New mapcheck system released

Hey guys,

if you don't remember, the old mapcheck system ceased to exist (announced in this news) and we had a big community vote about the possible alternatives.
Now it's finally time to present the new mapcheck system (created due to the idea that won in that vote).

Bascially you can read everything (reasons for the change, ideas behind the system, concrete operations and rules) at the mapsubmission page, however I'm going to try to give you a short overview in this newspost and try to make sure everyone (especially the mappers) understand what the new mapcheck system is all about.
If you have any questions about it please don't hesitate to ask in the comments!

Okay, here we go:

Custom maps:

The probably biggest change is the new system and policy for custom maps. A big problem regarding custom maps was that everyone had a different idea about what a custom map is about (even our mapadmins) also the differences to the normal kz_ maps became more and more blurred. As a consequence there was a lot of controversy about lately accepted kz_ maps, because some of the custom maps had even a better quality than the kz_ maps - and then again some of the custom maps were pretty unpopular, whereas other popular maps didn't get accepted at all.
To work against these major problems XJ won't be releasing custom maps anylonger.

Mappers should feel free to release their custom maps wherever they want, XJ offers a maprelease forum as a lobby/central place for that releases to happen, though. After the maps are posted by the mappers it's on you, the community, to play the maps and determine which of the maps have enough quality and great jumps and therefore would be a good map for the record section.

Such popular maps (or older popular maps that weren't submitted to XJ yet) can be nominated in the map nominations forum (worked pretty well with the kz_synergy_x petition as well) and once there are enough reasonable (!) votes (by people that agree, by posting an answer and explanation to the thread) the XJ mapteam will take a short look on the map to see if there are any outstanding problems and if everything is fine with the map, it will be added to the XJ mapcycle.

Kz_ maps:

Kz_ maps still have to go under the old quality check and will be released by XJ in official map releases. However, this is where the main idea behind the option that won the community-vote is going to be involed; in a forum called the public beta-testing area.
Mappers who want their maps tested for bugs, shortcuts, missing files (models, sprites) or other issues can post their map into the public-betacheck forum.

This is the place were you guys, the community, can and should test the upcoming maps as good as possible: post a honest (but not offending) opinion about the quality of the maps and, if you want, try to help the mappers with finding bugs, shortcuts and other problems in the map.

Once a map went through this forum and is free of bugs (or the mapper thinks it's been there long enough) it goes to the XJ mapadmins who are going to check the map for its quality and whether it deserves the kz_ tag or not. When doing that, they will have a look at the opinions posted in the public-betacheck forum as well, therfore everyone of you is going to have an indirect way to "vote" on the kz_ maps as well by posting his or her opinion in that forum.

The most active helpers and testers from the forum will get a chance to work as XJ mapadmin in the future, if they do a great job and prove their knowledge and objectivity.

If mappers do NOT want to put their map into the usual process for any reason, they have a chance to skip the whole public-beta test process and submit their map directly to the XJ map admins. This, of course, should be the exception, and when people use this "wildcard" they should make sure that they had their map tested properly by persons they trust, since XJ admins are only going to judge the quality - and not helping to (beta-)test the map. To ensure that this is really happening, re-submissions for maps submitted this way will only be possible under very rare circumstances (decided at admins discretion).

Useful links:

- Public beta-test area, the central area where the new mapcheck system takes place and all of you can test upcoming maps and help to make them better.
- Maprelease forum to release your custom maps.
- Mapnomination forum to nominate a map and vote it into the XJ mapcycle.
- New mapsubmission page with all the information collected in one content page.

We hope you like the new system and are waiting for your feedback :)