So the topic of 'Showcase Videos' came up in the steam chat about a half hour ago, specifically who should host the videos for showcases or 'fly-throughs' of maps. I want to get some perspectives on this so that we come to a conclusion as a whole. Currently it is just my perspective, but some people have mentioned my perspective sucks, so.
Personally, I'm comfortable with the idea that TF2maps.net's youtube channel represents the community as a whole, and doesn't host individual showcase videos for specific maps. It does however have showcase videos for contests and events, and does have a
playlist of fly-through videos for maps uploaded by other youtube users for their maps.
The question then comes to 'can I just host my video of my map's fly-through (or showcase) on the tf2maps.net youtube channel?'. I'd prefer to say no to this because I feel like it would confuse people of our representation.
I wouldn't feel comfortable being in a situation where someone puts their not-so-good map directly onto the channel which is what tf2maps.net 'represents and supports'.
Looking at other mediums, the TF2maps.net map showcases' target audience is of server owners who are looking for quality-tested maps for their servers. In that situation it would then be unwise to allow all maps to be included in the showcase, to be represented equally, because evidently the maps are not all equal in quality. I feel mostly the same way about uploading to the TF2maps.net youtube channel. Currently I feel like videos uploaded should either represent the community as a whole (contest showcases, the hammer times, tutorials) or be a showcase of the best (interviews of important mappers). This then leads into the question of 'who is
TF2maps.net's Youtube Channel's target audience?'. Should we be treating hosting videos on the youtube channel like we do with the showcase, or should it be essentially open to anything from our community?