My Concerns About Your Game Rules.
3 years ago
Valhalla

Hello @TheBritishRunner ,

I don’t understand the need of a video when you could have just contacted me, but hey, this is what it is.

Let’s try to break down every point one by one. Shall we?

For RTA calculation, the runs begins when the first cutscene starts and ends when the last boss is dead and the cutscene start. IGT is showed up on the final screen.

Those are easy points where clearly define a start and an end, practical for people using LiveSplits manually and also starting and finishing in those points gives IGT and RTA as close as you can get in case of no Load Checkpoints, deaths etc..

All runs need game audio, if your run has portions muted due to copyright music your run will be rejected. Music also must not overpower the game audio.

This is the most common rule you can find on all speedrun.com site. Even if not explicitly written in the rule pages of every game, this rule is usually implied. Full VOD with full Audio is the bare minimum to submit a run. Anyway, this rule is there more to help runners than to create barriers. Without audio most of the times there is no real way for someone to prove they are not cheating. Example, if there's any inconsistencies in the video (dropped frames, bad encoding, etc) then people would be freely open to accuse you of cheating. Audio is generally far more important in runs than video for proving proofs. I follow hundreds of games and speedrunners streamers and never came across a game community where they accept runs without audio. If you know one please show me just for my curiosity.

LiveSplits and broadcasting elapsed timing on Console are both strictly recommended.

Three points here:

  1. Maybe there is a misunderstanding because I said “LiveSplits and broadcasting elapsed” while I should have wrote “LiveSplits or broadcasting elapsed”. Who doesn’t have a capture card doesn’t need also LiveSplits on Console.
  2. This is not really a rule but rather a suggestion. Given that the game is mainly timed with RTA, submissions with dropped frames must be rejected for obvious reasons. I found myself in this situation in the past running Remothered, Twitch lost a whopping 4 seconds creating de facto a spliced run, but luckily I was streaming showing the Playstation Broadcasting Elapsed Time on screen and that’s what saved my run. I don’t want to be in the position of rejecting any run possibly ever, so I advise to use some form of timing on screen. That’s all.
  3. My bad “Rules” didn’t match the forum post about the rules. I wrote “Mandatory” in the forum thread which is an error. I did initially wrote Mandatory everywhere, but then quickly realised that not everyone has a way to show timing. I fixed this oversight. Thanks for making me notice this.

Usage of Turbo / Macros in runs is not allowed.

This is basic cheating for me, I don’t know if in any community those are allowed, but I actually think this is another implicit rule not written anywhere because an obvious rule just like the Audio rule. I decided to write it just to be sure. You can Google what those are.

Submissions must contain all footage for the runs provided. Any missing footage (not counting cutscenes) could result in the run being rejected. Extended periods of time spent in the pause screen will also invalidate a run. (Limit 2 minutes per pause)

The first part of the sentence I believe to be pretty standard and obvious. The 2 minute rule is not carved in stone. It’s just an indication. What this basically means is that I cannot accept abuse of pause. Imagine someone submitting a run where the runners runs 10 minutes then he/she pauses to watch a VOD of another speedrunner for ten minutes because he/she doesn’t know the route etc.., then try to replicate for ten minutes and so on. Is this speedrunning? Maybe or maybe not. Do I accept this? No! I wrote 2 minutes just to give an indication. A runner can of course go to the toilet if he/she needs and similar, but I don’t accept abuse of pausing. I could have wrote I don’t accept abuse of pause rather than specify 2 minutes, but I guess in that case you would be here complaining about what that means. Isn’t it?

Submissions with dropped frames and without any livesplit or timing will be rejected.

Another obvious rule, this game is timed by RTA so there is a problem if someone drop frames and doesn’t have any timing showed.

Mods are not allowed.

I don’t accept any run of game where someone messed with the code basically.

Continues after deaths are allowed, but the run becomes Segmented. Continues after application crashes are allowed, but the run becomes Segmented. Load checkpoint is allowed, but the run becomes Segmented.

I think the problem with this rule is the naming convention I used Segmented/SS which means different things depending on the game. Probably those terms are misleading here and I’m open to suggestion maybe loads/no loads? Or resets/no resets? What is surely not accepted is spliced runs (many game communities call that Segmented). Reason for showing this info is simple as showcasing who made a run without loading checkpoints. You may have two runners with the same IGT but one runner died 20 times and another runner 0 times. I think it’s just fair to show the second runner never died or similar. Also indicating this helps people understand why a runner may have IGT=RTA and another runner a wide gap between IGT and RTA. Anyway, this rule doesn’t actually create barriers. Quite the opposite indeed. That info doesn’t define a category or anything, it’s just an info. To be completely honest if I got the moderation of this game from day one I would not accepted any run with deaths, nor any run with load checkpoints, not any run continued after application crashes and I would have timed the game with IGT and IGT only. However, all the runs in the leaderboard fell under those cases when I inherited the leaderboard, so I kept those cases as valid. Mods don’t own the leaderboard, leaderboards should be viewed as owned by the community and curated by the moderators.

You also complained about Rules be in a sticky locked post. I mean I think this is only a practicality. I like to keep rules tidy at the top of the Forum page. Imagine if every new runner needs to read all thread under the rules. It would create only confusion. Rules can be discussed in different forum post. I’m open to change rules of course and I would update the rules in the top Sticky Locked main post.

I hope this clarify all points. If you have any doubts you can write me on the forum, message me directly on speedrun.com or even contact me on Discord. No need of a video.

