“This way, malicious actors are punished swiftly and heavily, while also ensuring that accidents are not punished harshly or unfairly. “We find it critically important that we treat each situation uniquely,” GDQ representative Matt Merkle said. Games Done Quick declined to speak to Kotaku about individual enforcement actions in detail, stating that it was policy to protect victims and offenders from harassment. Wright came out as transgender in November 2015 and has been subjected to harassment ever since. Cyberdemon531 created the r/speedruncelebrities subreddit, a forum that spends an inordinate time obsessing over former speedrunner Narcissa Wright. In 2015, PvtCinnamonBun made a tweet about the upcoming AGDQ 2016 that referenced the mass shooting of Umpqua Community College in Oregon. Adding another complication into the mix, Mega Man X6 speedrunner Cyberdemon531 also got banned from the event over the MAGA hat, which apparently belonged to them all along.Ĭyberdemon531 and PvtCinnamonBun were already controversial within the wider speedrunning community before their bans from GDQ. Regardless, shortly afterwards, PvtCinnamonBun claims to have received a new ban for allegedly unplugging a powerstrip. “He’s been warned multiple times.”Īccording to PvtCinnamonBun, that ban was overturned after event staff reviewed footage and ascertained that he had not, in fact, worn a MAGA hat. “At this point, we can’t trust to be on stream again,” Klaige says. In it, an event enforcer known as Klaige approaches PvtCinnamonBun and other members of the commentary team to inform them of the ban. You can hear the entire exchange through an audio recording released online by PvtCinnamonBun.
The presence of a hat with president-elect Donald Trump’s campaign logo got one couch commentator banned from GDQ events.įollowing the run, members of Games Done Quick’s event staff spoke with PvtCinnamonBun and banned him from attending future marathons for allegedly wearing the hat on the stream. But on the first day of AGDQ 2017, PvtCinnamonBun, a commentator for iongravirei’s Ape Escape 2 run, was accused of wearing a hat bearing president-elect Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan. In order to keep the focus on the charity, Games Done Quick has a policy asking that individuals avoid “topics of conversation that are polarising or controversial in nature,” including politics and religion. Additionally, each speedrun has a small team of commentators sitting on a couch, where they explain the tricks implemented during the stream. Beyond sheer skill, part of the appeal of the event are the personalities associated with the runs.
The added visibility has brought new challenges, as runners and organisers butt heads over rules that dictate what is banned from the event.Īwesome Games Done Quick, along with its partner event, Summer Games Done Quick, are week-long charity events where speedrunners use a variety of strategies and glitches to complete games as fast as possible on Twitch. Since then, AGDQ has ballooned into a big event: this year alone, viewers donated $US2.2 ($3) million dollars for a good cause. Six years ago, Awesome Games Done Quick started as a small outfit of speedrunners who played games to raise money for cancer prevention.