What is with the MLG maps?

MLG is the biggest competitive north american videogame leauge. MLG maps are build especially for the MLG gametypes, which are considered to be the most competitive way to play Reach. So basically the MLG section is the competitive section of our competitive section itself.

 

There's an MLG playlist for Reach. Or there was and will be again (I don't know - I rarely play MLG myself so I don't really monitor the playlist's status). It's a ranked playlist with MLG approved maps and map variants, and MLG approved gametypes. MLG maps tend to share certain characteristics because MLG games play a certain way - they use limited armor abilities (sprint and evade mainly) and limited weapons, plus DMR starts. Their maps have to have good flow and a fair amount of openness and room for mid to long range battles. (Well they don't have to, but if they don't, MLG players tend to hate them.)

 

Bungie doesn't really do anything MLG related, they just support it. That being said, MLG doesn't really chose their maps from our section. Although some maps supported directly by MLG may be seen within our forum, for example, Genome by Ladnil.

Anyone is open to creating an MLG map, and with enough time and dedication, it may get enough recognition and may get supported by MLG. But for anyone who wants to try to make one but lacks the attention span and/or caring to follow through with it, (most of the maps in the MLG forum) that's what it's tere for.

 

MLG often hosts map submission contests in their forge forum for admission to their playlist. There is a large and thriving community of tallented forgers who participate and they average around 20 to 30 maps with every submission period.
As of late MLG has grown a little slow on testing the map submissions and have picked up a slight tendency of favoring particular active members over the general populace. These biases are never long lasting though as MLG is well ran and extremely professional in their conduct. Where as SaLoT and Fritz were favored forgers in the past, currently MLG seems to favor A Polish Korean, DeathstarsOG and PulseKiller. Granted that every one of these individuals are talented forgers, there's no room to complain. One's only complaint can be the slow rate of progress in getting the maps picked for the next playlist.
Currently MLG has two submissions open. One ends sometime next week and is asking for a Midship/Heretic remake. The other ends March 11th and asks for a map with a budget of under 5k. The low budget submission is an attempt to get a solid map that can pass Bungie's split screen test as that's what has been keeping maps such as Genome out currently.

 

I highly doubt it's the case that MLG is favoring certain individuals over others. They're looking for maps that will revive the competitive aspect of MLG in reach. So whoever can build a map that does that will be picked.

Once a map does become official in the play list, it will probably be permanent which means MLG requires time and testing to make sure the map will offer fair, balanced, and fun game play.

 

I did not know they were looking for submissions apart from Bungie. Where is there information that one can read about these submissions, rules, etc.? I doubt I would want to try to forge a map for MLG, because I am guessing that you should first get a map that is acceptable for Community Playlist first, then move up into the major league. Or is this impression incorrect?

 

I am not sure this as I am not a member of MLG or its forums but I believe Rusty and Schnitzel are talking about their forum. People on the MLG forum can make a map and if it is well liked enough and plays to MLG regulation well than it could go into MLG's playlist. This playlist is seperate from Bungie's MLG playlist. Eventually Bungie could update their playlist so it has all the maps in the MLG sanctioned playlist.

 

The MLG Forge Forum
There's a stickied thread detailing what kind of maps they're currently looking for as candidates for the official MLG gametypes. In the past, they asked for an arena map, floating Lockout/Guardian style maps, and elongated maps. Now they're looking for as accurate a Midship remake as possible due on Feb 18th, and a low budget map they can use for splitscreen due March 11th. I heartily invite everyone who wants to submit something from ForgeHub to do so. MLG is looking for the best, and it would be a shame if the best was something they never laid eyes upon because it was never posted on their forum or submitted per their requests.

@Schnitzel
I really don't think there's any bias in the map selection process, and I'm really not sure where that's coming from. Korean, Deathstars, and Pulse all made exceptional maps that received testing (actually, have any of Korean's maps made testing or just front page features?) and bias implies that it is undeserved. Plus, keep in mind that the guys that evaluate maps for pro circuit potential (Killa KC/Ponytar) are completely separate from the guys that pick the features, which is their web content team. They literally don't even talk to each other about what maps they're looking at.