About Neroxis map generator...

Yeah the tone of this thread is kinda depressing.

Anyway, I can't help but notice that the high rated 1v1 players in this thread (and in the mapgen tourney thread) are really interested in seeing this in ladder, perhaps an experimental month of the 1800+ bonus maps being mapgen would be worth it. I can't really see what the risk is to be honest, high level ladder stays dead and people complain about ugly/unfun/bugged/imba maps? What's the change?

Maybe I should clarify: what I find nice about random maps is they enable spammy, active gameplay as opposed to turtle eco play. As the player count goes up, handmade maps quickly develop metas where you are expected to focus on air or eco or turtle in certain slots. It's true that for both 1v1 and 2v2, there are a lot of handmade maps that do this as well, so this aspect is not really relevant to any decision about including generated maps in ladder. I suppose what I'm getting at is that mapgen games serve me better than handmade maps when hosting all welcome games, especially in 4v4+ format, if the goal is to get new players to play actively.

Regarding contributions I'd love to see mapmakers make, one particular one is more diverse biomes / looks. If I remember correctly, Sheikah said coding experience is not needed help in this regard, but I don't know the details.

@Sir-Prize said in About Neroxis map generator...:

perhaps an experimental month of the 1800+ bonus maps being mapgen would be worth it.

Adding random maps to the pool requires code as Askaholic has been saying in this thread. It's not a matter of "just try it" here. If you need a reason to play more mapgen maps, I suggest you start a temporary WWPC mapgen league.

nine2 said in About Neroxis map generator...:

productive conversation

Pointless moral meandering that only serves to derail the thread.

Don't really care about if you're for or against mapgen, I don't give a rats.

But if you are for mapgen, dont excuse "aggressive" comments made by people who are also for mapgen, and then immediately jump onto comments made in a similar vein, only that they're now against mapgen.
Backseat moderating is already unacceptable, be consistent about it.

@phong said in About Neroxis map generator...:

one particular one is more diverse biomes / looks.

https://forum.faforever.com/topic/1247/faf-creative-palette

As to me,map gen would fix some problems of the current ladder->premade BO's.
Random maps would enforce people to adapt and get more flexible however the question is: will people play ladder if this gets implemented?is it even worth making such a decision and lose a bigger player base on each skill level?

queuing with a newbie to show him the beauty of tmm and meeting tagada be like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLcRpdZ0Xb0&ab_channel=Tomoko

People always tend to prefer things they know, when they have a choice. This is why the mapgen can do what handmade maps cannot.

If a person goes into the map vault, they see a bunch of maps they have never seen alongside ones that they already now, and their brain is automatically going to dismiss the maps they dont't know because anything thats new is frightening on a primitive human level.

The mapgen solves this problem by frontloading that choice:

  • Do you want to play an unknown map or not?

And then forcing you to stay with that choice by preventing your brain from categorizing it as just another map and therefore reverting your decision to try something new. So the way in which the mapgen creates an advantage is not necessarily by just creating unknown maps, but psychologycally.

Of course the mapgen should eventually still reach higher level of quality. But its important to realize how important the UI is here.

Lets assume that there is a way for the client to automatically select a handmade map that

  • Follows some easy to use filters (size, amount of water, etc.) similar to map generator
  • Guarantuess to select a map that is generally not very actively played by the community and of certain minimum quality
  • Introduces some sort of UI-barrier to backpedalling from the decision to play something new

Then maybe handmade maps could in some way fullfill the same function that the mapgen does. However, we dont have that kind of UI for handmade maps, and as long as it is that way, people will resort to the mapgen to play unknown maps instead of simply selecting a not much played handmade map.

The mapgen also crates some sort of unspoken contract: The map is guarantueed to be new to everybody (in reality thats not true because you can regenerate a seed, but this is still the expectation that people have). This is of course very hard to replicate with handmade maps.

PS:
Could participants in this thread please stop assuming that everybody else argues in bad faith or against their interests? Turning this thread into a mapgen vs handmade war will not create many usefull insights on this topic. Too late probably.

