I realized after watching one of the top runs that clicking as fast as possible is the fastest way to get rice (apparently only up to about 200 according to one of the mods, but that still encompasses all the 100 grain categories and 1/5 of the 1000 grain runs). I did it to get the fastest time on one run, and it works way too well and isn't really fun or in the spirit of the runs I don't think. If you have to get at least half the questions right, you would have to get absurdly lucky to just guess on all of them. Although some of the runs that aren't guessing might not even have half the questions right in the harder categories. Any ideas?
Depending on further discussion about fast-clicking, we can either leave it, ban it, or make fast-click and no fast-click subcategories. Whatever happens is fine by me, but I'd like to see an active discussion. Any runners or outside opinions are welcome!
There are currently 3 fast-click runs, to my knowledge: NathanScott and BigDaddyDouglas in Basic Math, 100 grains NathanScott, Multiplication Table, 100 grains https://www.speedrun.com/Free_Rice#Math
Heyy,
Personally I'm conflicted greatly on this topic. On one hand this is a "Speedrunning" site and reaching your goal (in this case a certain rice count) should be acquirable through any means necessary. On the other hand, it takes away from those who will never use fast-clicking as a strategy (me for example). Again, as this strategy is only applicable in the 100 grains runs it will only affect the 100 grain runs ensuring the 1,000 and 10,000 runs are safe. (100 grain runs might might be more popular in the future too). I'd make the argument for making no fast-click categories but that could possibly junk up the site in terms of more categories on a site that already has (amazingly so) a lot of categories. I'm up for anything really, I'm just enjoying that we are all coming together to raise our rice counts for a greater cause and Oxknifer is the pioneer for bringing this together. What a fantastic idea right? Bring a sense of competitiveness into Freerice.com bringing runners from all over the world, USA, Singapore, Wales, etc to continuously battle for WR while raising insane amounts of rice (only to skyrocket as more popularity brings more runners). It's special. The real Rice-God is Oxknifer
¤bows¤
Jaychalke
It just bugs me to have a clearly faster strategy available and not use it in a speedrun, even though I know the ultimate goal is to have fun (and feed people). The reason I suggested the 50% right is because "no fast clicking" is pretty subjective, as some people fast click when they're at 90 grains but not the whole run, for example. Maybe I'll just stick to 1000 grains until there's a consensus. But if you can come up with guidelines for a "no fast clicking" category, I would totally be down for that and moving my run into it.
But either way, Free Rice speedrunning is such a good idea. Thanks for organizing it :)
Nathan,
That's my problem as well. Knowing there is a strategy available but not using it. haha
I appreciate your thoughts. It's good to talk about these things. :)
Jay
I personally would like to see a "Fast-Click" and "No Fast-Click" categories for the 100 Grains. Even if Fast-Click is still allowed in the future for all 100 Grain Categories, I will still not use it.
Hey guys! Sorry for the late post. This is a problem that a ¤lot¤ of games on this site have. It is more often that someone discovers a game breaking glitch that nullifies runs done otherwise perfectly, but you can see the correlation here. In general, whenever a community feels conflicted about different approaches to a run, the answer is usually splitting into sub-categories, for instance "Glitchless" for runs that don't use the trick and "Any %" for those that do. If we ban fast clicking altogether, I think we might lose a lot of potential free rice, and isn't that the real goal in the end?
One of the things I love about the speedrunning community is that finding unique approaches to problems and doing things your own way is encouraged. There are as many different kinds of ways to approach runs as there are runners, and it is in the spirit of the community to treat them all equally. This situation in particular is unique in that "fast-clicking" is not very well defined. Rather than looking at it from that perspective, I propose splitting the runs into "No Mistakes Made / Perfect" runs and "Fastest time possible" runs. It is a black-and-white definition, and it addresses the situation where someone fast clicks ¤AND¤ is perfect. I've done several runs- most of which were terrible (I think 4th is the best spot I've gotten here)- and I think doing this both quickly and perfectly should be applauded.
The compromise does two things: First, it gives equal opportunity to advance through the leaderboard to members on both sides of the schism. Second, it allows the people who innovated the fast-click method to keep their spot without discouraging others that might have also discovered this little loophole.
I'm considering everything that's been said -- we have heard of options to create a 50% right category rule, separate categories for fast-clicks and no fast-clicks, and even mentions of No Mistake runs.
On one hand, fast-clicking may be the fastest way to earn rice. Speedrun.com is home to all of the fastest records for every game, and so using every exploit possible should be favorable.
That being said, I've considered what Free Rice, the nonprofit, would think about all of this. I think they would be happy about us running the game, but not too fond of us exploiting it like robots, clicking on one answer over and over. If our morals are in check -- and I believe the very fact that we run this game shows that we are moral people -- I believe it will be best to ban fast-clicking. And, as mentioned by a few of you, it would be a lot more rewarding to get a world record the "right" way instead of fast clicking. Equally so, it would be annoying to lose a record to someone who fast-clicks. I will officially change the rules and ban fast-clicking. That means the three runs using this method will be taken down. I will also create a clear definition fast-clicking within the rules so that it can be avoided at all costs.
To conclude, why not create another category? Many of you had good ideas for categories, however, we would like the leaderboards to stay clean and to have clear winners for each subject. Mainly though, we want to be moral citizens so we can feel good telling the creators of Free Rice, friends, and family just how far we've come. I want to thank you all again for devoting time and speed to the runs for rice!
