Art? It's not a science? No, game selection is not a science. If game selection was a science then I would have to stick exclusively to objective measures, and that would make a very lopsided games list. Here are some examples:
1. The games that raise the most money.
The series that raise the most money are Mario, Zelda, Metroid, and Final Fantasy/Square-Enix RPGs. There are a couple of other games that raise a good amount of money too (such as ID and Valve first-person shooters and Super Meat Boy), but selecting games based on how much they raise would still cut out a lot of variety. You wouldn't see many 8-bit nes games (RIP Sunsoft), any obscure underrated gems and/or cult classics, and you would never see other popular series such as Metal Gear Solid, Sonic, or Pokémon (Pokémon is popular with viewers but generally doesn't raise as much money as the four series I mentioned).
Now there is no denying that the four series I mentioned see lot of representation in the Games Done Quick (GDQ) marathons, but what if they were the only games being represented at the marathons? That would kill a lot of the variety we have in marathons, and would prevent unexpected successes like Mega Mari from happening. I like Final Fantasy games and even I don't want to see more than one per GDQ.
2. The games that have the highest viewer counts.
Mario, Zelda, and Metroid would still be on this list, but you would take out Final Fantasy and put in Pokémon and 3D Grand Theft Auto games instead. This runs into the same problem focusing on the games that raise the most money does, which is lack of variety.
Also, while people love watching Pokémon and 3D Grand Theft Auto games, I think watching more than one would wear on people because the games in the respective series are similar.
This is not to say I don't want games that raise money or get lots of viewers, but if those were my only two metrics for determining games in the GDQs, then that would be a very narrow vision that only includes a few fanbases. Imagine if I denied a game because it had less than 20,000 viewers, ignoring factors such as the day the game was played (generally games later in the marathon get more viewers), and time of day (there's generally a viewer dip during graveyard shifts).
But let's say I use these two metrics and the next AGDQ is a roaring success, it raised way more money than we ever expected, record viewer counts, etc. That's all well and good, right? Actually, there's a new problem, how would I follow up?
I have now cornered myself by only including our biggest titles, and while I can switch around the categories for each run, that only works for so long. Do I repeat all of the successful games that worked before and risk stagnation? Or do I add in something else for variety's sake that might alienate the fanbase?
I personally think if I deviated from the variety currently in Games Done Quick marathons, that would be a big risk. Is Awful Games Done Quick ever going to raise the most money? No, but it's a fun way to kill a graveyard shift and people in the community enjoy it. Do Zelda games raise some of the most money in marathons? Yes, but making it the sole focus would shut out a lot of other games. While I cannot let in every game each speedrunning community wants, if I only focused on a select few series or genres, then I think I would end up alienating the majority of speedrunning communities.
Now you might be wondering, well if game selection is not solely about the most popular and lucrative games, then what is it about? That's what I'm going to discuss in future blog posts.
P.S. By the way, for those curious, here the donation statistics for SGDQ 2013 and AGDQ 2013. In case if you want to see how games fared in terms of donations.
http://www.franklinjen.com/temp/SGDQ2013Stats.xls
http://19hz.info/Shared/AGDQStats.xls
October 16, 2013
October 10, 2013
The Games Done Quick Mission Statement
It is having fun for a good cause. That's it. If you were expecting something more complicated, sorry, but I like keeping things simple.
Don't get me wrong, part of the mission is, like many people think, about raising money for charity. That is after all, what I'm contracted to do for the Prevent Cancer Foundation with the next Awesome Games Done Quick, and that is definitely a large part of my job. To say otherwise would be lying.
However, there are some people who think it's solely about raising money for the charity, but I think that ignores why people attend the marathon in the first place.
The Why
There are three reasons:
1. It's fun.
No one would come to a Games Done Quick event if it isn't fun. People attend the marathons because they enjoy them. Whether it's being able to play a game on stage, commentate, help out backstage, just hang out with friends and play games together off-camera, or do teh urn dance, almost everyone finds something to do that they either enjoy or feel good contributing to the event. If people really thought the marathons were not fun, then they wouldn't attend.
