LJ Idol Homecoming, Week 11: "Wild Goose Chase"
Birds Are Jerks
Back in 2010, a group of video-game speed-runners (players who specialize in completing the games as quickly as possible) gathered in someone's basement to run a bunch of games and raise some money for charity. The event, Classic Games Done Quick, had its share of technical issues, but eventually raised about $11,000.
At the time, this was seen as a major accomplishment--getting people to watch video games on Twitch was one thing, but getting people to donate for the right to name characters, determine the routes the players took, and even get extra games played was quite another.
Then they did it again, but bigger.
And then again. And again.
Ten years later, the latest event, which took place in Orlando last week, raised over three million dollars for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. All told, GDQ events have now raised over $25 million for various charities.
One wrinkle this time around was that a special call was put out for speedruns of recently-released games, to break up the Sonic-Mario-Metroid monotony that can occasionally take over. Of course, anyone who has followed the video game community over the past year knew what that meant:
Someone was going to speedrun Untitled Goose Game.
Yes, the game that has taken over the imaginations of Switch users the world over, and proved once and for all that birds are jerks (which is a meme not only on random corners of the internet, but also within the speedrun community--in any RPG, birds prove to be the most annoying enemies to fight, because who sets up their party to defend against wind attacks?), would be showcased on video-gaming's greatest stage.
The runs themselves are a masterpiece; the crowd's reactions (particularly to crossing the $2-million-donated barrier) are a honking delight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ExTp5-WgC8
While it may seem odd that over 150,000 people spent their Saturday evening watching someone pilot a pixelated goose around an oddly charming town, let alone helped raise money while doing so, the glitches showcased by the runners serve as a reminder of the same thing that the GDQ braintrust has always known:
Never tell speedrunners that something is impossible.
Walls? Just another thing to work around, or more likely, work through.
A character who will always talk to you, no matter what? We can avoid that.
The weapon you need isn't accessible until after you need it? Says you.
There's no way to recreate the magic (and charity impact) of the telethon in the modern age? Just watch.
If you can dream it, you can do it. Even if it involves becoming a bird, and being a bit of a jerk.