Smurfs killing yet another game

The one thing I hate about multi player games are the sleeper accounts.

<Sigh>.

Oh behalf of the online multiplayer community, please accept an apology from me for the actions of those two cretins.  I think most of the regular Sins players who are experienced are good folks and we're not all jerks.

I also think that most of the experienced players will honor a request for new players game.  When this sort of thing happens, as soon as it becomes clear that the other two guys are experienced smurfs, I suggest just typing out something to the effect of, "GG noob killing smurfs, not good enough to play against JJ?" and then have you and your ally just quit, denying them any further satisfaction.

It's a shame that you want to play online in principle but can't make it work.  I do have some ideas for ways to make it work.

First, I know of a small group of adult folks who enjoy playing by direct IP connect, off of ICO.  They'll make an effort to keep the team's balanced and they are welcoming to newer Sins players.  Just send me a private message with your gaming email address and I can hook you up with them.

Secondly, you could try to get organized here on the forums so that you have a self-regulating community within ICO.  See this thread:

https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/362801

Don't let the jerkwads chase you off of ICO.  Hang in there.  I see games all the time that are passworded or restricted to friends only, so there are ways around this problem.

Thanks I really appreciate the offer.  I'll send you a PM.

Thanks I really appreciate the offer.  I'll send you a PM.

yeah. that's pretty disappointing. really.

There's a program we're working on here
That will make your distress disappear.
It's called 'Ready To Play',
And I'm proud I can say,
Once it's done, you'll have reason to cheer!

It's designed to help players connect
Where their interests and styles intersect.
It may help you make friends,
Though I'd say it depends
On the things you both like and respect.

It's a closed beta, so it's not ready.
But it seems to be working quite steady.
When it's done, you will find
All the folks of your kind
Have been waiting there for you already!

https://www.stardock.com/products/readytoplay/

Ready to Play doesn't look like a bad idea, but I wonder if it will really address the poster's problem.  It just looks like an Impulse version of XFire.  (Will it have built-in voice comm and voice chat rooms?)

What the newer people are asking for is some sort of a system where the Sins game itself keeps track of exactly how many games people have played on ICO and how many wins they earned regardless of what player names they used; they want something that will keep track of player records by CD-Key.  They want to be able to set up games to restict other players from joining based on how many games they've played and won.  Newer players would want to add requirements such as, "No one can join if they have played more than 30 games (on their CD-Key) against other humans on ICO" and skilled players would want to set up games like "No one can join unless they have won 25 games against other humans on ICO."

That having been said, I do hope that Ready to Play spurs interest in online multiplayer Sins for people who never considered coming online before.

All systems are prone to abuse.

The easy way to abuse the system you describe is a loss-account.  Just create an account, lose a bunch of games intentionally, and then your "tracked" skill level plummets, enabling you to match against less skilled opponents on your main account.

Number of games probably won't be helpful, because skill doesn't necessarily correlate to number of games played.  Some people are still newbies after dozens of games (for instance, I ran into a 22-1 player I was sure was a smurf, but turned out to be a comp stomper who massed static defense in the pocket), while other players will scour the forums for advice and be competent after one or two matches.  I was holding my own against veterans in my first game without difficulty. 

Stick it out man we need more players! If you play a couple of games youre bound to find people of your own skill, then just add them to your friends list. Before long you'll have plenty of people you can play with who you know arent their to simply use you to boost your ego, like so many smurfing SOBs do.

Alternatively not all smurfs are bad, (though the ones you described represent the worst). I know many smurfs who are skilled players looking to build an impressive record, and they dont claim to be anything otherwise (though often they arent as open about their intentions as they ought to be.)

Until this "Ready to Play" system comes out, keep playing online, learn from more skilled players, study replays (I cant stress how much this helps) to figure out what others tend to do, scour the forums and you'll be smacking down smurfs in no time.

personally, im waiting for ready to play. then ill go back online.

The records for all names under one account should be held the same.  SO LAME YOU CAN HIDE WHO YOU ARE!!!

You would think ICO would be experienced in online multiplayer, and understand the different skill levels of players and the problems this associates.  I remember years ago age of empires II always had "noob" games full of experts rushing the crap out of people.  Now ICO makes a record viewable, but also makes it destroyable....?

This kind of thing happens a lot in the noobs only/welcome servers for counter strike. Some of the hardest matches I have ever played have been in these servers while i showing some kids hiding places, how to aim for recoil and all that crap. it was such a CF (cluster F). I hate when people do this. For FPS it works out that someone wins, and the game is over relatively quickly, for RTS it takes a while to understand youve been had.