I've seen a couple of people saying (or at least implying) that when it's about raising money for the charity, it somehow becomes less fun or isn't fun anymore, but I've never seen anyone go, "well shucks, we hit $100,000, better stop having fun." There's nothing that says you can't have fun while raising money for charity, and if anything, hitting goals seems to add more energy to the room. People are pumped up and motivated when goals are hit.
Sure, there are a couple of restrictions, like you can't drop f-bombs, but there's nothing saying you can't have fun while raising money for charity.
2. Community meetup.
The marathon is a great chance for speedrunning communities to meet up in person and either talk about their shared interest in speedrunning or just shoot the shit. Normally we can maybe meet 5 other people in person outside of the marathon if we're lucky, but the marathon brings everyone together.
Not everyone attends a marathon to raise money for charity, or even to play a game, but almost everyone attends to hang out and meet like-minded people or watch great speedruns. I can't think of too many other places where you can mention sequence breaks and people won't be scratching their heads.
3. The money is going to greater causes.
Since the money is going to charity, the event feels more special. It just feels good donating to a good cause such as the Prevent Cancer Foundation (PCF), especially when you get to hear personal stories from donors, and when you know the money goes towards a good charity. For example, PCF helped fund research for the HPV vaccine.
Honestly, if the money we raised was just going to Speed Demos Archive, or an individual, then it wouldn't have quite the same feeling, and it wouldn't feel like we were uniting for a greater cause.
If no one had fun and wanted to meet together to have a good time and raise money for charity, then the marathons wouldn't happen. It would just be one sad lonely dude on a couch playing a game, instead of the fun, laidback, "dudes on a couch" feel while raising money for a good cause.
P.S. Sorry for the late post, but I was attending Chicagothon last week. Now that I'm back, I should be posting more regularly.
Don't get me wrong, part of the mission is, like many people think, about raising money for charity. That is after all, what I'm contracted to do for the Prevent Cancer Foundation with the next Awesome Games Done Quick, and that is definitely a large part of my job. To say otherwise would be lying.
However, there are some people who think it's solely about raising money for the charity, but I think that ignores why people attend the marathon in the first place.
The Why
There are three reasons:
1. It's fun.
No one would come to a Games Done Quick event if it isn't fun. People attend the marathons because they enjoy them. Whether it's being able to play a game on stage, commentate, help out backstage, just hang out with friends and play games together off-camera, or do teh urn dance, almost everyone finds something to do that they either enjoy or feel good contributing to the event. If people really thought the marathons were not fun, then they wouldn't attend.
I've seen a couple of people saying (or at least implying) that when it's about raising money for the charity, it somehow becomes less fun or isn't fun anymore, but I've never seen anyone go, "well shucks, we hit $100,000, better stop having fun." There's nothing that says you can't have fun while raising money for charity, and if anything, hitting goals seems to add more energy to the room. People are pumped up and motivated when goals are hit.
Sure, there are a couple of restrictions, like you can't drop f-bombs, but there's nothing saying you can't have fun while raising money for charity.
2. Community meetup.
The marathon is a great chance for speedrunning communities to meet up in person and either talk about their shared interest in speedrunning or just shoot the shit. Normally we can maybe meet 5 other people in person outside of the marathon if we're lucky, but the marathon brings everyone together.
Not everyone attends a marathon to raise money for charity, or even to play a game, but almost everyone attends to hang out and meet like-minded people or watch great speedruns. I can't think of too many other places where you can mention sequence breaks and people won't be scratching their heads.
3. The money is going to greater causes.
Since the money is going to charity, the event feels more special. It just feels good donating to a good cause such as the Prevent Cancer Foundation (PCF), especially when you get to hear personal stories from donors, and when you know the money goes towards a good charity. For example, PCF helped fund research for the HPV vaccine.
Honestly, if the money we raised was just going to Speed Demos Archive, or an individual, then it wouldn't have quite the same feeling, and it wouldn't feel like we were uniting for a greater cause.
If no one had fun and wanted to meet together to have a good time and raise money for charity, then the marathons wouldn't happen. It would just be one sad lonely dude on a couch playing a game, instead of the fun, laidback, "dudes on a couch" feel while raising money for a good cause.
