Is it bad to mod games without doing a speedrun for the game?
2 years ago
Somerset, England

I don't think it matter that much if the game doesn't have a lot of runs or has a low amount of active players

Gaming_64 likes this
Glamorganshire, Wales

Mate, put simply if you've never run a game I'm not sure how you can be expected to maintain a leaderboard correctly. I don't want to come on too hostile, but if you're here to ask if you can keep getting mod positions without running the game and avoiding bans then please, please don't

NickFili04, MrMonsh and 4 others like this
United States

Imo it depends on context. There's 2 games I mod that I haven't run but the games are both very dead and I don't know of a good person to take my place. There are good reasons to be mod of a game despite not running it. However, if you haven't and don't plan to do a run for a significant amount of the games you mod without a good reason, then that's where the problem arises. Also, please do not ask for mod positions for games you don't run, it's not helpful and multiple people have already been banned from moderating for doing so.

Gaming_64, Act_ and 3 others like this
French Southern Territories

What you are doing (asking people for mod roles frequently, moderating games without running them, etc.) is called mod farming, and yes, it's a bad thing.

Moderators should be knowledgeable and active in whatever games they mod. If you don't run the game, you don't have the experience and knowledge if you haven't even run the game. Playing a game casually or watching runs or videos about runs also doesn't give you that knowledge. I've learned a lot of stuff about how the games I run works and have noticed minor things I never would have noticed just watching a run or playing casually. And if you don't run a game, there is no incentive to be active in that game's community, which is equally important to having game knowledge. If people can't reach or contact you about rules changes, questions, etc. then the leaderboard can end up in a bad position.

TL;DR yeah its a bad thing, dont do it you won't get banned but you can get blacklisted

Edited by the author 2 years ago
MrMonsh, Brakshow and 3 others like this
Somerset, England

[quote=RaggedDan]Mate, put simply if you've never run a game I'm not sure how you can be expected to maintain a leaderboard correctly. I don't want to come on too hostile, but if you're here to ask if you can keep getting mod positions without running the game and avoiding bans then please, please don't[/quote] It's not that bad lol, I've gotten added to a leaderboard to help setup the categories and I mod the Granny games which I mainly run the 1st game so I can use my knowledge in that to verify runs in the other games, the games are similar

Edited by the author 2 years ago
Gaming_64 and NickFili04 like this
French Southern Territories

It's different when you are moderating a series, but moderating games you don't run is bad practice in general.

If the games in the series are similar, then the knowledge about the game transfers (for example, someone who runs granny mobile probably could moderate granny pc) but it's not like that for every game.

I doubt that moderating "hunting simulator" makes you qualified to be a mod for the angry birds series

Edited by the author 2 years ago
MrMonsh, Brakshow and 3 others like this
European Union

Response: Bruh Jack who writes like that

Brakshow, RaggedDan and 2 others like this
United States

@1 A robot writes like that. 🤖

MinecraftGaming likes this
Glamorganshire, Wales

@YUMmy_Bacon5 That's really agreeable, I can definitely see why people are added to newer/similar games, but in some cases people will solely seek out mod positions

NickFili04 and YUMmy_Bacon5 like this

To come at this topic from a different direction, think of what it's like from a player's perspective when they see a game with moderators that haven't run it at all. I always find that off-putting, as there's no way of knowing the moderator has any familiarity with the game at all.

YUMmy_Bacon5, RaggedDan and 6 others like this
French Southern Territories

I didnt complain about getting blocked, I expected that to happen. Jackzfiml also didn't "get" me to send that to you, I sent it on my own. Outside of that dm, I haven't mocked you at all. And, I did give you an honest answer to your question.

Walgrey likes this
Michigan, USA

I can see where new users could be rushing to try for moderator status while honest: they could be trying to get runs there aren't game pages or categories for on Speedrun.com.

To get a new game altogether added on Speedrun.com, you need to moderate it. And, as a rule on the site, moderators should "generally" speedrun the game, or at a minimum be "heavily involved with the community." So that means unless I'm actually qualified to be a moderator for the new game (which, for me, would be me making some sort of worthwhile speedrun of the game, knowing how the game worked for my run as well as knowing any easy ways to cheat so I can spot them), I cannot add any new games. I have requested in the forum for the Columns series, Stack Columns and Super Columns, for someone who had already moderated it or someone else better qualified than me to add these games so I don't have to get myself accused of "mod farming" when I don't have to try for any moderator status at all!

For Columns III, there is a page for it on SR.C, and there are a few good times on it, but my own time (nowhere near the WR) is still awaiting approval while there may have been no active moderation when I submitted it. So I have more patience than normal for SR.C for that one to be approved.

