That would be a very good point if they hadn't changed how the popularity ranking works already. I believe now you get one "point" for each person who plays your map for a minimum of ten minutes, with a cap of one point per person per hour. As such a map that takes 20 minutes versus one that takes an hour does not get 3x as much popularity.
Anyway I've been saying this since mid-beta but the basic problem with the popularity system is that it should sort by change in popularity. A map that increases by 1000% in popularity should be above a map with 1000x more players which is stagnating or declining in popularity. After all if a map is already popular then people don't need a system to find it, it's up and coming maps that the system needs to promote.
Nope, they haven't changed it since beta phase 2.
A 10-players game still grants +1, and you can bump your map with a "cooldown" of 5 minutes.
The "games in last hour" label is wrong, it's actually "games during last 24h".
You can try it yourselves, it's easy to verify :)
well..in SEA, we only have 5-8 custom maps that's been uploaded...
EU isn't any better.
Half of the maps are clones, and not even good clones, they cloned crap.
I found good maps on page 3/4 though. Unplayed because they take too long to start, of course.
Good post, except for the fact you talk about popularity as if it reflected what people are playing.
In fact, it does not.
A common turret defense map lasts an average of 10 minutes. That's because the map is meant to be way longer, but most of the games you fuck up something and lose (more often, your teammates do) and you start over trying to perform better. Quick games then, with say 4 free slots per lobby:
1000 players online enjoying this kind of TD = 1500 games/hour
Now think of a map supporting up to 14 players, with hosts starting lobbies when they reach 8+ (average). This complex map has a fixed 20 minutes duration, and most of the players will stay for the whole 20 minutes duration (no point in starting over) before joining another game.
Do the math and you'll find that 1000 players online playing that will generate 375 games/hour.
This is what happened to me during beta phase 1 in EU. When I spamboosted WGX up to page 1 (good times) a crapload of people used to rush in, I think I haven't joined a single game starting with less than 13 players during the last three days. Then I played for an hour, not boosting it anymore, and it dropped dramatically to page 2 due to the very nature of these games. In page 2 less and less people ended up clicking it, generating even lower numbers, then it slipped to page 3 (where games take too long to start) and page 4 (lol what's page four) in the next hour. Dead for the day.
Seriously, we can talk about game design and all, but that's what's really pissing mapmakers off.
I'm not implying Page 1 maps are dumb ofc (I enjoy most of them myself) but make a quick, retardedly unbalanced SP/2-players map and the place is yours for a week. Yes i did THAT too, someone from EU may remember "The Message". They need to change this before we are flooded by those.
This faggot took my map, slapped his name on it, and erased any mention of me or anybody else i thanked in the making of the map. And right now its #8 in the charts.
Yeah ok, we got it. This happened all the time on Wc3.
We are sorry to hear that, really, but you should have waited for the protection feature to work before uploading it.
Looks like it's not unique users per hour, there's just a "cooldown" so that the same host can't boost it over and over. Yeah longer and bigger maps are STILL fucked up, even more so now.
A 20-minutes, 8-players maps is still granting +1 just like a 5-minutes, 2-players map.
I suggested a very simple system on the Beta forums before they wiped them....
Thumbs up / thumbs down option near each map, unlocked after you played them at least once.
- Popular maps: maps with 1000+ votes, sorted by percentage of positive votes.
- Loved maps: maps you thumbed up, and you are willing to play again.
- New releases: maps with less than 1000 votes, sorted by publishing date (top: older)
- Banned maps: meant to rescue maps you thumbed down / ignored by mistake.
No need for periodic scans in lobbies, just basic tabs generating little server traffic.
Probably not the perfect solution, but an effective one imho.
New map? Great visibility until it is fully "evaluated"
Great map? Highlighted until you try it and bookmark/discard it.
Bad map? Pushed into oblivion after 1000 votes. Let's face it, SC2 will be flooded by those.
