Thoughts on JRDQ and Online Marathons

mikwuyma

Edit history:

mikwuyma: 2011-04-24 10:50:02 pm

mikwuyma: 2011-04-24 10:49:46 pm

mikwuyma: 2011-04-24 10:48:41 pm

2011-04-24 10:48:15 pm

My feelings on The Demon Rush

As we all know, JRDQ was a bigger success than we imagined, and especially bigger than what romscout and I imagined - I think Romscout was expecting 5-10k maximum (and we all know about the initial target I set :D). I just wanted to post my thoughts about this marathon now that a couple of weeks have passed.

The schedule

SCHEDULE SCHEDULE SCHEDULE

just kidding Wink

Since romscout and I made super forgiving estimates for most of the games, the schedule ended up working out well, for the most part. Probably the biggest problem was that we'd be 3 hours behind schedule, then some games finished super early and we'd suddenly gain about an hour's worth of time, screwing with some peoples' (work or sleep) schedules.

The bonus hour (which I forced romscout to insert) was used, but not because we were running ahead, but because Houser wasn't up for HCU when the hour started.

Also, credit to mike89 for figuring out what I've known all along about being early. Being a little early is worse than being a little late, because if we're running late, people can still wait and see the game that's not on yet. I know at least a couple of people missed games because we were running early on Thursday. On the other hand, I don't think being early is a significant problem until it starts being 90 minutes or more. I guess I have to thank Tri-Hex being unprepared for pushing us back to being on time. Cheesy

If people are curious, we ended up being about an hour and a half behind schedule by the end of the marathon, which is incredibly good considering the entire marathon was over 80 hours. The original end time was supposed to be 10:50 pm, we ended up ending around 12:20 or 12:30 am.

In other words, the two main ideas we had for the schedule during AGDQ ended up working out well.

Commentary

First thing is first. The listed commentators on the schedule were more of a suggestion than a rule. Just because you were listed didn't mean you had to commentate. Especially if you just get in the skype call and say almost nothing. I'm not going to name any names, but there were definitely some people who asked to be in skype calls and once they were in, they were silent nearly the entire time.

We probably need a commentator skype rule just like a commentator couch rule if we do a marathon like this again, people who know stuff about the game and people willing to read off donation comments and plug the charity get priority over others.

My thoughts on skype commentary compared to live commentary - It's nice in the sense that you can just be lazy and don't have to care about your appearance, but overall live commentary >>>>>>>>>>>>>> skype commentary. One of the biggest problems is that anyone in your call can hear your reactions to what's going on in the game, but they can't actually see what happens until 5-10 seconds later. There's also the fact you can't see the player or commentator reactions. I mean, I knew about not being able to see anyone in person before this marathon started, and that it wouldn't be as good as a live marathon, but I didn't realize what a big difference it made until we actually started this marathon.

Donation Tracking

WE NEED A PROGRAM. Having multiple people track a spreadsheet works, but there's a lot of labor involved that wouldn't even be necessary if we had an online donation tracking program. There's also the problem of duplicating donations when multiple people are tracking them on the spreadsheet. Thankfully, SMK and UA have been bouncing back ideas in the donation app topic, so we should be covered if we do another online marathon (or future marathons period).

The Games

In general marathon had some games that would have no chance of making it in a main marathon (Klonoa 2, Maximum Carnage, Shadows of the Empire). As much as some people are going to hate me for this, seeing how these games performed this marathon simply reinforces that such games are better left outside of the main marathon. As far as I could tell, there wasn't a ton of interest when such games were played. People generally like to see what they know and like (unless if it's a bad game).

Speaking of bad games, I would not have guessed Sonic 2006 would have raised so much money in a million years. I guess the game's infamy precedes it D: Well that, and it is Sonic, and Sonic games still have plenty of fans who love donating (nothing wrong with that).

Sonic 2k6's performance does confirm that it is worth doing about 5-6 hours of bad game graveyard for the main marathon, though we'll probably need some infamously bad games like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (might risk boring everyone with the walkathon), or Superman 64. Don't worry, the SDA-infamous game Lagoon is pretty much a lock, if nothing else, the commentary will be great. Smiley

Online and future marathons in general

I think 3 should be the limit for how many marathons we do per year, and that might be too high. One online marathon, and two on-site. Any more than three and we run the risk of each marathon being less unique and special, and the game line up might become stale if the same people participate in each marathon.

I do think online marathons are a good idea simply because people who don't have the time or money to come to an on-site marathon can still participate in a marathon. It was great having 0xwas participate in a marathon, especially since he probably won't be able to participate in any of the on-site marathons.

I think as long as we tighten up some things about this marathon, namely donation tracking and commentary transitions, we can do one online marathon a year.

