Thread Responses

I hear you. Unfortunately that's how things go down around here and it probably will not change. Just strive for being remarkable, or realize that the best feedback you'll get on your maps will come from your friends.

 

Remarkability has very little to do with it. There are so many new members on a site like this, with so many new maps, that many get overlooked. If you have no posts, and no one knows you, its likely to get overlooked as you have no posting experience. Thats not to say everyone is like that, but nevertheless.

The easiest way to sort this out is getting involved in the community. Members will always check out maps from the people they know before they check out a map from a new member. Your best bet is to join something like the testers guild, try out for the review hub, post lots in threads, or just spend some time in the lolbox.

Either way, the best way to get your map known, is if you are known. So get active in the community.

 

All I have to say is, it's all about presentation. Sad, but true fact. I would love to be able to just post a map with a wall of text and some pictures, but that's not how it works in any communities with user-created content. You have to put just as much work into your post as you did the map, complete with some photoshops, maybe a really cool video, etc. Sometimes a cool map isn't enough to draw attention.

 

Which would make you...?

Also, welcome to the Internet.

 

There are a couple of things people look at when going over a thread... They come in no particular order although some have more prominence than others.

- Posters Name: if its a well recognized poster, chances are higher of the viewer to stay
- Pictures: No pics, no view. The better the pics, the higher the chances of a comment. Photo shopped pretty pictures increase this significantly.
- Wall of Text: If the OP left one, it decreases interest (unless of course its a recognized name). Usually the OPs who leave these are leaving them for a select audiance.
- Views/Comments: The more a thread has, the more likely some one will join in. Essentially it draws on the fact that every one wants to be part of something bigger.
- Guest: Can't comment so they won't comment.

 

Because Forgehub is run by people.

Most people are either attracted to shiny colors, or just don't actually care about leaving feedback for other people who aren't famous.


On the flipside, I could dismiss most of your points by saying that map posts don't have to be absolutely mindblowing. Just do something of above average quality to attract the shiny-lovers, and post enough pictures so that dumb people who didn't actually DL your map can make semi-true comments about how cool it is. Soon enough, more people will follow suit to fit in with the commmenters who they thought were posting real feedback, and more folks will download as a result. These folks will (hopefully) come back and comment about how cool your map really is.

Really, all you have to do is show off a decent amount of your map and take twenty minutes of time writing up a post. Untill Forgehub comes up with a way to beam subliminal messages into people's heads regarding how they should act, or creates A.I. that comments for them, this is the only method that will ensure (sort of) that people comment and critique your map.

 

People complain a lot on here about how we with the colored names somehow supposedly get more attention on our maps than others. i think its greatly exaggerated. plenty of colored-name folks' maps are sitting in the abyss right now. well known forgers maps have dropped off the first page without a single reply more than a few times.

sure, eventually some of their friends who help test will comment, but not always.
and so what if a colored person had other colored people help them test? we're all pals,
only different thing is the stupid colored name.

i think another part of the reason comments are seemingly nonexistent is because of everyone's fear of breaking rules or being infracted. often times, people look at a thread, and DL the map but dont comment, because they intend to playtest and return to comment later, but then they forget to do so.

 

I can vouch for that. I do it all the time. By the time I remember, the topic is far down the downloads list, and I don't want to bump it.

This is just typical internet behavior, though. It's just something you have to deal with, swallow the loss of no interest in your map, and make something better.

 

To anyone reading, bumping isn't against the rules.

Necrobumping is, but that requires a post to literally be dead when you comment on it. If someone has posted his/her map a day or two ago, and can still benefit from your comment, then it's alright.

 

Meh.. Everyone's map essentially goes unnoticed. I only ever sometimes post a map preview if I know a picture will entice a few people.. but occasionally.. It still drops off the grid unnoticed.

If you really want to know how to get your map interest. Rather than posting it direct to the map database, post a preview during construction. See if anyone likes what you have so far... If no one replies, consider looking at the featured maps of forgehub. See what they have to offer and compare it against yours. If you still feel it's the same, send it through the tester's guild and hold your own frequent testing sessions. The more people to play it, the more feedback you earn, the better the map becomes. Finally, once it's 100% complete and you can't tweak it in any other way to make it better, release it and recommend it (in PM) to your friends who helped test it. Recommend it on XBL, get your friends to recommend it too. Before long, you'll be on most downloaded, and have people commenting, downloading and viewing your map daily.

Don't just put it all down to being well-known; And I managed to make myself known before receiving "Loyal" by helping out where possible and generally participating in the community which still didn't always help my maps get noticed.

 

Pfft. That's not true. I mean, I'm pretty damn awesome, but I still don't get a lot of map views!


'Remarkably stupid' maps are pretty quickly stricken off the front page after the initial rubbernecking wears off. They're also not downloaded - whereas even maps that don't receive many replies do get downloads. I don't have to, or always want to, leave replies complimenting the author of the map saying that I'm going to download it.

As for being 'mindblowingly different' - the whole point of a map post is to grab the person's attention so that they download it. Take the time and make it vivid, exciting, and interesting. Don't just blandly post your map and expect the community to flock in as if you were the second coming.

Also, you call that a rant? Boy, you don't know the meaning of the word.

 

THIIIIIIS.

But mostly this part in what Prototape said.

If you don't capture the viewer's attention within 5 seconds, it's likely they will just scroll through the thread and then hit the back button less than 10 seconds later after glimpsing at the pictures.

 

This. I'm actually guilty of doing this all the time. :/

 

I hear ya, but in some way, I'm kinda grateful that Forgehub is like this. I made this map and posted it on Forgehub. Only too relize that there was so much more that I could do for it, so thankfully it got overlooked and is now buried in the forums where no one can find it.

 

Also.. just to add further reason to the site's ignorance so to speak. I often find myself placing the same comment on some maps and messaging the same thing to map authors.

"If your map isn't finished why release it?" - This is probably one of the sole reasons why people don't bother leaving comments, because chances are... in 4 days time, the authors release a second version... then a few days after a third version... then a week later a fourth version etc... etc...

What is the point? For the sake of a few downloads, you discredit your own name, you put people off your maps and other unknown members maps and with the few downloads you do receive, you restrict the amount of downloads you get with your finished version as people either don't like your original broken map or don't see the point in downloading if you re-release a new version every few days.

I can say most people look at a map, see potential flaws in it from the pictures, then just don't bother with it. If you put as much effort into testing, refining and publication, you get 10x more interest. Videos also help a lot as well.

 

To be honest, I haven't bothered looking at any customs yet due to no interest in playing customs. I'm still into completing challenges and Invasion. Mind you, I'm a huge custom games fan as my 8,000+ custom games can attest to. Nearly all of my Halo 3 career was custom games. Once I start getting into forging maps and playing customs, then I'll most likely start venturing towards viewing some maps. Until then, Reach is still new and shiny and I'm still into playing some Matchmaking.

The fact that they added Firefight vs. and the new map pack will only push back further my venture into custom games.

I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only one...

 

To be 100% honest the best way to get a map(or anything) noticed is to have good presentation and advertisement(not spam).

But advertising is technically against the rules so you have to do it inconspicuously because the advertising rule is up to the individual mods discretion.
-People who are well know have automatic advertisement because there well known name is attached to it.
-Say you make a grifball map talking about grifball in general conversation and bringing it up whenever you can will invoke peoples interest in grifball and when they see your map they will be more interested.
-Inadvertently getting people to ask for you map link in public view(lolbox) or talking about it will get more views/downloads/comments.

Things like that you gotta do if your desperate.