run: https://www.speedrun.com/crossy/run/yv15qw6y timestamp: 14:45 score: 2084 rule violated: #2 Pausing is NOT allowed at any point during this run.
Given no pauses are allowed and the pause can be prevented by checking and charging the battery before the run, I believe it is justified that his final score should be the score before the pause. There is an extreme advantage towards pausing as it allows the players thought whether conscious or sub-conscious to improve their run.
I think if it was paused clearly for and only for putting the device he used on charge. Then i believe it sgould still stand. But i would say a small investigation shoupd be done to see.
I'd argue it's harder when you are forced to pause. An unknowing pause ruins the tempo of your run as well as your mindset towards the run. I'd argue it's similar to how some of the modes will have random effects like Michael Boom who will randomly blow things up and shake the screen.
Adding onto my last point, if we were to accurately assess if pausing such as a low battery pause or an unintentional pause helps, we'd have to have a system where the game randomly pauses every few minutes to see if it did help or not. Though knowing that the game would pause every few minutes would already create an expectation for you to know the game might pause at any moment.
Here are reasons that it might benefit your run: -Time to think of a way out -Assess where cars are and assess if trains are about to go off or not -Stress can fall knowing you don't have to perform for 3 seconds
Here are reasons that it might ruin your run: -Having to reassess the speed of the cars when the game unpauses -Unintentional pause ruins mindset and flow. Instead of being focused on the run, you are now focused on the pause. -Stress can rise due to points above
I think it's fair to say that pausing the game, especially unintentionally, will not benefit you. I believe most if not all mobile runners can attest to the fact that unintentional pausing is a nuisance more than it is a wish.
The whole point of CR scores is reaction time. A low battery pause is preventable simply by plugging in your charger before the run. Pauses no matter the circumstance add an extra 3 second delay for the player to react.
I agree with all points made by Nrrillinthas. Further, the rule stated in the forum post: General Rules states "Pausing is not allowed in runs. If it is unintentional, we won't reject your video, but you must unpause ASAP." It makes no mention of preventable pauses, only unintentional ones, thus invalidating the argument of "Oh he should have just plugged it in, it was preventable." Therefore there is only the question of if the pause was intentional. This is ultimately ambiguous and up to the refs, however due to BigPhatDog's integrity in both his prior submission and in the LCS competition, and because of the smaller positive impact a pause here gave him (as opposed to at other times, if we assume the worst, that it is always being charged while staying at low battery if it were to be unplugged or something similar), I would assume referees would come to a negative conclusion.
This however does call into question the validity of the rules themselves - should they focus on preventability as opposed to intention? Is anything potentially advantageous assumed to be intentional? Etc. How should abuse of this be recognised and dealt with?
Whatever the outcome, I think that the run obeys the rules and verification standards of the time of its submission, and should therefore remain on the leader board until proven illegitimate.
