Suggestion: Community Competition for maps

Right, there are some but a good player can do well on mooore!

(though I personally wish the naval maps would rise so I don't have to play naval )

There are certain issues (copyright type stuff) that make it difficult for Uber to incorporate user-made maps into the base game. I remember this being an issue back when the official 1v1 ladder was first introduced and people wanted to use the maps from PA Stats ladder.

Also, I'm really not keen on the idea of making it a competition. Different people have different ideas as to what makes a good map - aesthetics, balance, favored playstyle, etc. Judging maps against one another on such subjective terms is just a recipe for needless drama.

In a few months, when the mapping community has matured a bit and we have more good maps developed, I would like to put together a sort of "community showcase" map pack featuring a few maps each from a diverse group of authors. Maybe do some sort of public nomination process, maybe do things on a private invitational basis, but focus on making it a positive way to show off what we've created.

I'd be down for this, it'd be a great learning experience for map makers, and everyone gets a whole bunch of new cool maps to play

To be honest, i doubt legal issues are any real concern. All Uber needs to do is get the map maker to sign a contract (a piece of paper) handing over their rights and interests in the map as a work made for hire. If the map maker doesn't want to do this, then that's really their problem, not ubers.

I really think it's more a case of uber feeling they don't have the resources right now to develop and implement community material into their game, making sure it meets their quality standards, but that's just my guess.

For example, running map competition and sorting through potentially large number of entries from the community could be time intensive. Though i guess you could do community polling to thin the herd.

How would the custom maps be judged?
Which map is better feels very subjective to me.

I thought the maps are just all made available to the public and polls advertised by Uber decide the winner.

The same way everything in the totality of human history has been judged: subjectively.

Exactly Quitch.

This is absolutely a fantastic idea. @exodusesports should host; give players three weeks to submit their maps then cast short matches on each one. Let players vote on their favorites in chat and then give a prize to the top three. Require all entries to be posted to the forum with download link. The mapping forum could really use this invigorating input.