AGDQ 2017

Today I came back home from my trip to America. I went to Awesome Games Done Quick 2017 in Dulles, Virginia in the United States and performed a Sly 1 any% speedrun clocking in at 1:01:04 - an amazing time for a marathon, a time that would have ranked 3rd on the leaderboard if I had submitted it individually. I got to meet a bunch of people for the first time, and I got be reunited with other friends I rarely see.

Anyway, my trip started on January 7th. I hopped on my flight from Copenhagen to Iceland. Here I had a short layover, before getting on the plane to Dulles. Coincidentally, I bumped into Natty on the plane and we got to sit next to each other for the trip. Natty himself did Crash Team Racing at the event and did quite well, so that's nice. The entirety of the Playstation block went amazingly well.

I arrive at the hotel after a short shuttle trip from the airport. The second I walk into the lobby, I am assaulted by MrShasta, hugging me for the first time. It was amazing to not have to wander around on my own trying to find him. There was no room for awkwardness at all, in the case that stuff just didn't click, which it thankfully did. Right off the bat, everything felt natural. As you would expect, I spent most of my time at the event with Shasta. I got to meet a lot of his friends, people that I knew of by name, but never really spoke to, yet alone having an idea of what they looked like.

On the first day of the actual event, we went to iHop with a bunch of the people from the Rookery and it was neat. I tend to be a bit awkward around people I never met before, so my interaction with them was very limited. I just kinda spoke to Shasta, which I regret. I feel like I could've gotten more out of the event and made a lot more friends, but I played it safe for almost all of the event and just kinda tagged along. Which brings me to the topic of cliques.

As much as I most definitely had fun at the event, I also felt like a bit of an outsider at some points. Walking around the hallways, Shasta would be greeted by loads of people basically all the time, and I was just kinda there. Most people didn't seem too interested in finding out who I was, but at the same time, I didn't really do much to interact myself. I'm pretty good at talking to people, both in person and online, but I have a hard time initiating conversations in person. As such, I felt like I missed out on a few opportunities to make more friends. Furthermore, I was left out of a group picture of the Crash/Spyro community. A good ~35 people in the community was around, and a big group picture was taken, however I was never informed of this until I saw it posted on twitter. I also had expressed interest in the twitch t-shirt being handed out, but I was never told when that happened.

I don't expect people to babysit me, but I kind of feel like I stick to myself. I am in no groups or cliques. And I feel like that is a shame, because I am a very social person once I am comfortable around the people around me. I only really got to show that side of myself to a few people, and I had hoped to be that person throughout most of it. Just didn't happen this time around.

Come Friday the 13th, the Playstation block rolled around, starting out with Crash Bandicoot 2 100% by my good friend SwordofSeals. I was on the couch for the run, despite almost being too late because the schedule changed during my sleep and was pushed an hour earlier, meaning I basically just woke up and went to the stream room. Crash 2 was followed by CTR and then it was my turn with Sly 1.

For those who don't know, my backwards compatable Playstation 3 had broken down the day before I left for AGDQ. As a result, I did not bring my own system. Instead MrGRC let me use his. The Playstation worked just fine and I got to do some practice on it beforehand. I actually only finished 2 practice runs before the real deal, and even though I usually put more effort into practice, it turned out really well. And I am glad it did. When you know you have a big thing coming up, and you stress out over it, you sometimes lose out on some of the fun, because you're too focused on your game. Glad this was not the case this time. Headstrong went in with Jak and Daxter after my run, and Skitz and Xem finished off the Playstation block with Ratchet and Clank 2.

The Playstation Nation was represented really well at this GDQ, and I feel like we showed people that Playstation runs are definitely something to look out for; they are truly under appreciated in the community. Before the event, I didn't think I was gonna be too caught up in the GDQ hype. I just wanted to do my run and hang out with friends, and not worry too much about the event, but seeing the actual size of the entire event, it was really hard to not feel proud to have helped raise 2.2 million USD and represented the game I love. Was an honor and I am really happy with my own performance. Shoutouts to ChrisLBC, SwordofSeals and Shasta for being on my couch, despite me having the commentary on lockdown most of the way.

Of course, my America trip didn't end after AGDQ. Me and Shasta went onto Washington DC for 2 days, staying at our friend Whit_send's parents' house. They provided excellent hospitality and we were being treated exceptionally well. Following the DC trip, we then went on a Mega Bus to New York City, where we spent the rest of the week. However, since our New York trip wasn't really related to speedrunning, I will chose to leave out the details. Feel free to ask though. It was a really cool trip.

Thank you for the support. My viewer counts have been great lately, streaming has been amazing and I genuinely hope you enjoyed the Sly run. As my PS3 is broken, I can no longer do Sly 1 for the time being, but I have other games in mind. Sly 4 anyone?