Are There Many Who Need Help To Start Multiplayer?

from Sins Forums

One of my long-term Sins regrets is that the game fails to differentiate between games played against humans and against AI online when it compiles player stats.  Despite the inevitable jibes, or perhaps because of them, my own record has been compiled entirely against humans, but I wonder whether playing new players 1v1 is a good introduction?  What new players seem to need most is a conception of how to play the first twenty minutes of a game, which is difficult to provide simply by turning up on their doorstep with a much larger fleet.

This reluctance to play the computer in online coops perhaps makes it difficult to introduce newcomers to the game.  5v5 is just not a good way to get into Sins multiplayer, and there are suspicions that it just allows good players to bully poorer ones without the stigma of 1v1...   Maybe ladders will change this.

Attempting to teach a new player during a 1v1 just means that most of the comments have to be generalised and made after the end of a match, whereas in a coop a good player is able to be over the shoulder of his human ally, and the newer ally is also able to watch what the experienced player is doing.  I just wondered from recent threads whether there were many players who would profit from this style of teaching, rather than have them swallowed up and spat out by the vast impersonal 5s.  Playing the computer is very dull for any good player, but I have known some sadly missed players who were prepared to take the task on in order to help others.

Of course, to profit from this you have to want to play as competitively as possible, so no 'role-playing' or mods, and it is difficult to play FFA online, the style many expect, as the games are very long.  Are there many would-be online players simply unable to get enough of a start? 

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Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top

The biggest problem is time. If one is playing a game and is trying to win, unless they're in a large team game and happen to be in the eco slot, they probably won't have the freedom to check out how the newbie over there is doing and to then take the time to type in a message to give advice and pointers.

Typing out messages takes a significant amount of time - usually too much, if one is playing in an even moderately competitive match. If one is trying to introduce a newbie to the multiplayer arena, either the newbie has to be willing to look at a replay of them playing the 1v1 later while also reading the post-game tips the more experienced player wrote up... or the tutor could be giving them advice while they're playing someone else. For instance, this could be in a random medium where it's really only the newbie and their opponent playing, while the allied tutor sits on their homeworld doing nothing but observing the newbie in real-time and chatting.

An option which would be extremely useful for these sorts of situations would be the ability to chat while the game is paused, so that the tutor can explain things without the extreme time-pressure caused by the newbie having to focus on playing at the same time.

I'm sure that the inability to get a decent start in Sins is an extreme problem which intimidates many newbies away from continuing multiplayer after being absolutely smashed by experts in their first few games. I've been trying to chat up as many newbies as I can online and help them out to reduce these sorts of community losses, I hope a few other experienced players are doing the same.

Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top

When I regain access to a computer capable of handling Sins, I would like to do this kind of thing, because I have very little experience with multiplayer.

Elemental: Reforged
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Zeta1127, reply 2
When I regain access to a computer capable of handling Sins, I would like to do this kind of thing, because I have very little experience with multiplayer.

When that happens feel free to PM me if you want. I'm no expert by any means, but I think by now I have a good understanding of multiplayer macro and can share what I've learned.