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The twice annual speedrunning event has begun its summer speedrunning showcase today and will be accepting donations for most of the week to raise money for Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières. Check out the official SGDQ Twitch stream here.
SGDQ events and you
SGDQ is one of two yearly speedrunning events where speedrunners can show off their ability. Speedrunning requires both an incredible mechanical skill at whatever game is played, and in-depth knowledge about the game in question.
As a result, speedrunning shows a synthesis of what happens when someone has near perfect knowledge of how a game works and has the mechanical skill to exploit that knowledge.
Additionally, there is a speedrunning community available for almost every game, including some incredibly obscure or forgotten ones. If you’re interested in checking out what a game looks like when played with an almost inhuman perfection, make sure to tune in.
How speedrunning affects the games you play
Even if you’re not a fan of speedrunning you should know that the speedrunning community has had an impact on how many games were made or patched. Part of the nature of speedrunning is seeking out any possible advantage, frequently using glitches or bugs, in order to complete the game quicker.
Some games are made with the speedrunning community in mind. For example, Celeste has found a home among many speedrunning groups in part because the developers included features in the game for speedrunners to make use of. These features aren’t needed to complete or enjoy the game, but they make the game more appealing to those who would want to run them.
Other games had shortcomings exposed by speedrunners, which later developers were more careful to avoid. Games for early consoles were frequently incapable of running at maximum efficiency when they needed to render their environments in full. Classic games such as Goldeneye actually run quicker when the player stares at the ground, limiting how much the game needs to render.
This unique feature led to future developers designing better systems for rendering environments, even as technology improved.
SGDQ lets viewers donate to see specific content
If you’re interested in watching a specific speedrun, or giving a speedrunner a specific challenge, make sure to check out the SGDQ bid index. Part of what makes the SGDQ/AGDQ events so successful is their ability to involve viewers in a way that many events often can’t.
Currently, the average donation is over $44, and the event has already raised over $22,000. Keep watch to see how much SGDQ raises this year!