P.S. If you're wondering about the community stream, go here: http://forum.speeddemosarchive.com/post/sda_community_stream.html

Thread title:

As we all know, JRDQ was a bigger success than we imagined, and especially bigger than what romscout and I imagined - I think Romscout was expecting 5-10k maximum (and we all know about the initial target I set :D). I just wanted to post my thoughts about this marathon now that a couple of weeks have passed.

[b][size="14"]The schedule[/size][/b]

SCHEDULE SCHEDULE SCHEDULE

just kidding ;)

Since romscout and I made super forgiving estimates for most of the games, the schedule ended up working out well, for the most part. Probably the biggest problem was that we'd be 3 hours behind schedule, then some games finished super early and we'd suddenly gain about an hour's worth of time, screwing with some peoples' (work or sleep) schedules.

The bonus hour (which I forced romscout to insert) was used, but not because we were running ahead, but because Houser wasn't up for HCU when the hour started.

Also, credit to mike89 for figuring out what I've known all along about being early. Being a little early is worse than being a little late, because if we're running late, people can still wait and see the game that's not on yet. I know at least a couple of people missed games because we were running early on Thursday. On the other hand, I don't think being early is a significant problem until it starts being 90 minutes or more. I guess I have to thank Tri-Hex being unprepared for pushing us back to being on time. :D

If people are curious, we ended up being about an hour and a half behind schedule by the end of the marathon, which is incredibly good considering the entire marathon was over 80 hours. The original end time was supposed to be 10:50 pm, we ended up ending around 12:20 or 12:30 am.

In other words, the two main ideas we had for the schedule during AGDQ ended up working out well.

[b][size="14"]Commentary[/size][/b]

First thing is first. The listed commentators on the schedule were more of a suggestion than a rule. Just because you were listed didn't mean you had to commentate. Especially if you just get in the skype call and say almost nothing. I'm not going to name any names, but there were definitely some people who asked to be in skype calls and once they were in, they were silent nearly the entire time.

We probably need a commentator skype rule just like a commentator couch rule if we do a marathon like this again, people who know stuff about the game and people willing to read off donation comments and plug the charity get priority over others.

My thoughts on skype commentary compared to live commentary - It's nice in the sense that you can just be lazy and don't have to care about your appearance, but overall live commentary >>>>>>>>>>>>>> skype commentary. One of the biggest problems is that anyone in your call can hear your reactions to what's going on in the game, but they can't actually see what happens until 5-10 seconds later. There's also the fact you can't see the player or commentator reactions. I mean, I knew about not being able to see anyone in person before this marathon started, and that it wouldn't be as good as a live marathon, but I didn't realize what a big difference it made until we actually started this marathon.

[b][size="14"]Donation Tracking[/size][/b]

WE NEED A PROGRAM. Having multiple people track a spreadsheet works, but there's a lot of labor involved that wouldn't even be necessary if we had an online donation tracking program. There's also the problem of duplicating donations when multiple people are tracking them on the spreadsheet. Thankfully, SMK and UA have been bouncing back ideas in the donation app topic, so we should be covered if we do another online marathon (or future marathons period).

[b][size="14"]The Games[/size][/b]

In general marathon had some games that would have no chance of making it in a main marathon (Klonoa 2, Maximum Carnage, Shadows of the Empire). As much as some people are going to hate me for this, seeing how these games performed this marathon simply reinforces that such games are better left outside of the main marathon. As far as I could tell, there wasn't a ton of interest when such games were played. People generally like to see what they know and like (unless if it's a bad game).

Speaking of bad games, I would not have guessed Sonic 2006 would have raised so much money in a million years. I guess the game's infamy precedes it D: Well that, and it is Sonic, and Sonic games still have plenty of fans who love donating (nothing wrong with that).

Sonic 2k6's performance does confirm that it is worth doing about 5-6 hours of bad game graveyard for the main marathon, though we'll probably need some infamously bad games like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (might risk boring everyone with the walkathon), or Superman 64. Don't worry, the SDA-infamous game Lagoon is pretty much a lock, if nothing else, the commentary will be great. :)

[b][size="14"]Online and future marathons in general[/size][/b]

I think 3 should be the limit for how many marathons we do per year, and that might be too high. One online marathon, and two on-site. Any more than three and we run the risk of each marathon being less unique and special, and the game line up might become stale if the same people participate in each marathon.

I do think online marathons are a good idea simply because people who don't have the time or money to come to an on-site marathon can still participate in a marathon. It was great having 0xwas participate in a marathon, especially since he probably won't be able to participate in any of the on-site marathons.

I think as long as we tighten up some things about this marathon, namely donation tracking and commentary transitions, we can do one online marathon a year.

