I think the maps that are generally criticized for "spamming" are to be played with a great amount of friends, such as 8 or even more. There are also different difficulties as far as I know in order to change how easily/difficult it is to kill an enemy.
I guess there's a few styles of maps, that I think should be encouraged.
*co-op walkthrough maps* are probably my fav (Stuff like courier, fireteam, wildfire, broken escape).
A co-op walkthrough map can be with/without lives, merchants. Spawning is in checkpoints, players are encouraged to heal. Should have a finale at the end.
These sort of maps are what I play enjoy the most the ones that encourage: co-op in combat and puzzle solving.
Its nice if these maps are in a series i.e 2 maps or more, just to keep the theme of what you're playing run longer than one map.
*Capture points/assault*
There's only one real map I can think of and I love it to death 'oc_newgappi_g'. I really enjoy this style especially given the fact that you need to co-operate to hold each objective, and you must have a certain amount captured before you can proceed to the finale.
^ I think we need more of this style ^
*Defense*
These maps are fun I don't care what others say, It can be difficult if the gameplay is focused in one part of the map for the whole map, but if done right can be a whole lotta fun.
*puzzle* If doen right these can be a fun
*adventure*
*experimental*
*real time strategy*
*fun*
*rehtro*
*Vs*
argggh I stop giving descriptions as I guess a lot of map have many genre's involvedin them.
For example the oc_stitches maps are heavy in puzzle/adventure/walkthrough & combat.
You have to bare with new mappers that come here, in most cases their first map isn't always going to have the depth and variation in gameplay you'd hope, but give them time they'll get better.
New mapper maps are normally, defense maps or corridor maps (like mine:).
The more people having ago at it the more likely some real quality will shine through.
'I would probably smarten up before you meet Violet'.
'She has zero tolerance for idiots'.