EPTPurpose
It doesn’t take much to realize that maps play a huge role in the competitive Starcraft 2 scene. However, Blizzard and many major tournaments seem to like the idea of keeping around stale and over used maps. This has lead to thousands of games on maps like Antiga Shipyard and Shakuras Plateau. Some might even consider that newer maps such as Cloud Kingdom and Daybreak have seen the spotlight for too long. So, what can be done?
Currently, there isn't really an easy way to find maps. You have to sort through multiple sources, including TL map threads and mapmaking team announcements. As a result, I feel there needs to be some sort of organized source of which tournament organizers, or even those who are just interested, to easily find quality melee maps to use and play on.
Additionally, I feel the entire Starcraft 2 community as a whole needs a method to voice their thoughts about maps in an organized manner. Over time, some changes have come from several thread posts on B.net, TL, and reddit. Imagine how much quicker and more powerful these changes would be if all those threads and complaints were expressed through a popular, well known, trusted, and meaningful community voice. Could be quite powerful.
Overall, the goal of this union would be to help advocate maps for the mapmaking community, and give the general sc2 community a more powerful method to express their voices on maps. Of course, this should by no means detract the purpose of mapmaking teams or individual thread posts about maps. The union is just meant to be an advocate for achieving the overall goals of mapmaking.
Power
If there is to be any sort of power behind what the union says or does, there needs to be some sort of meaning behind its words. In other words, people need to care. Lots and lots of people. Of course, the union probably won’t be consisted of well known community casters, players, and figures. However, if the union finds ways to get the general sc2 community involved, the union may very well end up speaking for thousands of people on the subject of maps. Having thousands of people demanding change under a single voice can be very, very powerful. For example, a releasing statement coming from the union such as, “8,653 out of 10,104 people surveyed last week do not like watching games on Antiga Shipyard” might be enough to get Antiga Shipyard out of tournament map pools.
The Council
First and foremost, we will need some sort of method to run the union. A council style power system made up of 7 members seems to be most fitting, of which would be responsible for deciding how to go about achieving the goals that the community would like to see achieved. The council members can start discussing on what particular things they could do to help achieve such goals once the council has been formed. However, determining the methods of filling the initial council positions, and all other open council positions in the future, is quite problematic.
This has been the main issue blocking progress with this idea. The method of which we choose the initial set of council members is quite important, yet there hasn't been much discussion on how we should go about doing it. Some want an election style, while others would like a discussion. Thus, suggested methods would be greatly appreciated.
Feedback
The rewording and restructuring of this topic was meant provide a more open ended approach to the topic. Of course, no numbers or names for anything I listed are final. If the community wants 9 people on the council instead of 7, so be it. If the community would rather call this an Assembly instead of a Union, I'm all for it. With that said, if there is anything you would like to suggest, such as a new name or different method of choosing council members, feel free to post. Any other ideas are more than welcome as well.
Original Discussion Starter
Pages 1-11 discuss the original version of this post.
+ Show Spoiler +
Currently, the melee map making community does not have much of a voice, a center of organization, or a sense of community leadership. Mapmaking teams have arisen to fill in the lack of organization, but in ways they have further disorganized and fragmented the community. Tournament organizers, and those who are just interested in neat maps, currently do not have a one-stop shop source that represents the talent the community has as a whole. Instead, they will only look at maps from a particular team, mapmaker, or maps other tournaments have used. I find this unsettling. If custom melee maps are to ever get the attention they deserve, there first needs to be a source of central organization that represents the map making community as a whole.
This would not replace mapmaking teams. This would act much like the how tournament leagues, such as GSL, group pros and pro teams together in an organized league for the sake of promoting Starcraft 2, pro players, and pro teams. As a bonus, this could allow for upcoming mappers to gain attention and possibly be picked up by a team. If anything, this would just improve the current mapmaking team system.
-This union would be run by a council consisting of 3-7 members, and a central organizer. Council members would be appointed by a vote held between current council members. The first initial members will be appointed based on current roles in community leadership. The council members would be responsible for writing up the monthly recap, host motm, or any other union related duties.
-The central organizer would be a council member who volunteers for the job, or voted in if there are multiple volunteers. The central organizer would be responsible for handling questions, requests, and PM’s from tournament organizers.
