How was RTA in Japan born and what impact did it have? 'The past and present” of the game community as seen from the RTA site [CEDEC 2024]

On August 23, 2024, the last day of the game developer conference "CEDEC 2024," a session titled "Player-led game community: Learning from the RTA field" was held.

This session will introduce how the community, which is not led by the manufacturer but has been spontaneously created by the players, is working and what they are thinking about. The speaker was Mr. Keihiro Nakamura, who organizes and operates various RTA events, including ``RTA in Japan''. We would like to introduce the presentation by Mr. Nakamura, who has seen the RTA community up close and has a deep knowledge of the ``RTA community''.



What is "RTA"?

Mr. Nakamura started his lecture with a basic explanation of "What is RTA?"

RTA is an abbreviation that stands for "Real Time Attack", and is a way of playing (competition) in which players compete to see how fast they can clear the game in real time under various conditions. Please note that this is a Japanese-English word, and overseas it is commonly referred to as ``Speedrun''.

Basically, the target is computer games, and although there have been applications for Rubik's Cube (quick solving) in the past, he felt that ``this is different.''




Many people try action or RPG genres, but some choose games that at first glance don't seem to be suitable for time attacks, such as the adventure game Tokimeki Memorial Also, even though it is called RTA, there are various rules, and if you aim to clear the game as quickly as possible by any means, there is the classic "Any%"

or the tabletop game mahjong. It seems that there are also cases where elements of "tied play" such as blindfolding are added. In other words, there are basically no restrictions on the genre of games you can challenge.

, and there are cases where you can impose restrictions such as prohibiting the use of glitches (bugs). , you may also set objectives such as defeating a specific boss or obtaining items. Detailed rules are set for each title, so if you are interested, please check them out.





Although it is often misunderstood, RTA in Japan does not create the rules (it does not participate in the creation of the rules). Therefore, it seems that there is no way to answer any inquiries.
So how are the rules decided?Basically, they are decided through consultation among the RTA runners (participants) of the game. The decision is made by people who actually participate in the game's RTA and have a variety of skills and knowledge, so it is said to be fair. However, in the early stages of the competition, the rules will be formulated centering on the first person to take on the challenge.
By the way, Mr. Nakamura himself was apparently involved in the formulation of the rules as an original participant. At that time, he recalled that he participated in modifying the rules while communicating with overseas players.


According to him, the appeal of RTA is that the content of the play is clearly quantified using a very easy-to-understand standard called "time." As a result, this will lead to improved playing skills, and when you break a record, you will feel a great sense of accomplishment.
Additionally, with exceptions such as racing games, adding the objective of ``shortening the time'' to the game brings a unique aspect to the strategy that is not found in normal gameplay. He said there was a lot of strategic fun in building it.

Current status and recent movements of “RTA in Japan”

Next, Mr. Nakamura began to explain about "RTA in Japan," which he is involved in operating.
RTA in Japan is a community that works to increase unity among people who like RTA, and to develop and promote it. We hold RTA events twice a year, based on the ``Games Done Quick (GDQ)'' event that has been held in the United States since 2010. RTA in Japan started in 2016, but in recent years it has also focused on activities as a charity event, and aims to be a community event created by everyone involved, including management staff, runners (participants), and volunteer staff. It is said that it is.


There are currently eight operating staff, but none of them do this full-time, and everyone has other main jobs. As a result, there simply wasn't enough manpower to run the week-long event, so they managed to make it happen by recruiting over 200 volunteer staff each time. The role of volunteers is said to be wide-ranging, including managing distribution, setting up equipment, and reception at the venue.



