Custom map rating system

[usofat25]

So I see a best time filter, but not a rating or average time filter. Maybe I'm just blind.

In terms of ratings, yes they are subjective, but I think we can agree there are certain game play strategies/challenges that make a level harder.

1. Having to cap emitters vs. not (although if a player hasn't taken the time in story mode to get through Tucana, that might be their own fault)

2. Specific placement of objects. Can Odin only fit in one spot? Is that Mortar only just effective enough if positioned just right?

3. Conservation of energy. Do you have reactors? Can you spread out or are you confined to a few collectors?

4. Close calls. Do you have to let the creeper come close to break down a wall or does it rush in so quickly before you get your feet settled that you have to build just right at the beginning?

The list goes on and on but I think well-rounded players can pick them out fairly easily.

Anyway, my suggestion, which is probably going to make Virgil sick if he ever reads it, because my guess is it would be a job and a half to implement.

You have a two-tiered user rating structure, like Metacritic. You have all the players feedback, which is one rating. Then you have a "cream of the crop" user-generated ranking, which is taken from votes of players who are identified as having a higher skill set than your average player. These are players that consistently have posted some of the best times on maps, have been some of the few to submit scores on maps that seem to best most players, and generally show a higher aptitude than the masses of users. Yes, this might be hierarchical, but it gives players something to shoot for in this community, and it also recognizes people who have mastered all the skills that I started to list above.

Again, this system would be redic to set up and probably wouldn't contribute substantively enough back to the Custom Maps section to be worth the time to set it up and administer it, but I think it would shed a lot of light on what Maps actually deserve to be.

[UpperKEES]

So I see a best time filter, but not a rating or average time filter. Maybe I'm just blind.

There's indeed no filter for rating and average time, because these are subjective. If some newbies play a map that can be finished in 10 minutes, but they take 1.5 hours to complete it, the average time will go up dramatically. You can see both at the custom map page however to use them as an indicator if you like.

The factors you list are indeed considered by an experienced map maker, but as you say there are so many factors (with each their own weight according to the person playing the map) that it's impossible to set up a ranking system for it. Is it harder to run the 10000 metres than 100 metres in the best time? It just depends on your type of muscles....

I see what you're trying to say with your Metacritic, but we do have such a system: it's called 'comments'. ;) I never play a map without reading them and leave a comment 90% of the time. If people don't leave a comment or rating, they also wouldn't take some time to rate a map in an other way....

[usofat25]

It's a fair point. All the comments on my Maps have come before the move to forum base, so all these comments aren't actually linked to profiles.

Still, our current hierarchy of players seems much more linked to the activity of a player on the forums and not so much based on their experience within the game. I would be fine sticking with the comments system, so long as I had a way of telling which players are the really good ones and which ones are slightly nwbish, without having to go through all the maps and find an individual player's score.

Perhaps if we were able to link/compile a player's scores to his forum profile?

[UpperKEES]

Perhaps if we were able to link/compile a player's scores to his forum profile?

Yeah, that would be really nice, although I think such a thing won't get implemented for this version of CW any more.

Others (including myself) have requested such a thing before, like here, here and here.

[SPIFFEN]

What if we during uploading an map , we get some more selections for how hard the map is .
We can select it as it is now , and also select :

Players who posted an score can select how hard it was .
( They can change it if the post an new score )

And an auto hardness depending on the AVG TIME .

[F0R]

Every author has a different opinion on what they want their map to be rated in difficlty. By making players rate the difficlty you would get a much easier option of what map to choose