P.S. Sorry for the late post, but I was attending Chicagothon last week. Now that I'm back, I should be posting more regularly.
September 27, 2013
The games topics barely filled a salt shaker.
And I'm very grateful for that. I was expecting a bloodbath where rage was everywhere and the salt coursed out of everyone's veins and the oceans raged with waves of red and white. Instead most people were okay with the games cut and accepted, even the people who disagreed did so in a mostly respectful and calm manner. I'm sure there's someone out there who is still raging, but I'm quite pleased with how things turned out!
This is one of those times where expecting the worst ended up being for the best, because I was very relieved with how the games topics went. There wasn't even a lot of salt on twitter, which surprised me.
What went smoothly
-I announced dates so people could prepare.
This is pretty simple. I announced the start date and cutoff so no one was surprised when events were going to occur.
-There were firm rules established so things didn't go out of control.
There weren't any super long, rambling posts, nor were there people suggesting games 5 times after their first bid was rejected. Overall things were civil, at least in the topic itself. I guess having no mercy paid off. ;) The rules helped reduce clutter and made most of the posts worthwhile.
BTW, I really want to shake the hand of whoever made that pic.
-Explanations for why games were cut.
Were my explanations always great or correct? No, but I would say the majority of them were well-reasoned, and the reasons at least gave people a baseline to debate on.
-Overall, things were pretty chill and civil
I think the last three factors contributed to how calm the games topics were. By announcing the dates and fielding questions, people were prepared to submit their games. With the rules being established, there wasn't much ambiguity about what was and wasn't allowed for submission. With the explanations and people being able to post rebuttals, people could voice their disagreement, which is important because people need an outlet for disagreement. Without such an outlet, I think there would have been a lot more trolling and shitposting.
What could be improved or needs changing
-A submission form
It's no secret that the forums choked and couldn't handle the traffic. There were also so many submissions that I ended up overlooking a couple, and a form would solve both of these problems.
-I apparently don't know how to complete sentences.
Honestly, this is mostly from responding to 10+ people at once and spending at least 8 hours a day on the games topic. My brain was fried the first two days. The only problem changing to a form is that there might be less
Anyway, while there are definitely possible improvements (as there always are), I would say this year's games topics were definitely better than last year's, and went quite well overall.
This is one of those times where expecting the worst ended up being for the best, because I was very relieved with how the games topics went. There wasn't even a lot of salt on twitter, which surprised me.
What went smoothly
-I announced dates so people could prepare.
This is pretty simple. I announced the start date and cutoff so no one was surprised when events were going to occur.
-There were firm rules established so things didn't go out of control.
There weren't any super long, rambling posts, nor were there people suggesting games 5 times after their first bid was rejected. Overall things were civil, at least in the topic itself. I guess having no mercy paid off. ;) The rules helped reduce clutter and made most of the posts worthwhile.
BTW, I really want to shake the hand of whoever made that pic.
-Explanations for why games were cut.
Were my explanations always great or correct? No, but I would say the majority of them were well-reasoned, and the reasons at least gave people a baseline to debate on.
-Overall, things were pretty chill and civil
I think the last three factors contributed to how calm the games topics were. By announcing the dates and fielding questions, people were prepared to submit their games. With the rules being established, there wasn't much ambiguity about what was and wasn't allowed for submission. With the explanations and people being able to post rebuttals, people could voice their disagreement, which is important because people need an outlet for disagreement. Without such an outlet, I think there would have been a lot more trolling and shitposting.
What could be improved or needs changing
-A submission form
It's no secret that the forums choked and couldn't handle the traffic. There were also so many submissions that I ended up overlooking a couple, and a form would solve both of these problems.
-I apparently don't know how to complete sentences.
Honestly, this is mostly from responding to 10+ people at once and spending at least 8 hours a day on the games topic. My brain was fried the first two days. The only problem changing to a form is that there might be less
Anyway, while there are definitely possible improvements (as there always are), I would say this year's games topics were definitely better than last year's, and went quite well overall.
