Really a Useful Note: Speedrun

To-do list

• Speedrun is now a Definition-Only Page per crowner decision. Examples on a work's trope list and wicks that don't fit the definition need to be removed. Wicks that use "speedrun" as a term correctly can be left alone. Wick cleanup is being tracked using the Sandbox.Speedrun Wick Cleaning sandbox.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Dec 12th 2022 at 8:23:00 AM

Paging ~hawthorn to the thread. Anyway, I'm fine with moving this to Useful Notes, though I think making it a Definition-Only Page was suggested, and I'd be fine with that, but we have other video game Useful Notes pages (like Mechanics Dynamics Aesthetics and Interactive Fiction Competition), so I think there's precedent for moving this to Useful Notes and I'd prefer that over definition-only.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Dec 7th 2022 at 8:04:52 AM

to making it Useful Notes.

Move to Useful Notes

Tagged the page.

Useful Notes

This is the first time in my being here (about 2/3 of a year) that I've seen this tag used. Nevertheless, agreed with all of the above.

Definitely a Useful Note.

For Useful Notes move.

Speedrunning to make this a Useful Note

Let me speedrun through this.

Useful Notes

Done

Useful Notes

If you mean "Really a Useful Note", admittedly, I haven't seen it used in a while despite seeing it in the past. Though I'd say "Snowclone" is significantly less common than "Really a Useful Note" even with threads that involve snowclones, which usually use "Ambiguous Name" or "Misused" if they're misused because of the snowclone, or "Not Tropeworthy" in the case of threads that involve a member of the "Everything's [adjective] with [noun]" snowclone family that was determined to be Chairs (though the Everythings Better With Dinosaurs thread used "Misused" before ultimately getting rid of it entirely by disambiguating it).

Edited by GastonRabbit on Dec 7th 2022 at 11:56:16 AM

Setting up the wrong warp to Useful Notes.

Useful note

This should be a definition-only page, not an Useful Notes. It's not a Real Life concept that is sometimes used in fiction like a trope, but a Fan Speak term.

Edited by SeptimusHeap on Dec 8th 2022 at 12:35:40 PM

Yeah, def only

Good points. Changing my vote to def-only then.

I've drifted back and forth between whether to make this Useful Note or Definition-only, since it feels like there are good arguments to be made for both.

When people link to Speedrun, they generally appear to do in order to explain what the word means, which suggests Definition-only.

The Useful Notes page lists these criteria for something to be a Useful Note:

1. To debunk common media stereotypes.
2. To help you understand some media better.
3. To inform (and sometimes entertain) about subjects common in storytelling.

Making Speedrun a Useful Note only really fits criterion 2, and that's if we stretch the definition of "media" to cover fandom terminology. If we are being flexible and stretch "storytelling" to cover fandom terminology too, then it could fit criterion 3 as well, since the concept of a speedrun is fairly general in gaming.

On that basis, it feels like Definition-only is the more appropriate call here. However, it may also be worth considering that Speedrun is a subcategory of the more general concept of "Runs", many of which are documented by TV Tropes:

• Pacifist Run
• Stealth Run
• No-Damage Run
• Challenge Run
• Speedrun
• Minimalist Run
• No Casualties Run
• Low-Level Run
• Solo-Character Run

Part of the problem, I feel, is that these runs are falling on a spectrum. At one end, you have "official" challenges like Pacifist Run and Stealth Run, which are often explicitly endorsed by games. These are not contentious on TV Tropes - they're easy to write about and don't have the YMMV label. These are clear contenders for Definition-only pages.

Toward the other end of the spectrum, you get obviously self imposed challenges like the Low-Level Run and Minimalist Run - these are things gamers do to test themselves, and are more wishy-washy, fan-defined niche activities. You could make these Definition-only pages too, but that implies they are well-defined, and they're not - they're just a thing some gamers do for fun.

Speedruns fit awkwardly somewhere in the middle of this spectrum - they're often self-imposed, but games also sometimes officially endorse them. The concept of a speed run is so archetypal that it's easy to define, yet there's also a ton of fandom stuff surrounding it because of the community that has developed around speedrunning, so you have to talk about that as well and that makes it less definitional.

In short: I don't know. :) I could go either way.

You know, do we need a definition page for "Run"? Or is the dictionary/colloquial definition sufficient?

For what it's worth, I'm pretty sure speed runs built into the game fall under Timed Mission.

No strong opinion on the actual repair direction.

If we did need to define Run, I would just link it to Self-Imposed Challenge, since that's what all runs are.

Timed Mission is not quite the same - that refers to missions where you fail if you run out of time. Speedruns are about getting the fastest time possible. If a game has a speedrun mode, it's usually in the form of a Time Trial with a clock and leaderboard.

Maybe a note saying that "games may encourage speed runs with Time Trial modes or even add a leaderboard to the game with best times even if the former doesn't exist in the game".

I guess definition only is fine.