inevitable after the recent speedrunning popularity boom, and the overinflated viewership of the last few years, both which were caused in large part thanks to the pandemic giving everyone way more free time.
Even if the COVID protocols are a bit of an overreaction at this point in time, I'm fine with them. The marathon is supporting a medical organization, so being overly cautious in the wake of a...
Even if the COVID protocols are a bit of an overreaction at this point in time, I'm fine with them. The marathon is supporting a medical organization, so being overly cautious in the wake of a pandemic is essentially a sign of respect. Also there's a possibility that MSF might have requested the protocols for the event themselves, and it wasn't even GDQ's decision in the first place.
If you're wanting that "early GDQ vibe", look into ESA's marathons. They're comparable to (at times better than!) GDQ in polish and quality, but they feel a lot less "produced" than current GDQ.
Also, this isn't a dig at you in the slightest, but I've been hearing the "GDQ is too corporate/sanitized/woke/soulless/greedy" line for a LONG time now, and a lot of times it's less of a genuine criticism and more of a cover for a regressive viewpoint. When GDQ had an openly trans host that was getting transphobic comments in chat, for example, moderating that hate speech was spun in the negative by critics as GDQ being too "corporate" or "sanitized". People didn't want to openly say "we want to continue being transphobic" because they know that's a bad look, so they hid it under more general, reasonable-sounding criticism.
As a long-time watcher of GDQ, I definitely have my criticisms of it, and lately I genuinely have preferred ESA's more chill and a bit off-the-wall vibe. But I'll also say that the "GDQ is/will be dead by its own hand" narrative is overblown and is perpetuated mostly by people who find a revealing delight rather than an earnest sadness in the idea of the organization failing. Again, I am not saying this applies to you in the slightest (I think you're being honest and genuine here), but I do think it's valuable to contextualize the broader conversation.
To me, GDQ remains one of the best faces the gaming community has. They’ve done an incomparable amount of good, and they continue to put out high quality events, even if those events don't reach the same highs as previous ones.
Yeah, I'm not accusing you of anything either, @Bullmaestro... but you should probably be made aware that you may be inadvertently using the exact same coded language as bigots, who use that...
Yeah, I'm not accusing you of anything either, @Bullmaestro... but you should probably be made aware that you may be inadvertently using the exact same coded language as bigots, who use that particular wording as a dogwhistle to complain to their fellow bigots about LGBT+/minority/women inclusivity, and increased representation at certain previously white, cis-male dominated events, and in media. So even though I do not believe that's where you're coming from, you may still want to take a critical look at where you first heard those kind of complaints and from whom, since it could be that you're potentially being drawn into an alt-right/"anti-SJW" rabbit hole using a slightly more palatable/relatable gateway complaint. E.g. The same sort of complaints are how Gamergate drew so many people into it, despite it being rotten and misogynistic at its core.
It's honestly cool that they're being more LGBTQ and female inclusive, I mean the amount of hate that speedrunners like Narcissa Wright got for coming out as trans has been downright shameful....
It's honestly cool that they're being more LGBTQ and female inclusive, I mean the amount of hate that speedrunners like Narcissa Wright got for coming out as trans has been downright shameful. This is somebody that helped revolutionise Ocarina of Time speedrunning and we frankly treated her like trash the moment she transitioned.
For the record, I completely agree with the more recent actions GDQ have taken to ban streamers from the event. As far as I'm concerned, people like Luzbelheim and RWhiteGoose deserve no place at a speedrunning marathon. Especially not the latter, who had been outed by the community as having massively white-supremacist, antisemitic and transphobic views. I also agree with the decision to temp ban Trihex for using a homophobic slur on his stream. Popular streamers and other famous personalities have a standard of etiquette to stick to.
I was referring more to how they handled the Bonesaw577 and (to a lesser extent) PvtCinnamonbun incidents. Bonesaw's Jak & Daxter 2 run was entertaining and blacklisting him because he made one-too-many Owen Wilson jokes and jokingly asked viewers to tweet @AirCanada just feels excessive. As for PvtCb, it was proven he didn't wear pro-Trump attire at the event from video footage, yet the organisers still "justified" his permaban on the basis that they saw him unplug a power strip.
To be honest though, PvtCb should have been banned a year ago for a tweet he made which was purposely worded in the same way as the Umpqua Community College shooter made his post on 4chan - at this point the "some of you guys are alright" line had become a dark meme.
