I am not trying to discourage anyone... but work deserves a fair rating.

If you're going to redefine the rating parameters for each map then you may as well drop the rating system completely and just give each map 10/10 as soon as its submitted: oh, this map is good considering the mapper has only been mapping a week... oh, this map is good considering the mapper made it in 5 minutes and doesnt care enough to spend more time on it... oh this map is good considering it was made by a blind paralegic whos never played an FPS... its ridiculous.

Maybe your map is well balanced and enjoyable, in which case it should be rated it (9-10/10) for fun and gameplay, but to give it a FAIR rating it should also get only 4-5/10 for looks and detail... which gives an overall rating of 6-7/10, which is a more reasonable rating for this map.

Its indicitive of todays culture that everyone believes that they're special, but more importantly people think they're special even though they're not prepared to put in the time and effort to actually create anything special... become a celebrity in 2 minutes with Big Brother, become a pop star in 5 minutes with Pop Idol, download hammer and become a level designer in an afternoon!

As Yahtzee once said, there so much shit on the internet now, with everyone posting anything and everything... I'm not going to apologize for having high standards or believing that putting in the time and effort to make something the best you can actually counts for something.

This:

http://www.gamebanana.com/css/maps/18280

is probably the best custom source map I have ever seen, and I know the guy took a very long time making something this special

Your map has a higher rating, you really think that makes any kind of sense?

However, putting all that aside, my main objection is that when I looked at Hardcores profile, guess who his only buddy is... you! A fair unbiased rating? Yeah, right! (I'm sure you'll deny trying to pump up your ratings, they always do)

Pros:

• Good layout
• Simple but neat architecture

Cons:

• repeating textures: increase their scale slightly or cover them up with detail