Do you find real life unfulfilling?
Do you have a tendecy to avoid problems?
Do you look for ways of escaping from stressful situations?
How long is the average speedrun?
Why do you speed run?
I'm currently doing a paper on video games and would like to gather from data.
Joined: 11/18/2006
Posts: 2426
Location: Back where I belong
No (I have a well paying job which I enjoy, a wife, and I'm very content)
No
Not really. Life is full of them, and the ones that piss me off I try and avoid, but you either learn to deal with them or run away.
Time to completion or time of movie? Time to completion varies greatly depending on the game, motivation, etc. My average time of movies for me is 11:34.56
It's a hobby, so I do it when I have time and motivation. Lately, I haven't had either :(
Nope. Engaged, getting good grades in my major, overall enjoying all forms of life.
Do you have a tendecy to avoid problems?
If I can get out of them, yeah. Otherwise I will suck it up and deal with the problem.
Do you look for ways of escaping from stressful situations?
When my Uncle died (3rd death in the family within 6 months) I played FFX for an unholy amount of time. It helped me deal with the loss. Otherwise, I just do things that relax me in between the stressful activities.
How long is the average speedrun?
42
Why do you speed run?
I don't. I just wanted to answer some questions and try to be more like the bossy man.
I'm currently doing a paper on video games and would like to gather from data.
I expect to see the mean, standard deviation and variance of the data you aquire.
adelikat wrote:
I very much agree with this post.
Bobmario511 wrote:
Forget party hats, Christmas tree hats all the way man.
Yes, quite. I'm having an existential crisis just about every five minutes and I'm feeling worse for the future of the people around me every day.
lumice wrote:
Do you have a tendecy to avoid problems?
Not only that, I tend to deny their existance as long as I can possibly as well. Of course I can't lie to my self, but there are many excellent ways to escape reality, or temporarily make for the future or past to not matter that much any more.
lumice wrote:
Do you look for ways of escaping from stressful situations?
I wish I could, even if I realise I can't escape life, I still try.
lumice wrote:
How long is the average speedrun?
Bad question, it's not a matter of opinion but I guess you'd rather have to find a median or mean. Either that of you just worded the question rather badly.
lumice wrote:
Why do you speed run?
While I've never quite enjoyed playing video games for story or the sake of completion I'm a very competative person, and I play to be the best.
TAS'ing on the other hand is very much unlike playing video games and when I've done that it's rather to see what the final result looks like.
lumice wrote:
I'm currently doing a paper on video games and would like to gather from data.
Quite short answers, but either way this is the internet and I can answer whatever without anyone actually knowing who I am, hurra0y.
Not really. There's things I wish were different, but don't we all?
Do you have a tendecy to avoid problems?
Since speed running in and of itself is a "problem", I'm not really avoiding them, now...am I?
Do you look for ways of escaping from stressful situations?
Since trying to get the best speed run possible can be stressful too, much like the prior question, I'm not avoiding anything going into speed running.
How long is the average speedrun?
Since I do mostly RPGs, my runs are typically 1-3 hours long.
Why do you speed run?
Because it's a challenge and a new way to look at the games that I've played and loved.
Speaking for myself, all of that doesn't really matter, to me. To me.
Also, if someone encounters my mother, could you relay the message that I have just committed manslaughter with a firearm?
Build a man a fire, warm him for a day,
Set a man on fire, warm him for the rest of his life.
Joined: 1/16/2008
Posts: 358
Location: The Netherlands
lumice wrote:
Do you find real life unfulfilling?
Do you have a tendecy to avoid problems?
Do you look for ways of escaping from stressful situations?
(...)
I'm currently doing a paper on video games and would like to gather from data.
Even if someone is unhappy, avoids problems and prefers to escape stressful situations... it's not really likely that they would tell you here :P
I wouldn't go quite that far, but I haven't really done anything significant with my life, and that's disappointing to me.
Do you have a tendecy to avoid problems?
It depends on if the problem is something with the potential to piss me off; my temper isn't the best-controlled thing in the world, and if it pops, it's really fucking ugly.
Do you look for ways of escaping from stressful situations?
See above.
How long is the average speedrun?
