I don&#039;t think there&#039;s enough evidence to say whether franchising stunted IDL&#039;s growth or not, and honestly I think maps are the least of IDL&#039;s issues.&nbsp; I&#039;d really like to see more players in IDL overall, and I think the best way to do that is to move to an open port and advertise to the wider FPS/gaming community.&nbsp; Look at all the things that get better with more players:<br /><br />&nbsp; - Easier to drop players who ditch games/practices.<br />&nbsp; - Easier to find good captains (not necessarily skilled, but dedicated and good leaders).<br />&nbsp; - Easier to schedule games.<br /><br />With an open port, we can do way more amazing stats like:<br /><br />&nbsp; - Average speed<br />&nbsp; - Frag/Death/Damage heatmaps<br />&nbsp; - Runner paths<br /><br />...and it makes implementing achievements plausible.<br /><br />I&#039;m saying that while there&#039;s a place for arguments about map design and balance, they don&#039;t really have a place in &quot;hey how can we help IDL grow&quot;.&nbsp; Sure we totally need to make sure that the current playerbase is happy, and I think you guys do a good job of that.&nbsp; But it&#039;s time to focus on getting more people interested in IDL.