[okiN]

Originally Posted by VALIS

What *mostly* seems to happen is non-professional people take complicated computer design and graphic tools to pixel by pixel creating maps that ape traditional fantasy game maps. The editor was set up to be much more flexible than that.

Did it not occur to you that people actually enjoy this? That they do it to amuse themselves do it to amuse themselves, and to learn how to use these programs? Never mind the fact that some of us might actually like the look of them. I guess we just can't all be as professional and creative as your highly esteemed self.

Originally Posted by VALIS

Dominions doesn't have a 'tile' or 'template' map, because it asks for something greater! If that is the kind of thing you want, the game will provide that for you, in endless sequence with the random map generator.

Wow. That's pretty dense. Comparing user-made maps to the RMG doesn't really say much for your understanding of how this game works. Your hair map, I take it, is an example of this "something greater" you speak of?

Originally Posted by VALIS

The (A) and (B) technique to me seem to be much easier than the third method that most people use. Hence my deleted comment about it being easy.

The way you started this thread, setting yourself up like some great hero bringing light to the people living in darkness and drudgery speaks volumes of both your arrogance and your ignorance. Believe it or not, we were fully aware of this option - most people would probably have been able to draw a few conclusions from the fact that, despite said knowledge, so many maps were still hand-made and simple in style.

Let me break it down for you.

I generally like playing on maps that look like maps.

I generally like said maps to have terrain features appear on them, preferably representative of what the map contains.

It makes the map accessible and clear, and the hand-drawn details add variety and make it look individual. Now, you've made it clear that this is not good enough for you. That's all right, you're entitled to your opinion. But you do come across as a bit of a git when you make it so abundantly clear at every turn that you think your opinions and tastes are vastly superior to those of any and all others.

Guess what? This creative revelation of yours - "carefully selecting" an image from the internet and making it into a map is, to me, a lot more boring and unimaginative than drawing one of these "plain jane" water and earth maps by yourself. If you're unable to see the differences between these variations on a theme, that sad lack of vision is your problem, not ours.