Map Page Overhaul
There are several ways Warzone can improve the way it presents user created maps.
[Stats]
-Each map's page should list stats like "number of games played", "number of favorites", and maybe showing who has it on their favorites list.
-There could be certain stats only the map's creator can see, like a graph of the number of games played, or its average rating.
[Templates and Games]
-Sometimes the map creator behind a map has created a template or two for use on the map. A special section on the page could show all the templates approved by the map creator.
-Additionally, a section could be made to show off recently completed games on that map.
[Map List]
-The map list (warzone.com/maps) could have additional sorting options like alphabetical by map name or creator name, number of games played (both high-low and low-high,) 'hot' maps that have gotten a lot of recent activity (say the past 24 hours,) and highlighting maps that do not have enough ratings to show an avg.
-There could also be user settings to let you 'favorite' a map creator and a list of every map by your favorites.
[Promotion]
-Map of the week is great (even if maps that didn't win should be brought back into rotation after a set period of time,) and the community dashboard does show the 2 most recent maps. But there can be more ways to promote new maps.
-Perhaps a thread is automatically made whenever a map is published.
-When a player is creating a game the map section already has a category for new maps, but it could highlighted better to push players into noticing them.
-Auto-games are no longer a thing, but perhaps they could return. An auto-game can be made for each maps first 72 hours. It could be it's own section in the open games tab or a filter option.
-The 'rate this map' button that appears after a game is over can be presented better. 90% of all players I've seen that talk about maps during a game don't know that you can rate or review them. Perhaps another button can be placed in the in-game menu or its settings.
-There can also be a special page any map creator can opt-in to show off one map they're most proud of, and they can all be displayed in a list.
It's been discussed before that giving in-game achievements or other rewards for map making might encourage people to spam the game with tons of low quality maps just for those rewards. I believe that better promotion and ways to show off maps is reward enough for most creators.
-
Ginger King commented
One thing that would be very minor, but would actually help map makers is highlighting the "Rate Map" button after a game is over. If there is any other ideas that would at LEAST help people actually rate and review maps, that would make the current rating system more accurate.
Maybe have a page where users can go rate any map they have played on before? Or make it to where users can rate a map from the map page (maybe only if they have played on that map)?