The Elite Forum
The Big Three Plus One => GoldenEye 007 => Topic started by: hotshott on October 22, 2014, 01:31:36 am
-
This is from my own experience speed running GE and watching other people grinding and struggling in a similar way. It mostly applies to newer players, experienced players may go thru these much faster or not at all. Take it with a grain of :kappa: .
Mostly borrowed from Wikipedia...
The Five Stages of GE Speedrunning
1 Denial — As the reality of not achieving a world record is hard to face, one of the first reactions to follow the repeated fails is Denial. The person is trying to shut out the reality or magnitude of his/her situation, and begins to develop a false, preferable reality.
“I can get this record.” “Man I should go for xx:xx”, “If _____ can get it, so can I.” “That run was so close, it had potential.”
2 Anger — Once in the second stage, the individual recognizes that denial cannot continue. Because of anger, the person is very difficult to watch on stream due to misplaced feelings of rage and envy. The person in question can be angry with himself, or with others, or at a higher power (Ken Lobb), and especially those who are close to them. Certain psychological responses of a person undergoing this phase would be:
“Fucking Doak/Nat/Trev!”; “That slow death animation!”, “Ugh, I can’t hit this shot/throw/turn!” “A conveniently timed back boost!” “What the fuck was that?”
3 Bargaining — The third stage involves the hope that the individual can somehow undo or avoid a cause of grief. Usually, the negotiation for a lower, non-record completion time is made with the game in exchange for a reprieve from degeneracy. In essence, the individual cannot totally move into acceptance, yet acknowledges the fact that getting this time is gonna be harder than first thought. For example, one may say “I just want a completion/good starts.” when facing a tough time. Bargaining rarely provides a sustainable solution, especially if it is a matter of world records.
“If I can get xx:xx I can pass ________.” “RNG please!” “I just need to play for another hour.” “Maybe I should switch to Jap/PAL.”
4 Depression — During the fourth stage, the player begins to understand the certainty that this world record is not gonna happen easily. Much like the existential concept of The Void, the idea of playing video games becomes pointless. Things begin to lose meaning to the “eliter.” Because of this, the individual may become silent, refuse to do dishes/laundry, and spend much of the time resetting the game. This process allows the player to disconnect from things of love and affection, possibly in an attempt to avoid further human contact, distractions, or looking in a mirror. At this stage, a “GE Retirement post” crosses the player’s mind.
“I’m only gaining a few points, so what's the point?"; "I miss the days before look-down/2.x/Cosmo, why go on?” “This sucks.”
5 Acceptance — In this last stage, individuals begin to come to terms with their skill/irrelevancy. This stage varies according to the person's situation. People struggling for a time can enter this stage a long time before other players, who must pass through their own individual stages of speedrunning. This typically comes with a calm, retrospective view for the individual, a stable mindset, and possibly a world record.
“I’m still a good player. I’m ranked higher than these irrels.”; "I can't fight it, its just part of speedrunning GE.” "About time I got a fucking break in this fucking game!"
-
I'm still FAR, FAR from the real grind, but my thoughts so far:
1 - How the fuck do I control this moron? *can't do the blind strafe to GE key in B1* Maybe I should just stick to mario...
2 - Wow, playing for a few days, relatively easy PR's with just some hours of grind, this game is fun!
3 - WTF dude I just did the most perfect run of my life and it wasn't even a dupe? I don't know where to save time anymore I'm hopeless and should go back to casual gaming and pokemon speedruns (kinda the same thing lelelelelelelel) drowining myself in my kitchen sink
4 - Okay, it took quite a few hours to get the PR, and it is second/s off of the WR, so even though it may not seem like there's time so save, I can hammer on and optimize my game play a whole lot still!
5 - Dude, I just want to get over with Dam 53... give me a nice gate and lockshot please :(
and "6 -" I'm not gonna go for dumb shit like 48, 17 or 16 that will take me 80 hours each to get before I improve my OCB in other levels :nesquik:
Oh, by the way, I may have punched my desk a few times, screamed louder than someone with a stone in the kidney, and slammed my controller on the table while playing... you know, standard :v
-
As a Psychology major, I actually enjoyed the OP. The stages that were described are actually the stages of the grieving process.
It's pretty funny how they also apply to GE.