I got bopped today.

I just missed the end of Poo's run today when he got a 54:20, but I showed up shortly thereafter as he was about to race Cujo and Mitch (who also PB'd today!) A couple of people asked me "oh what are you gonna do now?" or "how does it feel now that he beat you?" and I just feel like I should just say how I (and hopefully everybody that speedruns) feel when somebody beats my time in a game. I'm elated.

I think that's the thing that separates speedrunning from other "competitive" gaming is that when it comes to RTA attempts, you're not really "against" other people, you're competing against yourself, your own personal best. Sure you may have a bigger goal in mind, whether it's a time goal, or even a WR time, but you're not competing against that person, you're trying to beat that time. So when somebody beats a time that I have, it's not like they defeated me, so I don't lose, they just win. That's one of the things that I love about speedrunning and the communities that they have. While "bopping" somebody feels good, and trading PBs back and forth with people is fun, there's really no reason to ever feel upset when somebody overtakes you. Every community that I'm a part of mourns the loss of any runner's PB, and celebrates any time somebody achieves their goals, no matter how small or large they may be. And the best part is, if you feel like "Oh, I'm better than this person, even though they have a better time than me", the only person that can change that is you. It's just more inspiration to step your own game up and improve your times.

So I guess what I'm trying to get at is I'm always happy when people PB, and I think (and hope) that everybody else in speedrunning feels the same way. We all share the love of the same game, and the passion to challenge ourselves to become better and better at it, so I don't think anybody ever harbors resentment any time their PB gets beaten by somebody else. If anything, it fosters joy and maybe lights a little extra fire underneath people to improve themselves.