To see people speedrunning as a negative is just...odd. People played it, and not only that, put the time and effort in to explore it and share with friends. What's the problem? How is spending literal hours collecting secrets and brute-forcing new tech "destroying" the game? Someone's clearly never run a game of D&D before, because I'd be ecstatic if people took literally anything I created and expanding it into a new form I couldn't have gotten on my own.
Imagine, instead of complaining about the exposure, the game's creator used the feedback for another level (LEAVING the exploits in) and leaning on them as intended tech instead of seeing it as some "look how they massacred my boy" pity party. Crazy, doesn't even have to rewrite any engine code, just design a new level that emphasizes the new tech for these speedrunners.
Average Joes can still play the "normal" version to practice, then ramp up to the new one. Why piss on a community that's shining a light on and celebrating your work? Author even ends with "It was difficult to watch them do this to my game but I learned to love watching them" - so is it just a clickbait title? Have I been played? Should I have listened to DJ Khaled?