GDQ has also often felt like some kind of surreal Twitch teleshopping channel with the overemphasis their presenters put on donations and raffles in recent years - even during key moments in speedruns.
That is what I meant by overly corporate and sanitized. I want to watch some informative, entertaining and cutting-edge speedrunning content and see a strong audience reaction to it, not have donations read to me ad-nauseum in the style of a QVC presenter.
With regards to your last paragraph, it definitely feels like the old PBS fundraising events, but instead of a canvas bag with the PBS logo, it's a blinding neon Kirby. Though I don't think it's a...
With regards to your last paragraph, it definitely feels like the old PBS fundraising events, but instead of a canvas bag with the PBS logo, it's a blinding neon Kirby. Though I don't think it's a bad thing given that the money goes to charity and it hides the necessary setup time while the next run is being prepared.
Various disjointed thoughts: 1: "No longer a global health emergency" doesn't mean that people aren't now more aware that the "con crud" has a more serious set of consequences than there were...
Various disjointed thoughts:
1: "No longer a global health emergency" doesn't mean that people aren't now more aware that the "con crud" has a more serious set of consequences than there were before. I'm still being more thoughtful about which large venues I want to attend. It's possible that people are trying to take care of their health.
2: The economy isn't great. It's possible that more people think of attending an event like this as outside of their budget, even if they'd like to attend.
3: The "streaming speedrun" space is pretty saturated. GDQ has streams very regularly, and there's lots of people who stream themselves speedrunning every day of the week. It's possible that they're just not doing enough to distinguish themselves. Yes, they get more support for the event, but fundamentally the viewing experience isn't very different from any of the events that don't have so much physical infrastructure. Maybe their time in the sun is behind them?
I don't think there's any lack of interest. I think it's likely that they kept the seats free on purpose - they also required proof of vaccination from attendees (it is their first live event...
I don't think there's any lack of interest. I think it's likely that they kept the seats free on purpose - they also required proof of vaccination from attendees (it is their first live event since the pre-pandemic, right?). Online viewership would likely have been higher if they had included a full weekend in the event (not doing so is likely a mistake). Also, I appreciate that they include a greater variety of games instead of just repeating the more popular ones, which might bring in more viewers.
That said, dillution is a real concern with the weekly streams potentially cooling down interest in the event in the long run.
It is not, SGDQ 2022 was also in person. I'm not sure what you mean by that. GDQs have always started on Sunday and ended on Saturday. I don't think shifting it around would do much to help or...
it is their first live event since the pre-pandemic, right?
It is not, SGDQ 2022 was also in person.
Online viewership would likely have been higher if they had included a full weekend in the event (not doing so is likely a mistake)
I'm not sure what you mean by that. GDQs have always started on Sunday and ended on Saturday. I don't think shifting it around would do much to help or hurt. Ending on Saturday is important since it goes quite late in the night (all the delays push the ending back - the buck stops at the finale, after all), so both in person attendees and online viewers would probably appreciate not having to choose between going to sleep at 3am before a workday or missing it.
Honestly, I'm european and it takes me a week to change my sleep schedule one way or another, so I'm used to having to make those kinds of choices. Looks like I missed SGDQ 2022 being in person....
Honestly, I'm european and it takes me a week to change my sleep schedule one way or another, so I'm used to having to make those kinds of choices.
Looks like I missed SGDQ 2022 being in person. Why did they go back?
Because they could - it's not like GDQ went to online only for any reason but necessity. AGDQ was intended to be in person again, but they had difficulties with their venue.
Looks like I missed SGDQ 2022 being in person. Why did they go back?
Because they could - it's not like GDQ went to online only for any reason but necessity. AGDQ was intended to be in person again, but they had difficulties with their venue.
A heads up for everyone: it’s the last day(ish) of GDQ and the schedule coming up is looking fantastic. Later tonight we’ve got, in a row: Mario 64 randomizer Elden Ring glitchless Super Mario...
A heads up for everyone: it’s the last day(ish) of GDQ and the schedule coming up is looking fantastic. Later tonight we’ve got, in a row:
Mario 64 randomizer
Elden Ring glitchless
Super Mario Maker 2 relay (always my favorite event in all of GDQ)
Breath of the Wild blindfolded
Unfortunately they’re running behind schedule so I won’t be able to watch everything live, but I’m going to catch what I can.