Ok now i want to look at the far future.
Arguably there is still a lot of time until map generator maps reach a level of quality where somebody like FTX will replace 100% of the 1v1 queue with random maps. But still.

Lets make some likely assuptions:

  • The quality of the map generator maps will improve, to a point where most people (except handmade map makers) will not notice the difference in asthetic quality.
  • More and more people will like the notion of a guarantuee that makes BO-whoring impossible, and we make it so this is actually enforcable (we mark mapgen maps that where created from known seeds vs newly generated as such). What doesnt matter is if BO-whoring is actually a problem, what matters is if people perceive it as a problem and want that guarantuee in ladder.

If we make these assumptions, it should be quite easy to see, that after a long period of transition, the endgame is AOE2, in other words, the death of handmade maps in competitive play. You might disagree with those assumptions, but please think about wether you actually disagree with them OR if you just dont want to follow through to the conclusion, maybe because this conclusion is subjectively horrifying.

Now, in that scenario, a lot of people will just not care and go with it, some people will be sad, and handmade maps will fight a war for dominance, that they will slowly and agonizinly loose as more and more players desire the things that mapgen can provide. This thread is a good indicator for how that will look like imo.

Now, there is another hidden asumption here:

  • Handmade maps mostly stay as they are know

But we could change this if we want. We already have adaptive maps. What if handmade maps could provide the same guarantuess that generated maps could in terms of BO-whoring?

  • Predefined mex groups that sometimes appear and sometimes not.
  • Mexes that slightly move position
  • Several possible positions for hydros to appear, sometimes they dont appear at all.
  • Same for big wrecks

Im not saying we need to do this. But if the first too assumptions hold, i think that handmade maps need to evolve in the long term. And i think they can, and anyway discussing how that would look like would be much more productive than descussing how far along the trajectory mapgen maps are right now.

In in additon to that, we can think about maybe a better way to present handmade maps or allow players to select them, but that is mo harder to achieve.

I think map gen in ladder pool is great and I'm sure it would greatly increase ladder acitivity much like TMM brought back people to the game.

I think its something fresh and new and thats what video games need to stay alive.

Therefore I recommend easing your usual selection criteria for ladder pool in favour of map gen. Try it out, you wont be dissappointed. And if its shit and people complain: ooohh kkaaaayy remove it the next cycle.

I agree.

If we were to implement this and have mapGen introduced into ladder and TMM, how would that happen? who would have the know-how to code it in?

do we all mostly agree that this should happen?

It’s not too much work, but it will require some changes to the database schema, which means it will take a while for logistical reasons.

I have to say as someone that has always viewed ladder as more of a chore, and not something purely to have fun, playing mapgen 1v1s has actually been fun, even playing vs people like Blodir and Tex where I have a reasonable assumption I will not win. I personally believe that in the future, having it show up in ladder would be a plus.

@nine2 said in About Neroxis map generator...:

if only we could point out minor misunderstandings without aggression, we would be having a productive conversation instead of an antagonistic one

It would be nice if people would do their research and ask questions rather accuse the councilors of being unrealistic. For example, Tex, you need to actually respond to me when I say "you are on the ladder team" and not just be like "wait, what?!" ask where to go, see things, and interact. I see a lot of forum complaining rather meaningful action.

I see faults at both sides: explosions from the councilors for incompetence when they could show resources; and I also see people making ignorant complaints, unwilling to help with problems.

You cannot blame someone for losing their cool when they are constantly under attack and receive little help to meet the demands of many.

11

My issue is the following:

In this thread alone, we have one group of people, such as Blodir, Tex, Box, Tagada, Bennis, and Archsimkat(Head of 1v1 map pool I believe?). These are people who have either played map gen tourney, hosted a large number of mapgen games, are top 1v1 players, or are active on ladder, and these people are ALL in support of map gen and a possible limited inclusion in matchmaker. The people who are the most active in the micro community this change would effect seem to be overwhelmingly in favor of this change. This is not counting Morax, Resistance, Tatsu, and several other individuals who have voiced support for map gen.

