AGDQ24 recap

Me before AGDQ: 95% sure this'll be my last in-person GDQ trip barring a game acceptance
Me after AGDQ: AS LONG AS I'M IN A ONE TANK DRIVING DISTANCE I'M SO COMING BACK

Over the last year I kind of fell out of speedrunning - did half as many marathon runs as 2022, wasn't really feeling any communities or need to derust or learn new games beyond one. Japan was back open for travel and I had concerts to go to, which has become my main hobby. Remembering how I felt back at AGDQ 2020 didn't help, where I was there the entire week and bored for half of it - that and PTO was the reason why I only did the back end of the week for this trip. I nearly decided to cancel this trip too, up until about a month ago.

I think it was a whole half hour of being at the event until I was fully warmed up to my decision to attend.

Seeing friends that I hadn't seen in person for 4 or more years again, and feeling completely comfortable talking to them like it had just been 4 days since we last saw each other.
The feeling of seeing so many first time attendees having an amazing time and being able to share stories of the old days with them.
Many staff members agreeing that the vibes were amazing, that this felt more like a GDQ from the 2015-2017 era.

Since I only attended for three days of the event, I didn't do too many things. Lots of sitting and talking and watching others, two volunteer shifts, two tournaments, a Jubeat session in the arcade, watching a few runs live in the stream room, and a few trips out to get food either alone or with others.

Those vibes I mentioned before partially came from how well run the actual event was. The new dual-stage setup really cut down on setup times, and the new "checkpoint" system introduced into the schedule helped keep any changes on track due to runs going too fast or going too long. There were multiple backup games added into the schedule due to there being so much extra time, which hasn't happened in years. There was also very little donation stalling to meet bonus games - a major problem from how the bonus game system worked the last few events. It can really only go up from here as long as this system keeps being tweaked to improve.

I'd do specific shoutouts like I have in the past but there's so so many people that I'd forget someone and feel bad so, being generic:
To everyone who I've been to GDQ with before
To everyone who I've known for years online and met for the first time in person
To everyone who I met for the first time ever and spoke to about the old days, or gave an autograph to, or hugged outside my hotel room, or joked about frame rules in elevator 5 with
From the bottom of my heart, thank you.
Thank you for reminding me why I've stuck around this hobby for almost 18 years. For giving me the same feeling I get at a live concert when in the crowd cheering. For rekindling my want to play games real fast.

I won't be attending SGDQ in person, that part of the year is around some Japan trips (and potentially overlapping depending on things), but you'll see me in the chat, wielding a mod sword. And I'll be looking forward to seeing the location for next AGDQ!