I've only done a couple games to completion; one took about 15 minutes, the other took about 47 (but that was a testrun.)
Why do you speed run?
I enjoy watching games played extraordinarily, so it's mostly for my own benefit, although if I think the work is of sufficient quality, I'll submit it here.
Do you find real life unfulfilling?
Do you have a tendecy to avoid problems?
Do you look for ways of escaping from stressful situations?
How long is the average speedrun?
Why do you speed run?
I'm currently doing a paper on video games and would like to gather from data.
Now a more serious answer:
I sometimes do find real life unfulfilling, but lately I've been feeling a lot better. I have a job and I'm more active with my other hobbies. My relationship is also doing well.
I do have a tendency to avoid problems, but more often I try not to cause any problems. I usually solve my problems though, even if it seems to be too late for that.
The third answer is basically the same as the second.
My average speedrun is around 10 minutes, I think. Not sure about that.
I do speedruns because I find it amusing and entertaining at times. It's a hobby.
Speaking for myself, all of that doesn't really matter, to me. To me.
Also, if someone encounters my mother, could you relay the message that I have just committed manslaughter with a firearm?
Are you gonna leave it all behind and face the truth?
Do you find real life unfulfilling?
No
Do you have a tendecy to avoid problems?
Nope
Do you look for ways of escaping from stressful situations?
Nope. I ofter try to fix them.
How long is the average speedrun?
Depends on the game, and how you going to speedrun that game.
Why do you speed run?
Give me something to do.
Yes, but I find fantasies to be even less fulfilling.
lumice wrote:
Do you have a tendecy to avoid problems?
Yes, and I tend to be as passive as possible when I do confront them.
lumice wrote:
Do you look for ways of escaping from stressful situations?
I guess so...?
lumice wrote:
How long is the average speedrun?
As long as the total length of all speedruns divided by the total number of speedruns.
lumice wrote:
Why do you speed run?
To entertain people. All four of the games I have worked on so far have also been to make specific people happy, and I was sort of hoping that more people would like Tails' Skypatrol if I TASed it.
Speaking for myself, all of that doesn't really matter, to me. To me.
Also, if someone encounters my mother, could you relay the message that I have just committed manslaughter with a firearm?
Are you gonna leave it all behind and face the truth?
I apologize if this is upsetting to you and is, as a consequence, causing your tear ducts to generate excess eyeball lubrication. If I don't return by 4:12 AM CDT on May 8th, it would be preferable to me if you were to continue doing whatever it is that you were doing without regard to the passing time, because it is my deeply held and unswayable opinion that it doesn't really matter.
Build a man a fire, warm him for a day,
Set a man on fire, warm him for the rest of his life.
Joined: 11/22/2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
I find this a rather strange set of questions. The premise of the first three appears to be that speedrunners are just speedrunning away from their own personal problems. :)
We're totally normal people, you know!
lumice wrote:
How long is the average speedrun?
Does this mean to ask how long it takes to make one, or how long the final results generally are? Because you can check the latter yourself. Also, does this refer to regular speedruns or tool-assisted speedruns?
lumice wrote:
Why do you speed run?
I haven't made a speedrun in quite some time, and I've never made a complete tool-assisted one, but the reason why I like speedrunning is because it forces us to come up with creative solutions to problems. The act of going far beyond what was initially intended with these games can bare the core attributes of the engine and show us things nobody ever knew existed. It can uncover secrets that even the developers themselves probably had no idea of.
Do you find real life unfulfilling?
Do you have a tendecy to avoid problems?
Do you look for ways of escaping from stressful situations?
How long is the average speedrun?
Why do you speed run?
I'm currently doing a paper on video games and would like to gather from data.
Speed running isn't some kind of product of our fantasies, is it? It is part of real life. Just like other kinds of competitions imo.
I think most speed runners wouldn't have the tendency to avoid problems, rather to search and solve problems and make up problems of their own. They're in fact looking for problems to show others and themselves how good they are at solving them.
Again, I don't think speed running is really much of a way to escape real life stressful situations. It's more of a thing so you can prove to yourself that you can get something done or to test out where your own limits are. Or just train yourself for the sake of getting better (at something that is essentially pointless, except for that it provides entertainment, making it a form of art), while it's still kind of fun.