This is primarily opposed by people who have not played ladder, played in the tourney, or played on map gen more then 1 or 2 games. These people then get defensive/aggressive when this fact is brought up, and the conversation gets railroaded into inaction. FTX claims that BO-whoring isn't a factor in ladder, (which he hasn't played in over 3 years), when myself, petric (in his map gen tournament forum post), and even biass, all acknowledge BO-whoring as a factor on authored maps. You also have unreasonable standards being set to prevent testing map gen in ladder by saying that "either it’s good enough to replace everything or it isn’t good enough to be in ladder.", or superficial flaws with map gen being blown up to a bigger effect then they rightfully should be (map doesn't look pretty).

And to bring up the point of a depressive tone, most of the negativity in this forum seems to be coming from those very same people. Comments like "Please do not try and be "superior" about it because you "play" ladder maps." "make better posts", or an entire post sarcastically breaking down the word 'assume', are far more antagonistic then myself pointing out that the word 'aesthetic' means something entirely different then what biass was using it for.

And @morax, that feels a little unfair to bring up a separate conversation we had yesterday, out of context, to this post. I was not even aware I was even on the discord channel for ladder team until you told me I was removed from it, how is that my fault? Also, if someone has been voted/appointed to a position of power/authority in this community, such as council of setons, player councilor, or in charge of map pool, I would expect them to not lose their cool when it comes to discussions that are directly under their responsibility as a community appointed member. I agree that these people get an unwarranted amount of hate, but that does not mean that every counter argument or criticism to their argument is an attack on their person.

TLDR: We like map gen. it would be fun to try and implement it into ladder for a month or so to see player reception to it. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work, but from where I am sitting right now, it seems like people want to give it a shot. And I have yet to hear a good argument against including it. If it is too difficult to code, or there are other problems that take priority, that is fine by me. But I dislike the argument that other people who don't ladder/play map gen know better then the people who do.

@Tex said in About Neroxis map generator...:

My issue is the following:

In this thread alone, we have one group of people, such as Blodir, Tex, Box, Tagada, Bennis, and Archsimkat(Head of 1v1 map pool I believe?). These are people who have either played map gen tourney, hosted a large number of mapgen games, are top 1v1 players, or are active on ladder, and these people are ALL in support of map gen and a possible limited inclusion in matchmaker. The people who are the most active in the micro community this change would effect seem to be overwhelmingly in favor of this change. This is not counting Morax, Resistance, Tatsu, and several other individuals who have voiced support for map gen.

This is primarily opposed by people who have not played ladder, played in the tourney, or played on map gen more then 1 or 2 games. These people then get defensive/aggressive when this fact is brought up, and the conversation gets railroaded into inaction. FTX claims that BO-whoring isn't a factor in ladder, (which he hasn't played in over 3 years), when myself, petric (in his map gen tournament forum post), and even biass, all acknowledge BO-whoring as a factor on authored maps. You also have unreasonable standards being set to prevent testing map gen in ladder by saying that "either it’s good enough to replace everything or it isn’t good enough to be in ladder.", or superficial flaws with map gen being blown up to a bigger effect then they rightfully should be (map doesn't look pretty).

And to bring up the point of a depressive tone, most of the negativity in this forum seems to be coming from those very same people. Comments like "Please do not try and be "superior" about it because you "play" ladder maps." "make better posts", or an entire post sarcastically breaking down the word 'assume', are far more antagonistic then myself pointing out that the word 'aesthetic' means something entirely different then what biass was using it for.

And @morax, that feels a little unfair to bring up a separate conversation we had yesterday, out of context, to this post. I was not even aware I was even on the discord channel for ladder team until you told me I was removed from it, how is that my fault? Also, if someone has been voted/appointed to a position of power/authority in this community, such as council of setons, player councilor, or in charge of map pool, I would expect them to not lose their cool when it comes to discussions that are directly under their responsibility as a community appointed member. I agree that these people get an unwarranted amount of hate, but that does not mean that every counter argument or criticism to their argument is an attack on their person.

