i agree, but on the interwebs, its much worse, due to the false bravado and courage created by the anonimity and safety of being behind a computer screen

for instance, in sports (like the ones you play with a ball in the sun) there is also smack talk. difference is, its not as sophisticated (its more, heat of the moment, right off the top of your head simple arguements, as opposed to multiple stage, backed up, 30 minute planned responses) often less scathing, and the best bit, you can smack them back if they talk smack to you. i play contact sports, trust me i know.

and i know from that perspective, that it can get quite infuriating when you lost fair and square, logically, inevitably, and fairly, and some prick comes on and screams at you for 15-20 minutes about how much of a noob you are and how you got pwned and how your mother didnt seem to mind the night before...

with people like that, who attack for the sake of attacking, not for some cause, its impossible to retort, and yes, it gets to some people more than others.

i can understand someone working all week, being tired and needing to wind down, wanted to go on the computer and play a relaxing game of Sins, only to be wound up again by some little prick... or some big prick, you can never tell...

the fact remains, unless you are in a good mood and can put up with smack talkers, or know who you are playing with (i.e. you play with friends) and can relax with the knowledge that no one is going to be overly abrasive, then sure, MP is great.

however, there is always the group of shitheads who will be trolls and ruin it for everyone, the trick is finding out who they are and avoiding them...

Slightly more on topic, getting beaten by a "pro" player isnt an issue, if they are conscientious, can laugh good-naturedly, and proceed to explain why he won, not start screaming and jeering about the fact he 'pwned a noob'. That, i think, is the main issue.

Note: when i talk about people talking smack and being insulting etc. im not talking about people who destroy your fleet and go, oh man, your fleet just got wasted, haha, that sucks. thats normal competitive interaction. like cheering for your favorite team. i mean the people who insult you personally, who scream and yell when they destroy a starbase or destroy a fleet with another 3 times the size of the one they destroyed. or even those who start being incredibly insulting when they lose (although, seeing as you won, those are easier to ignore).

Yeah...  I agree with Rezo on this one.  MP is a great function, but I am the only person in my group of real-life (non-internet) friends who actually spends their life coding, modding, and sketching.  I'm a nerd/geek/whatever else you want to call me.  I'm fine with it, but the point remains that for people who do not have friends who they can play with, MP is more or less useless.  

People have a tendency to not play online when they feel like they are more than likely going to get burned in the process.  This is amplified on ICO as people can smurf quite easily.  Let's say a Sins expert is in a really bad mood.  There is a very good chance that they would go smurf someone to relieve their anger.  This is only occasional as most of the best people at Sins tend to act benevolent to noobs, but once it happens to someone, you can bet that they won't be online any time soon.

The other problem that arises is people who are just pains in the rear.  They just sit there and mock you.  These people tend to be in the middle class of online gamers.  They are often fairly good, but someone, say Amish could smack some sense into them pretty quickly in a game.

The fact is, most people you will encounter are fairly nice people, but in a 10 person FFA, you probably will get someone who you want to kill first just because of the way they are acting.

Online in general, I have noticed a bit of a pattern as far as actions go.  This may not be completely accurate for Sins as I don't play online (though I'll have to start sooner or later to test my mod, but oh well), but it does seem to fit well with what I have seen in the past.

Noobs: People in this category are generally very submissive and very anxious to do what someone who is more experienced tells them.  Newbies are generally calm people who generally don't know what they are doing.

Lower-Middle: These people are generally those who play against the AI and win, but don't play much online.  For this reason, they know how to play the game, but they don't exploit all the little things that online players do.  I fit in here.

Middle: These players know how to play online and do pretty well at it.  Most are humble about it and very agreeable.  There are however those in this category who are arrogant as they can PWN NOOBS!!! although the rest of the community just wants them to shut up.

Upper-Middle: These people are very good at MP and tend to keep to themselves.  They don't really talk about their skill, they just know they are good and they do it for fun.  That's all there is to it.

