Before I begin, yes this is a rant, take it as such. Now for some pleasantries and random bullshit.
The community for bfme is by no means large, and by large, the "veteran" old players show a complete lack of respect for "noobs" new players, I am part of the latter. I by no means have any reason for this community to grow, I play with a few friends, who consequently invited me to the game but as a sign of respect, I've made this topic.
Now I understand us noobs are shit, we can't play the game, we make it boring, you have to save us from losing blah blah blah. We are also what will I hope for your sakes - rejuvenate the game. The community at the minute is tiny, if it were to grow, most players would be noobs, and currently we are treated with a complete lack of respect - on many levels might I add.
Why on earth would anyone stay around and play bfme, when at best they can find a game, and get told they are shit, without any real input into how they can improve, or at worst, be booted from games for being a noob.
It's fairly clear that the limiting factor to the growth of bfme, is the players themselves. I'd like to add at this point, I have seen your mentoring programmes and such, which is a cool idea but players want to log on, see if anyones about and play, if when they do so, they are met with animosity, they will shortly leave and won't be coming back. The attitude of the current players has to change for the community to expand.
Take my input as you will. Feel free to reply "aww poor noob u got owned" and I'll promptly reply "how's your mothers arsehole?"