P.S. If you're wondering about the community stream, go here: http://forum.speeddemosarchive.com/post/sda_community_stream.html

Rakuen

2011-04-25 12:35:23 am

Weegee Time

On the commentary front, there's people who live relatively close to each other, like DW lives near Essentia. Obviously we couldn't have managed anything special for this marathon because getting everything together in two weeks was crazy enough. However, if we have an online marathon with some long term planning, maybe some localized groups could be arranged. A few people close to each other with a decent mic and camera can meet up and commentate. It's still not the same as everyone being in the same place, but I think it could be nice for both the commentators and the viewers, and it's something we can keep in mind.

Incidentally, I did clean myself up before I commentated on both occasions. I guess I'm just weird like that. Tongue

Sir VG

2011-04-25 12:49:12 am

Fucking Weeaboo

Quote from Rakuen:

Incidentally, I did clean myself up before I commentated on both occasions. I guess I'm just weird like that. Tongue

I don't think that's weird. Sometimes physical appearance can have a huge affect on your emotions.

It was definitely an interesting experience. The only real thing I noticed is that people were confused at times with the commentary sometimes being on stream 1 and sometimes on stream 2. I know that this was due to some people being able to use stereo mix and some people couldn't (I would be in the latter) while hosting a skype call. Frankly I think the latter is better, because sometimes I'd rather just listen to the game, either because I like it or sometimes the announcers are annoying (no offense to anybody here or at TSG but that's one of my big complaints to those running a setup like this. Casual running or single-channel viewing is different, I guess).

Too bad I really couldn't enjoy the marathon more, due to work and sleep.

moooh

2011-04-25 02:57:13 am

Exoray

Streaming that info document with the current game info, current bid wars etc worked out very well. It saved us a lot of time repeating the same thing while it also made it easier for people to see when they were outbid and thus gave us longer opportunities for the bids to grow.

Next online marathon we can keep going with streaming a document, since it made the secondary stream have a purpose other than occasional audio carrier.
Next on-site marathon we should look into having some kind of page that we can easily update instead.

PS. I was one of the silent in the skype calls, but I was only there to make sure not to miss hearing anything due to stream skips when I was manning the donation tracking post.

Sir VG

2011-04-25 03:23:02 am

Fucking Weeaboo

Having the document was good, until it got too big with bidding wars (like when we had OOT, Earthbound, and SSX going at one time). Having it is handy, but I think it should be a linked online document instead. Then those of us who missed out on things can find out how results went later.

brassmaster

Edit history:

brassmaster: 2011-04-25 08:18:12 am

brassmaster: 2011-04-25 08:17:25 am

2011-04-25 07:59:22 am

I like Sir VG's idea about having that spreadsheet available. I'd say do the same with that as was done with the schedule on that google document. I'm sure there's a way to lock it so that random people don't go and alter it.

As it goes for reactions being out of sync, I know I grunted a few times during my run, but the same would happen on an on site marathon with the 2 streams out of sync, but that still beats the added skype call lag as well as both streams coming from the same location, so there isnt much we can do about it live, but the recorded runs/commentaries can at least be a little more synced up afterward.

Continuing on commentary, there were several instances where the commentary would get into a casual conversation and have nothing to do with the run or marathon, that a cool trick was missed and not explained. I do agree that commentary can get a little boring when no one is saying anything, but there needs to be more concentration on the run so that when a trick or sequence break comes up, the conversation is halted so the trick can be explained (and continue the conversation afterward, that would be fine). While some things are rather obvious just by seeing it, I personally would rather have each trick talked about (maybe have some background info on how it was discovered and who discovered it) then have random conversations. maybe that's just me.

I also like the idea of an online marathon. It gives some people the opportunity to be apart of something if they are a good distance away from the hosting area and cannot afford to drive or fly. Also, the idea of having some local people get together seems like a good idea as well. I dont have a capture card, so I used a camera, but if there was someone close by with one, that would work out better.

I like Sir VG's idea about having that spreadsheet available. I'd say do the same with that as was done with the schedule on that google document.  I'm sure there's a way to lock it so that random people don't go and alter it.

As it goes for reactions being out of sync, I know I grunted a few times during my run, but the same would happen on an on site marathon with the 2 streams out of sync, but that still beats the added skype call lag as well as both streams coming from the same location, so there isnt much we can do about it live, but the recorded runs/commentaries can at least be a little more synced up afterward.

Continuing on commentary, there were several instances where the commentary would get into a casual conversation and have nothing to do with the run or marathon, that a cool trick was missed and not explained.  I do agree that commentary can get a little boring when no one is saying anything, but there needs to be more concentration on the run so that when a trick or sequence break comes up, the conversation is halted so the trick can be explained (and continue the conversation afterward, that would be fine).  While some things are rather obvious just by seeing it, I personally would rather have each trick talked about (maybe have some background info on how it was discovered and who discovered it) then have random conversations.  maybe that's just me.

