Published , by Kevin Tucker
Published , by Kevin Tucker
Speedrunning is a big scene on video game streaming platforms like Twitch, and the rules are very important when it comes to giving players proper credit for their achievements. It's also an important factor when choosing a winner of competitions to determine who takes home the prize money. That's why fans have become up in arms after the rules were changed during a recent Twitch Rivals event centered around Resident Evil 2 speed runs.
As revealed through the currently in-progress Twitch Rivals Resident Evil 2 Challenge stream, the rules regarding speed runs were altered mid-event to specify that points are earned when in-game achievements have been completed. Naturally, this has led to some issues between similar runs, as runs with otherwise perfect times have been assigned different scores based on achievements completed.
It's clear that fans aren't happy. Details are still pretty slim at the moment, but background chatter on a stream over at uhTrance's YouTube channel indicates that a new PDF document with updated rules was sent out to speedrun participants through Discord just moments before runs began. The document reportedly told players to reset their Steam achievements before runs began so that in-game accomplishments were given formal acknowledgments by the system.
The updated rules shook up the leaderboards, notably kicking down some of the top contenders. Given that speedrunners practice with very specific rules (and for good reason considering the huge number of glitches and unintended in-game behavior), last-second changes with money on the line were bound to upset some folks. Just that has happened.
The backlash over Twitch Rivals' unexpected changes to Resident Evil 2 speedrunning rules is certainly going to grow as time goes on. The event has just recently ended, and competitors are still talking among themselves mentioning unfair treatment and wasted effort. We do hope such shifts don't turn them away from future competitions.