How to Host a Community Map Feedback Session Like Embark Studios

Start fast: stop wondering whether your map feedback sessions are useful

Community managers and level designers: your players want to help, but sessions that drift, generate noise, or produce vague opinions waste time and break trust. If you run map testing and player sessions without structure, you won't get the actionable design signals needed to balance old maps with new ones — the exact debate that surfaced around Embark Studios' Arc Raiders maps in 2026.

Why this template matters in 2026

In late 2025 and early 2026 Embark Studios confirmed a slate of new Arc Raiders maps spanning smaller and much larger footprints. That discussion reignited a community-wide debate about keeping legacy maps versus expanding the map pool. The result? Designers and community managers need a reproducible way to collect the right mix of qualitative and quantitative feedback so decisions are data-driven and player-centric.

Design lead Virgil Watkins told GamesRadar that 2026 will bring 'multiple maps' across a spectrum of size to facilitate different gameplay. The community response highlighted attachment to old maps and the necessity of structured feedback.

What you get from this article

This is a ready-to-run, studio-grade map feedback session template modeled on best practices and the Arc Raiders conversation. Use it to plan, run, analyze, and communicate sessions that produce clear takeaways: what to change, why, and how to measure success afterward.

Who this is for

• Community managers running public or invited playtests
• Level designers prioritizing map updates
• Producers who need a reproducible workflow for stakeholder buy-in

Core principles: the North Star for every session

• Define one main question for the session (e.g., 'Do smaller maps increase objective completion rates and player satisfaction?').
• Triangulate — combine telemetry, moderated observation, and targeted surveys to reduce bias.
• Transparent outcomes — tell players what you'll do with their feedback and then follow up with action or reasoned explanations.
• Fast feedback loops — shorter cycles (1–2 weeks) are standard in 2026 development teams using cloud testing and live telemetry.

Pre-session checklist: prepare so you can focus on learning

1. Set the hypothesis and KPIs

   Example hypothesis: 'Reducing average map size by 20% will increase objective completion rate by 12% and player-reported clarity by 15%.' KPIs: objective completion, time-to-first-objective, player satisfaction, navigation errors.

2. Choose the session type

   Public stress test, invited focus group, or split A/B playtest. For contentious topics like old vs new maps, run both an open playtest (broad telemetry) and small moderated sessions (deep qualitative insight).

3. Recruit the right players

   Segment by experience: veterans, intermediate, and new players. Include content creators and community leaders if you want community reach. Aim for 20–200 players depending on goals: 20–30 for qualitative moderated sessions, 100–500+ for quantitative telemetry.

4. Prepare the build and instrumentation

   Ensure telemetry tags for spawn, death location, objective attempts, time stamps, and ability usage. Add heatmap hooks and event IDs. Sanity-check that telemetry exports are working before invites go live.

5. Consent and privacy

   Give players clear consent language about what data you collect and how you'll use clips or quotes. This is critical in 2026 with stricter platform and regional privacy standards.

Sample session agenda (90 minutes moderated)

1. 00:00–00:05 — Welcome and rules

   Introduce team, goals, and how feedback will be recorded. Reiterate that this is a learning session, not a patch rollout.

2. 00:05–00:15 — Warm-up play

   Two short rounds on current live map to establish baseline and help participants calibrate. Observe player language and movement patterns.

3. 00:15–00:45 — Guided scenarios

   Run two to three structured scenarios on the test map (e.g., attack objective under cover, defend high-ground). Ask players to think aloud. Designers should take notes; observers should timestamp key events.

4. 00:45–01:05 — Free play

   Let players roam and play. Record telemetry and capture short clips of emergent behavior. This reveals the unexpected ways players use geometry and sightlines.

5. 01:05–01:20 — Focused survey

   Live poll and short open-text questions. Use a mix of Likert scales and two sentence prompts (we'll provide examples below).

6. 01:20–01:30 — Wrap and next steps

   Tell players how you'll follow up and invite them to a summary report and future tests. End with a one-minute show of appreciation and visible next date if available.

Moderation and facilitation: run focused conversations

• Neutral prompts — avoid leading language like 'didn't you find this confusing?'. Use 'what did you notice?' instead.
• Rotate designers — have at least one designer present to capture intent and one community-facing person to translate player sentiment.
• Timebox debates — if a 15-minute rift forms (e.g., old vs new maps), call for a quick poll and table the argument for analysis.
• Record with consent — capture short clips and voice notes but confirm player permission first; offer opt-out for public publishing. If you're worried about data handling, pair this with security practices like running a bug bounty program for telemetry storage and exports.

Survey and poll templates

Use these questions in your post-session survey or live poll.

• How clear were objective locations on a scale of 1–7?
• Rate your sense of map flow and readability (1–7).
• What three changes would make this map more fun for you?
• Did you feel that the map favored a single playstyle? If yes, which?
• Would you prefer smaller, faster maps or larger, strategic maps? Why?

