first off you must be sure that your game is directing to stardock.com and port 2509. secondly, I would make sure that you have the latest version 1.02. If you are playing a different version, you will not be able to play. when the find game page is loaded hit the refresh opponents button and that will show you who is online. there is a chat mode there so you can talk to your opponent before playing. If your name is the only one that comes up, there is noone to play against. If you are not familiar with it you should join game instead of trying to create. If you see games, the party showing is the party of the host. After clicking join, you will come to a page that allows you as guest to change your player. Click on ready and the game will start when the host is ready.