Hello runners,

I’m here with an announcement regarding a clarification on and a small change of an existing rule: pausing during runs. Please keep in mind that existing runs will NOT be affected, however it is highly recommended that you read this post to understand how this rule will affect future submissions.

How was pausing during runs handled until now?

The previous game rules stated the following:

“Pausing is allowed as long as it’s not excessive or can be seen as abuse (auto-pause is recommended to be turned off). However, runners are actually encouraged to pause before loading transitions or while waiting for players to load in, in order to even the playing field across devices.”

In other words, pausing was allowed to give runners a breathing room during their runs as long as it didn’t involve any abusive strategies or as long as it wasn’t done consecutively in short intervals.

Pausing was also encouraged to help with getting a more accurate run time and to eliminate any unfair disadvantages that might come across between different devices, the most notable example being pausing while switching shards (going in and out of the caves).

Why are we changing our take on pausing during runs?

While it is still our number one priority to make speedrunning more accessible to everyone who is interested, it has come to our attention that the ambiguity of the previous rule set encouraged abusing the pause function more than it encouraged a more accessible competitive environment.

We don’t want to encourage eliminating risks or getting perfect inputs through the pause function, and we don’t want to trivialize the skill of fast decision-making during speedruns. However, we also want pausing to remain as an option for runners, so we have decided to be more clear about the rules regarding pausing instead of outright disallowing it or restricting it in an inconvenient manner.

What is and what isn’t pause abuse? When is pausing excessive and/or unnecessary?

Apart from situations like trying to execute frame-perfect inputs or any other situation where the pause abuse is obvious, here are some less clear examples for when pausing is allowed and when it isn’t. Keep in mind that this is not a definitive list, and should rather help as a guideline:

• You may pause the game to look into and exchange items with a container. You may NOT pause the game to consecutively engage with the same container over and over (reason: excessive pausing).
• You may prematurely interact with items (like equippables, consumables, harvastables, etc.) before unpausing the game. You may NOT pause the game every time you want to interact with an entity (reason: pause abuse).
• You may pause the game to search for an item in the crafting menu. You may NOT pause the game every time you want to craft something that is not in the current crafting tab/filter (reason: excessive pausing).
• You may pause the game to take a short break, or to wait for other players to load in, and you may sort your items/look at your map during that pause. This is also allowed during pauses such as after switching shards. However, you may NOT pause the game every time you want to sort your items/take a look at your map (reason: unnecessary pausing).
• You may pause the game BEFORE engaging in a situation that you know will require fast decision-making to prepare for it, such as fighting an enemy, exploring through the dark, walking/sailing through obstacles and hazards, etc. You may NOT pause the game to give yourself more time to think or to act during such situations, or in any situation where an active threat to your run has already engaged with you (reason: pause abuse).

In the end, we have decided to change the rule set regarding pausing as follows:

“Abusing the pause function is not allowed, especially to get frame-perfect inputs or to trivialize fast-decision making in a situation it is required. Auto-pause is recommended to be turned off. To allow for a brief and reasonable breathing room, pausing during the runs will be allowed as long as it is not done excessively. However, pausing is actually encouraged before loading transitions or while waiting for players to load in, in order to even the playing field across devices.”

These changes will be in effect immediately after this post goes live. Thank you for reading and we wish everyone all the luck and fun for their future runs!