What's your hurry?

[Master_of_Oldskool]

For as long as I can rememeber, I've been a fan of gaming. I love the sense of accomplishment you get after you beat That One Boss. I love exploring beautifully crafted worlds that developers worked on for hours just to bring that world to their audience. I love going through every available side-quest and seeing to it that when I'm finished with a game, I'm really and truly finished.

And for all of these reasons, the concept of speed runs baffles me.

Why, I wonder, would anyone want to rush through a game when I've had such a good experience just taking my time and really letting the experience sink in? A game that would take the average gamer two or three afternoons of play can usually keep me occupied for a good two weeks. Granted, I'm mainly into RPGs. I can understand that in quite a few FPSs and the like, rushing is the only option. But plenty of people seem to rush RPGs, too, even when there are so many little details to discover.

So, fellow Escapists, my question to you is: Do you rush through all your games? And what's your motivation for doing so?

 

[Marter]

Speedruns are just another self imposed challenge that people do to give themselves a sense of accomplishment. It also allows for competition against others.

On my first playthrough of a game, I like to take it slow and observe the surroundings.

 

[Pimppeter2]

Well, i just don't have all that much time to play games. So its only when a special game comes around that I pour lots of time into it.

 

[Nyan Cat]

I only try to speedrun games that I have already completed. Otherwise it ruins the game. My motivation for it? Maybe I just like a challenge.

 

[Kerr Cameron]

I have a terrible habit in RPGs to try too hard to get absolutely everything available, to acquire every possible thing, and I end up stressing myself out. But to motivate me to play in the first place, I have to actually appreciate the feel of the game at some level. I'm sure every player needs some level of immersion going on there.

Sadly I often find certain games don't let me do this so easily. Final Fantasy VI was great for giving me a real experience, as well as Chrono Trigger, Brainlord, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, but some newer games just don't do it. It doesn't seem to work (yet?) with Oblivion, the game I'm playing now (that could of course be my own attitude I guess, since when I played the others I was a fresh-minded kid). I just can't empathize for the people of Tamriel for some reason; they just cannot be real to me. Is it the game, or is it me? Hmm.

I've tried to rush games. Tried to with The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Couldn't do it. I wanted to beat the game with the blue armor instead of the stronger red armor, get only the second-best sword, use only one or two bottles instead of all four, not get every heart container, etc. Couldn't do it. I found it too irritating. Though this was definitely one game that I was able to obtain absolutely everything there is to get without going too crazy.

So I guess each player likes a certain balance between forward progress and gentle coasting.

Ever try to play a game while handicapping yourself in a certain way just to make it interesting? I tried to play Oblivion and simply not use the Quicktravel feature for the whole game, but it drove me mad, though it really changed my strategy.

The best way I found to play Thief 2: The Metal Age was to play on Expert, and only save at the beginning of the stage, and not save in the middle, so if I die I would have to start at the beginning. It made the game SO much more interesting. With Oblivion I just can't keep myself from Quicksaving every 10 seconds (partly because my computer might crash at random moments due to an issue I have with my Windows Vista a the moment), and that gets a bit stupid at times because I'm really quite invincible.

As far as rushing through games goes, it has never ever worked out for me.

 

[octafish]

Well, I tend to take my time but on Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age I felt there was a narrative imperative driving me forward. Not to say I didn't soak in the locations but I didn't try to do everything, collect everything, uncover everything. I saved that for a second runthrough.

 

[Audioave10]

Any speed run leaves out part of the game. Its just a contest.

 

[DMonkey]

I've made the mistake of sitting through a friend trying a speed run for one of the ps3 final fantasy games... it is a lot of going through each section again and again and again trying to cut it down second by second, the fastest way to kill a boss, the quickest path through a dungeon. I asked him why, he said he wanted to beat the fastest time.
So, really, the prep for a speed run means that they played that game for much longer then you did on a casual exploration run.

Never try it, it is a very frustrating experience. Never sit through someone trying for that time, it is a very BORING experience.

 

[Mr_Confuzed]

According to this test: http://www.gamerdna.com/quizzes/bartle-test-of-gamer-psychology

I'm an achiever, meaning that I'm motivated by my personal goals. Typically, on a my first play through, my goal is to win or finish the game. I suppose you could consider this rushing though; however, I usually take my time thinking through everything and will go after smaller goals like sidequests if they seem interesting enough. On subsequent plays, I'll explore anything that I haven't experienced, possibly including speedruns.

 

[Mr_Confuzed]

Most of the gamers I know are achievers then. They beat the game first, then play it the ''100%'' route.

Yeah, I think it's common. But to be fair, the test is aimed more at MMOs, where there are other motivators. The categories are Achiever, Explorer, Socializer, and Killer. Socializer and Killer don't really apply to single player games.

 

[Insanum]

I see a game as a story, and a empathise too much with some characters - its the same reason why im pretty much always good on games with morality systems.

