![]() “There are lots of people who feel like outsiders in their own lives, and so they’re drawn toward these communities.” “When you’re choosing a speedrunning community to engage with, you can pick anything-you don’t have to be limited to the church that’s nearby or the neighbors in your apartment complex,” Toftness says. In fact, the speedrunners who Toftness interviewed said their mental health improved because of their engagement with their gaming communities. But in his own experience, and in speaking with other gamers, Toftness found the speedrunning community had the opposite effect: It brought people together, cementing friendships and strengthening social bonds. In his research, Toftness found plenty of academic papers that suggest gaming can take a toll on a person’s social health because it’s often isolating the idea is so prevalent among health researchers that the World Health Organization recently added a gaming disorder to its International Classification of Diseases. The first and possibly most vital component to speedrunning is a sense of community, or the idea that runners are in this with a group of like-minded peers, all working to accomplish the same goal. For each milestone I hit, I knew I could do better. Not unlike an actual runner, I yearned for a new personal best, or PB, every time I played. I quickly became obsessed, jotting down times and notes in a journal. So, as Toronto settled in for yet another citywide lockdown late last year, I tried to play it through myself and see how fast I could do it-or at least, if I could beat my brother’s pace from all those years ago. It’s a game where players are intended to move quickly, spin-dashing and speeding through levels. ![]() The classic game, released in 1994 for the Sega Genesis, was a staple of my childhood: My older brother, then much more of a gamer than me, would play through the game over and over, and I’d dutifully watch each time. I started speedrunning Sonic the Hedgehog 3 in January, keen for a new pandemic pastime. When the realization sets in, I’m exhilarated. Eventually, on the official leaderboards, I’ll rank among the top players to beat this particular Sonic game in the fastest possible time. And then I stop my timer: 49 minutes, 51 seconds. I keep breathing, heavier and heavier, until it’s over, until Sonic destroys Dr. On my screen, a pixelated blue hedgehog zooms through loops and hops from platform to platform. It’s a warm May night in Toronto, and I’m hunched over my computer, clicking away at a Sega Genesis controller and trying to make personal history. I try to regulate my breath-inhale, slowly, exhale-but I have the jitters. My grip hasn’t changed in nearly an hour, but I refuse to let my wetted hands kill my focus. It would not be available with local players, of course.My palms won’t stop sweating, beads of moisture dripping down the buttons of my controller. Call the mode "boring actual race" or whatever, but remember it's always optional. I'm aware it would be a lot more work than it seems, but I and the friends I play with would really like a mode where the camera is centered on individual characters, and either the death line is seen as an actual line, or there is no death line (options!) and winner would be set at timer, or at checkpoints (more options!). Regarding the camera, there is also a mode I would really like. Another side note, turning off the time limit in custom matches, and also not make it become open to random players arbitrary.Īs for extra options/modifiers, I would like timer and win points settings. The faces going on a map should be the sign of a selection, not a hover.ĥ. I can never tell what I have selected and what's actually going to be picked. As a side note, the stage selection is very unclear. There is no reason to not give this option.Ĥ. Well, they can also be in modifiers, but there has to be a checklist of all items. The other modifiers are in a second box, and if the roullete is not on, all of them are used.ģ. Could perhaps be set to select more than one modifiers, but not very important.Ģ. It makes it so only one of the modifiers is used, as it is currently. The "roulette" is a separate trigger option. Here is how I would organize the current settings of the room.ġ. ![]() Next, and also more importantly, setting up a game needs more options. ![]() More options will give you some totalbiscuit points if a WTF is ever comes out too. I'm sure people would like more options too, for exemple I would like to have a default multiplayer character option. I know you can manually change it, but comon, I shouldn't have to alt enter and drag the borders around every time I launch the game. Even a 2D game needs some resolution and fullscreen option. I think there are two things the game needs right now more than new content : networking fixes/optimization, which everyone is aware of, but also more options.
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