Finaly, yes I must say I didn’t like your video. It was offensive in more than one part. You personally attacked me, implying I created rules for my own benefit while it’s actually the opposite. You never contacted me to discuss the rules and you don’t know me. I don’t know if you had problems with other Mods in other communities, but not all Mods are the same. I don’t think I deserve this treatment. You picked the wrong person here. I made a name for myself in various communities complaining about rules just like you. Always trying to be polite, be respectful, make my points and give suggestions. Most of the time I complain about inclusivity and transparency. That’s actually why I wrote everything possible in the rules for transparency. They seem lots of rules but almost them all are basic implicit rules of the entire speedrun.com site, others rather than be rules are ways to avoid run rejected helping runners more than moderators. In many parts of your video I have only heard complains and offenses without suggestions, this is not the best business card.

I don’t know what you wanted to imply with the fact that I have a run in every category. I became moderator and felt obliged to at least have a run in every category. I mean really every mod should have a run in every category of a game he/she moderates. Moderator should be seen as an expert of the game. Not necessarily a WR holder, but at least showing to know the game. Isn’t it? That’s just my opinion. Truth is my times sucks, all can be improved 10+ minutes I believe. They are all free WRs. I lost motivation pretty quickly due to lack of competition.

Just to add a bit of history, I fought for over a month to become a Mod of this game. Reason being that the other Mod is completely inactive. He only requested the game for the site to submit his own runs and then disappeared basically. Until 3 weeks ago you could submit runs only on PC Daymare mode. There was no way to submit a run for console for example. I took control of the leaderboard 3 weeks ago and made some order, specified the rules, even contacted runners that had runs on Youtube but not on the site to increase submissions. I don’t expect it to be perfect now, but believe it’s a big progress. I’m open to every suggestion, but I don’t tolerate people that want to create a toxic environment.

Reason why there are just few runs in the leaderboard is not because of the rules, written just few weeks ago, but rather because this game is an Indie low budget game, the game application used to crash a lot until patches arrived, especially in the fountain puzzle. Notorious speedrunners and streamers stayed away from the game for that reason after trying it. Other reason why we have few runs is because people don’t like the magazine reload, developers created the “Modern-Take” mode only recently to overcome that problem. Indeed I had the first run in a long time to verify made on that mode.

If you have a backbone I do actually expect your apology for offending me and personally attacking me for no reason whatsoever. Either way I hope to see your runs soon.

Edited by the author 3 years ago
Norfolk, England

When did I attack you? If your refering to the last part of the video I was saying what it seems like okay and tbh I say in the video its my opinion why you have such strict rules on the site. Also the reason I made a video was cause i thought it was a good and interesting topic to talk about. If you actually watched the video instead of glaze over it then you would have heard me say those things. As for modding the leaderboard by yourself I can respect that as I have a similar situation for the game I moderate however I feel you should make the rules a bit more friendly to new runners. As for frame drops you do realise people like myself stream and do get frame drops along with the game already being laggy for console. So that cant be reason to straight up reject the run can it if those factors are out of your control. Also not interested in creating a toxic environment as you so put it look at my video with a pinch of salt would you? As I give you criticism you say its a attack. I will apologise for upsetting you but I made the video with good intentions like my other videos on investigating fake runs. And finally do you really think based on the first impressions of the games page on here that I would want to try and have a discussion with a mod that makes rules like Continues after deaths are allowed, but the run becomes Segmented. Continues after application crashes are allowed, but the run becomes Segmented. Load checkpoint is allowed, but the run becomes Segmented and Submissions with dropped frames and without any livesplit or timing will be rejected. I mean that doesnt make sense and isn`t new runner friendly. Also deaths really thats what you base segmentation over so if I submit a highlight from twitch and I died once that means its no longer eligible for a 1 segment run when infact the run was performed in 1 segment.

Edited by the author 3 years ago
Norfolk, England

Maybe I should have contacted you on here first but I like making commentaries about topics to do with speedrunning ok. So before you say Im attacking you maybe try to understand that I giving fair and precise criticism along with saying what my opinion is. I will delete the video as the matter is no longer relevant to what your rules are seeming as youve changed the rules once again not my intention of offending or attacking but your rules did seem weird so i wanted to make a commentary about it.

Edited by the author 3 years ago
Valhalla

@TheBritishRunner I always appreciate constructive criticism and opinion. I'm not here to rule but to help as much as I can. I felt you crossed the line a couple of times. Anyway, let's settle saying I'm more sensible than average.

Coming to the rules, I adjusted a couple of phrases to make it more clear. Fixed the word "Mandatory" in the Forum thread which was a mistake. Finally changed the naming Single Segment and Segmented to simply Load Checkpoints Yes or No. No discimination for either options, just an additional info.

Here a practical example of why I suggest to use some sort of timing when possible. This is my Remothered run, look at the minute 00:54 of the VOD, Twitch completely cut 4 seconds of the run and spliced the video. You can notice from the Playstation Elapsed Time how that jumps from 23:05 to 23:09 Remothered just like Daymare 1998 is timed by RTA. I didn't even notice those missing 4 seconds when I submitted my run and I submitted with time 00:40:17 because I took the beginning and the end time of the VOD. Actualy the Mod of Remothered made me notice the problem and likely we had the PlayStation Elapsed time to see how much time was cut off from the VOD. The run was re-timed 00:40:21 and likely not rejected. If I didn't have that timing the run should have been rejected, and I would have agreed of course. There is no way to say what's the real RTA at that point. I hope this clarify even further my point. Anyway, again it's not mandatory and just a suggestion. It doesn't even apply to you, I saw you usually stream using LiveSplits so you won't have any problem mate.

Edited by the author 3 years ago
Norfolk, England

No problem having a timing overlay mate but in the case of the igt being weird with timing on checkpoint loads you should mainly do in real time timing might be better as the primary and or only timing method. I understand about the splicing I`ve had to investigate into two speedruns which concluded they were spliced and faked.

Valhalla

RTA is already the primary time of sorting. IGT is there only as "statistic" and for people that care more about IGT.