this point could be discussed : who is the real responsible, the kid who is proud to "release" his first "map", or the hoster to enable him to upload and display his 2 hours job ?
I overall agree with you, but I think there should be a world for everyone : a noobs place for noobs, and places for the other levels of use of Hammer, what I don't like actually, is that nubs are infesting lists of what could be good stuff, see for example CSbanana with the flash movies ... on an other hand, it is still good I think, from a psychological point of view, to see your job displayed somewhere people can check and comment it, that may make you try to do better, to improve your skills and so on : an artist need feedback from his public ...
on other point we may discuss, is that I call "the copy/paste compilation" : a "map" where the noob just copy/pasted every materials he picked around him he like : models, prefabs, textures, even the map concept ... when I see those guys posting on forums "it's my map", sometimes with mentionning the real authors, sometimes with forgetting them ... I really think this behavior is the worst of the community.
[VDC] Rad Brad's long post
1?) discovery : the guy is just realizing the stuff,
2?) methods : the guy realize there are ways to do the job, that to want is not enough, to think first is essential, to try to gather together ideas and do-ability, to plan.
3?) revelation : the guy realize he like what he is doing, that his life is better while creating this way, he is reaching the best of himself.
4?) reference : the guy realize throughout his works he reached a social level in his community, some people are looking at him, are asking him questions ... his skills are beyond him : he can now work with other guys like him, on higher projects ...
5?) profession : the guy realize he could make his life with this passion, he got skills, a public, his art is about to be his social existence.
these are just the artist levels of consciousness in my opinion.
sorry for my english.