Have you ever wanted to complete a video game faster than anyone else? Speedrunning is the art of completing a game as fast as possible. It’s been popular for decades, but can it be classified as an esport?
This article will explore the origins of speedrunning, the challenges and benefits of turning it into an esport, and potential future scenarios for this unique activity.
Let’s dive in and see what we can learn!
Key Takeaways
- Speedrunning is a competitive activity that involves completing video games as quickly as possible using various strategies and techniques.
- Speedrunning has gained popularity as an esport, with players racing against each other and well-defined tournaments on streaming platforms.
- Challenges for speedrunning as an esport include enforcing timing rules, varying skill levels, making a name for oneself, and the skill gap between players.
- The potential professionalization of speedrunning as an esport includes increasing prize money, introducing sponsorships, creating a global leaderboard, establishing standardized rules, developing a competitive league structure, and engaging the audience through streaming and social media.
What Is Speedrunning
Speedrunning is a competitive activity where participants compete to complete video games as quickly as possible. Players typically use a variety of strategies and techniques to finish the game in record time, making it both challenging and rewarding.
The top speedrunners are admired for their skills in beating records, often completing a game much faster than originally intended by the developers. Some speedrunners even collaborate with each other to create new strategies and find ways of optimizing their gameplay.
Speedrunning has become such an exciting sport that some players even broadcast their runs on Twitch or YouTube for an audience of thousands!
Origins of Speedrunning
Originating in the early days of gaming, speedrunning quickly grew into a competitive field where gamers race to complete games as fast as possible.
As the community evolved, so did the competitive strategies used to maximize speed and efficiency. By observing each other’s strategies and techniques, players began to improve their own approaches by taking advantage of game mechanics. This collaboration resulted in an ever-growing set of useful tricks that became incorporated into the standard of speedrunning.
Moreover, community dynamics also changed over time as new members joined and added their own ideas and innovations to the established methods. As a result, speedrunning has become much more than just a solo challenge; it is now a highly collaborative effort between members of this unique gaming culture.
Speedrunning as an Esport
With its ever-evolving strategies and collaboration between members, speedrunning has become a highly competitive esport where gamers race against each other to complete games as quickly as possible.
Prize money for top finishers continues to grow as the audience does too. Tournaments have a well-defined structure and take place on streaming platforms like Twitch, giving speedrunners an even greater chance to showcase their skills.
As more gamers join in, the competition heats up and prize pools become larger. Speedrunning is now seen by many people as a legitimate esport with real potential for growth in the gaming industry.
Challenges of Speedrunning as an Esport
Speedrunning as an Esport poses a few interesting challenges. Timing rules can be difficult to enforce and the skill level needed to compete can vary greatly. Additionally, without official events, it’s hard for speedrunners to make a name for themselves in the esport scene.
All of these issues need to be addressed if speedrunning is ever going to be recognized as an esport.
Timing Rules
Understanding and abiding by timing rules is crucial for speedrunners competing in esports tournaments. Competitive leaderboards mandate the use of online streaming services like Twitch or YouTube to verify the timestamp of each run. The timing starts when a player presses ‘start’ or begins playing on console and ends when they reach the game’s completion screen, which is then verified by a third-party observer. Additionally, players may need to submit video evidence for their runs during tournaments. Adhering to these rules is essential to ensure fairness and accuracy in rankings.
Skill Level
Skill level is a major factor when competing in speedrunning tournaments, as it determines how quickly and efficiently a player can complete the game. Speedrunners need to have an extensive knowledge of the game they are playing and must be able to complete various objectives with precision timing. This creates a skill gap between players who have mastered certain techniques versus those who are just starting out.
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Scoring System:
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Knowing the layout of levels & puzzles
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Quickly recognizing objects & obstacles
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Optimizing routes for time efficiency
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Skill Gap:
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Understanding complex strategies & tricks
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Having mastery over movement mechanics
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Executing skills without hesitation
Ultimately, this demonstrates that speedrunning is a highly competitive esport that requires a deep level of skill and dedication. The goal is to beat the existing world record, and this requires intense practice, strategy, and reflexes.