I also like the idea of an online marathon. It gives some people the opportunity to be apart of something if they are a good distance away from the hosting area and cannot afford to drive or fly.  Also, the idea of having some local people get together seems like a good idea as well.  I dont have a capture card, so I used a camera, but if there was someone close by with one, that would work out better.

sinister1

2011-04-25 10:19:34 am

sinister1

so pro u don't even know

Commentary: There was certainly some great commentary both technical (e.g. Cosmo OoT) and non-technical (e.g Flicky's allegory hour), and some not so great commentary (interupter Jones' to the max, I know I was guilty of it). I think given the lack of time to prepare it was certainly proficient. I agree with brassmaster's point about tricks being missed and the conversation just getting totally random. I think the commentators have to police this themselves and just be aware of it so if someone starts going too far off topic they are redirected by another commentator. There was an idea about runners posting a list of things they wanted commentated on for the cgdq marathon (sorry can't remember who) that never really caught on. I think with the larger marathons where we have enough time to prepare runners should be required to submit at least a short list of things that need to be addressed during game play especially if the game is not well known to the commentators.

Quote from moooh:

Streaming that info document with the current game info, current bid wars etc worked out very well. It saved us a lot of time repeating the same thing while it also made it easier for people to see when they were outbid and thus gave us longer opportunities for the bids to grow.

Next online marathon we can keep going with streaming a document, since it made the secondary stream have a purpose other than occasional audio carrier.
Next on-site marathon we should look into having some kind of page that we can easily update instead.

Agreed.

Commentary: There was certainly some great commentary both technical (e.g. Cosmo OoT) and non-technical (e.g Flicky's allegory hour), and some not so great commentary (interupter Jones' to the max, I know I was guilty of it). I think given the lack of time to prepare it was certainly proficient. I agree with brassmaster's point about tricks being missed and the conversation just getting totally random. I think the commentators have to police this themselves and just be aware of it so if someone starts going too far off topic they are redirected by another commentator. There was an idea about runners posting a list of things they wanted commentated on for the cgdq marathon (sorry can't remember who) that never really caught on. I think with the larger marathons where we have enough time to prepare runners should be required to submit at least a short list of things that need to be addressed during game play especially if the game is not well known to the commentators.

[quote="moooh"]Streaming that info document with the current game info, current bid wars etc worked out very well. It saved us a lot of time repeating the same thing while it also made it easier for people to see when they were outbid and thus gave us longer opportunities for the bids to grow.

Next online marathon we can keep going with streaming a document, since it made the secondary stream have a purpose other than occasional audio carrier.
Next on-site marathon we should look into having some kind of page that we can easily update instead.[/quote]
Agreed.

Kalemandu

2011-04-25 12:14:59 pm

One point you didn't bring up was the quality of the runs. Not having lots of people around you clearly took off a lot of the pressure from the runners, at least from what I could tell regarding how well the runners did. I guess people who regularly visits this site will appreciate actually seeing the runners alot more than random people stopping by due to a friend linking it or something.

Personally I appreciated this years 2 marathons pretty much equally. What was lost in personality in JRDQ was gained in more entertaining runs and better commentary. Yea, honestly. Surely the delay was annoying at times but I felt overall that it was more informative and generally it was easier to hear without the background chattering. I liked the more laidback approach to it and some individual commentarys was just amazing (Cosmo).

brassmaster

2011-04-25 12:47:29 pm

I thought of something else that may need to be addressed. The IRC channel for runners/commentators/donation trackers became a chat room. That was there so everyone could quickly communicate so run transitions would not be too long, but when runners were trying to do the right thing, their text was being swallowed by misc chats. I know I had a few chats with people in the IRC, so I'm not innocent here, but it did become a problem a few times.

puwexil

2011-04-25 02:02:11 pm

Professional Second Banana

Quote from Rakuen:

On the commentary front, there's people who live relatively close to each other, like DW lives near Essentia. Obviously we couldn't have managed anything special for this marathon because getting everything together in two weeks was crazy enough. However, if we have an online marathon with some long term planning, maybe some localized groups could be arranged. A few people close to each other with a decent mic and camera can meet up and commentate. It's still not the same as everyone being in the same place, but I think it could be nice for both the commentators and the viewers, and it's something we can keep in mind.

Incidentally, I did clean myself up before I commentated on both occasions. I guess I'm just weird like that. Tongue

I like this idea, since it would give the online marathons a stronger community feel and would make for better live commentary. If someone in the Upper Midwest (IA, WI, IL, MN) hosted a mini-meetup during the next online marathon (my own home is sadly too small for that) I'd definitely consider going.

[quote="Rakuen"]On the commentary front, there's people who live relatively close to each other, like DW lives near Essentia.  Obviously we couldn't have managed anything special for this marathon because getting everything together in two weeks was crazy enough.   However, if we have an online marathon with some long term planning, maybe some localized groups could be arranged.  A few people close to each other with a decent mic and camera can meet up and commentate.  It's still not the same as everyone being in the same place, but I think it could be nice for both the commentators and the viewers, and it's something we can keep in mind.