Also, in a few hours they have a short Superhot VR run which will likely be very entertaining.
Excited for Ender Lilies and Hi-Fi Rush, among others!
Thanks!
That’s a long fucking list, lol. Anyone got a few particular highlights to point out?
Thus far, I've enjoyed Ring Fit (because how on earth does that speedrun even work?), Minish Cap (because 2D Zelda being played at a very high level with decent commentary), and Peggle (because watching someone beat the main campaign in 0 fails is something I haven't ever seen before).
Thanks! Peggle actually was a lot of fun, it's crazy to think how random it seems but there's clearly some real skill there in lining up these shots, I never thought that was possible, lol!
By gaming the system calibration test, so it thinks he's working out way harder than he actually is. ;)
Verxl still has to have insanely good cardio, muscle endurance, and timing to do what he did though. That run was super impressive, especially since he did it with a mask on.
That was clear after watching the run, but wasn't when all I knew about the game was "something about fitness" and "it has that wacky controller add on"
I always recommend looking for games you know, as watching a game you don’t is usually harder to appreciate. Speedrunners make everything look so easy, and when you know a particular game yourself, it makes their skill stand out a lot more.
Now that’s also a complete cop-out non-answer 😆 so in the spirit of giving an actual recommendation: The event my husband and I always look forward to most is the Mario Maker relay (currently scheduled for Saturday night — time-zone dependent of course). Two teams race each other on new Mario Maker levels made specifically for the event by some of the world’s best MM level designers. The teams pass off the controller after each death, so while one person is playing the others are watching and noting what to do when they get their chance with the controller.
It’s always one of the most exciting events, with the levels being stunningly well-made and the skill on display being absolutely top notch.
Tragically it doesn’t look like CarlSagan42 is participating in this years Mario Maker, so I’m not sure which team to support.
Shoujo was the breakout star of the last Mario Maker run, so I’m rooting for whichever team she’s on.
Oh wow, thanks for the reminder about the Mario Maker run, I watched this last year an thoroughly enjoyed it!
HHHYYYYYPPPPEEEE
Can't wait to have a messed up sleeping schedule as a result of this. Something about a weeklong event running 24/7 is super addictive. Looking forward to donating and getting the event tee.
Couple of things I've noticed looking at the schedule:
I always love the TASbot blocks, but they seem to be unexpectedly controversial, with many people hating them for some reason? They’ve been absent before and come back though, so I expect we’ll see them again in the future. TASbot and dwangoAC are iconic GDQ staples at this point.
Also, I was fine with Super Metroid leaving as an ending game, but it’s a nice throwback to have it return. I do wish they would change the incentives to “Save the Animals vs. Save the Frames” because it feels like it’s more in the spirit of the event, and it’s honestly always kind of weird and jarring to hear the announcer plug the “Kill the Animals” incentive.
The Celeste run is a TAS. I'm not sure if it's a TASbot production or not though
The Ring Fit speedrun was really something. That guy had some serious arms on him.
Yeah, that was a ridiculous and thoroughly entertaining run.
I also ended up ordering Ring Fit Adventure as a result. My husband and I were watching and thought that it looked fun, so we’re going to try it out (but, you know, casually and not speedrun-style). I’ve been doing a lot of fitness-based VR stuff lately, and Ring Fit looks like a good complement to that.
Update:
My copy of Ring Fit Adventure came in (and I accepted your friend request, @MimicSquid!). I played through only part of what Verxl did, at intensity 20 instead of 30, and it kicked my ass. I’m not exactly in shape, but I’m no stranger to exercise either (I do 30-60 minutes of VR exercise, mostly Beat Saber, daily). I have a newfound, first-hand appreciation for the speedrun and the effort and stamina it required.
I also really like the potential of the game. I’ve been on the hunt for something to diversify my VR stuff, which mostly tends to be arm flailing, boxing, or squats. Ring Fit seems to have a broad, diverse set of exercises I can work my way through, all wrapped up in a fun game-y package. I now plan to trade off between it and my VR stuff every other day.
Thanks for sharing an update! I felt the same urge to get one after watching the speedrun. Except I don't own the prerequisite Switch, and realistically, I have even less conviction in my own VR fitness goals.
Alas, I will have to exercise vicariously through others.
I have Ring Fit, and it's both fun and a solid workout. When you get yours, let's be Switch friends? There's various friends features I haven't had an opportunity to use since I don't know anyone who had it.
