Not Newbie Friendly

[thekeyofe]

My name is E. My callsign is Summoner. You don't know me yet.

I started playing on this server last week. I've finished the single player campaign twice, but this is my first online Freelance experience. I wanted to try this server because I really enjoy Freelancer, even if it is an old game. It's better than any of the other online space combat games, like EVE or SW:G.

However, since joining this server, I feel like I've had nothing but bad experiences.

First, a glitch in the docking system killed me REPEATEDLY, not to mention that collision damage is much higher than I was used to from SP.

Granted, this is a problem with the MOD, not the PLAYERS. I'm afraid I can't say the same for my next points.

Fed up with the glitch problems, and not liking the way my character was going, I decided to start over with a new callsign, Archangel. I spent about five hours trying to raise my rep with pirate factions so that I could do a specific profitable trade run without getting killed by NPCs.

With that accomplished, I started on the trade run and was promptly newbie killed. Yep. Ganked. Just like World of Warcraft. How lame can you get?

Five minutes later while still VERY upset, I got chewed out by someone for stealing his name. While I am sorry for taking his name, he was very abrasive and condescending about it. You see, I thought that the server would reject a name if someone else already had the same one. You know, like EVERY OTHER ONLINE GAME. So considering I had JUST started over and did not want to do so again, this guy, while in the right, was also not very understanding.

I've seen other new players get similar treatment. Just the other day, two separate new pilots were told not to play online before completing the single player campaign. Is that really the image you guys want to project? Shouldn't there be somewhere a new player can learn to fly without spending 15-20 hours on the SP campaign?

The impression I keep getting from watching conversations of long time players is that there is this idea that "We've been here forever, so we're better than you." Not cool. An attitude like this will scare off new players. Scaring off new players means your server will eventually dwindle and die. I don't think that's what you want.

I know. You guys don't know who I am. You don't respect me. I realize that. But still, just think about your attitude toward new players. Really think about it. And don't newbie kill.