Here is a run I did today for Super Columns, not currently on the site at all:

And here is a run of Columns III I did, still awaiting approval on a leaderboard with little (but still some) activity over the past month:

So these speedruns pretty much capture what I did that's not officially recognized anywhere yet. I also have in mind another category for another game that does have some real activity, but it's long and difficult to pull off, so I guess not enough people have taken interest in it. That's OK - the Discord people on it did advise me that it's OK to just run a game without it being anything official - at least it would be on YouTube!

Edited by the author 2 years ago
NickFili04 likes this
French Southern Territories

I said outside of that dm to you. I was making fun of you then, but in this thread I've been 100% serious.

NickFili04 likes this
Michigan, USA

For my Super Columns, I actually had a backup recording which I just put on YouTube, in fact kind of speedrunning getting it on YouTube and Speedrun.com in this thread, and am now just about to finish a speedrun for getting it posted here, in order to resolve a video/audio sync issue with my Fusion recording. I noticed just now the audio/video went off with my initial post and have now quickly put my backup recording with my "double recording" on my computer I am capable of with this game to get it right. It seemed right at victory over Surhand, so it seems right here and, while I don't have a real speedrun time for the secondary "speedrun" of getting it quickly on YouTube, I at least got it now and here it is, as far as I can tell for your audio/video synced pleasure (good thing I used OBS Studio as well as Fusion's recording!!)

Edited by the author 2 years ago
Germany
Zanon
He/Him, They/Them
2 years ago

There are many valid reasons to be a moderator on a leaderboard but not having a run on that game:

  • series mod;
  • someone that has more time / technical know-how in regards to leaderboards to set stuff up and help moving things around when necessary;
  • actually verifying pending runs / helping with "workload".
  • someone that moderates a game that's similar to that one, be it due to being a fan-improvement (For example: Sonic The Hedgehog 3&Knuckles and Sonic 3:Angel Island Revisited) or an actual remake (Sonic the Hedgehog 1 and Sonic 1 2013).

You don't need to have runs on the leaderboard to know how to verify a game either. There are people who speedrun games but don't submit their runs to the leaderboards for many reasons - don't care about the competitive side of it, only do it for fun, etc. You can very much understand and know how to spot inconsistencies on someone's submitted video without ever running a game you mod for too, as well.

In these cases, most of them aren't people who "ask" to become moderators, but they're people who are asked if they want to moderate said games. Yes, mod farming is an issue. Yes, mod farming is a bad practice, but it is important to understand that not everyone that mods a game they don't run is a mod farmer - and jumping to conclusions in that regard is just as bad practice as begging to become a moderator for a game.

French Southern Territories

[quote]There are many valid reasons to be a moderator on a leaderboard but not having a run on that game:

  • series mod;
  • someone that has more time / technical know-how in regards to leaderboards to set stuff up and help moving things around when necessary;
  • actually verifying pending runs / helping with "workload".
  • someone that moderates a game that's similar to that one, be it due to being a fan-improvement (For example: Sonic The Hedgehog 3&Knuckles and Sonic 3:Angel Island Revisited) or an actual remake (Sonic the Hedgehog 1 and Sonic 1 2013).[/quote] ok but none of those apply in this case

I understand that there are valid reasons to moderate a game you don't run (I used to moderate one that had no active players and cheated runs on the leaderboard). But this person moderates no series, has not run most of the games they are a mod for, and has sent people dms asking to be made moderator of games they haven't played. The rule about moderators having a run in the game is there for a reason.

nobody here was assuming that they were farming just because they mod a game they dont run

Edited by the author 2 years ago
Brakshow, Walgrey and 2 others like this
Victoria, Australia

Ok I do admit what I have done was wrong and I am starting to change. I am pretty new to this site and I am still learning the rules. I rlly loved to mod games so I would ask a few ppl if they needed help with it. But after seeing how bad it is I have decided to turn things around and I removed myself from the few games I mod that I didn’t have a run for. And I have now decided not to ask ppl for mod to games unless i do a speedrun on it and have knowledge of the game. I would also like to apologise for this, I did not realise that I was mod farming and i never intended on mod farming. I have decided to change my ways in how I approach mod for games! I hope we can all move on from this and have a good time on this site!

Thank you to those who took time to read this and good luck with your speedrunning careers! :)

Edited by the author 2 years ago
Zanon and MrMonsh like this
Victoria, Australia

I agree! That’s why I decided to remove myself as mod for a few games. But these games weren’t popular anyway. There was only one run on them which was submitted months, even years ago. But now I’ve learnt my lesson and yet again I apologise. I made this post because I wanted to make a change and make sure I don’t throw ppl off by being mod for games I never speedrun. I am now making a change to how I approach mod. :)

Edited by the author 2 years ago
Merl_ likes this
Victoria, Australia

That is fair enough!