Watching SGDQ is just jarring this year. Everybody has to wear a face mask, social distancing is clearly being enforced based on the sheer number of empty seats (either that or so many were disinterested that they didn't buy tickets), and the stream is struggling to break 46.5k viewers on Twitch.
It's 2023... COVID-19 is no longer considered a global health emergency by the WHO and is basically endemic across the world. To my knowledge no government outside of China is really mandating restrictions to control the virus, so it's especially jarring to see the event follow the kind of guidelines you'd see from a late-2021 live event.
This might actually be GDQ's lowest viewership yet, and I don't think it's because speedrunning is necessarily dead, but because of how much the organisers have made their events feel overly corporate, sanitisied and soulless over the years. Channels like Summoning Salt, Karl Jobst, etc still prove that there is a lot of interest in speedrunning.
COVID-19 may not be considered a global health emergency anymore, but that just means it's no longer at the elevated threat level it was before. However, it's still a major worldwide health concern. And the fact that 181 people caught it recently at a CDC conference shows that it's clearly still worth being cautious about and taking precautions against.
And I also completely disagree about the "overly corporate, sanitisied and soulless" feel being behind the low viewership this year too. I've been a fan of speedrunning for a very long time, and while the thrown-together, haphazard charm of the older events is not as present, they were also full of their own problems (especially participant hygiene and inappropriate/offensive/bigoted behavior), and were far from appealing to most people outside the tight-nit (at the time) community, hence the old events' own incredibly low viewership.
So IMO the new way its being put together now is actually very likely the main reason for GDQ blowing up in popularity in the first place since it has way more mass appeal now, is more inclusive, and is far more family friendly... and not the reverse, as you suggest. And also IMO the lower viewership this year is more just a matter of oversaturation and fatigue at this point, which was inevitable after the recent speedrunning popularity boom, and the overinflated viewership of the last few years, both which were caused in large part thanks to the pandemic giving everyone way more free time.
Even if the COVID protocols are a bit of an overreaction at this point in time, I'm fine with them. The marathon is supporting a medical organization, so being overly cautious in the wake of a pandemic is essentially a sign of respect. Also there's a possibility that MSF might have requested the protocols for the event themselves, and it wasn't even GDQ's decision in the first place.
If you're wanting that "early GDQ vibe", look into ESA's marathons. They're comparable to (at times better than!) GDQ in polish and quality, but they feel a lot less "produced" than current GDQ.
Also, this isn't a dig at you in the slightest, but I've been hearing the "GDQ is too corporate/sanitized/woke/soulless/greedy" line for a LONG time now, and a lot of times it's less of a genuine criticism and more of a cover for a regressive viewpoint. When GDQ had an openly trans host that was getting transphobic comments in chat, for example, moderating that hate speech was spun in the negative by critics as GDQ being too "corporate" or "sanitized". People didn't want to openly say "we want to continue being transphobic" because they know that's a bad look, so they hid it under more general, reasonable-sounding criticism.
As a long-time watcher of GDQ, I definitely have my criticisms of it, and lately I genuinely have preferred ESA's more chill and a bit off-the-wall vibe. But I'll also say that the "GDQ is/will be dead by its own hand" narrative is overblown and is perpetuated mostly by people who find a revealing delight rather than an earnest sadness in the idea of the organization failing. Again, I am not saying this applies to you in the slightest (I think you're being honest and genuine here), but I do think it's valuable to contextualize the broader conversation.
To me, GDQ remains one of the best faces the gaming community has. They’ve done an incomparable amount of good, and they continue to put out high quality events, even if those events don't reach the same highs as previous ones.
Yeah, I'm not accusing you of anything either, @Bullmaestro... but you should probably be made aware that you may be inadvertently using the exact same coded language as bigots, who use that particular wording as a dogwhistle to complain to their fellow bigots about LGBT+/minority/women inclusivity, and increased representation at certain previously white, cis-male dominated events, and in media. So even though I do not believe that's where you're coming from, you may still want to take a critical look at where you first heard those kind of complaints and from whom, since it could be that you're potentially being drawn into an alt-right/"anti-SJW" rabbit hole using a slightly more palatable/relatable gateway complaint. E.g. The same sort of complaints are how Gamergate drew so many people into it, despite it being rotten and misogynistic at its core.
