Moar problems:

- Under the Popular category, there's no way see more than the first 20 maps... Please allow us to navigate thru pages...
- Still no "Arena" category ... Arena is basically a game that is self-contained and uses its own mechanics. Possible maps would be any sports map like volleyball, basketball, and maps like Wall Ball, Bait, Hydra Arena, Alpha marines.. and so on.

I recommend removing the big "Download Database" text. It's useless.

You in a way can browse thorugh most download and best rating: click on "StarCraft I files" and then on the top right (under the navigiation) you can order your result.


I guess I'll add "Arena" today

And cent, dunno whether I'll remove it.

I'm against that. It counters the current system that tries to make categories as sharp as possible.
Arena is understood by most people as a description of the map layout, the terrain if you will, but the current categories describe gameplay.
Many maps would fit both one of the current categories and the Arena category.
Naruto: Arena & Micro
Bunker Wars: Arena & Strategy
Run Zergling Run: Arena & Bound
Protect the Noob: Arena & Defense.
Also I'd never look for Volleyball in Arena...
Hope you see the problem.

But I also see your point. Maybe we can find a better term for Arena that aims to describe gameplay rather than layout. Something that describes what you said: "self contained with own mechanics".

How come there's only like 3 bounds o.o

Because you can't read the opening post.

But what about maps like:
Alpha Marines
Hydra Arena
We are Friends
Wall Ball
Spin the Bottle
Aerial Combat
Random Fighters (Tho i sorta see why this can be under micro )
Basketball, baseball... why wouldn't volleyball fit? It's not really a Micro game is it?

When people think of strategy, we think of Diplomacy games, or Sand Castle wars, or Castle Wars.
When people think of Micro, they think of Micro tournaments, or Impossibles, or Micro arenas.. Not Wall ball :\

I think "Arena" should still be added since it is the choice of the Uploader where the map should be put. If he thinks it fits more in "Arena", but others do not, then it would technically be the uploader's own problem. However, if he made a map and called it, for example, "Sand Arena" instead of "Sand Wars" ... then he can have a choice to put the map into Arena instead of putting it in Assault.

If you wanna make things more clear so people don't put every single map into "Arena".. you can make the tab "Arena/Unorthadox" .. .. Same with "Others/Experimental" if you want to point out experimental maps can be found in the "Others" section...

I don't know most maps you mention, so I can't say anything about them.
Maps I know: Wall Ball is a Micro map, Spin the Bottle is Other (or Micro because of the kissing part if you want to force a category)
Basketball and Volleyball are Micro or Other.

Yes, the uploader decides where the map is put but we have to design the categories with maximum clarity or we'll get the same mess as in DLDB v1.0. Arena is not clear because many people have varying views about what an Arena map is, as I have already pointed out.

I like the Unorthodox idea, although it leans a bit too much towards Other. Basically because what we're trying to describe are maps with gameplay different from all other maps. That being said we could just merge the Arena idea into Other...
Fun maps is what I call them on bnet. But that's far too broad to be used as a category.

He's right. ;o
We need 'Arena'.

I support NudeRaider. Also I think we must have a good definition of categories somewhere to prevent abusement. It should be not only at the discretion of the maker to place the map into a category, but DLDB staff should be able to clean up DLDB moving maps around. Having general ground is a must. There is an open directory project on web: http://www.dmoz.org/, it's interesting to look what they say when you try to submit a site: http://www.dmoz.org/cgi-bin/add.cgi?where=Society/Issues/Personal_Multi-issues_Pages/O.

I'm also against tags if you want to know my opinion.

There exists more than 20 hero arena type maps that are VERY similar to that Naruto, This is Anime or We are Friend. There are a few people that still play those types of maps on bnet. I'll be happy to find and add them. We need an arena category.

The mods category isn't organized, I'd be glad to give you a list of what categories the files belong in.

wow we're pretty divided for having or not having the Arena category...

I kinda see where Nude is going with it.. having broad categories can be bad...
this made me wonder:

Why can't we select multiple categories again?

Obviously, it is a subject of abusement... but what if we limit the categories to two? This way, more "broad sense" categories can still fit.
I think the important thing to note is that not everyone categorize the maps the same.. giving freedom for the uploaders would then be important to siphon as many people as possible to his/her map.

"Unorthadox" as its own standing category would kinda suck lol... I was saying "Arena/Unorthadox" together.. as maps like wall ball (not really what people'd think of under the micro category, srsly) would fit better being an unorthadox, arena type map. Same with a lot of other maps...

I also feel that, from your suggestions, you're sort of forcing some maps into certain categories just to make it neater and somewhat ezier to navigate.. but I honestly think the new DLDB is robust enough to have at least the "Arena" category, and not make it confusing.

Lastly, it is fine to allow the uploader define his/her map's category to some extent. If they actually intend maps to be DL'ed, then they would place the map into the correct category. If the uploader's simply goofing around, then the map will fall into the abyss, never heard of again. This doesn't really help the uploader, and it doesn't seriously affect the DLDB. Obviously, staff would need to watch out for people trying to abuse the system by putting, for e.g., non-RPG maps into the RPG section, because RPGs are more popular... But I don't see how this would be affected if we had more or less categories.. as people'd still abuse category "X" as much as before. Again, I don't see how giving people more freedom with showcasing their own maps would harm the system, since the failure to do a good job means your maps do not get noticed.

Good point. And since we couldn't come up with something better I'm leaning towards agreeing to an Arena/Unorthodox category.
Maybe a better name would be Arena/Mini-Game.

About that whole "give mappers freedom with their categories": No. Definitely and absolutely no. This is exactly why DLDB v1.0 failed. If they want to showcase their map, there's a forum for it. The DLDB is for the downloaders, not the uploaders. We have to set up a system that makes it as easy as possible for anyone to find a map.
But you're right, some maps simply are a mix of different gameplays. So there should be a way to put a map in at least 2 categories. (And imo 2 is also enough.) So I've talked to DeV and proposed a system where you can request a 2nd category for your map which should only be used in exceptions. Wall Ball, for example, does not deserve the category strategy map, although there could be strategy involved.
This request is then shown somewhere in the control panel or a dedicated page for the DLDB managers who can either approve or disapprove.

I think the 'Search' function should keep his place in the main navigation bar, but there should also be a field for quick-research.
Watcha think?

Erm... well. I went to upload some terran from a map that I made for the puzzle contest because I thought the terrain was pretty good, but since it's 192x12, the thumbnail was totally screwed up and I decided to delete it and redo it more carefully later. It took a while to delete and when the process was complete my screen showed this:



Screenshot.
Link to the file (now deleted).

This is actually on purpose, the file was protected, I assume, with a shitty protector which is killing our parsing-script.
Protect it with an other tool and re-upload, sorry for that.

...it's just a terrain map, so I didn't protect it. O_o Any idea what may be causing this glitch?

I know exactly why and when this is occuring, but in this case I do not know the reason.... Just try to re-upload. As deleted files are not being displayed at all noone will see this...

First, i'd like to say thanks Dev for the database, it looks really good. Take that Nibbits! (im playing double agent)

For the database front page, Id like to see an actual search bar near the top then have a link to the right of it that says "Advance search". The advance search will be the 'search' page that you have setup currently. It would feel more intuitive that way. Thoughts, comments?