First I will explain the rule, why the rule should be added, and then address concerns I think people may have with the rule. This is long but I would really appreciate it if our active community members please at least read from here all the way to the end of my explanation to 'Why add this rule?' and let me know what you think. Thank You!
EDIT I PUT IN A SECOND IDEA AT THE BOTTOM!!!
I suggest adding a new rule that applies to future "VERY fast" submissions. I suggest that runs under certain times should require the runners hands and monitor to be shown in the video of the speedrun or the runner separately provides a 2nd video with their submission of their monitor and hands during the run.
Here are my suggested times break points where this rule would apply. (Feel free to debate or suggest different times)
NG Demon Hunter and Monk: under 1:50:00 NG Crusader: under 1:55:00 NG Barbarian, Witch Doctor, Wizard and Necromancer: under 2:00:00
NG+ Monk: under 40:00 NG+ Demon Hunter and Witch Doctor: under 50:00 NG+ Barbarian, Crusader, Wizard and Necromancer: under 52:00
Here are examples that show the hands and monitor with the speedrun
I suggest that the minimap and the center of the screen should be visible in the hand/monitor camera. An example of what part of the monitor should be visible https://imgur.com/RJsE4Ze This wouldn't have to be exact by any means but you should be able to see most of the minimap and a decent portion of the center as well for when the map is opened full screen.
Why add this rule? This camera angle would make it nearly impossible to use map hacks, and it would make it more difficult to splice runs. Certain Any% categories are now becoming very fast and getting new World Records or top 3 is starting to take multiple layers of excellent RNG, very good map navigation/knowledge, luck on picking the optimal paths in random maps, need multiple fleeting/empower shrines in NG, and NG+ requires good mechanical skill. In short getting these times is very difficult and those of us who run legitimately would be very discouraged if some random player decides to start submitting times while using map hacks and perhaps he gets the perfect RNG on map layouts and shrines to get a near perfect run that time would be nearly incontestable by a runner without map hacks because someone with map hacks will never hit a dead end and someone without even with the exact same perfect RNG is very likely to hit a few dead ends. This rule not only stops cheaters but also protects legitimate runners, because to get those kinds of times runners need to hit very few dead ends which will always look suspicious as if they are map hacking so providing this camera angle would help protect them from false cheating accusations. A reason this is such a big worry for me though is because I know for a fact that using map hacks/3rd party UI is very common among players pushing end game greater rifts. I am not exaggerating that certain players/clans expect you to be using it if you are playing end game and blizzard does not ban for it as long as you don't show the overlay on stream. There is most likely in the thousands of players that use it regularly. I am afraid that as seasons start to slow down and become more stale more people may look towards speedrunning the game and the types of players that would be motivated to speedrun are going to be mostly the same ones pushing end game. With it being accepted among a large majority of those players that 3rd party UI is okay I'm concerned that certain players would continue to use them even for speedruns.
Why both the monitor and hands? The rule is designed in a way where it is very difficult to attempt to video edit to make it look like you are following this rule when you are not which is why it is important both the monitor and the players hands are seen in the same camera shot. The monitor shows if map hacks are being displayed and the hands sync with the gameplay making it harder to cheat this rule with video editing.
Why suggest these time thresholds specifically? First off all currently verified runs are slower than these thresholds so all the current records would still be legitimate with this rule. These times are my estimate of when each class would be < ~5 minutes away from a "perfect" run for NG and < ~2 minutes for NG+. I am most confidant in the times of NG Demon Hunter and Monk having run NG a lot to get those times requires favorable RNG on all but 2 or 3 maps, you need to be guessing the correct paths on most maps, you need to get ~5+ fleeting/empower shrines and you can only really afford like a 30 second mistake on something non RNG related. So there is still room to improve beyond those times but it is very slim and very difficult and will take an experienced and dedicated runner to get them. However I would leave the exact time thresholds up for debate among the community these are just my suggestions.
Why only apply this rule for runs under a certain time? The threshold would be decided by the community to be times that are very hard to get and require multiple layers of RNG and near perfect execution. So any times slower than that it would be accepted by the community that such a time can be achieved without suspicion because many runners and/or trusted runners have achieved similar times before. Only applying this rule to times faster than the threshold keeps the barrier to entry for speedrunning this game lower. Newer runners to the game can start learning and submitting their runs without having to worry about this rule.
What if the runner doesn't have a webcam or camera? You can buy one off of amazon or retail for like 15-20 USD. If someone is getting close to those times I think that is a pretty small investment compared to the time that needs to be spent to become that fast and most people that spend enough time to get that good have most likely have already spent much more on their setup to play the game and the game itself costs 30 USD when not on sale.
What if the runner doesn't want the camera to also pick up audio? There should be a way to disable the microphone on most webcam/cameras in your PC devices settings or in the runners recording software settings.
2ND IDEA My other idea keep the time break points if your run is below those times you need to live stream your runs to twitch. You must broadcast your gameplay with the OBS (or software that has same options) monitor capture option NOT window or game capture. You prove before starting each run that you are using monitor capture (by tabbing into a different window and back into Diablo.That might be good enough but maybe also want to have them briefly show in OBS that they are on a monitor capture). Then with your gameplay submission you must also include a link to the twitch highlight of that entire stream session. Videos on twitch will show what type of video they are if they are a highlight or upload, and VODs have no description on them.