Incidentally, I did clean myself up before I commentated on both occasions.  I guess I'm just weird like that. :P[/quote]
I like this idea, since it would give the online marathons a stronger community feel and would make for better live commentary.  If someone in the Upper Midwest (IA, WI, IL, MN) hosted a mini-meetup during the next online marathon (my own home is sadly too small for that) I'd definitely consider going.

sinister1

2011-04-25 02:36:59 pm

sinister1

so pro u don't even know

That is basically what Mike did, having myself and Molotov over at various times. It certainly made things a lot more enjoyable from my perspective. I would rather be around at least a few other people during a marathon than at home by myself if I can help it. Of course people would have to volunteer for this...but if people did I think it would be a good thing.

PEACHES_

2011-04-27 12:46:14 pm

I'm just trying to impress you.

Not sure if I posted this, but huge thank you to whomever switched several runs around so that I could play earlier. I was worried about getting to sleep late because I had an exam in the morning, so I asked to get switched, but by coincidence a tornado hit my town about an hour after I was finished and cut off my power for several days.

It was definitely a tamer experience than 36 hours of driving to and from DC and being surrounded by speedrunners for the better part of a week but I really enjoyed the freedom of an online marathon.

romscout

2011-04-27 09:30:16 pm

that Metroidvania guy

Many of my thoughts would just be echoing what Uyama posted, so I'll try and stay away from doing that. I think a lot the issues we had were simply due to lack of time for preparation, and that's understandable and not something I really regret considering the circumstances for even wanting to have this event. I think it's inevitable that any future online marathons we have will go much smoother simply because we will actually be planning it in advance instead of scrapping it together in a couple weeks. I certainly wouldn't mind being in charge of it anytime we have one, and I'm sure with more time to plan ahead I won't be riding some people's asses quite like I did this time around. Thanks again to everyone for putting up with me, regardless of how I was acting at any given time during the week leading up to the event. Also a huge thanks to the people who provided prizes (MercuryZelda and purb36 mainly, as well as Emptyeye who donated his PC games) and anyone who helped promote the marathon. One last thanks to Uyama for helping with the schedule, popping in for test streams when I couldn't, and contributing to the setup in other ways.

The Charity

I figured since I was the one directly dealing with the charity organization this time, I might as well give some feedback on how that stuff went. Spoilers: It went smoother for me with MSF than it went for Uyama with CARE. :p I was able to very easily and quickly make contact with people in a leadership role at the American branch and although they did not wish to create a PayPal account for the marathon, they sent me a letter to keep PayPal off my ass less than an hour after I asked for it. I had a problem sending them about $25,000 online, but when I made them aware of this, I received the info needed to directly send them money from the bank much faster than I expected. They have not mentioned our fundraiser on their site yet, but I am still in contact with them and recently asked what we need to provide for that after I sent them the money, so I'm certain they will do it soon after I give them what they need. The organization was very efficient and stayed on top of communication, so if we ever wanted to have an event for them again, I see no reason why we couldn't.

That being said, I still had a bit of an issue sending the money, but it was mostly on my bank's end because I suddenly had a huge amount of money worth far more than my bank account's actual value and was trying to transfer it. Because of this, I am probably even more in favor of helping organizations that have a PayPal than I already was, but I'd still have no issue dealing with big ones that don't use PayPal in the future if necessary. Overall, I'd amount the problems I had to simply being a learning experience. Now I know what to do and what not to do when sending a lot of money out of my bank account. :p

Donation Tracking

I barely lasted through the first game on this, and I sucked at it. All the donation trackers who actually stuck with it deserve a huge thanks. It was pretty tedious stuff, and it was probably one of the bigger issues with the marathon even though this wasn't really visible to most people involved. Making SMK's donation app better and able to go online should definitely be a priority for future marathons, and I'm glad that it looks like we're already heading in that direction (though it's in the very early stages, obviously).

The Schedule

We were fortunate that the little issue we had with the Sunday runners worked out well, with Ocarina of Time being moved to a better slot and being able to get TRIO THE PUNCH!!!! into the marathon. Considering how little notice people had to plan out when they could be available, I think the results went exceedingly well here. The schedule was obviously made with runner availability being first priority, donation potential being second and themes being a distant third. Assuming there is more time to plan a future online marathon, I think we will be able to have a little more flexibility with people's availability since they will be more likely to ask for a day off if they feel like it or something like that so we might be able to put together some themes and make additional considerations a little better.