-There would be a central TL account that represents the union, and would be accessible by those who ran it. Thus giving a sense of legitimacy to those who may not know much about the melee mapmaking community and the names behind it. This would also allow new union council members to easily replace retiring council members.
-A website is also a possibility, and would be pretty awesome. However, that would take a lot more time to create and sustain. But if someone is willing to put in the work, it would be a nice bonus.
- Activities and tournaments the mapmaking community currently has could be merged under the union. One such example, if motm were merged under the council, the council members would be responsible for deciding who judges and how it's organized.
- A chat channel under the name of the union could be created on b.net to make it easier to find games on custom melee maps.
- The union would be the well known go-to for all tournament organizers who are looking to contact individual map makers and maybe even map making teams to use their maps.
- The union would do a monthly recap that would list noteworthy maps, aesthetic pictures, and ideas that were posted during the past month. Furthermore, it would list all upcoming events and announcements. This would allow tournament organizers, and those interested in neat melee maps, a one stop-shop to look at the best of what the map making community has accomplished over the past month and what is to come.
-A "Recommended Map Pool" could be promoted by the union. This would be a fairly stable map pool that would only change if a map(s) came along that was worth replacing a map(s) currently in the pool. Thanks to ulfryc for the suggestion!
In order for this to be reality, we obviously need people to fulfill the council and organizer slots. Furthermore, since this council will most likely be made up of those who are volunteering their time between other duties, council members might not have the time to write up lengthy council posts or design graphics and art for the posts. Thus, a writer and graphic designer could possibly come into play.
I have a feeling I might be missing a few notes. Thus, I am asking for anyone willing to give your feedback on this idea. Are there things I'm missing or need to clarify? Do you have additional ideas to add? Share it, and I will happily read it and I will edit the OP accordingly.
Here are a few quotes that represent main topics of discussion. Click on the names to read the full post of which they came from. Am I missing one? Let me know.
"Creating another level of pseudo-bureaucracy isn't the right way to go about fixing the current issues we have as melee mapmakers. The focus should be on fixing and improving upon what's already there." -iamcaustic
"This is an issue of teams failing to do what they need to be taken seriously." -iamcaustic
"The only solution to this problem which I see, is having one entity (not one per team) be responsible for easily communicating the thoughts of the map making scene to everyone who is not part of it (tournament organizers, pro players, casters, heck the whole community)." -ulfryc
"As I mentioned in the OP, the union does not replace teams. It is just an additional method in promoting maps." -Timetwister22
"If the teams are not filling the roles they could be doing, it would not hurt to have a new organization do them. Considering the state of the current teams, something needs to change." -Timmay
"Combining into one union will let fewer people who do organisational stuff achieve more. Thus I hope it will actually give us a better PR and stronger voice in the community as a group, while also letting us focus on the mapmaking aspect more." -Ragoo
"This is not a takeover of the map scene. It's a map advocacy group." -EatThePath
"I think the point has not been emphasized enough that this will not and should not, in any way, interfere with the efforts that the mapmaking teams can put forth, and that the goal is simply advocacy and support, in a way that does not shut out anyone." -NewSunshine
"There have been some very valid concerns raised and some of the reactions of those were overly defensive. I do also share most these concerns. The core of the problem is that we are lacking certain personalities within our community. Forming a union won't neccesarily bring them into existence." -lefix
"The council needs to be able to show that the community wants new maps first, and then communicate that want to the mappool-choosers." -Nightmarjoo
Reasoning and Purpose
Currently, the melee map making community does not have much of a voice, a center of organization, or a sense of community leadership. Mapmaking teams have arisen to fill in the lack of organization, but in ways they have further disorganized and fragmented the community. Tournament organizers, and those who are just interested in neat maps, currently do not have a one-stop shop source that represents the talent the community has as a whole. Instead, they will only look at maps from a particular team, mapmaker, or maps other tournaments have used. I find this unsettling. If custom melee maps are to ever get the attention they deserve, there first needs to be a source of central organization that represents the map making community as a whole.
This would not replace mapmaking teams. This would act much like the how tournament leagues, such as GSL, group pros and pro teams together in an organized league for the sake of promoting Starcraft 2, pro players, and pro teams. As a bonus, this could allow for upcoming mappers to gain attention and possibly be picked up by a team. If anything, this would just improve the current mapmaking team system.
