First of all, I am new here, so apologies if this has been answered before.
Let's say I make a run in Any% in which I don't use any glitches to save time because I'm not aware there are any. If another person finds glitches to save time and as a result makes my glitchless run obsolete for Any%, can I submit my run to Glitchless category?
You should ask the community for that game, only they can give out the right answer.
If this were to be a new up and coming speedgame that doesn't have any glitches yet, and then one was found, there are a couple scenarios.
- Don't do anything, keep both glitchless and glitched runs in any%
- Current any% becomes any% glitchless and there will be a new any%
In both scenarios, I doubt your run will ever be invalidated. It's the game that needs to change, not your runs per se.
I've always been open to the idea of a less restrictive run also qualifying for a more restrictive category (i.e. a 100% run is also, strictly speaking, an any% run). I would personally have no problem in your example with such a run being in a glitchless category and a normal any% category, assuming it truly does qualify for both. The only downside is for the runner to care about (i.e. the glitchless run will no doubt be slower than other full-on any% runs, just as a 100% run would be).
Glitchless runs should almost always fit in Any% since Any% is nothing more than a term that describes completing the game as fast as possible using any means necessary. If an Any% run uses glitches/skips/exploits to complete an Any% run faster than a run that decides to not utilize thoe, should be allowed.
Also note that if your current Any% run does not use any glitches, it doesn't necessarily mean it also exactly abides the ruleset of Glitchless and can be classified as one.
You could perform a glitch and not know it is one. What a lot of people are unaware of are difficult examples like animation cancels, which are either forced by the player or could occur randomly and could happen in a lot of games at any given moment, is technically a glitch but banning those are usually frowned upon in communities due to its randomness. Scenario's like these is why the community/runners should discuss what is considered a glitch/skips/exploit or not, as well as having a concrete list (which is mostly always subject to change) of what is considered a glitch/skip or exploit is advisable to prevent confusion.
@Daravae Thanks for your answer. I get that it's a problem to decide what counts as a glitch and what doesn't. Is this the reason some communities prefer categories like "No OOB" over "Glitchless"?
Yes. Glitchless is more arbitrary as where "No OoB" is usually a lot easier to define.
There are many possible terms in the "glitchless" section, and they vary for each game, and also for what the community of the game decides. My take on those terms, based on the many leaderboards I have seen here:
"Glitchless" - usually means no using glitches at all, no wall clipping, no sequence breaking, no using unintended mechanics. "No OOB" - Clipping outside of the main game-play area is not allowed, but everything else is. "No major glitches" - Some of the bigger glitches that may skip major portions of a game/level are not allowed, but everything else is "No (specific glitch name)" - Only a single (usually major) glitch is banned, everything else is allowed. This category is usually made after a new big glitch is discovered, but there are already many runs without it, so a new leaderboard is made to still keep track of the old runs without that glitch. This game has some examples of those categories: https://www.speedrun.com/jak1
Note that the term "glitch" is also very subjective, and therefore it can make several debates over rules in many games. This video by EZScape explains it quite well, and give examples from several games:
If you are submitting a new game and are moderating it, you are basically the entire community for that game (hopefully not for a long time), so you make the rules as you see fit for this game.