Game Lineup

A handful of less popular games were put on the schedule without a second thought simply because this was sort of an "anything we can get" scenario. Most of the games seemed fine, but there are a handful I'd probably have to reconsider for next time, especially if SDA has more members who want to participate (and that seems to happen after every marathon, right?). All I can recommend to runners is to try new games/runs sometime, because even if some games are fairly popular, having them at every marathon can get stale sometimes (I'll definitely be the first to admit this about SotN, though if it's always a race every marathon at least there's that aspect going for it). I wanted to include as many runners as possible for this, and that will definitely be a big focus for future online marathons as well, but I just can't concede Earthbound or OoT for some doujin PC game no one's heard of, you know?

Commentary

I tried to make it clear that the runner had top priority for speaking and the commentator going over donations and plugging the charity had second priority, but it's kind of hard to police that and some people definitely need to be more mindful of it next time. Getting together with other runners locally is definitely a great idea, and I'm sure the only reason people only mentioned this after the marathon instead of before was because it would have been kind of hard for someone to organize a gathering on such short notice. Props to Uyama, Molotov, and sinister1 for pulling it off. Assuming I'm in the same home next year, I think I could probably host some of the Riverside, CA area SDA'ers for a weekend, setting up practice spots and sleeping areas. As long as you aren't allergic to dogs, you shower, and you don't bring in a Pomeranian, you're fine.

Opinion of Online Marathons

I'd love to have one online marathon per year since it gives people who can't travel the chance to do runs and can be a little more relaxing for some runners and thus can lead to more spectacular runs. I can tell you that even having been a part of CGDQ, I was a little nervous when I sat down and started playing Mega Man X in front of a small crowd at AGDQ (boss selection, anyone?) but when I loaded up Portal with a Skype call for JRDQ it felt a lot more like the way I usually stream and nerves weren't an issue at all. Stuff like Heidman's low% MMX2 run (sorry for doubting you, dude) and the Metroid Prime race are good examples of great runs that can happen when the runners are relaxed in their own home. Plus, everyone loved 0xwas's runs. We need more 0xwas!!!

I agree that one online marathon, one summer marathon, and the main event in the winter should be our limit in a single year. As of right now I think all 3 would be a good idea, but since we haven't actually had the summer marathon yet, we'll see what I think after that goes down. I'm sure it'll go great. Thanks again to everyone who helped make this one a success! I'm really glad we were able to do this, especially since I'm not 100% sure of my attendance in the upcoming 2 marathons (though as always, I'll make a huge effort to go!). It was fun, even if it didn't have the vibe of the on-site marathons.

Many of my thoughts would just be echoing what Uyama posted, so I'll try and stay away from doing that. I think a lot the issues we had were simply due to lack of time for preparation, and that's understandable and not something I really regret considering the circumstances for even wanting to have this event. I think it's inevitable that any future online marathons we have will go much smoother simply because we will actually be planning it in advance instead of scrapping it together in a couple weeks. I certainly wouldn't mind being in charge of it anytime we have one, and I'm sure with more time to plan ahead I won't be riding some people's asses quite like I did this time around. Thanks again to everyone for putting up with me, regardless of how I was acting at any given time during the week leading up to the event. Also a huge thanks to the people who provided prizes (MercuryZelda and purb36 mainly, as well as Emptyeye who donated his PC games) and anyone who helped promote the marathon. One last thanks to Uyama for helping with the schedule, popping in for test streams when I couldn't, and contributing to the setup in other ways.

[b][u]The Charity[/u][/b]

I figured since I was the one directly dealing with the charity organization this time, I might as well give some feedback on how that stuff went. Spoilers: It went smoother for me with MSF than it went for Uyama with CARE. :p I was able to very easily and quickly make contact with people in a leadership role at the American branch and although they did not wish to create a PayPal account for the marathon, they sent me a letter to keep PayPal off my ass less than an hour after I asked for it. I had a problem sending them about $25,000 online, but when I made them aware of this, I received the info needed to directly send them money from the bank much faster than I expected. They have not mentioned our fundraiser on their site yet, but I am still in contact with them and recently asked what we need to provide for that after I sent them the money, so I'm certain they will do it soon after I give them what they need. The organization was very efficient and stayed on top of communication, so if we ever wanted to have an event for them again, I see no reason why we couldn't.

That being said, I still had a bit of an issue sending the money, but it was mostly on my bank's end because I suddenly had a huge amount of money worth far more than my bank account's actual value and was trying to transfer it. Because of this, I am probably even more in favor of helping organizations that have a PayPal than I already was, but I'd still have no issue dealing with big ones that don't use PayPal in the future if necessary. Overall, I'd amount the problems I had to simply being a learning experience. Now I know what to do and what not to do when sending a lot of money out of my bank account. :p

[b][u]Donation Tracking[/u][/b]

I barely lasted through the first game on this, and I sucked at it. All the donation trackers who actually stuck with it deserve a huge thanks. It was pretty tedious stuff, and it was probably one of the bigger issues with the marathon even though this wasn't really visible to most people involved. Making SMK's donation app better and able to go online should definitely be a priority for future marathons, and I'm glad that it looks like we're already heading in that direction (though it's in the very early stages, obviously).

