Map votes

Project Reality also has the same nature as Empires, where a single map can take a long time and is very intense and involved, so players often want to decompress and not jump straight in to another intense map. Of course, the fundamental differences are that PR doesn't really have spectator mode and the teams are automatically kept intact but switch sides for the next map, as well as a much longer pre-game "organization time" countdown. These things are things that wouldn't really transfer over to Empires, unfortunately.

What we can adopt, though, is their map voting system; cherrypicking even a few subtle concepts we could see more players sticking around between maps and less complaints about bootybay or district winning for the millionth time with 25% of the vote.

Key concepts for consideration, in the order of most useful (in my opinion):

1. There is always a preliminary vote for the gamemode, AAS or Insurgency (sometimes with an extra option for the unique maps/minimods). The equivalent for us would be a vote between Commander and Conquest.
2. Only three maps up for voting in the second vote. All of them are there by 'nomination' aka saying them in chat and hoping the admin running the vote takes your suggestion
3. If two maps are close and the third one is obviously not going to win, a final vote is done between the two maps.
4. When there is nobody in the server it defaults to one of a number of appropriate maps for seeding.

Other concepts involved that really wouldn't translate to Empires but are interesting nonetheless:

1. The map vote is always done in the middle of the game with a full three minutes altogether for voting. The display can't be dismissed by the player because voting is done through the chat. Most players immediately notice everyone else voting and cast their vote as well, but it can wait until you die or get down time to think about your choice.
2. There is almost always a server admin on and it is considered their responsibility to pick a diverse set of options, neither forcing their preference nor sticking with the players' dumb suggestions. The voting system is pretty low maintenance and all they usually do is select the candidate maps and keep an eye on chat. (Since TheCreeper already does this and is an all-around very competent server owner, this isn't really relevant)