Gore Filter controversy
6 years ago
Germany
Super moderatorZet
He/Him, They/Them
6 years ago

Okay so, I thought we'd be through this, but apparently this topic is still bugging some people, so here we go again. I want to ask everyone interested in the debate to keep it to this thread only not because I want to keep the theme out of the Discord but because finding stuff again in the Discord is super confusing.

Here are the basic points:

  • The xbox 360 version was the first released version of the game and is the most different to any other version (hidden eggs, no hard route, different menuing, less checkpoints...)

  • In addition to the other changes, only the XBOX360 version has the option "Gore Filter" in the menu which will take some of the game's graphical morbidness. In one scene of the game, this will save a significant amount of time, as you won't have to wait for an animation to finish

  • There's other scenes in this version wich are slower than all the other versions though (see the video below for more)

  • Virtually nobody runs the game on 360 and those who did any% runs on it didn't use the gore filter

Some runners opted for banning the gore filter. Yajijy and me, the only active mods at the time, did not agree on that and we all had a nice little debate. I'll roughly outline my points again:

  • Gore filter is a legit release of the game, on a legit platform; it's an option you can activate without even using a cheat code. No external tools are needed to access it

  • Banning it would disregard the 360 version as a speedgame completely. People shouldn't be outraged because it saves time on the least popular version; people should just as well, in my opinion, be equally outraged if it turns out that very least popular version was the one which DIDN'T have the gore filter time save. This in our heads makes no points, so it seems improbably that banning the gore filter is in fact an objective and logical decision.

After a long debate the consensus seemed to be that by integrating a checkbox you can use when submitting the run which you would see in the lb's page would be a good way to deal with this problem. Now all of a sudden I see people demanding to get rid of the checkbox again but don't ban the gore filter after all which I would be okay with as well but I don't want to decide anything above anyone else just because I can.

Thanks to toothpickwilly who kindly compared 360 gore filtered against other platforms. See his video here:

Pear likes this
Ohio, USA

"Banning it would disregard the 360 version as a speedgame completely."

I would say this is incorrect and misleading. As timed, the gore filter saves about 7.16 seconds, which, totalled, gives xbox 360 a 2.7 second advantage over standard, but without it a 4.4 second deficit. Also note that, amongst the current times, a 4.4 second deficit is a lot smaller than most of the gaps that exist within the current leaderboards, meaning that, more often than not, a 4.4 second hit would easily be overcome by skill - except in the upper echelons of gameplay.

However, since none of the top 3 runners play xbox 360 to get an advantage or disadvantage as of yet, it's worth ignoring until it actually becomes an issue (also notes that theoretical limits of limbo gameplay at at about sub-39 levels, so even the top players aren't optimal)

So, xbox360 being 4.4 seconds slow does NOT disregard it as a speedgame, in the same way that xbox 360 having a 2.7 second advantage would not make every other system in the known universe disregarded as a speedgame.

It is very silly to say that banning or allowing gore filter makes LIMBO unplayable for others.

As it stands for the actual implementation of the leaderboards, the list of "Off"s that exist, and the fact that the filter is doubled, makes the leaderboard look ugly. I would recommend, at the very least, making the gore filter invisible on the actual boards somehow, but leaving the option to sort by gore filter, if that's possible.

If not, I elect to remove segregation by gore filter.

Fr0gb0y likes this
Germany
Super moderatorZet
He/Him, They/Them
6 years ago

http://www.speedrun.com/The_Site/thread/k4ke7

Same variable for multiple (but not all) categories is in the works. We just have to wait for the update.

Edited by the author 6 years ago
Florida, USA

I know that the point was made that this is worth setting up now, in case of future submissions that include Gore Filter, and that's fine. Although, if we're honest, at the moment, I am the only person who runs the game who could potentially submit a top-3 time with Gore Filter (perhaps Drew soon). Taking 3 seconds off of my times in Normal Route and 9 Eggs would bop exactly 0 people at the moment. Also, I don't envision myself using this version to try and get up higher on the leaderboard. I'm a little bit less of a weasel than that, at least for now. ;) When I want to save 8 seconds, I'll switch to the PS3 version (same as PC) and get optimal piston cycle (plus 2 second worm swing advantage).

Edited by the author 6 years ago