Quote from ReNoIf I wanted fame and recognition I woulda moved onto mapping for mods that people actually play
He raises some good points there but a few I don't agree with. He seems to be saying that you should only map when you are in a good mood, but I've often used to it to get out of a bad one and I don't necessarily think it always results in poor work. He also seems very jaded about the scene and possibly taking some jibes at more of the famous names, but most of the biggies I've come across in my time have been really nice people who do it for the love of it. People often say there is too much one-upmanship and non-constructive criticism around, but I musta been lucky over the years because everywhere I visit has been far more full of camaraderie than competition.
Yeah, heh. I was definitely jaded. 
Again, written like 3 years ago, I was frustrated with a lot of indivuduals and saw, what looked like to me, a lot of people doing stuff just to create a big-shot name for themselves instead of for the love and passion of the art.
Was I right, wrong? Dunno, I never got that close to any of them, but I'm guessing you're mostly on the right track and that they were probably cool guys.
You mentioned competition too, and I just wanted to point out how valuable I feel friendly, constuctive one-upsmanship is to improving yourself. It happened between myself, andrew, and others on NS, and still happens at work now. I think that pushed the quality level of the maps that much further in both instances.