September 24, 2013
The purpose of this blog and FAQ
What's with the name?
A while ago there was there was someone who so eagerly wanted to run a game at an Awesome Games Done Quick (AGDQ), he made a practice thread for his game called, "The Road to AGDQ..." I thought the name was amusing, and made for a good blog title, so I decided to use it.
If anyone is curious, the guy didn't attend AGDQ, and hasn't attended a marathon yet.
You announced this blog sometime in July, why did it take so long?
Well when I announced my blog in July, I was still busy planning for Summer Games Done Quick (SGDQ) 2013. In August I was busy with SGDQ followup such as prizes, and I was busy finalizing a location for AGDQ 2014 as well as working on the game list. My schedule has slowed down a bit now, which gave me the time to start this blog!
Why did it take you so long think about blogging in the first place?
Honestly, I didn't even think about a blog until May or June this year. No one really mentioned it or suggested it in the first place, and to be honest, I don't think I would have had enough to say until now.
So what's the point of this blog?
The purpose is to really just to shed light on how marathons work. Shedding light ranges from how I choose games to logistics, and why I make decisions the way I do. I'd also like to talk about past marathons and what I've learned from them, and how far marathons have progressed since Classic Games Done Quick back in January 2010.
For those of you wondering what Classic Games Done Quick (CGDQ) is, it's the first Games Done Quick marathon. I'd like to tell the CGDQ story at some point because with how much marathons have grown in the past years, I'm sure a lot of people don't even know how CGDQ started. It's quite the story, and definitely worth telling, because by all means, CGDQ should not have worked.
What this blog isn't for
This isn't an opportunity to ask me whether a particular game or series is going to make it into a marathon. I don't find such talk productive, because it's limited in scope. I'd rather go more in-depth and talk about how I balance my games, why certain genres get more (or less) time on screen, and decisions I've made in the past rather than focus on a specific game.
Anyway, I hope to open up what is a mysterious process for a lot of people and get some discussion going. If you ever want to discuss a topic, then you can email my at my sda address, (mikwuyma and it's at speeddemosarchive.com), or on twitter @mikwuyma.
A while ago there was there was someone who so eagerly wanted to run a game at an Awesome Games Done Quick (AGDQ), he made a practice thread for his game called, "The Road to AGDQ..." I thought the name was amusing, and made for a good blog title, so I decided to use it.
If anyone is curious, the guy didn't attend AGDQ, and hasn't attended a marathon yet.
You announced this blog sometime in July, why did it take so long?
Well when I announced my blog in July, I was still busy planning for Summer Games Done Quick (SGDQ) 2013. In August I was busy with SGDQ followup such as prizes, and I was busy finalizing a location for AGDQ 2014 as well as working on the game list. My schedule has slowed down a bit now, which gave me the time to start this blog!
Why did it take you so long think about blogging in the first place?
Honestly, I didn't even think about a blog until May or June this year. No one really mentioned it or suggested it in the first place, and to be honest, I don't think I would have had enough to say until now.
So what's the point of this blog?
The purpose is to really just to shed light on how marathons work. Shedding light ranges from how I choose games to logistics, and why I make decisions the way I do. I'd also like to talk about past marathons and what I've learned from them, and how far marathons have progressed since Classic Games Done Quick back in January 2010.
For those of you wondering what Classic Games Done Quick (CGDQ) is, it's the first Games Done Quick marathon. I'd like to tell the CGDQ story at some point because with how much marathons have grown in the past years, I'm sure a lot of people don't even know how CGDQ started. It's quite the story, and definitely worth telling, because by all means, CGDQ should not have worked.
What this blog isn't for
This isn't an opportunity to ask me whether a particular game or series is going to make it into a marathon. I don't find such talk productive, because it's limited in scope. I'd rather go more in-depth and talk about how I balance my games, why certain genres get more (or less) time on screen, and decisions I've made in the past rather than focus on a specific game.
Anyway, I hope to open up what is a mysterious process for a lot of people and get some discussion going. If you ever want to discuss a topic, then you can email my at my sda address, (mikwuyma and it's at speeddemosarchive.com), or on twitter @mikwuyma.
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