The for you row is one of the most important rows to show and find new and fun maps as it’s the top 2 rows of discover and is algorithmically driven.
Platforms like YouTube use these rows to continuously test videos and content to the audience that have potential or are completely new!
Currently, this row is extremely PVP heavy and mostly shows PVP maps as alot of people play PVP maps daily. The big problem here is that most innovative maps that have alot of different elements do not get shown here due to the algorithm seeing that players mostly play BR, the PIT, and red vs blue and then serving other maps like that.
For variety maps and innovative but still fun maps, this is a big problem! Having the new and updated top-rated and most engaging rows is already a great start and has led to a few more maps that are great and varied to be shown to a broader audience!
THE BIG PROBLEM
New maps that are most engaging and/or top rated in new and updated (which shows that these maps have the potential to be fun and innovative) then slowly die out after not being shown anywhere
The reason is that players who play the map often play a map longer when interacting with other players.
As the map does not get shown to a baseline of players, the map then slowly falls to 0. Looking through the data I have, it’s clearly visible that most of my maps that make it to the new and updated top-rated or most engaging never get shown in any recommendations due to being non-combat / variety-focused maps or having lower player counts.
SUGGESTED FIX
Give engaging and top-rated maps that were tested and have found a spot in new and updated top-rated / most engaging a small portion of continuous impressions in the for you row for a subset of players (Same as Youtube does it for promising videos).
As these maps have already proven to be well-rated and engaging, these maps should get at least a few thousand impressions a day to not make them die out completely
No matter how good and fun a map is, when a player would go back to the map but then sees it’s at 0 players, chances are high the player will then go to a different map with more players
EXAMPLE
- A map gets tested in New and Updated
- The map is engaging or has good ratings
- The map goes into the most engaging/top-rated for the new and updated section
- After a certain amount of time, this map now gets replaced by new maps that fit the criteria
5.The map now falls to low or 0 players due to not being shown to any new players
6. The map has now met the criteria to be a fun map and will now get shown to a subset of players in the for you row
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT
The for you is the first row that gets shown to everyone who is playing Fortnite. UGC in general, but also Fortnite, is a game that is still promoted heavily and still relying strongly on content creators on Youtube, Twitch, and TikTok (edited)
As these content creators play mostly Fortnite for the BR mod,e those creators will not scroll down to discover way to often to search for new games
Since content creators are very important, it would make sense to show innovative and fun new maps on top. If the for you rows show the big PVP maps all the time that aleady have huge amount of players, most content creators will not even find the hidden gems.