You should... Mapping only to "please yourself" is not, IMHO, a good idea... Keep in mind that players should be the most important people at the end: i.e having "self-fun" when mapping is good, but giving fun to players with your stuff is so far better... though...
Just to elaborate: imagine pro mappers (e.g D3/HL2 mappers) having only self pleasure when mapping, regardless of gameplay, design, lightning, etc... the results could have been really crappy, don't you think ? And the games would have been completly different...
So, do you really want to build speedmap pack full of shity map ?? I hope not ;P 

It's an excersize for the mappers. It allows them to break free of the inhibitions that trying to appease the public places on them with their bigger releases. It's a chance to get experimental and/or just have a laugh -without- having to worry about what the players are going to think.

As far as I can tell, that's the very purpose of speedmapping. 

you can do it for self-satisfaction but you should also make it for satisfaction of other mappers and other players. :) Whatever. 

There was a huge long discussion about why people speedmap after Scampie ran Xen out of here, do it for whatever reason you want to do it, if it's for yourself then do it for yourself, if it's for the players then do it for the players. As long as you're satisfied. 

I think the most difficult is to give satisfaction to most part of the players... Having "self-statisfaction" doing something is easy when you love what you do (whatever it is), but giving satisfaction to others is not so easy... unless you are a "pro".... and I'm talking about sex there .. it's another story ... ;P 

...and I'm talking about sex there ..

ooops: I mean and I'm NOT talking about sex there... I guess everybody understood... ;) 

strange, abstract designs (get on the hotdog?), wierd (but not stupid) gameplay.

dunno if this is a good idea or not. i'm saying abstract, but i don't mean ugly... it should still be cool looking, but shouldn't be your typical look to a map. 

speedmapping is like brainstorming. Some people/mappers throw some ideas in the air/in a map and other mappers can see them and think "well this would bee cool in my map - But I think I will change it like this ..."

That's how I use the SMs! Besides having fun!

Off course the players are important as well - but in SM more like playtesters. They shouldn't expect bugfree finished maps in speedmaps, and I'm sure they don't!
If once in a while a SM is flawless and has greath gameplay well then it would bee the exception rather than the rule! 

this would bee cool in my map

it would bee the exception

I knew they'd show up again sooner or later...

...hey wait, has "bees" been done as a speedmap theme?

:P 

Sorry! 

I generally think the ones Scampie is choosing are good. I like this weekends. I like his thinking behind it.

I do however, think that labyrinths would be bollox and quite pointless for mapping creativity. 

Yes, Bees has been done as a theme :) 

a lot of the draw of speedmapping is that the mapper is free to experiment, screw around, and make something without pressure for it to be good and without a large time commitment. If people enjoy playing them then that's just a bonus, but not the goal.

However, there probably are some speedmappers who are actually trying to make something that people will enjoy. That's great, but not every mapper should be expected to do that.

Personally, my big goal when speedmapping was to teach myself to map faster. I don't think i really ever learned that, however, becuase my regular maps still take forever. 

It is my absolute opinion that if your goal is to create something fun an exciting for the player, then you should spend a decent amount of time with it and make it worthwhile. If you want to fool around, make some things that normally wouldn't be acceptible, or just go crazy with stuff; then Speedmapping is the way to go. If the map turns out fun, then it's a bonus, but I run speedmapping for the enjoyment of the designers involved, not for the people who download and play the maps. 

always (almost) make all my weird ideas in speedmaps. My most crazy one was sm61 (i think), the one with hourglasses and time travel idea. I know that I can make in sm things that I will never make in a proper map. And that's why it's fun for me.
And sometimes I speedmap for players without weirdness.

and I DO WANT to make a labyrinth 

Hide the Phallic symbol.

Basically, the player needs to incorporate a fairly large phallic symbol and conceal it. 

Hide the Phallic symbol.

Basically, the mapper needs to incorporate a fairly large phallic symbol and conceal it as well as he can while it still being noticeable when looking for it. 

"hide the sausage." 

superheroes :) 

.. and choose rather "super-vilains"... ;) 

k? 

I may or may not be making one when I get home tonight, depending on how late I stay out. Should get one done at some point over the weekend though. 

 

...and show us their illegitimate offspring. :) 

In map, but not in theme.