MapSpawn
MapSpawn is a way of life
If you've ever spent your time spectating a cheater in hopes of reporting and making a difference, I'd like to save you from ever wasting your time again.
If you're looking for an experience, here's one for ya. We should be dropping people into random maps to explore, no context. Queue up and drop in, and explore a map in a very pure way.
New features can be added, like leaving comments inside the map for the map maker to read. This enables the most context possible to remain attached to the comment. When a level designer receives thousands of comments, it can be challenging to remember what they all mean. Putting comments inside the map itself it in line with marking a paper in front of you. You don't want to see a bunch of red marks on your paper, and in your map the same. Criticisms or bugs can be made red, and compliments can be made blue. Are you a red or a blue person? Both help to improve a map.
Choosing a map based solely on its name
Where we come from is judging a book from its cover -- we didn't have any other option. In the original Counter-Strike, the server browser would show you servers with custom maps, and all you had to go on was the inticing name of the custom map. I remember seeing de_Dawn for the first time, and having to attempt to download it multiple times because the server kept changing maps. Due to me trying to hard to find the map de_Dawn, when I finally was able to download it and play, I was totally blown away that de_Dawn was a modification of de_Dust, set into the morning time. I think this is the very moment I became a level designer in my heart; I just loved this map and no other players comments could ever steer me away. de_Dawn features a slight modification to the layout of de_Dust, one you could argue that was natural and ahead of its time. The layout of de_Dawn was later adapted years later in the Condition-Zero release of Counter-Strike, and it again cemented in my mind that level design was cool and up for debate. Until this point in time, I revered game developers as gods for I had virtually no idea how they accomplished things. My insight into level design was that I also had a role to play -- I had an opinion on map layouts and it was conceivable to me that they mattered.
Organized time wasting
Skip ahead a few generations and many of what I described still exists, however the spirit behind it all is a bit different. I do not think there is a lot of merit to organized play testing; it contains participants who have conflicting interests. Lets say you sign up for a playtest, what you're faced off against is highly unpleasurable. 9 other people join to form a 5v5 group, and you will immediately hear disparaging comments that are illogical. People in your testing group are going to take you down a notch, especially if you intimidate them. If you attend a university and major in art, you will come across people you do not like. It becomes ingrained in the artist very quickly that if you're around the wrong people, they steal your energy and they steal your time. Organized playtesting is just 9 other people participating so their map can be playtested. This concept of 'paying it forward' becomes pathologized quickly.
Maps are not committee based creations, 9 people sharing opinions within earshot of each other makes it a committee. One bad idea you can ignore, but when you ignore many bad ideas it leaves the impression that you're not listening. The likelihood you will receive good feedback on your map in this setting is almost zero. You understand your map very comprehensively; someone criticising it is like a substitute teacher having an opinion of your kid who just met your kid. Keep in frame who people are, and never under any circumstances modify your map in a way that makes you unhappy or in a way you do not understand because you're being asked. Sometimes people will say something like, "If you just XYZ, it'd be a perfect map" but this is not an authentic statement. The original de_Dust was a perfect map, everybody loved that map. de_Dust2 eventually replaced it in popularity, but de_Dust is still a perfect map. Perfection is our appreciation for everything right and wrong; and there is nothing about de_Dust I'd ever change. There's nothing I'd change about de_Dawn either.
Take a hard look at where all successful Counter-Strike maps are derived from. They were from the original engine Goldsrc, and they were made by people with fewer reference points than available today. To capture the charm of Counter-Strike in your map, you have to impose the same restrictions upon yourself that the original mappers had. You need to make yourself alone and scarce; it needs to just be you and your favourite music, movies, books, and God. 100% avoid opinion based content like Youtube, remain in your own frame of mind. The next step in your artistry is to stop being lackidaisicle, and to finish your map. Go and finish your map, the longer you delay the more energy you waste thinking about it. The moment you finish your map you feel so free, it is the most wonderful feeling to say, "I am done", even if only "I am done, for now." Give yourself some room to develop new creative ideas by putting to bed your old ones.
MapSpawn wants to present a featureset that enables this behavior, when you enter into Counter-Strike, instead of being presenting with the goofy option of having all your time wasted spectating a cheater, you can experience beautiful art. A cheater is going to steal your energy, and you have just as much a responsibility to fight cheating as you to help level designers succeed. Instead of farming frags, imagine if your player statistics instead revealed that you've committed to playing and commenting on every custom map on the workshop available, imagine if you were that guy how much people would appreciate you. A comment you leave could change someone's day, a report you make can't have a positive impact because it is neutralized by your own sacrifice of witnessing a horror.
Lets do a test, you get into Counter-Strike, you select MapSpawn because you want a fresh experience and to leave some positive feedback and comments into the world. Here are the following map choices you're presented with, which one do you choose?
1.) de_Balmy 2.) de_Blanket 3.)fy_bombsaway 4.) ENDLESS TOWER 5.) cs_lavabridge 6.) de_ Breakstuff 7.) as_whitehouse
8.) tt_cats
Each one of these map names is designed to tantalize you in a different way. I'm not using a screenshot, I'm not using a Mapper's name who has great renown, and there is no prize other than the map itself and your efforts being catalogued. We should go back to judging a book by its cover, because by doing this there is no limit to what we are willing to try. This is how you go digging for gems.
The metadata pulled from this experience is useful to Valve, because it enables them to spot influencers in a system that cannot be gamed. The most influential map makers deserve to be paid, because the ecosystem of Valve is not solely sustainable by themselves. Both intrinsic and extringent motivation can be harnessed for the map maker. A modest sum of money is enough for a map maker to take time off work to finish their creation should they feel that is what they want to do. Mappers can also be given gifts or donations from the community.
The porn industry has little competition
If selling pictures of naked bodies it can become normalized, so can paying people for being great mappers. Imagine a young lady receiving $1000 because of a great map she made. She runs and tells her father, her whole family; she is proud and feeling joy. Now imagine a young lady making a million dollars selling pictures of her naked body. She doesn't run to her father, she hides. She doesn't feel joy, she feels nothing. You can steer someone clear of a degrading life with a mere donation towards their artistic efforts. Positivity can change people's lives, and change our ecosystem to be more beautiful.