Official Events
Now that you know the skill level of speedrunning, let’s talk about official events.
Speedrunning competitions have become increasingly popular in recent years, with various competition formats and large prize pools. Many organizations and streaming platforms are investing heavily in speedrunning tournaments to attract more viewership metrics.
Professional players can earn money from sponsored tournaments by competing against other high-level runners for a share of the prize pool. You can also watch these events live on Twitch or YouTube Gaming, where top players battle it out for bragging rights and hefty cash rewards!
There are also smaller community-run tournaments that offer no monetary prizes but still attract hundreds of viewers due to the competitive atmosphere they create.
It’s clear that speedrunning is becoming an increasingly popular esport as more people become aware of its fast-paced action and exciting competition formats.
Benefits of Speedrunning as an Esport
As an esport, speedrunning offers many benefits that make it appealing to viewers.
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Community Engagement: Speedrunning events bring together players from all around the world, allowing them to interact and join in on the fun. This creates a unique atmosphere for spectators to be a part of.
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Prize Money: Competitions often offer prize money, which encourages players to take their game-play more seriously and strive for greater success. This also allows aspiring athletes a chance to make money playing video games.
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Fun Factor: Video game speedruns are usually fast-paced, thrilling experiences that are full of exciting plays and unexpected results. With its vibrant colors and intense action, it’s no wonder why these events have become so popular.
Potential Future of Speedrunning as an Esport
The potential future of speedrunning as an esport continues to be an exciting prospect. There are many opportunities for growth and success. Crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter offer ample opportunity to invest in the development of new competitive titles. This could open up a whole world of competitions where speedrunners compete for larger sums of money and sponsorships.
Prize money structures could attract more players and viewers to the scene. With increased prize pools, more players may be motivated to participate. This would also draw in more viewers, as the stakes would be higher and the competition more intense.
Support from major gaming companies would help create more events and tournaments that bring together gamers from all over the globe. By partnering with these companies, speedrunning could gain more exposure and legitimacy as an esport.
With these new resources available, speedrunning has the potential to become one of the most popular esports in the near future. The combination of crowdfunding, increased prize money, and support from major gaming companies could propel speedrunning to new heights.
Final Thoughts and Reflection
You’ve seen the potential for speedrunning to become a professionalized esport and the growing popularity of speedrunning as an entertainment medium.
Now, let’s reflect on what we’ve learned and discuss how these factors will continue to shape the future of speedrunning.
What strategies can be implemented to help ensure its success as a professional sport?
How can it capitalize on its newfound popularity?
Let’s explore these questions in more depth.
Potential Professionalization
Although speedrunning has yet to become a professionalized esport, it has the potential to do so. There are numerous aspects of speedrunning that could be developed further in order to make it a viable and successful esport:
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Prize Structure:
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Increase prize money for tournaments
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Introduce sponsorships from gaming companies
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Create a global leaderboard with awards for top placements
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Competitive Environment:
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Establish standardized rules and regulations for competitions
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Develop an organized competitive league structure
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Provide support and resources for players through organizations or governing bodies
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Audience Engagement:
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Increase viewership by streaming tournaments on various platforms
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Connect with fans through social media channels like Twitch and YouTube
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Develop spectator focused elements such as game overlays, leaderboards, etc.
Growing Popularity
Speedrunning has seen a surge in popularity as more people discover the thrill of trying to beat their own record times. To capitalize on this growing market, Twitch and other streaming services offer broadcasting logistic and tournament formats for speedrunners.
This allows speedrunners to stream their attempts live, allowing viewers to watch them complete games faster than ever before. Additionally, with tournaments providing structure and competition, many aspiring players are finding themselves drawn into the exciting world of speedrunning.
It’s no surprise then that speedrunning is becoming increasingly popular; some even argue that it can be classified as an eSport.
