On one of my old servers we had this discussion and for a variety of reasons we opted to not do maps, however instead of doing them PM like suggested here it was maps like the campaign has that leave the zone explored even after erver reset so that you didn't have to reexplore an area, but you could buy them from players with player notes, but the players could not add monster spawns or CNR points. Only static buildings and points of intrest ie zone lines and stores. This method is nice and has a valid RP for scouts/information brokers but it can cause lag and unless the information broker is a builder/scripter adds work to who ever has to make the maps you sell as well as the script to create an item the player can use to create the map to sell. We didn't allow off line maps as their wasn't a way to regulate them out side the honor system and it was less RP driven. What we decided inthe end was that the scouts/information broker could sell their service as a guide to where ever the person wanted to go. And if they were able to sneak their and the buyer couldn't then you could turn them over to the seller would contact one of the higher level people and try to arange the transit at a convient time, much like a player ran quest. ANd it worked out pretty well most of the time, but you always had to remember the higher level unless it was your alt was never obligataed to help. So the maps became more like a tour guide system. I know when I first started a guided tour would have been where I placed allot of my starting money, would have been allot cheaper then the money I lost to death wandering into the lizardmen cheif in the swamp and ogres etc. So I guess it really depends on why you want a map. The basic in game maps are pretty easy to make and set up on venders without creating to much extra lag, but every extra script does add some potential lag. And they are set up to just reveal the existing map. The maps of at least the cities would be helpful espaically if they actualy showed where the merchants and banks are as not all do. It is alittle annoying trying to open every door in a new town to see if its an unmarked store or bank.
