WacoBlaze wrote:
If you only trust a small group of people, just let everyone know...if you want help from the community at large run a poll and solicit interest in playtesting of certain maps you want to include or exclude if you want the help. BP, as mentioned (by me and others) we are grateful for your work and simply want to help in the process if possible.
Honestly, I go as far as I need to, generally, whoever I have the most contact with and spiral outward depending on what kind of varied response I get. If the response isn't varied then or is emphatic enough one way or the other, I stop.
This was a rare case of player base approaching me after having a discussion and asking me how I felt about something rather than the other way around.
Does credibility play a part in it, sure, I think that's fair. Trust is irrelevant. This was a credible, which I described as "top", group of players, about 6 or 7 if I recall.
Now, as far as playtesting goes...at this point that really only needs to happen with newer maps, and having done so much work on it in the past it's become pretty streamlined for me, but I always welcome input. I may not always ask for it directly, but indirectly, anytime a new map is out I'm going to want it. Sometimes I go look for it (by watching games, listening etc) without really saying directly "I'm analyzing this for lists". Other times, I can play on a map once and tell that it's not restricted/or might be, then generally play on it a few more times to decide in one case if it's standard/open or in the other restricted/standard. Then I'll start spreading out my thoughts, which often times won't reach the ears of more than 6-7 people depending on who I'm in contact with and if there assessment agrees with mine or not.
So I guess if I had to put an order to anything I've reviewed it would be My brother in law Shawn, Eric, Jason, Bill, (kokomo or/and V-set team) and then general forums. I'll pretty much never start in open forums for pretty much the same reasons we don't design in open forums and for everything that's evident here.
In the end, I'm not going to force anyone into commitment because it doesn't work, but I don't want to exclude anyone from saying: "Hey btw, got this new map, hated/loved it because X,Y or Z"
Hell, even from the bitching here, I've gotten a couple ideas now, just to emphasize that there is a constant analysis of the community (tho indirectly by me). It's true that I don't play much anymore, in some instances I've tried to do that purposefully in the competitive scene so that I can better do take on this role for you guys and be as impartial as possible. That doesn't devalue my credibility though, as I haven't distanced myself from the game.