I think the solution is Richard's redesign of SS, where he has the ability to code in the kinds of changes the game needs. Such as, a tiered playing system to separate players by skill levels. I haven't seen Richard mention this, but he would have the ability to add new content and therefore reduce the skill gap through evolving game dynamics. The 10,000 hour warbird vet is countered by the 10 hour newb exploiting a new technique in a new ship that people are still learning to use. As it is, the SS game has several critical design flaws (stemming from its age) that need to be addressed by a developer.
I realized I didn't add a suggestion on how to help, which is not very helpful. So, here goes: Split map solution. Or map within a map, however you choose to think about it.
If the map was split into 2 sections, considering the size, it should be possible, you can effectively separate vets from newbs, but consolidate the population and improve chat. You have a newb side and vet side, maybe the maps are copies side by side, or similar but different maps, or maybe very different entirely. This way new players can observe vets, talk with vets, but play against newbs. The vets would be able to moderate the newb side of the map (they are already in the zone playing) but won't be able to fight the newbs. How to implement this would be the challenge, given the limits of the existing client.
I realized I didn't add a suggestion on how to help, which is not very helpful. So, here goes: Split map solution. Or map within a map, however you choose to think about it.
If the map was split into 2 sections, considering the size, it should be possible, you can effectively separate vets from newbs, but consolidate the population and improve chat. You have a newb side and vet side, maybe the maps are copies side by side, or similar but different maps, or maybe very different entirely. This way new players can observe vets, talk with vets, but play against newbs. The vets would be able to moderate the newb side of the map (they are already in the zone playing) but won't be able to fight the newbs. How to implement this would be the challenge, given the limits of the existing client.