People could still just attempt to live stream edited recordings BUT that behavior would probably be noticeable after a while if they actually stream all of their attempts. So with the twitch highlights you know that what you see in the highlight was 100% what was live streamed and not edited afterwards. But the contents could have been edited before being streamed.
I would still prefer my first idea but this is an option for those who did not like the webcam idea. I would be happy enough though with the 2nd rule too possibly having both as an option for the runner when they submit they either have to submit according to rule 1 or 2 or both.
I do understand and think it is a good point, I just have a few things to ask/bring up.
I don't remember the guy's name, but someone did submit a fast run but it was pretty blatant that he was using map hacks just from his movement and his run was removed. We know what actions are normal and what aren't it should be pretty noticeable if they are map hacking.
As for splicing, I know we've talked before about how difficult it would be to splice together I run, but this rule would completely rule that out.
For new runners, maybe it should be made explicitly clear that any sort of 3rd party UI augments are not allowed (it is down at rule 10). Additionally, perhaps putting a ban on anyone that is a known cheater, refusing any of their runs?
Overall I'd say I'm slightly for it, especially since it's not something new players woud have to worry about.
@Pukeattack Yes the movement and how they interact with the map can be a good indicator but this makes things more certain. Also now that its a stated rule cheaters may try harder to hide it and try to play "normally". As for splicing it is true splicing NG would be insanely difficult but without the webcam splicing NG+ wouldn't be any more difficult than splicing in other games.
I think that splicing is not as much of an issue with the sheer amount of ways to detect it, but having another would be good. I think it would also be really tough to splice in an image over the monitor from a webcam, but not impossible.
Instead of the webcam setup, could a share of your running programs or some such be done to show that you're not using any hacks? I imagine it would be impossible to have the program closed for verification, open it mid-run, and still get a good time. At least, any alt-tab would be exceptionally easy to see.
I don't think there are currently any issues with cheating, but I can understand preventative measures are beneficial. I would just like to see if there are other options that don't require a webcam pointed at my monitor. Mostly because it would be a giant pain in the ass to set up a webcam beside / behind me. >_<
@Skytso I'm not sure how showing your running programs would be implemented. If you can show an example how it would be done then maybe that could be an option. As for setting up your cam you could pull a chair or desk behind you and tape or set the cam on it. Or stack up a bunch of books or other junk. I actually used to have mine set on top of my vacuum cleaner as a make shift tripod. The top of the handle was removable and had a hole to attach the hose into so I would set the clip in the hole on the handle. If your desk is big enough you can set it in between yourself and your keyboard/mouse. If your back is to the wall you could tape it to the wall. If those options are to janky tripods look to be pretty cheap on amazon...
If someone REALLY wants to splice things, this wouldn't really be the end all to splicing, cooldowns, mouse positions, and what not could be left alone while other things are spliced. (only doing a visual splice on 90% of game screen and then 75% of real life). Though it does make it easier to detect, I'll give you that point. Maybe not have the requirement be based on times, but on position in the leaderboard. I don't think we overly care about anything but the top 3 for complete validation on anti cheating, while it would be nice for all spots, the top 3 are people competing and also could ease future validation of runs if/when the game gets faster. I think we accused Viper(could have been someone else making the rest of this moot) of cheating, the video got taken down, and then he got a new video up within a week I think, in first place. I agree that the hand/screen cam would help debunk us accusing the cheats and help show cheats as well.
All in all, I'm for this as other games are cracking down with stuff like this. (Super meat boy used the loading icon to find cheaters, super mario 64 uses audio to find splicers, and I think other games are doing similar things.) Just means the 'face frame' is 'less interesting' to look at xD
@Shippo_Tail The player you are thinking of is VelaRUS and they no longer have any World Records. I am pretty certain they stopped submitting after that run was removed. Viper was the one that brought to our attention that they were suspicious of him using map hacks.
The thing about doing it for top 3 runs is currently it is unnecessary there are a lot of super easy 3rd place spots for certain classes. It would also be weird if our community were to grow really big. I used time breakpoints based off of the rules the Super Mario Bros 1 community uses https://www.speedrun.com/smb1 were anytime under 5 minutes is considered suspicious because it is a few seconds away from a perfect run. 1st place is 4m 56s 245ms and 71st place is 5m 00s 006ms. Since its such a tight leader board for them getting top 50/20/10 is still an amazing run.
I would also say having exact time cut offs makes things more concrete for people to know when they need to start recording there runs like this. Based on currently verified runs I would say if this rule took effect today with the break points I suggested there are only 6 runners that should be concerned about needing to follow this rule so unless people have been practicing and not submitting new PBs or unless some new runners pop up only those 6 people could even come close to beating those times in my opinion. We all talk about RNG a lot because there is a lot of it but you still have to be able to capitalize on it and there are few people that I know of that can right now. Of course anyone can take the time to improve and get to a point where they could be seriously considering beating these times but the question becomes for those who wouldn't want this rule would they actually be trying to beat those times if the rule weren't in place? The point sort of being it affects very few people under current conditions and for those few people it would make sense to go through a little bit more hassle and maybe put in a little more money for a cam and tripod to be certain that there hundreds or thousands of hours put into runs to get 1 run with an amazing time would not be squandered by either false cheating allegations or by having a cheater's run push their run down on the leader board.
Like you said it has happened before which is why I bring it up now before it happens again, because I am personally starting to get back into speed running D3 for WR's again. I trust pretty much all of our current runners because of how we work together as a community. Its new people that have never speedrun any games before and submit only D3 runs or people that never interact with the rest of our community that concern me.
