Greetings,

so I've now found 2 talented builders on TMX (  HOFF111 &   nickrev). Both of them make some really nice quality tracks, but their attention is way to low and this makes me a bit sad. I know that such thing like "featured track" exists, but not every track there lacks of attention (SUBURBIA is a very good example, because it is not necessary to feature this, since it will get enough attention for being totd)

It really bugs me and I would like to change it. Maybe a section to promote underrated builders/track categorized in the different track styles would be nice, where players can subscribe to it. E.g: I would subscribe to Tech & SpeedTech, where I would get a notifiction, if a new Builder/Track will be promoted.

This is some idea I had, but I really don't know if you have enough resources to run this or I also have no idea about other problems which may occur.

However for many it is really frustrating to put their sweat and blood (perhaps not really blood) into tracks, which may get 5 downloads in the end.

Best, OregoX

Unfortunately, I think this hardly is a new issue. It has been a problem already since the first TMX. Or really you know... generally... in life...

It is of course a shame, and the showcase/featured system is a really nice way to combat it to some degree. But it is of course impossible to showcase all underrated tracks. I also don't think it is the job of the featured system to only showcase underrated tracks, but rather it acts as a service to get some nice tips on tracks that are worth showcasing, both underrated tracks but also the occational masterpieces or otherwise noteworthy tracks that really are "must plays". I think a healthy mix of tracks in the featured system is beneficial for keeping the system relevant and popular.

Second, I truly believe that there is more to gathering attention than just building nice tracks (unless they are REALLY special). A while ago, the MX crew shared this old blog post by me on twitter: The "Douchebag-line". And while it was certainly written with tongue in cheek and no real purpose to call up those giving "too few" awards. There is still an underlying point to be found; those popular among the community are often also contributing to the community, be it by trying others tracks and giving feedback, organizing events, making videos, streaming... etc.

To put "sweat and blood" into one's tracks and then just expect attention to come automatically from the quality of the track is unfortunately flawed logic in my opinion. Can a builder really expect other people to try every new track if the builder him/herself can never be bothered to give feedback to, or even interact with others? I have a limited amount of time to play TM and as much as I love trying new tracks from all different kinds of authors, I still have to prioritize. And if left with the choice of trying a track from someone I've interacted with before and might even recognise as a friend, or a track from a completely unknown author that only churns out tracks without ever writing comments or interacting, I'm going to go with the first one.

Sure, TM lives on track builders pumping out tracks, but let's not pretend that we really release our tracks to help the community and not to get some appreciation and feedback? Perhaps the current system is not as unforgiving as one might think, cause aren't the most active and contributing players really those who are also deserving the most appreciation?

By this I don't mean to say that there aren't underrated authors that certainly deserve more attention. And not that one doesn't deserve attention if not being active enough in the community. There is certainly also an element of luck into getting attention that is really unfortunate and such lists that you propose OregoX sounds like a really nice idea. A lot of authors are still going to drown in the depths of TMX though. And maintaining such a list is probably very hard to do for a single person since really tracks without attention are without attention cause they haven't been "discovered" already, thus they are really hard to find.

Thus, I think such list could be community-driven somehow, either by letting people post tracks below a certain treshold of awards (that aren't their own) in the lists freely, or by letting people send in suggestions that can be compiled by the team? The risk with the first method is that the feed get bombarded with tracks and lots of tracks get lost anyway, but the alternative is that those tracks would be excluded altogether. It could serve as a nice first "filter" to find new tracks to try, but might also give way for a bubble of users only recommending each other, leaving some authors unrecognised and even worse so now that everyone only tries tracks from this new list? I don't think it is a huge issue though, and hope we can get it implemented some day!

This became a long and rambling post, sorry about that... Feel free to only read the last paragraph! xD

Cheers!
//>>Tuta<<

Thank you for this very detailed text, tuta. I like many things you pointe out about your opinion, that give me a lot to think about.

I also experienced in the last days how much the impact, when you get to know others better (In both directions).

Regarding featured track section: I really did misinterprete the concept. "we will prioritize underrated maps"~Ozon, was probably one thing, that leads to my misunderstanding, but what you said makes totally sense and I'm glad you changed my mind about that.
Nonorless it is still in my opinion one of the best features on TMX and I'm happy, that it exists.

thank you, that you support my idea. I think TMX is under development and I wanted to contribute a little bit to this topic. I got the idea to write about this, when I was talking to somebody, who stopped making features like GPS, Screenshots, intro and more in his track, because his older tracks also didn't get more attention with them. I really hate it, when people start to reduce they quality because of that issue.

However let's see how TMX will change over time and what features will be added. I'm looking forward to it.

Best, OregoX