TF2maps vs FPSbanana

Is FPSbanana.com the root of all evil?

  • Yes

    Votes: 45 45.0%
  • No

    Votes: 31 31.0%
  • Maybe

    Votes: 24 24.0%

  • Total voters
    100

Termaximus

L5: Dapper Member
Jan 11, 2008
229
32
I decided to starts this thread because of some disparaging remarks made about http://www.fpsbanana.com in this thread: http://tf2maps.net/showthread.php?t=1250.

Let me just say that I like and use both sites. They both have their uses.

As for TF2maps, I come to this site for tutorials specific to mapping for TF2. The other users here have put out some really great stuff. I also post my maps here (download links below) and plan to enter my "baby" into the contest. I think we are developing a great community that has its focus on
TF2 maps and not all the other Source games. This is important because there are more than enough sites dedicated to CS:S and other HL2 games' maps. Another great thing is I've only seen mature comments and behavior from the users. The drawbacks of the community are that it is inchoate and only used by a small narrowly defined (in respect to gaming) group of people. Because of that the hard work we do is only seen by other TF2 mappers for the most part. This is a good thing of course, but I for one map not only for other mappers but for the common player.

This is where FPSbanana is useful. While beta 2.0 of cp_2Skycraper has been downloaded about 50 times from this site, it has been download almost 500 times over the same time period from FPSbanana. Look at Vile's maps and its like 300 here and thousands there. So FPSbanana is a great site to get your map out to the people. I've also met some server owners who have hosted my maps in their various beta forms which has allowed some much needed playtesting. I also always get feedback and reviews (and yes some are immature) on FPSbanana, which I have yet to see on this site. Now, I am guilty of not using this sites rating feature myself, because I think it is not prominent enough (although I plan to rememedy this today). Back to the banana. Now for the negative, yes the site can be manipulated to make crappy maps "appear" well liked. Yes the site is too focused on rating everything and competing to be the best forum user or whatever. And a BIG yes, the site has a ton of immature people with nothing better to do than troll the servers and flame others posts. These are the people though, take 'em or leave 'em.

l3eeron mentioned we need to get more people over to this site from FPSbanana. I agree, I think there are a lot of good mappers and regular gamers with distinguishing taste who would like this site. But we as the current users need to set the trend by promoting the site (like by using the TF2maps.net overlays in our maps and inviting people), using the tools we have by rating maps, etc and continuing what we have already been doing.

What are everyone's thoughts on this?
 
Last edited:

drp

aa
Oct 25, 2007
2,273
2,628
i pretty much agree. the focus of this site was not only to be a download site, but have users interact by helping others who were new or did not know the ins and outs of hammer.

fpsbanana will always give you more downloads of your work because the site itself has been around for quote a while. TF2Maps opened its doors in October. So, it hasnt even been a year yet. I can see great things for this community, but it all takes time.

the promotion tips you mentioned are a good step towards making the community even greater.
 

Termaximus

L5: Dapper Member
Jan 11, 2008
229
32
I for one will do my part to see this site grow and succeed.
 

Hawk

L7: Fancy Member
Dec 3, 2007
419
213
FPSbanana has provided a lot of exposure for my map and the comments section has allowed people to give me some very good advice. But I come HERE to learn how to make a map and troubleshoot. The sites really have different purposes, even though they both allow you to download and talk about maps.

I wouldn't do away with either one of them, and I'll be perfectly happy using them both.
 

trackhed

L3: Member
Jan 24, 2008
106
2
ok:
I HATE FPSBANANA
.
second: WHY?
I stumbled upon tf2maps.net and fpsbanana.com at about the same time. (i only purchased tf2 in january, so about mid jan)

The Sites:
tf2 maps was easy to navigate, straight to the point, clean, and visually leading. meaning it draws your attention to the places that are in need of attention and anything else seems to blend in with the theme until you need it.

fpsbanana was like trying to paddle a kayak through a river of molasses. I never found what i wanted. I looked through pages upon pages of bullshit. EVERYONE uploads EVERYTHING they and their mom ever made in hammer and its GETS GOOD RATINGS???1!

The Forums!:
TF2maps.net :
Mostly helpful and collaborative along with the chat. people are constantly discovering new things and helping other. Admins do their job of mediation well.

fpsbanana:
I went on their forums 2 times.
the first time i searched around for help to a mapping question all for naught. never got close to the mapping discussion forum in their or something apparently...
second time: I go to see whats up with the new updates and one of the admins of fpsbanana is ranting and raving about how shitty valve is and how shitty their updates are and how much people worship valves penis etc.
When the Valve moderators responded to his posts on their forums along the same lines of thought (their response was: thank you for your concern, now that thats out of the way if you would supply constructive ideas on how to improve that would be great), i believe his response was "Faggot Valve Whore (moderator)"
AND THEN PROCEEDS TO CUSS AT MEMBERS AND THREATEN TO BAN THEM IF THEY COMPARE VALVES FORUMS/RESPONSES TO HIS OWN.

so basically just on those 2 points its pretty obvious where I stand and why.
 

