SGDQ 2017 is starting soon!
Hey everyone! If you’ve been following me for a while, you’ve probably seen me make posts similar to this before - for the rest of you, I’d like to bring to your attention an event that’s starting up very soon (July 2nd!), Summer Games Done Quick 2017 (Or SGDQ). Whether you’ve never heard of the event before, only vaguely know of it, or would just be interested in hearing more details, I’d love to fill you in about this really entertaining event for a great cause.
SGDQ is a large video game-oriented charity event that gathers players together who specialize in speedrunning a tremendous variety of games. The event runs 24 hours a day for a week straight, spanning from July 2nd to the early morning hours of July 9th. If you’re familiar with Awesome Games Done Quick, SGDQ is the summertime version!
Speedrunners are players who usually focus on one or several games, striving to perfect completing it in the absolute fastest way possible utilizing all kinds of weird tricks, glitches, and extremely demanding technical execution. Different runs often have different rules, with some stipulating that you collect and do everything the game has to offer (100% run), while others encourage players to simply beat the game as fast as possible (Any% run). Regardless of the run’s rules it’s almost always a good time; it’s incredible to see what some of these extremely dedicated players are capable of doing.
What charity is SGDQ raising money for?
Viewers are encouraged to donate during the event, with all donations benefiting Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders, an extremely esteemed international organization that provides desperately-needed healthcare to regions on a global scale that have been devastated by all manner of catastrophic events, operating in over 60 countries with a staff of over 30,000 personnel.
How do I donate? What can I do with my donations?
You can donate by clicking the Donate Now button on the Games Done Quick homepage once the event begins. SGDQ offers many incentives over the course of the week. Some game blocks have special raffle prizes if you meet the minimum donation requirement while the aforementioned game is live (i.e.: A Mega Man game might have some Mega Man merch that is available for raffle if you donate at least x dollars during a Mega Man game’s timeslot). There are overarching raffle prizes for the entire event, as well.
While there are donation prizes, there are also donation challenges and incentives you can choose to allocate your donation money towards. The biggest example of this is the Metroid choice to Save the Animals or Kill the Animals; whichever side wins dictates whether the speedrunner releases the animals from their locked room at the end of the game, or leaves them behind, thus saving time and completing the run that much faster.
These donation choices span all kinds of things, from determining whether a speedrunner takes a certain course of action during a game, to voting on naming characters, to bonus glitch exhibitions (Showing off weird / janky / fun mechanics), to imposing additional challenges (Playing blindfolded, two players one controller, etc), to even including an extra game in the schedule in some cases.
It is not uncommon for Games Done Quick events to have special deals with sites like Humble Bundle or The Yetee that run during the course of SGDQ. Humble Bundle often offers a nice selection of games featured at the event with all proceeds benefiting charity, and Yetee often has special limited time shirts based on SGDQ and its featured games with a portion of sales being donated to charity. Keep an eye out for these!
If you are unable to donate, consider talking about the event and getting some friends into it. Having more viewers is always welcome!
SGDQ 2017 begins on Sunday, July 2nd at 12:30 PM EST; the first game begins at 1:00 PM EST with Nier Automata, being run one-handed by Halfcoordinated (Who’s a fantastic watch, definitely recommend tuning in at the start for him!!). From there, the event will continue to run all day every day until Saturday, July 8th, where it ends with the finale of Earthbound (Mother 2), which starts at 10:22 PM EST. They may have special incentives for bonus events after the finale, so keep your eyes peeled! SGDQ 2016 featured a special donation incentive for a Super Mario 64 race, and with its success I find it hard to believe they won’t offer something similar for this year.
Where can I find a schedule?
SGDQ 2017′s schedule can be found here; it even handily converts itself to your local time! While I understand just wanting to look for games / players you personally enjoy, I also wholeheartedly encourage you to check out some games you might not normally consider! You’d be amazed how the most unassuming, seemingly uninteresting game can quickly become an event highlight with a charismatic and fun speedrunner at the controls.
Do bear in mind that segments can and will wind up going over or under their estimates, which can cause some fluctuations in the schedule!
SGDQ 2017 is broadcast live through their Twitch.tv page, which you can find here!
Some of the games I really want to see are on at bad times for me, how can I work around that?
All SGDQ runs are archived in their Twitch profile’s Past Broadcasts page, which saves them in massive multiple-hour chunks. They have a Youtube channel that uploads speedrunners’ segments in much more manageable pieces, with clearly labeled videos that make it very easy to find specific games and players you would like to watch. They do take some time to upload though, so it may be a while until the bit you’re looking for is uploaded.
How about a section of helpful links for quick reference?
Games Done Quick homepage
Awesome Games Done Quick 2017 Schedule
Games Done Quick Twitch channel
Games Done Quick Youtube channel
Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders homepage
I encourage you to give SGDQ a chance if you’re at all interested. It’s good fun for a good cause!
I’d also like to request that you reblog this post if you’re comfortable doing so, please. I believe Tumblr’s been making it difficult for posts with links to be properly searchable in tags, so please help share this around so it can actually reach people’s dashboards!
Thank you very much for reading, and I hope to see you lot in the tags. o/
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