Telemetry and metrics: what to measure

Quantitative signals are easier to act on quickly. In 2026 teams increasingly pair session telemetry with automated heatmap builders and AI-assisted clustering to accelerate insight capture.

• Heatmaps — spawns, deaths, objective approaches, choke points.
• Pathing efficiency — average path length to objective vs optimal path.
• Encounter density — where fights cluster and how many players converge.
• Objective attempt and success rates — conversion rates per attempt.
• Latency and framerate — rule out performance issues mimicking design problems.

Analysis workflow: convert noise into decisions

1. Aggregate and visualize — heatmaps and encounter timelines first. Use a dedicated analysis workstation to iterate quickly on visuals.
2. Cluster qualitative comments — group recurring themes: 'visibility', 'navigation', 'balance', 'cover'. AI-assisted tools in 2026 can help cluster free-text feedback into themes.
3. Map suggested fixes to KPIs — e.g., adding a mid-path cover reduces deaths in choke by X%.
4. Prioritize by impact and cost — use an impact/cost matrix and publish the trade-offs to the community.

Communicating results: build trust through transparency

Players are invested. When Embark discussed new Arc Raiders maps, community feedback included clear preference signals about legacy maps. If you ignore structured follow-up you risk alienating that same audience.

• Publish a short report — 1–2 pages summarizing hypothesis, sample size, top findings, and next steps. Consider pairing the report with a lightweight KPI dashboard for stakeholders.
• Share clips and heatmaps — visuals speak louder than text. Include short GIFs or annotated images for key findings; teams that invest in vertical video workflows make this far easier.
• Explain trade-offs — if you keep an old map for nostalgia, explain how it fits rotation and balancing plans.

Case study: applying the template to Arc Raiders' old vs new maps debate

Use this mini-case to see the template in practice.

1. Hypothesis

   Smaller maps increase objective velocity and reduce average match length without decreasing satisfaction for veteran players.

2. Session types

   Run two parallel tests: an open telemetry run (2,000 matches across new small maps) and 30 moderated sessions with veterans in a lab setting to observe playstyle trade-offs. For rapid prototyping of multiplayer scenarios, lightweight engines like PocketLobby can speed iteration.

3. Findings (sample)

   Telemetry: time-to-first-objective decreased 22% on smaller maps. Moderated sessions: veterans reported reduced strategic depth; navigation felt 'faster but shallower'. Community sentiment: 60% of veterans wanted at least one legacy map kept in rotation.

4. Decision

   Retain two legacy maps in ranked rotation while adding smaller casual maps to quickplay. Publish the evidence pack to the community, outlining how each map supports different playstyles.

Advanced strategies and 2026 trends

Leverage these trends to scale feedback without losing quality.

• AI-assisted analysis — automated clustering of voice comments and chat logs saves hours of manual curation; learn from broader AI adoption patterns in 2026.
• Cloud playtests and stream-instrumentation — test cross-platform builds simultaneously and collect uniform telemetry; invest in cloud and streaming tooling for consistent captures.
• Rich media postmortems — mix heatmaps with short video snippets and developer commentary for better developer-player alignment; modern teams leverage vertical video and DAM workflows to produce these quickly.
• Staged rollouts — combine small-scale sessions with incremental releases to iterate in production safely.

Common pitfalls and how to avoid them

• Pitfall: over-reliance on vocal minorities — solution: weigh qualitative comments against telemetry and representative sampling.
• Pitfall: too many goals — solution: one hypothesis per session keeps analysis tractable.
• Pitfall: opaque follow-up — solution: publish a short 'what we did next' summary within two weeks.

Templates: invite message and short follow-up report

Invite message (short)

Hi Raiders — we're running a 90-minute map feedback session on DATE. We'll test two map sizes and want your playstyle perspective. We'll record clips with permission. Sign up link: [your link]. Slots limited.

Follow-up report (one-paragraph template)

Thanks to everyone who joined our Map Feedback Session on DATE. We tested Hypothesis X across N matches and M moderated sessions. Key finding: metric A changed by X% and players highlighted Y as a top concern. Next steps: implement patch Z on date and re-test. Full report link: [link].

Actionable takeaways: run your first session this week

• Pick one hypothesis and one key KPI.
• Run a 90-minute moderated session plus an open telemetry test for balance.
• Instrument at least five telemetry events and heatmaps before launch.
• Publish a short report within two weeks and state the next test date.

Final notes on developer communication and community trust

When developers communicate openly about why they keep an old map or introduce a new one, community trust rises. Embark's Arc Raiders example showed that communities care not only about the outcome but also the reasoning behind it. Use this template to make your map decisions defensible and player-informed. If you're coordinating multiple teams, consider investing in a developer experience platform to keep analysis pipelines and reports consistent.

Call to action

Ready to run your first structured map feedback session? Download our one-page checklist and survey pack, adapt the agenda to your build, and set your first session for next week. Invite a mix of veterans and new players, instrument your maps, and report back — your community will notice the difference.

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