Paria

L5: Dapper Member
Dec 12, 2007
202
31
the only redeeming feature of fpsbana is that it gives your map exposure to a wider audience, and thats literally it, and some mirrors for downloads :drool1:.

the site navigation is one of the most annoying i've had to endure, the ratings system is a joke, the average user feedback seems rarely helpful (and the website design is hardly conducive to actually giving good feedback in the first place - type your comments in this box the size of a pea. :blushing:),

Honestly i think the sites are 2 differents beasts, for all my mapping queries i come here / tf2 chat,

Any downloads of custom maps i do tend to go to fpsbanana first/ and or check peoples newest releases over there. Thats after i have browsed the wip forum here and drooled over some people creations first :D

Its nice to see that most if not all of the authors of the major tf2 custom maps, have a forum presence here.

Anyway i dont have any complaints about tf2 maps yet, im a sucker for a good bb.:thumbup1:
 

Termaximus

L5: Dapper Member
Jan 11, 2008
229
32
Glad to see the response in the thread. I agree with most if not all of the comments. Just as I said, fpsbanana is great for map exposure at the cost of being awash in extreme immaturity while tf2maps.net is great for getting help, finding what you need and communing with mature fellow mappers but lacks the populist tilt needed to get your map out to the people.
 

Hawk

L7: Fancy Member
Dec 3, 2007
419
213
You do have to carefully consider the feedback you get at FPSBanana. I've had some people make suggestions about my map that I don't trust. On the other hand, there was one guy who has earnestly played my map and gives me very good, specific ideas on how to improve it.
 

Tokit

L1: Registered
Jan 5, 2008
26
0
Having a 1680x1050 screen full of flashing shit on my monitor isn't very pleasing to me.
 

Snipergen

L13: Stunning Member
Nov 16, 2007
1,051
150
Yes it is the root of all evil. Every kid can rate. Than we see incredible crap mapes rated so high, then reaching cult status etc.... Terrible.
 

ChickenHunter

L4: Comfortable Member
Feb 12, 2008
163
13
the mapping community there hates me =l
the skinning community likes my skin

so in between
 

Sacrifist

L3: Member
Nov 21, 2007
130
7
You cant really compare the 2. Yes, this site looks much better and can be navigated easier, but fpsbanana has by far more content. Its kinda hard to compare the 2 when this site is basically for TF2 only (even though the mapping tutorials and questions are across the board). As an example, if I was looking for a map for something other then TF2, I would not be coming here to look for it. On the other hand, if I had a mapping question, I would come here not there.
 
Last edited:

phatal

L6: Sharp Member
Jan 8, 2008
259
21
Having a 1680x1050 screen full of flashing shit on my monitor isn't very pleasing to me.

You should try it at 1900x1200. 24 inches of crap all over my screen that is soooo non userfriendly it's ridiculous. I went to that site a few times while searching for new maps but as far as looking for information.. forget it. I can't find anything usefull there except the maps it provides.

FPSB is one of the worst designed sites I've ever run across, both graphically and functionally.

I have other issues with it, but those are issues with any site that has user rated content, so that aspect is not unique to FPSB and not worth going into detail here.


Quoted for truth! :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

Main reason I rarely go to the site. I hate the layout, I'm not an idiot but if it isn't easy to navigate a site then I'm not going to waste my time.
 

Rootbeerz

L1: Registered
Mar 5, 2008
35
3
Well, I come from the Banana myself, and I do agree with the immature kiddies on our forums. I don't like the random attacks towards people like me, Termaximus, Vilepickle, and other people. Though they may not be directly related to us, we are still in the population of a great community with the small group of outcast spammers and flamers, which you pretty much have in every forum.

I believe that both of these communities are great, and FPSBanana and TF2Maps both haves it's flaws.
 

Rehsa4

L1: Registered
Mar 7, 2008
35
3
Ad Block Plus, firefox addon, makes the FPSbanana much easier to get around. There is too much junk around, but i only go there to get map downloads and few screenshots easily.

other places for forums/guide, don't even bother there...
 

Earl

L6: Sharp Member
Dec 21, 2007
284
38
I came to TF2maps because it consistently came up when I was googling around for some answers to my mapping questions. You guys do a good job of answering even the tougher ones.

FPSbanana just seems like a good place to upload your map so it gets some recognition and exposure.
 

Termaximus

L5: Dapper Member
Jan 11, 2008
229
32
Well, I come from the Banana myself, and I do agree with the immature kiddies on our forums. I don't like the random attacks towards people like me, Termaximus, Vilepickle, and other people. Though they may not be directly related to us, we are still in the population of a great community with the small group of outcast spammers and flamers, which you pretty much have in every forum.

I believe that both of these communities are great, and FPSBanana and TF2Maps both haves it's flaws.


Hey Rootbeerz, welcome to tf2maps.net, hope you stick around.

Glad to see all the responses. Looks like based on the voting and comments there are two types of people, those who hate fpsbanana.com outright and those who think it has it use, primarily for getting your map out to a wider audience. Nobody wholey loves the site, which does not surprise me based on all the various reasons given which I mostly agree with. Lets continue to support and promote tf2maps.net and hopefully we can make it the premier spot for TF2 map tutorials ,forums and downloads one day.
 

Ninjilla

L420: High Member
Sep 13, 2008
445
116
The way I see it, just because you can do something on something else, doesnt mean it was designed for it. So, just because you can talk about mapping on FPSB doesnt mean its the right place to do it. I see them as a good site for map distribution. Plus I love looking at all those skins:blushing:
 

NovaSilisko

L42: Life, the Universe and Everything
aa
Feb 3, 2009
502
270
FPSB, Believe it or not, used to actually be a decent place. But oh, how times change :c