@Oko, I'm not talking about you, or pishi, but look at how active the other people are, as well as how similar the spread council's views are. It's more a comment about the council lacking diversity and varying opinions. At the end of the day, we're going to take everyone's comments here "into account" and push forward the rule based also on our thoughts and considerations, and what we think of people's opinions. I don't want to have to be the only person saying "the vast majority of members in the community are against it". I already know the counter-arguments that will try to make light of the discussions here like: "but the mapping community is a very small minority, we should take their consideration lightly and also consider the statistics which cater more to the player-base, even if they didn't voice their opinions".
Also, please stop using these statistics as a way to dissuade people from mapping Extras. Statistics are easily manipulated, this is one such occasion. You have to remember that Extra's cater to a different playerbase than Normals/Hards. Also, Extra's are a lot harder so obviously they have less play count since they aren't as accessible to new players. Insanes and Extra's because of their difficulty, are obviously much more popular with dedicated players in the community. You also need to consider that. Additionally, you also need to consider that aside from these "content-bloating" arguments, mappers also prefer to map Insanes/Extra's because they allow you a lot more creative freedom and enjoyment in mapping.
I really think the content-bloating argument is being unnecessarily discussed like it's a very relevant issue. You can discuss that, but also consider other factors please. We've had no limit to difficulties for a long time. There's no need to fix something that isn't broken. If mappers wish to create more content for the game, out of their own time, they should be allowed to.
The ranking criteria should cater to the mapping meta. We add rules and guidelines to nudge people in the right direction to providing higher quality maps. The difficulty-cap rule, and the song-extension rule both do nothing to producing higher quality maps or mapsets. They are only there because the RCC doesn't like them. I've only seen arguments from criteria members about how its "low quality" which is subjective, and clearly not a view reflected by the majority of the community. I remain unconvinced that implementing these rules in any effect will produce higher quality maps. The only arguments I've heard so far is that "too many difficulties clutter the song-select and difficulty-selection screen", and "abuse of mp3 extension can lead to poor mp3 edits". The first is honestly very frivolous especially since Renatus already gives every player joining the game an "overbloated" mapset to begin with. The latter is something BN's and modders should be able to comment on. It is extremely rare anyways (actually I don't even know any examples of poor mp3 editing, only mp3 editing abuse).
Also, please stop using these statistics as a way to dissuade people from mapping Extras. Statistics are easily manipulated, this is one such occasion. You have to remember that Extra's cater to a different playerbase than Normals/Hards. Also, Extra's are a lot harder so obviously they have less play count since they aren't as accessible to new players. Insanes and Extra's because of their difficulty, are obviously much more popular with dedicated players in the community. You also need to consider that. Additionally, you also need to consider that aside from these "content-bloating" arguments, mappers also prefer to map Insanes/Extra's because they allow you a lot more creative freedom and enjoyment in mapping.
I really think the content-bloating argument is being unnecessarily discussed like it's a very relevant issue. You can discuss that, but also consider other factors please. We've had no limit to difficulties for a long time. There's no need to fix something that isn't broken. If mappers wish to create more content for the game, out of their own time, they should be allowed to.
The ranking criteria should cater to the mapping meta. We add rules and guidelines to nudge people in the right direction to providing higher quality maps. The difficulty-cap rule, and the song-extension rule both do nothing to producing higher quality maps or mapsets. They are only there because the RCC doesn't like them. I've only seen arguments from criteria members about how its "low quality" which is subjective, and clearly not a view reflected by the majority of the community. I remain unconvinced that implementing these rules in any effect will produce higher quality maps. The only arguments I've heard so far is that "too many difficulties clutter the song-select and difficulty-selection screen", and "abuse of mp3 extension can lead to poor mp3 edits". The first is honestly very frivolous especially since Renatus already gives every player joining the game an "overbloated" mapset to begin with. The latter is something BN's and modders should be able to comment on. It is extremely rare anyways (actually I don't even know any examples of poor mp3 editing, only mp3 editing abuse).