[b][u]The Schedule[/u][/b]

We were fortunate that the little issue we had with the Sunday runners worked out well, with Ocarina of Time being moved to a better slot and being able to get TRIO THE PUNCH!!!! into the marathon. Considering how little notice people had to plan out when they could be available, I think the results went exceedingly well here. The schedule was obviously made with runner availability being first priority, donation potential being second and themes being a distant third. Assuming there is more time to plan a future online marathon, I think we will be able to have a little more flexibility with people's availability since they will be more likely to ask for a day off if they feel like it or something like that so we might be able to put together some themes and make additional considerations a little better.

[b][u]Game Lineup[/u][/b]

A handful of less popular games were put on the schedule without a second thought simply because this was sort of an "anything we can get" scenario. Most of the games seemed fine, but there are a handful I'd probably have to reconsider for next time, especially if SDA has more members who want to participate (and that seems to happen after every marathon, right?). All I can recommend to runners is to try new games/runs sometime, because even if some games are fairly popular, having them at every marathon can get stale sometimes (I'll definitely be the first to admit this about SotN, though if it's always a race every marathon at least there's that aspect going for it). I wanted to include as many runners as possible for this, and that will definitely be a big focus for future online marathons as well, but I just can't concede Earthbound or OoT for some doujin PC game no one's heard of, you know?

[b][u]Commentary[/u][/b]

I tried to make it clear that the runner had top priority for speaking and the commentator going over donations and plugging the charity had second priority, but it's kind of hard to police that and some people definitely need to be more mindful of it next time. Getting together with other runners locally is definitely a great idea, and I'm sure the only reason people only mentioned this after the marathon instead of before was because it would have been kind of hard for someone to organize a gathering on such short notice. Props to Uyama, Molotov, and sinister1 for pulling it off. Assuming I'm in the same home next year, I think I could probably host some of the Riverside, CA area SDA'ers for a weekend, setting up practice spots and sleeping areas. As long as you aren't allergic to dogs, you shower, and you don't bring in a Pomeranian, you're fine.

[b][u]Opinion of Online Marathons[/u][/b]

I'd love to have one online marathon per year since it gives people who can't travel the chance to do runs and can be a little more relaxing for some runners and thus can lead to more spectacular runs. I can tell you that even having been a part of CGDQ, I was a little nervous when I sat down and started playing Mega Man X in front of a small crowd at AGDQ (boss selection, anyone?) but when I loaded up Portal with a Skype call for JRDQ it felt a lot more like the way I usually stream and nerves weren't an issue at all. Stuff like Heidman's low% MMX2 run (sorry for doubting you, dude) and the Metroid Prime race are good examples of great runs that can happen when the runners are relaxed in their own home. Plus, everyone loved 0xwas's runs. We need more 0xwas!!!

I agree that one online marathon, one summer marathon, and the main event in the winter should be our limit in a single year. As of right now I think all 3 would be a good idea, but since we haven't actually had the summer marathon yet, we'll see what I think after that goes down. I'm sure it'll go great. Thanks again to everyone who helped make this one a success! I'm really glad we were able to do this, especially since I'm not 100% sure of my attendance in the upcoming 2 marathons (though as always, I'll make a huge effort to go!). It was fun, even if it didn't have the vibe of the on-site marathons.

Arkhanno

2011-04-27 10:35:28 pm

I'd like to give my (few) thoughts as the outsider looking in.

All three marathons were fun to watch. After watching all three I can't begin to express my gratitude to the runners. You guys are awesome. Not just because you're doing it for charity, but because of the skill you guys have in so many different games.

I'm in the boat of two marathons a year, though. One online and one on-site. Easier on the runners, more time for planning/setting it up, and it won't feel overwhelming for viewers.

Good job so far, and I can't wait for the future marathons!

Emptyeye

2011-04-28 07:48:47 pm

Talk to the Hand

My own thoughts:

Setup: Make sure stream information is also provided next time, not just account information. That is all (I know Essentia had the same issue, as she was the one who figured out the solution to my problem).

Game Selection: Briefly doing ctrl-f for stuff in the donation comments thread, I noticed a complete lack of stuff relating to myself and/or Magician, outside of one kind of jokey comment. That's fine, it's kind of what I expected. Having said that, I would love to have the online marathon still be a place where games that would have no chance whatsoever in the main marathon can have their moment in the sun. Granting that I'm kind of biased here, but nonetheless, it's something to take into account I think.