The way i see it, a speedrun is treating a game like a series of switches and buttons, But enjoying every second of it, sucking up the atmosphere & being drawn in is a MUCH better experience.

 

[ultrachicken]

Sometimes I just can't convince myself to stop playing, or the sidemissions are so dull I just go through the story missions.

 

[dehawaiiansupaman]

I don't really get speed runs; I understand trying to beat a game as fast as you can could be seen as pretty skillful but I'd rather enjoy the game. The only real time I did a rush play-through was with Mass Effect right before the second one came out, just to get my character through the play-through I started.

 

[Wolf-AUS]

According to this test: http://www.gamerdna.com/quizzes/bartle-test-of-gamer-psychology

I'm an achiever, meaning that I'm motivated by my personal goals. Typically, on a my first play through, my goal is to win or finish the game. I suppose you could consider this rushing though; however, I usually take my time thinking through everything and will go after smaller goals like sidequests if they seem interesting enough. On subsequent plays, I'll explore anything that I haven't experienced, possibly including speedruns.

According to this, I'm 100% Killer, while only 13% socialiser, Hmm.

 

[Optimus Hagrid]

You people realise in order to do a speedrun, you need to know the game to a level you would not experience if you were playing the game normally? It had better be a game you like, nay, love, if you are willing to spend that much time perfecting going through it as fast as possible. Otherwise it would be very, very boring.

As for rushing through games, well, I like to see every little detail I can before completeing a game. Granted this means some games lose little replay value, but whatever.

 

[TheRocketeer]

Very occasionally its for an achievement or in-game reward (Excalibur II, anyone?), but the concept of speed runs has been around forever.

I can see why some gamers would enjoy it. Once you've been through a game a certain number of times, it starts to lose the appeal it once had, and a lot of gamers start to impose challenges or extra goals on themselves as a way of making an old experience feel new. Here's something to try: look up almost any very famous JRPG, especially ant Final Fantasy, on GameFAQ's, and you'll find faq's containing the 'rules' to specific, usually very difficult metagame challenges for players to try their hands at, like beating the game with only one character, or going through the game at levels much, much lower than intended. Some games even have a minimum or Level 1 challenge.

Speed runs are often done like this. Some people just use the concept of a speed run to provide an arbitrary goal to give themselves more out of a game. It wouldn't entertain me at all, but I understand the premise; I've certainly gone through some of my favorite games more times than I can count, and I'd hate to think I'd just had all the fun with them I can. I've certainly done the 'self-imposed callenge' thing before, especially with the Ace Combat series of games. (CAN YOOOOUUU BEAT MOBIUS 1 IN AN EA-6B?!?)

There's also a prestige element to it, for some people. Many sites on the Internet are devoted to seeing just how fast any given game can be gotten through, and competition is often fierce.

 

[Super Toast]

For as long as I can rememeber, I've been a fan of gaming. I love the sense of accomplishment you get after you beat That One Boss. I love exploring beautifully crafted worlds that developers worked on for hours just to bring that world to their audience. I love going through every available side-quest and seeing to it that when I'm finished with a game, I'm really and truly finished.

And for all of these reasons, the concept of speed runs baffles me.

Why, I wonder, would anyone want to rush through a game when I've had such a good experience just taking my time and really letting the experience sink in? A game that would take the average gamer two or three afternoons of play can usually keep me occupied for a good two weeks. Granted, I'm mainly into RPGs. I can understand that in quite a few FPSs and the like, rushing is the only option. But plenty of people seem to rush RPGs, too, even when there are so many little details to discover.

So, fellow Escapists, my question to you is: Do you rush through all your games? And what's your motivation for doing so?

I must ask, are you a troper? Your writing seems very akin to TV Tropes.

OT: It depends, if I'm renting a game I'll speedrun. Otherwise I like to take it nice and slow.

 

[HippySecond]

Why speed run?
Love of the game!
my example of this would be for Brutal Legend, I was excited about this game, (hell I was practically frothing at the mouth)
I finished the demo, then played it again enjoying every second
Then I thought, I wonder how fast I could finish the demo this time...
Thus Speed run.

I don't speedrun my first play through, but then I try to get the most play out of my games, rather then playing alot of different ones, Some people might do the speed runs because they simply don't have the time to stroll through another gameworld enjoying the sights, I guess it all comes down to the types and ways people game

 

[Master_of_Oldskool]

I must ask, are you a troper? Your writing seems very akin to TV Tropes.

OT: It depends, if I'm renting a game I'll speedrun. Otherwise I like to take it nice and slow.

Yep, I'm a troper. I don't really wanna say what my username is, because... well... I'm associated with some minor unpleasantness that happened a few months ago. Nothing serious, but it's a bit of an embarrassment for me.

 

[Flour]

I'm not a speedrunner, but I do finish games very fast. I don't even have to try very hard for it. I rarely miss anything. Even if I do miss something, it's not too long to play a game to the point I missed something.