I don't speed run anymore (unTAed).
But I did speed run because I was interested in all these glitches and timesavers and in how/why they work. Also in figuring out ways on how to train yourself, to get certain parts right everytime even though they require very high levels of precision.
I find my real life very fulfilling, but I don't really understand why it's so popular to consider stuff that happens on the internet as "not part of real life". Playing card games is part of real life, isn't it? Well, I don't see much of a difference with computer games, unless we are talking about MMORPGs. But those are never speed run afaik. >__>
And really, an essential part of speed running is to break the laws of the game, so you aren't really engulfed in a fantasy world of any kind. Instead, you're solving very complex not-np-complete puzzles (finding the fastest way to beat a game), where you'll never know if your solution is the absolute best one. The second part is to train yourself to execute that solution as best as humanly possible (except with TASes, duh).
So no, it has nothing to do with escaping real life at all imo.
Maybe it's an artificial way of giving speed runners the feeling of being successful, while they don't really accomplish anything that'd really have any kind of a big impact on the world. But that's true for most forms of competition.
I find this survey amusing. First of all, there is no data by which to perform statistics on - most real psychology surveys have numbers 1 - 5 by which to rate your condition/feelings/etc.
Open ended questions can't really get good data with which to present in an unbiased fashion.
You'd be better formulating your survey as such
Worst 1 ---- 5 Best
1. Rate your current life satisfaction
2. Rate your willingness to confront problems
3. Rate your desire to escape from problematic situations.
Short answer
4. How many hours a week do you spend speedrunning?
5. How many other hobbies do you have?
6. What is your current status? Married/Divorced/Widowed/Dating/Single
etc, etc.
Currently, the way this reads makes me think of this.
1. Is TASing for fags?
2. Have you ever touched a girl? (circle one) No/No
3. Is searching for memory addresses on a Friday night cool, you loser?
4. Where do you currently reside? (circle one) Parent's Basement/Parent's Apartment
5. How many times a week do you shower?
6. Speedrunners never get laid (circle one) Yes/Yes.
Sage advice from a friend of Jim: So put your tinfoil hat back in the closet, open your eyes to the truth, and realize that the government is in fact causing austismal cancer with it's 9/11 fluoride vaccinations of your water supply.
I apologize if this is upsetting to you and is, as a consequence, causing your tear ducts to generate excess eyeball lubrication. If I don't return by 4:12 AM CDT on May 8th, it would be preferable to me if you were to continue doing whatever it is that you were doing without regard to the passing time, because it is my deeply held and unswayable opinion that it doesn't really matter.
I'm sorry that you're a broke young man from a family stuck in poverty. Don't be so depressed, I'm sure somebody loves you and will save you from this monstrosity.
Joined: 2/28/2006
Posts: 2275
Location: Milky Way -> Earth -> Brazil
A pirate walks into a bar with a steering wheel hanging from his belt
The bartender asks: "What's that for?"
The pirate responds: "Aarrr, its driving me nuts".
"Genuine self-esteem, however, consists not of causeless feelings, but of certain knowledge about yourself.
It rests on the conviction that you — by your choices, effort and actions — have made yourself into the
kind of person able to deal with reality. It is the conviction — based on the evidence of your own volitional
functioning — that you are fundamentally able to succeed in life and, therefore, are deserving of that success."
- Onkar Ghate
Bisqwit wrote:
Joined: 11/4/2007
Posts: 1772
Location: Australia, Victoria
Answering for the sake of answering, I'm not much of a speedrunner but I've still speedrunned.
Do you find real life unfulfilling?
I find it boring but not unfulfilling, I find publishing (Among other interests, some of which are clearly obvious) a good deterant from lifes negatives.
Do you have a tendency to avoid problems?
I cause more problems then I fix.
Do you look for ways of escaping from stressful situations?
No, because I have no control over stressful situations.
How long is the average speedrun?
Around 7-10 minutes, but this is going by what I've encoded, what I've actually TASed... well, I haven't got any completed TAS's to give a tangible number.
Why do you speed run?
Something to do while I'm bored.
