Originally Posted by Fruvous

The game isn't fun if youre both inexperienced and ill-equipped.

Yes it is. Every one of us here is a proof of that. If the game wasn't fun when I started out, I wouldn't have stuck with it.

What you don't understand is that I had different expectations when I was a newbie. I didn't walk into BF2142 expecting to be equal to everyone else. I was overjoyed when I managed to kill someone. I ran 4 and 20 KD and I was absolutely exctatic that I had killed 4 people.

Today, I can run 20 and 5 KD and I'll think that a decent round. I have different expectations.

Your argument is flawed because it cruxes on equipment: that the game will be more fun for newbies if each of them had Vosses. That's not true. Things acquired without hard work have no value: I really loved my Voss when I got it because it was so nice after the inaccurate Scarr.
If I'd gotten it right off the bat, I'd expect my next weapon to be so much better.

That's where your stat-padding argument breaks down: if everyone had Vosses, they'd have nothing to work for, look forward to, or be surprised by. And the things they already had, they didn't value because they earned them so cheaply.

I've had two friends buy the game only to never play again simply because of this severe disbalance.

Plenty of people leave a video game because it's not to their liking. Contrary to your implied ideas, making a video game easier will not make it more fun. That only removes value from the people who actually enjoy the game.

The ethics of statpadding is very different if it's an experienced player doing it.

No it's not. It's still an exploit of the game engine, of the way the game is meant to be played, and it provides an unfair advantage. Whether an experienced person does it, or a complete newbie is not relevant at all.

I think the best way to explain it is, if someone decided to buy Everquest right now. He's the only level 1 character, everyone else is level bajillion (whatever the max level is right now).
Competitively, it's laughable to consider a new lvl1 character as a competent party-member, except after 5-some years when he's finally leveled up to be a mediocre character.

If I were to walk into Everquest right now (a game I've never played), I would expect to take on level 1 mobs ... and to progress accordingly. I would not expect to play with my buddies who are level 120.
And if I didn't enjoy the path to level 120, well then so be it -- I don't like the game, I don't like it.

[b]It shouldn't take months/years for a player to interact at the same level as everyone else, especially in a game where competitive player-player interaction is the point of the game

Yes it should, and that's perfectly natural.
Why should it take months and years to attain the strength and co-ordination necessary to walk in a world where walking is the most common activity on the planet?
You're advocating for a completely irrational standard. Newbies start at the bottom, and newbies have bottom-level expectations.

Simply put, if people are dropping out of 2142 (which is already happening)

BF2142 is an old game. People are dropping out, and this is natural.

There needs to be support for the few new players coming in.

Yes, we should be friendly and polite toward newbies.
Making this video game easier for them, however, is not a smart idea because it will not make the game more fun, and it will devalue their accomplishments.

If it doesn't happen, then 2142 will die much sooner.

You're using fear tactics here to get people to agree with you.
We all like 2142, and we also all realize that it is dying, and that it will die some day.
Allowing people to stat-pad will not only make this entire experience less pleasant, it will cheat what little newbies to come in, of a genuine experience.

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In short:
Stat-padding is unethical and it will not make the game more fun for the community, or, sincerely, for the stat-padder. Acquiring things without hard work, just like in real life, removes their value.