Speedrunning, the art of finishing a game as quickly as possible, took off with Doom in 1993. In 1994 a University of Waterloo student set up a server for collecting these demos, and Simon Widlake created a site that ranked the completion times of Doom's levels. Quake speedruns followed, and by 1997 full-game runs were reaching a wider audience. In 2003 a tool-assisted run of Super Mario Bros. 3 spread widely, and many viewers believed it was human until its creator explained it. Livestreaming, YouTube and Speedrun.com later turned the hobby into a global, collaborative community.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.