Organization
-This union would be run by a council consisting of 3-7 members, and a central organizer. Council members would be appointed by a vote held between current council members. The first initial members will be appointed based on current roles in community leadership. The council members would be responsible for writing up the monthly recap, host motm, or any other union related duties.
-The central organizer would be a council member who volunteers for the job, or voted in if there are multiple volunteers. The central organizer would be responsible for handling questions, requests, and PM’s from tournament organizers.
-There would be a central TL account that represents the union, and would be accessible by those who ran it. Thus giving a sense of legitimacy to those who may not know much about the melee mapmaking community and the names behind it. This would also allow new union council members to easily replace retiring council members.
-A website is also a possibility, and would be pretty awesome. However, that would take a lot more time to create and sustain. But if someone is willing to put in the work, it would be a nice bonus.
Services
- Activities and tournaments the mapmaking community currently has could be merged under the union. One such example, if motm were merged under the council, the council members would be responsible for deciding who judges and how it's organized.
- A chat channel under the name of the union could be created on b.net to make it easier to find games on custom melee maps.
- The union would be the well known go-to for all tournament organizers who are looking to contact individual map makers and maybe even map making teams to use their maps.
- The union would do a monthly recap that would list noteworthy maps, aesthetic pictures, and ideas that were posted during the past month. Furthermore, it would list all upcoming events and announcements. This would allow tournament organizers, and those interested in neat melee maps, a one stop-shop to look at the best of what the map making community has accomplished over the past month and what is to come.
-A "Recommended Map Pool" could be promoted by the union. This would be a fairly stable map pool that would only change if a map(s) came along that was worth replacing a map(s) currently in the pool. Thanks to ulfryc for the suggestion!
Needs
In order for this to be reality, we obviously need people to fulfill the council and organizer slots. Furthermore, since this council will most likely be made up of those who are volunteering their time between other duties, council members might not have the time to write up lengthy council posts or design graphics and art for the posts. Thus, a writer and graphic designer could possibly come into play.
Feedback
I have a feeling I might be missing a few notes. Thus, I am asking for anyone willing to give your feedback on this idea. Are there things I'm missing or need to clarify? Do you have additional ideas to add? Share it, and I will happily read it and I will edit the OP accordingly.
Notable Quotes from the Discussion
Here are a few quotes that represent main topics of discussion. Click on the names to read the full post of which they came from. Am I missing one? Let me know.
"Creating another level of pseudo-bureaucracy isn't the right way to go about fixing the current issues we have as melee mapmakers. The focus should be on fixing and improving upon what's already there." -iamcaustic
"This is an issue of teams failing to do what they need to be taken seriously." -iamcaustic
"The only solution to this problem which I see, is having one entity (not one per team) be responsible for easily communicating the thoughts of the map making scene to everyone who is not part of it (tournament organizers, pro players, casters, heck the whole community)." -ulfryc
"As I mentioned in the OP, the union does not replace teams. It is just an additional method in promoting maps." -Timetwister22
"If the teams are not filling the roles they could be doing, it would not hurt to have a new organization do them. Considering the state of the current teams, something needs to change." -Timmay
"Combining into one union will let fewer people who do organisational stuff achieve more. Thus I hope it will actually give us a better PR and stronger voice in the community as a group, while also letting us focus on the mapmaking aspect more." -Ragoo
"This is not a takeover of the map scene. It's a map advocacy group." -EatThePath
"I think the point has not been emphasized enough that this will not and should not, in any way, interfere with the efforts that the mapmaking teams can put forth, and that the goal is simply advocacy and support, in a way that does not shut out anyone." -NewSunshine
"There have been some very valid concerns raised and some of the reactions of those were overly defensive. I do also share most these concerns. The core of the problem is that we are lacking certain personalities within our community. Forming a union won't neccesarily bring them into existence." -lefix
"The council needs to be able to show that the community wants new maps first, and then communicate that want to the mappool-choosers." -Nightmarjoo
Currently, this is just an idea and nothing official...yet.
I was talking about this for some time now but was always too lazy to put some actual work into starting this hehe
