The perfect Deathmatch level

What would it look like? How would it play? What kind of features would it have? etc

Good flow & connectivity. Symmetry isn't as important as the former two attributes. Each room would have at least 2 entrances. There would be a cool trap w/ powerup/powerful weapon bait that a player could trigger to get frags. Any sniping areas would have some way for a player to sneak up on the sniper for revenge frags.

It would be small, so you wouldn't have to hunt for the opponents. You would be able to rack up frags quickly in a big mosh pit of action. But you could still find cover & be able to retreat/circle around your opponent.

Eyecandy would be nice, but not at the expense of framerate or navigability. There would be no edges to get stuck on when you are moving around.

It already exists. Play ROKS.

http://www.doomworld.com/fanatic (click the ROKS menu link)

#1 Layout. Not too big, not too small. It has to be properly sized for the amount of people it was designed to carry. The item balance has to be good too, all the medium weapons should be easily accessed but the strong ones should require a risk to obtain. Soul Spheres are fine so long as they're hard to get to, Mega Spheres are just borderline cheating.

#2 Gotta be fast paced and try to force players into each others grasp. None of this sniping or camping bullshit.

#3 Everything else is subjective to the viewer. So long as there is no blaring flaws in the map it will succeed given the first two requirements.

medium sized, stash the double barrel,etc., one or two big rooms for battle royals + GOOD CONNECTION:)

It already exists. Play ROKS.

http://www.doomworld.com/fanatic (click the ROKS menu link)

LOL Marc, you're so unbiased. ;-) ROKS is very cool, with lots & lots of players. Too few & it's a snipe hunt.

BIG!

God I hate all these DM levels that have like 4 rooms and 5 hallways, ESPECIALLY map01. Who the hell can possibly stand more than 5 minutes of that shit? For 3 or more players, something like Map15, Map17, Map18, Map24, Map28 or Map29 always works great. Most of the maps in Eternal Doom are also cool for that. For 2 players, something a bit smaller like Map06, Map13, Map14, Map16, Map20, Map23, Map25. And most of the Ultimate Doom levels.

it probably would have zero symmetry and absolutely WOULDN'T be a 3x3 grid of rooms nick :P

I think it should match a weapon selection if you focus on a single weapon. tight and enclosed for automatic weapons battles, wide and spacy for projectile weapons, that kind of thing. My favourite deathmatch level, btw, is not in Doom, it's in Jedi Knight, Battle Ground Jedi. It's the best, bar-none. It has a huge area for force dueling, and several tight areas for fast-paced saber duels. Very, very well done. So I think the perfect deathmatch level designer should not only take connectivity to heart, but what they also want to focus on in regards to combat situation, and to match the combat areas to the primary weapons that they choose to focus on.