World record culture

Let me get this out of the way first: Twitch chat messages such as these are definitely harmful to speedrunning:
- "Do you think X is mad you beat their WR?"
- "Is this WR pace?" (10 minutes into a 2-hour run)
- "Why play this game when you already have WR?"
- "WR hype" (when spammed excessively)
- "How can you say that run was bad when it was WR?"

When speedrunners discuss whether "world record culture" is healthy, I think they often confuse the idiocy of Internet communication with the real concept of competition. Humans are motivated by competition. Some use that motivation to degrade others or brag obnoxiously, but these behaviors are not caused by the competition itself, but by the person's immaturity. I recall being a dick to an admin on a Pokemon forum when I beat him in an online battle at age 13. The problem wasn't online battling; it was having access to an Internet forum at age 13.

Humans are also motivated by self-improvement, but this motivation tends to run dry. Runners often wait until someone beats their PB/WR before trying to improve it. Would Cheese have gotten sub-1:40 in SM64 without fierce competition from Puncayshun and Simply? Would Puncay have gotten good if he didn't have an incredible player like Siglemic to compare against?

To this, some might respond, "You can still compete without going for WR." This is true, but in terms of motivation, it falls short in two ways:

1. When possible, we're more driven to "be the best" than to beat just one person or a few others. Why discourage people from this natural drive? Of course it's unreasonable for new speedrunners to expect WRs right away, but that's a lesson best learned from experience, not from someone telling them "WR culture is unhealthy."

2. Getting WR likely means improving something about the game itself, not just your own execution. Whenever I'm motivated to get a WR in Pokemon, I start by looking for route improvements, not just grinding practice and RNG. Then I'll share those improvements with the community, and everyone will go faster. This is a win-win.

I think everyone in the speedrunning community wants to see people go faster. Humans' natural motivation to be the best is one of our biggest strengths in achieving this. Don't let Internet immaturity bring it down.