The Cheat Sheet: I'm honestly gratified that people seemed to like it. That tells me it's an idea worth doing for future marathons. Hopefully for some of the "main" marathons, I'll have some help from people who can help me fill in the weak points on games where info isn't readily available (Sup God Hand?). In my opinion, it was fairly obvious which games I knew off the top of my head and which ones I had to research (Although I learned some interesting things even doing that...like that the voice of Solid Snake wrote the screenplay for the first X-Men movie).

On future marathons: I'd be cool with the 3 per year schedule, one summer/"west coast", one winter/"east coast", and one online. I do think more than that would kind of make them less special. Although, as I've said in the past, if some infinitely rich benefactor were to set up some kind of commune where we could just "charity marathon" full-time, that would be fucking awesome. Cheesy

In all, given how quickly it came together, I think it kicked ass, despite some technical issues. Hopefully we'll do it again sometime!

My own thoughts:

Setup: Make sure stream information is also provided next time, not just account information. That is all (I know Essentia had the same issue, as she was the one who figured out the solution to my problem).

Game Selection: Briefly doing ctrl-f for stuff in the donation comments thread, I noticed a complete lack of stuff relating to myself and/or Magician, outside of one kind of jokey comment. That's fine, it's kind of what I expected. Having said that, I would love to have the online marathon still be a place where games that would have no chance whatsoever in the main marathon can have their moment in the sun. Granting that I'm kind of biased here, but nonetheless, it's something to take into account I think.

The Cheat Sheet: I'm honestly gratified that people seemed to like it. That tells me it's an idea worth doing for future marathons. Hopefully for some of the "main" marathons, I'll have some help from people who can help me fill in the weak points on games where info isn't readily available (Sup God Hand?). In my opinion, it was fairly obvious which games I knew off the top of my head and which ones I had to research (Although I learned some interesting things even doing that...like that the voice of Solid Snake wrote the screenplay for the first X-Men movie).

On future marathons: I'd be cool with the 3 per year schedule, one summer/"west coast", one winter/"east coast", and one online.  I do think more than that would kind of make them less special. Although, as I've said in the past, if some infinitely rich benefactor were to set up some kind of commune where we could just "charity marathon" full-time, that would be fucking awesome. :D

In all, given how quickly it came together, I think it kicked ass, despite some technical issues. Hopefully we'll do it again sometime!

Tigger77

2011-04-29 01:08:23 am

I survived MIKE-Fest 1

Was not really involved in this but will post anyways Tongue

First this was a really good job guys The success speaks for it self I think.

Mike and rom mentioned nearly everything I thought of except one thing:

The after Marathon stuff, that can be improved IMO.
I know everyone how is envolved or on the forum and participle have the after talk in the forum and don't think a news post about the marathon is not necessary, also the staff is of curse really busy and needs a break after a marathon.
But IMO thats part of the Marathon.
What I mean by after Marathon stuff is a news post how summerised the marathon (the date it was, the total amount of money and the charity, the viewers count and a BIG THANK YOU TO ALL VIEWERS)
also a page with all the names of donators would be nice (maybe on the marathon page *looks in arc direction*)

And even another news post when the money is by the charyti with some kind of proof like the article form PCF with the big check. Not for my or for the SDA user we know that the money is going to the right place and no one is taken something away but for the "normal" SDA visitor how doneted 5-10$ and never visit the forum but the front page from time to time it woulde be a good feedback and no one woude start saying something is wrong because the donation got directly to rom

Was not really involved in this but will post anyways :P

First this was a really good job guys The success speaks for it self I think.

Mike and rom mentioned nearly everything I thought of except one thing:

The after Marathon stuff, that can be improved IMO.
I know everyone how is envolved or on the forum and participle have the after talk in the forum and don't think a news post about the marathon is not necessary, also the staff is of curse really busy and needs a break after a marathon.
But IMO thats part of the Marathon.
What I mean by after Marathon stuff is a news post how summerised the marathon (the date it was, the total amount of money and the charity, the viewers count and a BIG THANK YOU TO ALL VIEWERS)
also a page with all the names of donators would be nice (maybe on the marathon page *looks in arc direction*)

And even another news post when the money is by the charyti with some kind of proof like the article form PCF with the big check. Not for my or for the SDA user we know that the money is going to the right place and no one is taken something away but for the "normal" SDA visitor how doneted 5-10$ and never visit the forum but the front page from time to time it woulde be a good feedback and no one woude start saying something is wrong because the donation got directly to rom

kariohki

2011-04-30 11:04:55 am

waifus are laifu

The commentator schedule being more of a suggestion threw me off a bit since I made time around the schedule, and then things would be different. I apologize for being quiet during the time I was commentating, but I found it tough to jump into the conversation. But that's just an issue with me and not anyone else I was with. What brassmaster said about it being a casual conversation at time hurt some, since it was tough to mention tricks or cool things during the runs. I also like what Tigger77 said about a front page post soon after the marathon end tying things up.

But overall I thought for something put together quickly, it was a really good marathon!