TLDR: We like map gen. it would be fun to try and implement it into ladder for a month or so to see player reception to it. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work, but from where I am sitting right now, it seems like people want to give it a shot. And I have yet to hear a good argument against including it. If it is too difficult to code, or there are other problems that take priority, that is fine by me. But I dislike the argument that other people who don't ladder/play map gen know better then the people who do.

hear hear Tex the John Cleese of faf - someone give this guy a medal

For whatever it's worth as a lower rated player I'd also love to see map gen in ladder. Some of the most fun I've had on FAF recently has been playing map gen 1v1s, even when I'm vs people far better than me and I get crushed. I would 100% play more ladder if map gen was implemented in it, I've probably played over a dozen map gen games so far and all of them I've enjoyed more than certain human made maps in the ladder pool. It's also nice knowing I won't lose to some memorized BO on a map that I've never played before as a new ladder vs someone who only has cheesy map specific builds.

I would put you on blast for writing 5 off topic paragraphs as a moderator - if this conversation wasn't already over. Saying it again, someone figures out how to make it work (code) or nothing else happens here.

First, don't make some comment about the team being incompetent "because they don't play" and then cry about tone when you get backlash. If you can't take it, don't send it.

Did you forget you said this?
"But I guess seeing as how you don't actually play ladder maps, you need to evaluate them somehow..."

Second, this play at "you don't play ladder games so you don't know" comment has existed since time immemorial - Even since tokyto era. It didn't mean anything of value then and it doesnt now. Playing our barebones mutiplayer ladder system teaches you NOTHING about how to properly manage both a pool and mutiple sets of player demographic expectations. I don't see how spamming 1v1 games suddenly enlightens you to some kind of managerial omnisciency.

You use FtX saying that BO whoring not being an impact is a consequence of him not playing ladder, and has an impact on his ability to run the pool. You've completely quoted this out of context. Sure, I stand by what I said about me being sick of BO whoring, but it is not an issue for the larger majority of the ladder playerbase - As was stated in the original post.

Sitting on this thread complaining about ladder team really doesn't do anything. We need people who are actually willing to contribute to a very heavy menial task and be able to innovate and be assertive. You were on the ladder team. And failed to do the basic effort of checking over your messages and asking questions that might put you into the right spot to help change things. Maybe if you did that (or even looked at/asked to look at the sheet once) you could learn the basics of how the system worked before you look the time to complain about it. I made the suggestion that you could start a temp WWPC for mapgen. The code isn't going to appear and you can further continue to play games wherein hopefully the novelty would wear off and more feedback can be given. I don't see any leagues yet, I doubt you even thought about it.

In closing:

"I like mapgen"
Cool, pass more feedback on, improve the product, and code the implementation.

"you don't play ladder"
Playing overwatch ranked (example) doesn't somehow give you insight in how the system works.
Don't see how FAF ladder would. You show your lack of understanding in your comments. Purely idiotic complaint.

just close the thread dudes and move on.

Biass the snake supporting his fellow reptile ftx. Texbook cronism.

If you can make the case that either of us are unqualified, be my guest.

Biass is just salty people like random maps more than his and now he's gatekeeping ladder because of it "YOU'RE ALL HAVING FUN WRONG!!! LOOK THE SHITTY DECALS!!111". Thankfully it's up to more reasonable individuals whether mapgen comes to ladder or not. Hope they decide it's worth their coding efforts, knowing their work is appreciated.

Can't wait to see how biased moderation is.

@phong said in About Neroxis map generator...:

Biass is just salty people like random maps more than his

yOu aRe jUsT jEaLoUs

I love how these discussions devolve into shitflinging like 90% of the time after a few days. Need to soften the balance forum rules again so we get more of that.