We have indeed had map making contests in the past, and as I recall they were really a hit (though a LOT of work to make on the contestants' part, and those of the judges). I do like the idea, and honestly I don't see it being impossible that this contest would make a new appearance sometime in the future.
However, there probably won't be any map making contest winners having their maps put into the game (even if we were able to). Due to source code issues and the fact that map making for official game material is often much more than just the "Who can make the most sparkling/cool maps??" aspect, I feel like if we were to have the potential of a winning map being added into the game (if we could), there's a strong possibility that it would have to be altered in some ways to fit properly into the game. We also have to keep in mind the potential glitched areas, whether materials/objects are properly credited, and lag being a big issue (after all, a pretty map can be pretty, but we'd have to mind users who have slower computers). We wouldn't want official maps that are so heavy that some users cannot even enter the maps if we can help it.
And we wouldn't want to totally strip or alter a winning map in order to do it--that would in some ways be a bit of a pain to the map maker. We want their work to be appreciated, rather than saying "congrats!" and stripping it down.
So I don't think any map making contest winners would be able to see their maps as is in official maps, even if it were in our cards to do so.
As for marking/item/map etc. syncs that mirror the preset sync, on the surface the idea is really a nice one. Ideally FH would be unified in its content with only small changes, so we wouldn't have the issue of some users running around seeing wrong items, markings, or simply a blocky white character altogether.
Some downloadable mods would and should still exist to make FH customizable to each client, but the only reason the game is the way it is right now (with such huge mods available, but they rarely match up) is almost exclusively because of the fact that FH has been unable to be updated in over 2 years.
It is customizable, but without regulation we do get some of the confusion of marking/item/emote packs, etc., as we see today.
However, syncing them is a problem because of the finite nature of the items.
With presets, they come in no particular order, and are specific to each user's username. You can have 5 or 500 presets, but if you have them, they will be the same, and you will not likely run out of room for them to be there.
However, with markings, items, emotes, and maps, all of these have a limited amount of space to be utilized. They all have a markings.cfg (emotes.cfg or items.cfg) file that keeps a list of each marking or item, and so if everyone in the game had access to upload their own markings/items to the game, it means that we would constantly have an influx of these mods flowing into our games all the time.
For those who have used Mass Markings 3 and the Pawsome Item Pack, you know exactly how HUGE of a list of things are in there, and just these alone become downright impossible to accurately scroll through the list of materials to find what you're looking for.
Now, imagine if it were continually added onto?
It's inefficient in this respect, unfortunately, and there's no guarantee that the things upload for your use would be of high quality, either (as opposed to the preset sync, where if someone uploads any old preset, only the uploader is the one who wears it). There's also the possibility that after a while the number of markings/items/etc. would reach a limit and start repeating itself, leaving us with a mess of markings/etc., and more people trying to add on more that can't be added.
Just as well, a map sync would be HUGE, and within minutes I imagine we'd have maps stretching out beyond the reach of Cape's boundaries, rendering it impossible to reach these maps, even with wings.
So, while this one is a nice idea, and it's been suggested before, it's these vital flaws in the execution that keep them from happening.
Nice thinking either way, though, and thank you for the input. c:
