5 years ago I posted (on youtube) what I think is the fastest completion of combat for the Collector Ship platforms in Mass Effect 2. Stumbling on this site, I figured "hey, why not submit it"? But it was rejected on the grounds it does not conform to the level category.
Upon closer inspection, I realized the category I am most interested in is actually missing. Most speedrunners are simply blasting through levels without actually killing the enemies, with most of the time consumed by relatively mundane events (like running or glitching through terrain). I would personally be MUCH more interested in speed records related to COMPLETION of individual combat scenes (timed from initiation to end of hostilities), with or without taking health damage. This seems like a much more meaningful measure of actual combat skill!
Perhaps I am barking up the wrong tree here (and if so, fine). But is there an alternate site with something like I am describing? Or perhaps others in this forum interested in something like this?
Individual Games have their own forums. Here you go: https://www.speedrun.com/masseffect2/forum
Not familiar with the game, so can't really comment on the run or the rules for runs or anything.
In my opinion, the purpose of speedrunning isn’t necessarily to measure skill in a mechanic like combat. It’s to complete the game as fast as possible.
This is entirely the wrong forum to have this conversation, but I don't think there's anything wrong with the idea. I personally would love to run a "100%" category on Streets Of Rage 4 that involved killing every enemy, including the optional boss fights, hitting every interactive element and using every weapon. So far though, nobody else is interested.
"Speedrunning" is what you make of it. Look at SMW category extensions. There are dozens of ways to "speedrun" that game, it's not necessarily about completing the game the fastest way possible. Heck, look at SMB3. How boring would it be if everyone was just doing the Wrong Warp because that is technically "the fastest".
Even going as far back as Doom, there's a speedrun category for "UV Max", in which runs are done at the Ultra-Violence level and require you to finish with 100% secrets and killing each enemy in the level at least once, so I don't think this idea is that far out there. All that's really needed to add a new category to a game's leaderboard is for it to garner enough interest and to be accepted by the community as such.
With that in mind, I'd focus your efforts pitching this idea on the game's forums (or on their discord server) rather than here, since it's far more likely to get the attention of the other runners there. If you get them on board it'll be added in no time.