I would definitely discourage loved to become solely a shelter for maps that are in some way controversial, as I think all good and well playable maps should become ranked eventually, regardless of how they freely ignore the ranking criteria. Good and well playable maps should, the more controversial they are, help the ranking criteria to become more precise in determining potentially relevant factors when evaluating the maps as such. Holding it the other way around, that is the ranking criteria solely determining what can or cannot be ranked, will result in the ranked pool of maps becoming continuously dull and meaningless. I do not think you should encourage such development.
Now I had a look at some graveyarded beatmaps and it seems that the quality of the map - or at least the degree to which the map is interesting in some way - does not necessarily increase with the number of kudosu, but rather the amount of people the map received kudosu from. Now I thought about just have weighted kudosu on a map given by others more than ones given by the creator, but I think this is abusable too easily. Instead I think it's inevitable to ultimately have some kind of "loved"-score calculation that factors in the amount of people that gave kudosu, while at the same time have the creator not be able to get the required sp himself just by spamming his hoarded kudosu (which in my opinion doesn't represent what "loved" stands - or should stand - for).
Maybe the solution would be to just have a weighting similar to the pp-system; that is the first favourite counts relatively more than the second favourite and the second more than the third etc.. Similarly, the first kudosu from person x would then count more than the second kudosu from person x and more than the third kudosu from person x etc.. This would encourage maps that have received broad appreciation, thus be loved by the community, actually be "loved" by the community.
I think having kudosu weighted would ultimately discourage mappers hoarding them for their own maps to reach loved status, thus enabling kudosu to ultimately become for mappers just what favourites are for players: a way to express their appreciation towards a map. I also don't think you should have to rely on star priority to reach a certain threshold, as opinions on maps of the community of players and the community of mappers have proven to diverge on a lot of occasions. I think kudosu can be - if implemented properly - a great way to grant a voice to the mapping-community in the loved-process.
Now I had a look at some graveyarded beatmaps and it seems that the quality of the map - or at least the degree to which the map is interesting in some way - does not necessarily increase with the number of kudosu, but rather the amount of people the map received kudosu from. Now I thought about just have weighted kudosu on a map given by others more than ones given by the creator, but I think this is abusable too easily. Instead I think it's inevitable to ultimately have some kind of "loved"-score calculation that factors in the amount of people that gave kudosu, while at the same time have the creator not be able to get the required sp himself just by spamming his hoarded kudosu (which in my opinion doesn't represent what "loved" stands - or should stand - for).
Maybe the solution would be to just have a weighting similar to the pp-system; that is the first favourite counts relatively more than the second favourite and the second more than the third etc.. Similarly, the first kudosu from person x would then count more than the second kudosu from person x and more than the third kudosu from person x etc.. This would encourage maps that have received broad appreciation, thus be loved by the community, actually be "loved" by the community.
I think having kudosu weighted would ultimately discourage mappers hoarding them for their own maps to reach loved status, thus enabling kudosu to ultimately become for mappers just what favourites are for players: a way to express their appreciation towards a map. I also don't think you should have to rely on star priority to reach a certain threshold, as opinions on maps of the community of players and the community of mappers have proven to diverge on a lot of occasions. I think kudosu can be - if implemented properly - a great way to grant a voice to the mapping-community in the loved-process.