I am waiting for a free weekend in order to get online. I may also PM you, or just go on ICO and hope for the best. If i get hosed, I may wait for r2p.

I agree with SnowBoard if people cant appreciate the privilage of creating different names on one account with their account info being withheld. It should be taken away. I understand not everyone online is a smurf. But if they dont smurf then they wont have an issue with having a tag on their names that reveals the Account holders info.

In that case, please don't hold your breath because as far as I know, Sins has never had a "free weekend" where people can download the game and play it for free but only for a few days before it uninstalls or disables itself.

The best advice I can give people for starting out on ICO is to make sure that you feel very comfortable with the technical aspects of the game--such as controlling ships and combat--and also be very knowledgeable about the different races and their strengths and weaknesses and their tech trees and then come online.  You will get beaten but if you want to get better you can watch replays and learn from them and grow stronger.  You're just paying your dues.  You can also start games with "new players only" or "noobs only" in the title and I think most experienced players, even evil smurfs, would respect that.  You'll also have an increased chance of finding newer players in Regular Sins than you will Entrenchment.  Note that there is one school of thought which says that you need to play against and lose to good players in order to see how they engage in combat so that you can pick up that knowledge and get better.

Also, people need to understand that as a competitive online multiplayer game, you are going to lose, a lot, just like you lose many FPS games on public servers.  Even skilled players lose sometimes if not often to other skilled players.  In all likelihood, unless you become one of the game's top 15 players you probably aren't going to get to enjoy some sort of a Sins nirvana where you almost never lose.  Sometimes you just get a bad starting spot on a random map and your nearest opponent has a great starting spot, sometimes you just end up on a bad team, and sometimes you'll just get plain outplayed and beaten.  In order to enjoy this game, you really do have to try to focus on getting your enjoyment from playing to the best of your ability and to being as tough of a player as you can be because you're not always going to win.

I think he meant a free weekend from being busy. not that SINs would be free.

Did you read the OP? he put Noob in it............obviously it was like dumping blood in shark infested waters............It didnt accomplish what it was supposed to...........draw in noobies and ward off smurfs and experienced players. Putting Newbie or New players only isnt cutting it. This isnt paying any dues....this isnt a Frat house. This is a video game...........who the hell sees smurfs as apart of paying dues??  Smurfs is an issue, it shouldnt be seen as an accepted part of proving your worth online. People dont play MP to be tricked or lied to before playing someone. They go online so they can enjoy the game with other players and get better at playing a FAIR game. How do you learn anything from being smashed before you get thirty minutes into the game? Im sorry, but defending smurfs is not rational enough to bring in more online players.

Lastly I dont see anyone complaining about losing. I see people complaining about people having no respect for up and coming players in the MP community. I see people complaining that the Smurf issue isnt being addressed by IC and SD. I really dont see how this new program is going to bring an end to Smurfs..........but I hope it does because until theres a way for new players to join the MP community without worrying about being targets, I wont be bothering with MP. By saying people just HAVE to accept the Smurf issue online all your doing is saying its ok for Online Bullying. Cause thats all Smurfs are.........."Online BadAsses"

correct, I have been playing SP and LAN for a few months.

You mean like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wjjs0WSwrw8

more like this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFD0OMXmyBw

But...but...that guy was a dweeb and not a badass.

thats the point.......

This is why I never, ever play multiplayer.  At least the AI is consistent.  And it doesn't mind if you pause or save and continue the game later.

but when you can beat the game with 9 unfair ai teaming against you without the use of SB, its time to play online.

Yeah, but you're missing the challenge and excitement that comes from playing it against real opponents that don't have both of their arms tied behind their backs.  I know you don't realize it, but the number of strategic considerations that you have to deal with when playing against real opponents is much higher than what it is against AI.  It adds so much to the game; it's like a game of space chess.  There's also nothing like the team vs. team game in single player.  If you give it a chance and if you're willing to take your lumps while you learn, I think you'll discover that the online game is an almost completely different game from the single player game.  It's much more intense and suspenseful (you might actually lose!).  You'll also never get to use voice comm or make online friends in single player.

I wish Ironclad and Stardock would launch some sort of a campaign to encourage people to come try it online.  Perhaps they will when they're ready to roll out Ready to Play.

currently hes only missing that because of smurfing...................alot of people prefer to know that when they face off against someone they are who they say they are.

yeah dirty sanchezz, I'm waiting for ready to play before going back online. havent been on there in months.