Ok, maybe I say something here from the noob point of view. First some words about me: I have sins now about one year, have all steam achivements, beaten 3 teamed hard ai's vs me alone, 2 unfair ai's vs me and also one cruel ai in several games. After that Sins became a bit borring, so I tried out different mods, wich was also fun. I still thought I am not ready for MP at this moment, but after some time I just tried. I mean everybody has to start from scratch and I hoped for a helpful community.
Before I also had experience with lots of other games like Starcraft, Star Trek Armada, Panzers, C&C, ... .
Ok my first attempt to play ended that just nobody wanted me as a new player. So I didn't tried it again for the next weeks. My next attempt was this weekend, I found a 5vs5 ffa game, but didn't tell anybody I am new, so everything seemed ok this time. After a while I decided to tell them, that I am new just to be able to build up a fair 5 vs 5 setup. Ok right after this somebody wrote why not kicking me out and take xyz instead of me. After that they told me I should at least do 40 games vs ai before trying to play online... (Ok I think I had over 100 games vs KI at this moment).
Ok and now you wonder why the sins community is so small. I really love the game, but I am not sure if its fun to play online with ppl like that. It would be ok when they would have asked me to leave because it is an high skill game or something. They could have also whispered to each other that I am a noob and host should kick me out, but no they punched it right into my face like "hey noob, go play tetris, no place for you here."
Before I made my first attempt to play MP I really hoped to be good enough to dont be a burden for my team, but how can I learn when I cant even get into some MP-Games.
I dont want to be impolite, but this thread also shows some disrespect for new players and other games. "My six year old can play competitively in FPS games online if that says anything about the skill needed." from ZombiesRus5 (Love your MODS by the way). Or "It's point and shoot, how hard could it be..." from P3CTankman. FPS games are hard to master, try to be competitive in counterstrike. You need to know maps, sniper positions, key points, situational awareness, teamplay, which objects you can shoot through on the specific maps and so on. The only "easy" games are MMO games, because with enough time or money you can get anything.
Here it seems like an elitist club of pro gamers who dont want to have the burden to care about new players. Just my point after that two attempts. Maybe they don't say that they are new players just to not being kicked from the game. But I think its easy to check whether they are new or not. Right after I told them that I am new to the game, they checked and told me I have 0 games. Like I have said its no problem when somebody tells me polite that I am too new for their skill level and that I should leave, but the way I experienced it online is just beyond everything. So I am now also afraid what they will say ingame to me when I do something stupid because of lack of experience.
So I decided to play Star Trek Fleet Operations instead, met a lot of ppl there who played with me, gave me tips which improved my gameplay. Its a nearly 10 years developed mod of Star Trek Armada 2 just for MP.
Maybe I exaggerated a bit here, but I must point out that new players, who are not sure about their skill and whether they should try MP or not are discouraged by the way they are treated when trying to join a MP-Game. Heck I also would be disappointed by seeing a player who is not able to colonize an asteroid in 20 mins, but the other one who really tried hard to learn and just wanne play and improve has to pay for this other guy which has no clue and is not even trying. I have not so much time for gaming and this two attemps to join MP cost me 2 evenings, which I could also have used to actually play something intead of waiting and finally being kicked from the game...
I would not write so much here if I wouldn't care, I will try in the future again. Just a bit frustrated atm. Maybe I just met the wrong ppl there. (english is not my main language, so sry for mistakes)
Wish you all a nice weekend guys.