Hello, everyone!
After more than a month of discussion, our moderation team has come to two unanimous decisions. We would like to suggest that we completely remove the Golden Freddy% category, as well as merging the Legacy category into Current Patch.
We understand that there are quite a few of you that truly, genuinely enjoy playing GF% & Legacy. But let us present our argument, and then leave your input in the comments below.
Let's start with the more abrasive of the two: The removal of GF%. [TL;DR at the bottom of this section.]
GF% is the shortest category on the leaderboards. And because of that, it has become one of the most popular. Out of the 170 runs currently on the leaderboards, more than 70 of them are under GF%. That is a lot of runs to erase from the face of SRC.
However, GF% has fundamental problems.
The first problem. There isn't an acceptable place to start the run. As in, there isn't a frame in the entirety of the run that makes this category fun and fair for everyone. Here's a list of some start frames we have considered, and the problems that come with them:
1.) The first frame that the static on the main menu stops moving. This includes a loading zone, so runners on lower-end computers would be at an immediate disadvantage. 2.) The first frame that the "Custom Night" screen fades into view. The Custom Night screen fades into view in very faint blotches. These blotches are extremely difficult to see, and could easily vary depending on things like video resolution, monitor brightness/contrast, or even the eyesight of the verifier. There's no way to objectively pinpoint this frame, so it can't be used. 3.) The frame the runner selects "7" on the CN screen. This would skip actually selecting the 7 on the title screen, which would leave nothing but the runner moving their mouse from Foxy's arrow to the "READY" button and left clicking. This method would technically be fair, but it would also yield a really boring, 2-input run. This method also wouldn't work for Mobile & Console. 4.) Forcing runners to use the GF% autosplitter (Which was just created recently thanks to @Bruh_without_a_f. You can find it, as well as a full game autosplitter, on the Discord.) to submit a run to the leaderboards. First of all, if this method was used, it would be impossible to manually validate a run if it looks suspicious, as the time could only be determined by local software. And while this would be a fair way of timing, getting runners to download the autosplitter, install it, and then spend whoknowshowlong solving the problems that will inevitably surface is... daunting. It will push away new runners from beginning their career with this game, and it will also make GF% less fun to play.
This leads to our second point: Is it worth it? Even now, there isn't any strategy tied to this category other than just spam clicking in the darkness. It's only three inputs. There's very little mechanical skill involved. The problem here is very analogous to those with the original Any%. The run is mindless. It's not fun to watch, and it really doesn't look all that fun to run.
And even if we did define a new start time for this category, there are issues. First of all, the only option out of those listed above that is even remotely possible is #3. Right off the bat, it would now be impossible for Mobile & Console runners to run this category. Then, the category would be cut down from an already miniscule three inputs... to two. Then, our moderation team would need to devote time and resources to retiming every single run on the leaderboards (Time and resources which could instead be diverted towards fixing the other categories!).
Is all of that really worth it? For a 2-input run? A lot of you find enjoyment in this category, and that's a genuine argument in and of itself. But there isn't a way to play this category that is fair for everyone, and that would appeal to a general audience.
Now, for the latter: The removal of Legacy. [TL;DR At the bottom of the section.]
This is a much easier problem to explain. Legacy just isn't different than Current Patch... most of the time.
On PC, there are 5 versions of FNaF 1 (That we could find.). 1.0, 1.1, 1.13, 1.131, & 1.132. And as far as we've been able to deduce, none of these patches change the length or difficulty of a speedrun (Some legacy runs on the leaderboards have shorter nights than their Current Patch counterparts. This is being investigated, although we suspect this night length changes depending on PC power.). Therefore, why would it be separate from Current Patch?
Legacy Mobile, on the other hand, has a significant advantage over Current Patch. The nights on older versions of Legacy Mobile were made to be purposefully shorter than Current Patch. However, unless the runner had previously downloaded them, these legacy patches are no longer obtainable (The same is true for Console, where applicable.). Therefore, this subcategory will only hold runs from a very long time ago, or from the small minority of runners who still own a copy of these old patches. There's no growth here. And because of that, there will never be any new competition.
An alright compromise here would be to split the "Mobile" subcategory into "Mobile - Current Patch" & "Mobile - Legacy", and then scrapping the "Legacy" subcategory as a whole and moving the runs to existing subcategories. However, this could look a bit messy on the leaderboards, and would basically only serve to pay homage to the past (And this could probably be done somewhere separate from the leaderboards, therefore not taking up space here.). However, that is a distinction for all of you, not us.
As always, feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments here, or by coming to the Discord.
Thanks!
~FSS
In my opinion, I think GF% should stay. Plus, I think it is smart to merge Legacy and Current together in case some people (new runners especially) have one or the other.
To be honest, it should be removed. It doesn't require much skill and is pretty much pointless.
Im still on the side of if people want a short speedrun let them run GF%. Just cuz me or some other people don't run it doesn't mean there aren't those who do.
I don't see the point of even having golden freddy % because it shouldn't even count as a speedrun
I agree with separating mobile legacy from current patch as I myself have speedrun fnaf any% on mobile and nights are much longer in recent patches or 'the current patch'. I'm not sure about GF. If you remove it there'll be fewer categories in a game where it's already very hard to think of any other possible categories and speedrunning this game is already quite limited apart from beating the game either normally or until 2 or 3 star is acheived. If you keep it, people would still probably speedrun it but it's still very unfair and doesn't have a clear set of rules which is impossible to establish (from what I've read from this post) and speedrunning shouldn't have categories where it isn't fair for everyone. As for why some times are longer than others on pc, I positively think it's simply down to loading times at the start of the run when you go into Night 1 and in between nights also (most likely depends on what pc you have). Obviously, this wouldn't apply to night 5 as timing stops on the first frame of the '6am' screen but it's different for 2 star and 3 star as you might have to be good at transitioning from night 5 to night 6 and loading times will again be a factor in those categories. I think GF should probably be removed. Overall. I agree with the moderators and thanks for not letting fnaf speedrunning die lol.
@SG4 There are plans to remove load times from the leaderboards and to completely rewrite the rules. The project's been put on hold, as our staff is tangled up in the tournament on the Discord, but it's already in the motions.
@Halo I agree with removing load times. I don't mind how long this takes as this is a big project and I'm glad to see the moderation team at work to improve the FNAF speedrunning community :) Looking forward to seeing the new updated rules!
It taken so long to make these rules and it was a major pain in my ass to make the load remover/auto splitter but once it's finished it's going to be well worth it
@Bruh_without_a_f Yeah making balanced and fair rules can be a challenge especially in games like this but the community will be very happy once it's all finished and done with. Great to hear all the progress in fnaf speedrunning.
