Slowrun

A slowrun is a play-through, or recording thereof, of a computer- or video game performed with the intent of completing it as slowly as possible mainly for the purposes of entertainment, competition, and relaxation. The term, a compound of the words slow and run (as in "running" through a game, referring to the playing of a game, although “walking” or “crawling” may be more appropriate, or perhaps the more literal “jog” which is in fact a slower run) is only used in the context of games that were not originally or primarily designed with slow completion in mind (one generally does not "slowrun" a survival game; in those cases the game's standard settings for winning are already lasting as long as possible in the game world, and a slowrun would simply be a normal playthrough).

Commonly, slowruns are recorded on either an analog media such as a video tape (predominantly when games on consoles are concerned), or as a digital file, by the people ("players") who make them, for entertainment or verifiability purposes. Despite a large majority of slowruns being released in a compressed video container, such as AVI, and this largely being the preferred format due to the high amount of software that can be used to view them, some communities utilize a game's native demo format due to these inherently being much more compact and thus easy to share with other players. Such demos would require specific software to view, usually (a specific version of) the original game itself. Slowruns produced by such communities that are of general interest to a larger audience are usually also distributed in a more ubiquitous format, such as the Doom Done Slow (was high) slowrun, which was converted to AVI and placed on Youtube so that people who did not own Doom could also watch it. Entertainment and relaxation has traditionally been the reason for the creation of slowruns, as the phenomenon was originally devised by enthusiasts who wanted to experience as much of a game as possible and push the limits of the game’s clock or timer system, while verifiability stems from the necessity to provide evidence that one's playthrough went by the typical or game-specific slowrun rules and thus counts as a valid attempt to beat the slowest record.

In order to attain the highest possible quality of play in a slowrun, the author usually has to look at and think about the game differently than most casual gamers would. Generally, it is usually required that slowruns are planned out carefully before they are attempted; this need stems from the complexity of the separate areas in which the gameplay takes place as well as the natural boredom of the player. Gamers must also think about how they react to games differently. In order to overcome the natural tendency to play more quickly, gamers must follow a specific slow game plan. Additionally, games and their physics engines are not flawless and will allow the runner to do unexpected things that could accidentally save time. Slowrunners must be aware of these and avoid them whenever possible, such as the “B” button causing faster movement in the game Super Mario Bros. which is commonly a target for slowruns. Slowrunners also consistently make use of game breaking events such as the ability to disjunct the common sequence of events in a game and thus repeat entire parts of it—the act of sequence breaking—and the ability to use programming errors, or glitches, to increase the time on the clock or slow down (or lag) the speed of gameplay.

Some games, such as the Mario series, Myst, Paperboy, and Crysis, are considered to be ideal specimen for slow completion purposes and have online communities dedicated to them, which provide (or have provided) a highly active platform for discussing the slowrunning of one or more of these particular games. There are also many recorded slowruns on popular websites such as Youtube for display and discussion of the slowrunning of these games.

Common procedures and preparation
There are several important things that one needs to keep in mind during the making of a slowrun. These pertain to how slow one is at playing the game, which primarily means that the player must understand gameplay mechanics, and must instinctively know the slowest way to utilize the in-game physics and any special techniques or tricks that can be used to slow down one’s playthrough. Next, the slowrunner must be able to use this intricate game knowledge to figure out the slowest way of playing any generic encounter within the game. Oftentimes, slowrunners may watch their younger siblings in order to grasp a slower way of playing.

Contrary to popular belief, a slowrun is not playing the game in a poor manner. Extra lives are in fact crucial as each life can potentially double the current playtime. Intense knowledge of common glitches such as Mario’s extra life glitch must be used to set slowrun records. Players must also be well versed in every function of the game, specifically the pause function, and when it is appropriate to use each function to extend the player’s life as well as the current game time. Finally, players must have good knowledge of the game and the events that occur within it. This is crucial, as one needs to know exactly what to expect during a "run" through the game, and also realize the least optimal method of doing so. Additionally, runners require perseverance, as it is quite difficult to be able to do a run correctly during a single attempt. Gamers often succumb to fatigue and carpal tunnel syndrome throughout a slowrun. Luck also plays a large role in a slowrun. When attempting to break another record, making mistakes could significantly increase one's chances of doing so (especially if the holder of the current record did not make that same mistake). For some slowrun records, especially those of the popular game Myst, years of intensive competition have brought about very long slowruns, the longest of which has been continuing since 1993. Runners therefore practice intensively to attain the tenacity to play for such long stretches. In many cases, Internet communities that relate to slowrunning are able to keep active slowruns going for several years. In the case of The Oregon Trail, emulators have been used to continue slowruns from the Apple II since 1985, making it the longest slowrun of a computer game to date.

As mentioned, the actual recording of a run is preceded by a research phase. The things a runner can do during this phase pertain to finding out possible ways to lose and spend time, most of which are likely specific to the game that he is playing. However, there are some general tips such as using the pause button and refusing to advance which can be applicable to a wide variety of games. Naturally, it must also be known beforehand that there is a certain route through the game that will yield a slow time. Such a route can describe various things, including a number of abilities that the game's character must obtain or avoid, which areas to pause, or which levels to choose playing (in case there is a choice at all). The devised routes can be highly creative and may include doing things that are out of ordinary or intended play style. It is not uncommon for routes to even repeat parts of regular gameplay in events known as "sequence breaking", sometimes through the use of programming errors (called "glitches" in this case) that can work to the runner's advantage. These things both pertain to the most important preparation work: route planning.

Schools of Thought

The actual preparation for a slowrun is based largely around which school of thought, or set of rules, that the player wishes to use. The two main schools of thought for slowrunning are Game Time and Real Time. The names refer to the type of time counted for the respective slowrun. Game Time slowruns only use the game clock or timer for official scores, while Real Time slowruns count the time spent by the player doing the slowrun.

One of the largest causes of debate between the two schools of thought is the use of the pause function. Game Timers believe pausing the game does not count towards a slowrun’s total time, while Real Timers believe that it should. Game Time slowruns are much easier to measure and prove, and have more definitive goals. Because of this, Game Time slowruns are more prevalent and popular in the slowrun community.

However, Real Time slowruns still have a devoted following because of the limits of Game Time slowruns. Real Timers often cite the fact that Game Time slowruns all have a theoretical maximum score, and slowrunning should be about stretching the limits, not striving for a set limit. For instance, in Super Mario Bros., each level allows for 400 game seconds to tick for each life used. Using the Game Time school of thought, the maximum time a player could theoretically spend on level 1 is 1200 seconds (400 seconds times 3 lives). No one has yet reached this limit, the closest being the popular SUPER MARIO BROS SLOW RUN PART 1 recording. Real Timers believe that limit goes against the tenets of slowrunning, and the object of a game should be spending as much time playing it, not as much time using the game’s timer function. Interestingly enough, SUPER MARIO BROS SLOW RUN PART 1 was done by a Real Time slowrunner, with ample use of the pause function, and became the closest to reach the Game Time limit for the level as well.

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