Bubble
The bubble () was a forum post icon used by the members of the following modding teams involved in the beatmap ranking process:
- Mapping Assistance Team (MAT)
- Beatmap Nominators (BN)
- Quality Assurance Team (QAT)
Being the next step of the old ranking system after a proto-bubble, a regular bubble meant that a beatmap was ready to be ranked from the modder's point of view. Bubbled beatmaps would be eventually checked by another member of the BAT or BN and ranked or approved as long as only minor changes to the map were required.
In the modern beatmap ranking procedure, the equivalent of a bubble is the first nomination given by a beatmap nominator.
History
See also: Mapping and modding timeline
Bubbles were introduced by peppy on October 29, 2007, for "beatmaps that are being considered for ranked play (pending further moderator's feedback)". Setting a beatmap thread's icon to a bubble was a way for BAT members to indicate that the beatmap was of good quality and had followed the ranking criteria.
On October 4, 2010, the MAT received the permissions to use the bubble icon, alongside the BAT. This essentially deprecated the proto-bubbles, and both teams had been primarily using regular bubbles since.
After the beatmap discussion system was fully implemented and became the main interface for modding in November 2017, the forum-based beatmap management controls were phased out, with bubbles being naturally replaced by nominations.
Mechanics
List of bubbled beatmaps, followed by popped bubbles and starred maps
Bubbled beatmaps' threads were listed on the first pages of the Pending Beatmaps forum, ordered by their star priority and effectively acting as pinned forum threads.
Requirements
- In order to be bubbled, a beatmap's star priority had to be at least 8. Later, this threshold was increased to 12.
- The requirement for a beatmap to be considered for the Ranked category was to have a single bubble.
- Beatmaps going for the Approved category had to have two consecutive bubbles placed by two different BAT members. On June 2, 2017, this threshold was changed to a single bubble.
Bubble pop
An existing bubble could be popped:
- Automatically, by the mapper themselves, if they updated the map or any of its files.
- Manually, by a member of the BAT, if the beatmap required more changes and couldn't be ranked in its current state.
In both cases, the beatmap thread's icon would be set to a popped bubble (). If a bubble was popped manually, it was assumed that the BAT or MAT member who placed the icon would ensure that the necessary changes were made to the map before it continued in the ranking process.
See also
- the end of bubbles, an episode of the osu!mapping YouTube series