I love video games. It is unquestionably the biggest and most enjoyable aspect of my life. With that said, I am not blind to all of the negative energy that permeates this industry. Brand loyalty causes online disputes over consoles. Harassment towards women and the LGBTQ community, especially online, is still prevalent. Deceptive marketing and predatory sales tactics are still a thing.
With that said, Games Done Quick will consistently be the most delightful event in gaming for me. Games Done Quick is a week-long marathon of speedruns in a variety of ways and stipulations. There are two events per year: Awesome Games Done Quick and Summer Games Done Quick. Summer Games Done Quick, which just wrapped up, donates all of the proceeds of the event to Doctors Without Borders. This year the event raised $1.76 million for the charity which is a record for both the event and the organization.
The week-long event is filled with new and old games being broken and finish with unfathomable quickness. The event also has donors writing in talking about their favorite memories of the game or how different games impacted them. The entire week is devoid of any negative energy. It is just a pure celebration of video games and gamers all towards a great cause.
Typically, the event’s finale speedrun is the most beloved and impactful one. AGDQ earlier this year ended with an emotional run of Undertale that had the crowd chanting and misty-eyed, myself included. However, it was this year that it was the opening speedrun that caught many individuals attention. A speedrunner and Twitch streamer named Halfcoordinated opened the event with a one-handed speedrun of Nier: Automata. Now, stipulations are pretty common in speedruns. Blindfolded runs and co-op two people, one controller runs are plentiful. However, this run was particularly special. Halfcoordinated is a  disabled gamer who dedicates his craft to learning to speedrun some of the fastest and hardest games in the world. He ended his run with a speech of gratitude towards Platinum Games and Square Enix for including accessibility options in the game. These inclusions makes it possible for gamers like Halfcoordinated to experience so many of the games we take for granted. Stories like this beautiful one is why I love Games Done Quick.
Have you caught any speedruns that caught your eye? Let us know in the comments!
