How not to be a n00b mapper, part 2

So you've learnt to put a light_environment in your map, but what else should you avoid? A biggie here, carving. Avoid carving at all costs. Even if it's just a small square inside a big square, you can do it more easily by clipping. At worst it can crash Hammer and be hugely inefficient. Let's look at an example:

Say you want to make this:

You should do it like this:

 Not this:

So there you go. Never carve, ever.

Happy mapping!