All through last week, speedrunning enthusiasts had a whole host of electrifying, mind-boggling runs to enjoy thanks to the Summer Games Done Quick charity marathon. As previously mentioned, this particular marathon marked the first time the Games Done Quick organizers held an in-person SGDQ event since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic over two years ago. This decision gave the event a great deal of significance. And judging by the total donation numbers, it seems to have paid off. According to the official GDQ website, Summer Games Done Quick 2022 managed to accumulate around $3.05 million USD in donations to Doctors Without Borders. It’s a new record for the summer version of the event.
Upon watching one of the many runs that took place during this year’s SGDQ, viewers will inevitably notice how different they feel compared to the online-only runs of recent years. The return of a live audience meant that runners and other attendees could finally play off each other in a more natural way again, resulting in a kind of energy that was sorely missed in these events.
Not quite hitch-free
Despite the overall success of last week’s marathon, it did not occur without controversy. As reported by Kotaku, a runner by the name of Mekarazium ended up faking a world-record run of Metal Gear Rising: Reveangance‘s Blade Wolf DLC by his own admission. It served as one of the event’s few online-only runs. Mekarazium took advantage of that by splicing together footage from previous personal records. Games Done Quick has since taken down the run from its official YouTube page and banned Mekarazium from running in future events.
Unfortunate one-off schemes like this should not take away from what Summer Games Done Quick and its attendees have achieved in terms of donations. The event has come out of the pandemic stronger than ever, and that bodes well for future efforts to fund the important work that Doctors Without Borders does.