It's honestly cool that they're being more LGBTQ and female inclusive, I mean the amount of hate that speedrunners like Narcissa Wright got for coming out as trans has been downright shameful. This is somebody that helped revolutionise Ocarina of Time speedrunning and we frankly treated her like trash the moment she transitioned.
For the record, I completely agree with the more recent actions GDQ have taken to ban streamers from the event. As far as I'm concerned, people like Luzbelheim and RWhiteGoose deserve no place at a speedrunning marathon. Especially not the latter, who had been outed by the community as having massively white-supremacist, antisemitic and transphobic views. I also agree with the decision to temp ban Trihex for using a homophobic slur on his stream. Popular streamers and other famous personalities have a standard of etiquette to stick to.
I was referring more to how they handled the Bonesaw577 and (to a lesser extent) PvtCinnamonbun incidents. Bonesaw's Jak & Daxter 2 run was entertaining and blacklisting him because he made one-too-many Owen Wilson jokes and jokingly asked viewers to tweet @AirCanada just feels excessive. As for PvtCb, it was proven he didn't wear pro-Trump attire at the event from video footage, yet the organisers still "justified" his permaban on the basis that they saw him unplug a power strip.
To be honest though, PvtCb should have been banned a year ago for a tweet he made which was purposely worded in the same way as the Umpqua Community College shooter made his post on 4chan - at this point the "some of you guys are alright" line had become a dark meme.
GDQ has also often felt like some kind of surreal Twitch teleshopping channel with the overemphasis their presenters put on donations and raffles in recent years - even during key moments in speedruns.
That is what I meant by overly corporate and sanitized. I want to watch some informative, entertaining and cutting-edge speedrunning content and see a strong audience reaction to it, not have donations read to me ad-nauseum in the style of a QVC presenter.
With regards to your last paragraph, it definitely feels like the old PBS fundraising events, but instead of a canvas bag with the PBS logo, it's a blinding neon Kirby. Though I don't think it's a bad thing given that the money goes to charity and it hides the necessary setup time while the next run is being prepared.
Various disjointed thoughts:
1: "No longer a global health emergency" doesn't mean that people aren't now more aware that the "con crud" has a more serious set of consequences than there were before. I'm still being more thoughtful about which large venues I want to attend. It's possible that people are trying to take care of their health.
2: The economy isn't great. It's possible that more people think of attending an event like this as outside of their budget, even if they'd like to attend.
3: The "streaming speedrun" space is pretty saturated. GDQ has streams very regularly, and there's lots of people who stream themselves speedrunning every day of the week. It's possible that they're just not doing enough to distinguish themselves. Yes, they get more support for the event, but fundamentally the viewing experience isn't very different from any of the events that don't have so much physical infrastructure. Maybe their time in the sun is behind them?
I don't think there's any lack of interest. I think it's likely that they kept the seats free on purpose - they also required proof of vaccination from attendees (it is their first live event since the pre-pandemic, right?). Online viewership would likely have been higher if they had included a full weekend in the event (not doing so is likely a mistake). Also, I appreciate that they include a greater variety of games instead of just repeating the more popular ones, which might bring in more viewers.
That said, dillution is a real concern with the weekly streams potentially cooling down interest in the event in the long run.
It is not, SGDQ 2022 was also in person.
I'm not sure what you mean by that. GDQs have always started on Sunday and ended on Saturday. I don't think shifting it around would do much to help or hurt. Ending on Saturday is important since it goes quite late in the night (all the delays push the ending back - the buck stops at the finale, after all), so both in person attendees and online viewers would probably appreciate not having to choose between going to sleep at 3am before a workday or missing it.
Honestly, I'm european and it takes me a week to change my sleep schedule one way or another, so I'm used to having to make those kinds of choices.
Looks like I missed SGDQ 2022 being in person. Why did they go back?
Because they could - it's not like GDQ went to online only for any reason but necessity. AGDQ was intended to be in person again, but they had difficulties with their venue.
The question was why did they go back to doing it online for subsequent events. Thanks.
GDQ is my favorite time of the year 💙 I keep the stream on 24/7 during GDQ week, it's always such a cozy, fun time!
A heads up for everyone: it’s the last day(ish) of GDQ and the schedule coming up is looking fantastic. Later tonight we’ve got, in a row:
Unfortunately they’re running behind schedule so I won’t be able to watch everything live, but I’m going to catch what I can.
Also, in a few hours they have a short Superhot VR run which will likely be very entertaining.