Hello I’m a current mapmaker inside the program and I’ve decided to make this post on a throwaway account as I have a couple of issues/comments I’d like to address and I just don’t really feel comfortable making my identity known.
I want to make it clear that this is coming from the perspective of someone who actually cares about the people putting their time into this program. People spend hundreds of hours making maps trying to get into Realms and I genuinely think those people deserve a lot more transparency and accountability than they're currently getting.
Issue one: private reviewer accounts.
I personally don't think that the deputy reviewer, or anyone representing the JCC program in a reviewing capacity, should have completely private accounts. The entire point of Reddit submissions is that they're public. You can see maps being submitted, you can see feedback, and historically you could get some idea of where things were in the queue and whether reviews were actually happening.
Now accounts like [u/armero_](u/armero_) and [u/binethecontmoderator](u/binethecontmoderator) are completely private, meaning we can't see their posts or comments. So how exactly are people supposed to know what's happening with reviews? Are maps being reviewed? How frequently? Where are they in the queue? Has someone just stopped reviewing for a month? Nobody is asking reviewers to post a daily schedule or explain everything they do, but when you have people spending potentially hundreds of hours on maps and waiting to get into the program, I think they deserve some basic level of transparency about the process they're being judged through. Right now there is way too much uncertainty.
Issue two: deputy reviewer feedback.
I understand that the quality of map standards has gone up significantly over the years but It’s a bit crazy to see some of the maps here that have been denied recently, and since when are we asking for atlas level feedback on reddit submissions? Especially given how infrequent submissions are checked. This is leading to extremely longer wait times due to lack of responses. I also honestly believe that if a majority of the people who got into this program years ago had to have their map reviewed by Armero they would not have ever gotten a chance to participate of the program. Simply put he is far too strict on people here honestly I think if he was to review the example maps on the guidelines he’d reject them immediately.
Reddit submissions should not be treated as full atlas reviews because they’re not and most people submitting are coming in relatively blind without knowing fully what is actually expected due to outdated vague guidelines, and its extremely unfair to potential new members of our community.
Issue three: the whole "they're volunteers" argument and deputy reviewer authority.
I can already see the response being something along the lines of "Armero is a volunteer, he doesn't owe anyone his time." And sure, that's completely fair. But then I don't think a volunteer should have that much authority over who can and can't get into the program.
You can't really have it both ways. You can't say someone has no obligation to review maps, communicate, or remain active because they're a volunteer, while also giving that same person the ability to effectively decide whether new creators get access to the program. If you're going to give someone that kind of responsibility, there needs to be some level of accountability or at the very least a system that doesn't completely rely on one person continuing to care about Realms.
Because what happens if Armero decides one day that he's bored of Realms and just leaves? Like literally what happens? We've seen hundreds of mapmakers disappear over the years. People get bored, move on, get jobs, have lives, whatever. That's normal. But what happens if he vanishes without saying anything like a huge number of other people in the community have done? Then Reddit is basically screwed because Oskar has put an expectation on him to review maps.
That's my biggest issue with relying so heavily on deputy reviewers. The entire system shouldn't be dependent on whether a random community member currently feels like being active. Again, I'm not saying volunteers shouldn't exist or that their work isn't appreciated. But if they're volunteers, they shouldn't be the single point of failure for an entire part of the program. There needs to be backup, there needs to be communication, and there needs to be some accountability when someone has actual authority over whether new people get into the community.
Issue four: why are so little reviews happening?
This is probably the biggest question. Last we were told, there were no maps in the Atlas queue. So why exactly are Reddit maps being reviewed so rarely? At one point we were told Reddit reviews were happening every Monday, and that seems to have completely fallen apart. There doesn't seem to be any communication about when reviews are happening anymore either.
People are submitting maps and then just waiting, with absolutely no idea if anyone is even looking at the queue. That's not fair to people who are actively putting their time into making maps for the program. Nobody expects instant reviews, and nobody expects someone to spend every day reviewing maps. But at the bare minimum, there should be some kind of transparency.
Are reviews still happening weekly? Who's responsible for them? What happens if that person becomes inactive? Is there anyone else who can review them? What is the actual current state of the Reddit queue? These are pretty basic questions, and I don't think people who have spent hundreds of hours trying to get into the program are wrong for wanting answers.
My overall issue with this is that the people putting time into the Realms program deserve better transparency and accountability than they're currently getting.
The entry process shouldn't completely depend on whether one volunteer is currently interested in reviewing maps. It shouldn't take months to get feedback because someone disappeared, and people shouldn't be expected to meet increasingly ridiculous standards while the actual review process itself has basically no consistency.
I genuinely think deputy reviewers were one of the worst additions to the program, not necessarily because the people doing it are bad, but because the system itself seems fundamentally flawed. If someone is going to have meaningful authority over who gets accepted into the program, there needs to be expectations around that role. And if there aren't going to be expectations because they're volunteers, then they shouldn't be in a position where the entire Reddit review system can effectively stop functioning because they decide to disappear.
I know this post will probably get removed or flamed, but
I'm hoping [u/pulluxx](u/pulluxx) can actually comment on the current state of the program and explain what's going on with Reddit reviews, deputy reviewers, and whether there's any plan to improve the transparency around all of this. At the end of the day, the people making these maps are the ones putting hundreds of hours into the program, and I really don't think asking for some transparency and accountability in return is unreasonable.
EDIT: I went through the past 160 days of reddit submission and cataloged the current status of every map in that time frame you can see my findings here. https://imgur.com/a/fS7iUeh
to summarize it Out of 80 total submissions, 35 are unreviewed, 6 have only received comments/partial attention, 39 have been reviewed, and only 3 have been accepted.