1 point per unique player in the last hour? Can you confirm this? :o
That would fuck up new maps even more, but longer/biggers maps would finally have their chance now.
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Nice one! ;)
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Nope, they haven't changed it since beta phase 2.
A 10-players game still grants +1, and you can bump your map with a "cooldown" of 5 minutes.
The "games in last hour" label is wrong, it's actually "games during last 24h".
You can try it yourselves, it's easy to verify :)
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EU isn't any better.
Half of the maps are clones, and not even good clones, they cloned crap.
I found good maps on page 3/4 though. Unplayed because they take too long to start, of course.
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Good post, except for the fact you talk about popularity as if it reflected what people are playing.
In fact, it does not.
A common turret defense map lasts an average of 10 minutes. That's because the map is meant to be way longer, but most of the games you fuck up something and lose (more often, your teammates do) and you start over trying to perform better. Quick games then, with say 4 free slots per lobby:
1000 players online enjoying this kind of TD = 1500 games/hour
Now think of a map supporting up to 14 players, with hosts starting lobbies when they reach 8+ (average). This complex map has a fixed 20 minutes duration, and most of the players will stay for the whole 20 minutes duration (no point in starting over) before joining another game.
Do the math and you'll find that 1000 players online playing that will generate 375 games/hour.
This is what happened to me during beta phase 1 in EU. When I spamboosted WGX up to page 1 (good times) a crapload of people used to rush in, I think I haven't joined a single game starting with less than 13 players during the last three days. Then I played for an hour, not boosting it anymore, and it dropped dramatically to page 2 due to the very nature of these games. In page 2 less and less people ended up clicking it, generating even lower numbers, then it slipped to page 3 (where games take too long to start) and page 4 (lol what's page four) in the next hour. Dead for the day.
Seriously, we can talk about game design and all, but that's what's really pissing mapmakers off.
I'm not implying Page 1 maps are dumb ofc (I enjoy most of them myself) but make a quick, retardedly unbalanced SP/2-players map and the place is yours for a week. Yes i did THAT too, someone from EU may remember "The Message". They need to change this before we are flooded by those.
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Yeah ok, we got it. This happened all the time on Wc3.
We are sorry to hear that, really, but you should have waited for the protection feature to work before uploading it.
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The name displayed on Battle.net is the account which uploaded it, not the author you set in Map Info
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Looks like it's not unique users per hour, there's just a "cooldown" so that the same host can't boost it over and over. Yeah longer and bigger maps are STILL fucked up, even more so now.
A 20-minutes, 8-players maps is still granting +1 just like a 5-minutes, 2-players map.
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They fixed them :)
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I suggested a very simple system on the Beta forums before they wiped them....
Thumbs up / thumbs down option near each map, unlocked after you played them at least once.
- Popular maps: maps with 1000+ votes, sorted by percentage of positive votes.
- Loved maps: maps you thumbed up, and you are willing to play again.
- New releases: maps with less than 1000 votes, sorted by publishing date (top: older)
- Banned maps: meant to rescue maps you thumbed down / ignored by mistake.
No need for periodic scans in lobbies, just basic tabs generating little server traffic.
Probably not the perfect solution, but an effective one imho.
New map? Great visibility until it is fully "evaluated"
Great map? Highlighted until you try it and bookmark/discard it.
Bad map? Pushed into oblivion after 1000 votes. Let's face it, SC2 will be flooded by those.
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Okay I can confirm you can no longer boost your own map.
Yes there still was a less efficient way during phase 2 :)
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1 point per unique player in the last hour? Can you confirm this? :o
That would fuck up new maps even more, but longer/biggers maps would finally have their chance now.
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Is there a "new posts since last visit" feature somewhere?
Following 10 boards is a pain really, I'd love that.
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Me want.
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Good news, imho.
Maps will definitely be well tested and polished by then :)
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http://paste.sc2mapster.com/ please