Experts: These people are generally quite kind and do enjoy helping Noobs out.  While they have immense skill, they don't brag about it.  They just accept it and use it to help people when they need it.

Post-Expert: These people are crazy good and could probably beat me on Aerolian Sector in less than an hour.  They are awesome at MP.  These are the people who debate the balance of the game on things the rest of the community couldn't care less about.  The thing is about most people in this class is that they tend to seem almost benevolent.  They spend their time mentoring and helping out those below them on the totem pole.  While they do mention that they are good, they will talk about why they are good.  They write guides and give suggestions to other members of the community on how to play properly.  Their opinion is that everyone should deserve a chance to be good at this game so long as they are respectful of the community.  

Sorry if that was off, but from my experience, the chart is generally divided into those categories.

nope, i totally agree

I'm a lower-middle player. I never play online games, but I may have to try multiplayer sometime. Any particular way I can tell if something's a noob server or not?

I will likely never play a game of SINS against humans because I am such a poor player.  Even in team games I am so bad I am a liability to my team! 

If I can team up with YOU to play other humans I may consider it in the future.

OT...does this SINS game have any ranking system?

Play on!!!

Yes, I don't feel safe online because I think I'm gonna get pulverized within 20 minutes and not learn anything.

Even of you do get Pulverized there is much to learn from it. Just watch the replay and see what the guy who pulverized you did, then try and duplicate his strategy. You'll learn a lot this way, and most of the experienced players in this game started out doing this. Thats what I did. There were times I was lucky enough to play with JohnJames and a couple of the other [DT] guys (who are some of the best at this game) and study their strategies. It wasn't long before I was a functional member of peoples teams, and started having way more fun than fighting an Ai.

Also the forums offered me a lot of insight into peoples strategies, and why they used certain ships and techs over others.

i have never played online, cause i've always wanted to explore all the tactical and strategic options available to me in a game, instead of just playing the one "best" strategy in order to win.

thats just bullshit for "i dont want to get my ass handed to me on a silver platter." i would probably fall into the lower-middle class, since i'm good against the ai. but after perusing the forums for a year, i feel like its time for me to try out multiplayer. i believe i can pretty much follow the general strategies people use, which i have started to employ agains the ai more

TheRezonator made some very good points above about the people you could find. at some point, you just have to be a bigger man (or woman, for that matter) and just ignore some people

Ideally, there is no such thing as a "one best" (though with the current imbalances there is, but its not 'unbeatable'). When the game has been closer to balance, the best strategists and most knowledgeable of the game would win. I've found multiplayer has taught me to employ lots and lots of different strategies all in the same game, and often what you'll learn from replays of experienced players is how they build their empire to give themselves as many options for strategies as possible so they can take advantage of their opponents weaknesses.

Also, team games may not be the best place to start playing against real people. Try 1v1s. Likelihood is you'll find someone who doesn't mind answering a few questions you may have, and the games go on for longer giving you the opportunity to try your own strategies against them.

i also just realized that playing online right now is a bad idea, since my internet connection sucks. in a month, when we move, it should be better

I stay away mostly due to mods. I rather that game developers prohibit this trend. I like to play a game knowing that the other person is in the same boat as me. Most often mods can give another player a huge advantage, espesially in a strategy game were information is power.

But another big factor is that I suck at the game. I take my time, chill and like to strengthen a planet before moving on. And upgrade everything in order on the tech. On online, I can image it's too fast for me.

This isn't a problem at all.  In fact, you can't join a game if you don't have the same mod(s) as the host.  In practice, no one plays mods online, at least not on Ironclad Online, at all.  The rules in a game are the same for everyone.

You could probably adapt your play style if you wanted to; everyone else did.  Having to make decisions about what to upgrade and what to research is an integral part of the game's strategy.  Maybe you should watch some replays of games people have played online to get a sense of how the online game works.  You could also log on and play "comp stomps"--just humans v. AI games which would allow you to enjoy chatting to human teammates.  Come give it a try.  You might like playing the comp stomp games.