Proposed amendment to Map Maker's Medallion distribution regulations

[takabuschik]

Maybe Valve needs to make two new medals, apart from the map-maker's medal,
one for contests' winners and another for really good community maps?

 

[Fruity Snacks]

That is something that is on us. Matt (LordNed) made the first Mappers medal.

 

[Fish 2.0]

I think medals should be handed out in Mini contests. Mainly because the contests (72 hour, detailing) often relate to real life time and constrains. It's a real achievement to win a 72 hour mapping contest because it's literally no time to have a real map made etc.

 

[UKCS-Alias]

because it's literally no time to have a real map made etc.

Keep in mind though that such events also have less contraints since gameplay and fps are less of a matter. And let gameplay be a very hard one.

But to repeat. A mini contest still does deserve it since its an achievement due to also having alot more contenders

 

[Player1]

I think so, it'll help raise interest in the mapping community, and would help get others to play more custom maps.

I would change the name from 'minor' contests to 'seasonal' ones. Every season (spring, summer, fall, and winter) there would be a map contest, perhaps idea specific for each season (72 hour, detailing, best overall, best usage of hats, or some other ideas).

 

[Ælement]

Maybe Valve needs to make two new medals, apart from the map-maker's medal,
one for contests' winners and another for really good community maps?

Something like, perhaps, a silver pin?

 

[Fruity Snacks]

the head of the hammer looks horribly dis-proportional.

 

[Ælement]

By itself or compared to the handle?

From the logo, it looks to me like the head is about twice as long as it's high, and i tried to replicate that.

As for the shaft, well, i wanted it to fit inside the circle and still be prominent

 

[Crash]

I wouldn't say it's horribly disproportionate. Maybe slightly off.

 

[Ælement]

I wanted it to be crude tho.

My thought was that when winners of large scale contests gets fine gold medals, winners of lesser contests could get silver pins with a crude and more blocky gold hammer.

Ah well, i'll try with a more detailed hammer tomorrow.

 

[Micnax]

My thought was that when winners of large scale contests gets fine gold medals, winners of lesser contests could get silver pins with a crude and more blocky gold hammer.

I really like this idea, a gold one under the current clauses and a silver one for first place winners of minor contests.

 

[Crash]

I didn't mean the detail, I was just pointing out the scale of the head of the hammer vs the handle, using the current medal for reference.

I think yours looks fine.

 

[Sergis]

Something like, perhaps, a silver pin?

 

[Fantaboi]

A bronze medal would be awesome as well, just for rewarding really good maps in the showcase, a medal just to give around heaps. Also I really like the idea of a silver medal and the look of it.

 

[Fruity Snacks]

This is not anything against the quality of Dr. Elements metal, but I don't think adding more metals will be good moving forward for a number of reasons. I probably should've said this last page, but here I go anyways.

Everyone is thinking of the metal as just a reward, something that should be categorized based on your level of "accomplishment." But this is not what the medal truely is. Tiering the medal would provide a means for people say "oh, you only got bronze, it wasn't that good," "Oh, you got silver? Meh." "HOLY SNIKEYS YOU GOT GOLD YOU ARE A GOD!" An accomplishment is an accomplishment and everyone should (and shall be) considered equally for what they have done. Tiering this would break the equality of it all. We are all mappers, designers and artists. We are not professionals (well, some are) we do not need to have this categorization of people. (On top of that, those Silver/bronze medals would technically be more 'rare' which also adds to the aforementioned issue)

Secondly, we need to face the hard facts on this. TF2Maps.net is currently tied to TF2. Yes, we have kind of broke free from that a bit, but in general, TF2's popularity affects our popularity. This may change in the future, but putting in passive measures to ensure that this site can easily maintain a minimal level of automatonacy, is key the communities longevity. Making it so that there are 3 hand outs, instead of 1, means that there are two more points of fault for things to get screwed up down the line. Minimizing the point of faults, I think, is greatly needed for this.

Thats 2 of the major points I have against more medals, I've thought about this for a while and I am really against the idea of MORE medals for the same thing. That being said, if someone can come up with a really good reason as to why there should be more, then I'd love to hear it.

*gets off horse*

 

[Ice Crystal]

I can't imagine someone literally not sleeping for 72 hours and winning with the best map, then feeling fairly rewarded with a second-rate medal. I think that if there have to be multiple medals they should be equal in value and cosmetic appeal and only different just because of what they're awarded for.

The issue then is deciding what kinds of medals to have.
First place in a large contest, first place in a small contest and showcase admission?
First place for any contest and general achievement for showcase admission or contributions?
At least with the second one you only need two medals and it's easy to distribute consistently.

I'm pretty much against different values of a generic medal.

 

[Ælement]

Uhh, i misunderstood part of the argument at first. I didn't at all consider that a silver medal would be viewed as less valuable than a gold medal. I just thought that a different metal should be used to make it stand out from the MMM.

What if i made the inner ring of gold, the spikes of silver and the hammer of paintable gemstones?

 

[Micnax]

Fair point Frozen, I guess it would give off that effect.

 

[Crash]

A medal that is more freely handed out sounds like a good idea to me. Whether that medal is a new one or the older one, I don't think it matters a ton, but using the older one you run the risk of "devaluing" them for those who already have it. This is probably a bad thing to do. (Full disclosure, I have one, but I would not be opposed to it getting opened up for more to have. I got mine for participating in the Artpass contest.)

That said, I think it would be a nice idea to have a second "lesser" medal that you could hand out on a broader scale. Placing in a contest, big or small, would be where I would probably start. They won't be less common and "worth more" than the older medals for long with a policy like that. This method also gets rid of the above problem.

Mapper's Medallion stays getting handed out how it is now, the original goal of it wouldn't change.

A new medal would be more of a participation/ placing sort of thing and would probably draw in more people to the community/ enter contests, as an easier to obtain medal is achievable for a moderately skilled mapper.

Just throwing out my thoughts on it...

 

[UKCS-Alias]

May i suggest to use a hat instead? For example a wiki cap with the logo replaced with the hammer logo.

This is also good for contest winners since they would be able to wear both.

And its at least more visible, thats currently a thing i see as a downside with the medal. I many times only noticed the medals when i want to inspect what weapons they are using for mvm. And let even that not work anymore in mvm with the renewed hud.