The above-mentioned charity event activities have already been carried out since "RTA in Japan 3" held in 2018, and at that time, 30% of the sales of self-produced goods were donated to the "2018 Hokkaido Eastern Iburi Earthquake Relief Fund". It is said that he donated it as . However, since the budget for creating the goods came from the pocket money of the management members, they were unable to prepare a sufficient number. For this reason, starting with "RTA in Japan Online 2020" in 2020, we have partnered with a company that specializes in creating goods, expanded the number and variety of products produced, and started donating to
"Doctors Without Borders". There is. Additionally, starting with "RTA in Japan Summer 2021," we will introduce a mechanism for direct donations through the website. This has created an environment that allows for even more donations, and has also enabled incentive functions to change behavior during RTA, such as ``trying a more difficult technique'' depending on the amount donated.

The profit to RTA in Japan is basically "zero", and we aim to increase the amount of donations as much as possible. As a result, the amount of donations to Médecins Sans Frontières exceeded 113 million yen in about three years up to 2023, and he said that it was having a great effect.


Also, the reason why it is being held as a charity event is that it follows the same structure as that of overseas RTA events such as the aforementioned GDQ. He also said that he hopes that this will serve as a model for contributing to society through games, and that it will become an opportunity for charity culture to take root in Japan. Mr. Nakamura said, ``Isn't it a new way (for social contribution) for Mario to be able to run fast and contribute to society, and also for everyone to be able to donate while having fun?'' I feel like this is an idea that I can agree with. It was done.


The reason why RTA in Japan became an incorporated association was apparently due to financial reasons


Know the past and present of the RTA community

Next, Mr. Nakamura talked about what changes had occurred in the RTA community since RTA in Japan began to be held.

First of all, the RTA community is active mainly on Discord and SNS, and although it is independent for each game series, its characteristics are not significantly different from communities for general sports (baseball, soccer, etc.). Apparently it's a normal community where people like ○○ and want to talk to their friends.

However, the situation is quite different between then and now, with gatherings that used to be organized on different distribution sites such as Niconico, but now they are being consolidated around Discord. In addition, communication that used to be separated by game title or distribution site is now going beyond the boundaries of the game, and off-line meetings are becoming more common. As a result, the base of RTA has expanded, and more and more RTA players are receiving inspiration from each other, which is creating even more excitement. What used to be a ``group of individual players for each game series'' has now become a ``large RTA community'' as barriers have been removed. Starting with RTA in Japan, various offline RTA events have started to be held in rural areas as well. He also feels that the overall UX (user experience) has improved because there are more opportunities to show and watch RTAs. There have also been instances where people from other RTA events have participated as RTA in Japan volunteers and helped resolve problems. In recent years, collaboration between manufacturers and RTA players has begun, and the environment for RTA players has been improved, with game features designed for RTA being implemented in some titles. He is also happy about this trend. Hearing this at the RTA site Finally, some real voices from the RTA field were introduced. First of all, as a request from viewers to manufacturers, there are a certain number of voices expressing regret that old games shown at events are no longer available. In recent years, Nintendo Switch Online has made it possible to play Famicom and Super Famicom games, but there are still many titles for which the play environment cannot be prepared. Although the RTA community understands that this will be difficult, as it will increase the number of new players and provide care in the event of equipment failure, they said they would be happy if they could create a better playing environment (such as being able to play on current consoles). 　またRTA in Japan側からの希望として，イベントの品質をより高めたいので，それに協力してくれる企業を募集しているとのこと。会場確保の点では，より多くの人が視聴できる会場を確保したいし，DGQなどの海外イベントで行われているホテルを借り切っての開催なども，いずれは行いたいと展望を語っていた。 　また機材ではモニターが不足する場合が多く，この提供を受けられると嬉しいとのことだ。そして最後には，2024年12月に開催される「RTA in Japan Winter 2024」を紹介が行われ，講演は締めくくられた。 　RTAというゲームの遊び方は，現在では非常に多くのゲームファンに認知されるようになった。目隠しプレイなどがときおり話題になることもあり，4Gamer読者にとっても馴染み深いことだろう。 　RTA in Japanの社会貢献に熱心な姿勢にも共感でき，ときに悪役としてやり玉に挙げられることもあるゲームカルチャーが，多くの寄付金を集める切っ掛けになっているのにも大きな意味がある。今後も更なる発展に期待したいところだ。

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