Agreed, I have played in a number of multiplayer games over the past week, but sometimes there is just no one around.
In progress games with an uptime counter would be great, maybe even a player list with cash in hand values and stock prices.
I would also encourage, if possible the creation of some sort of list of people looking at the server list if possible. Not sure what is easy, hard or impossible to do.
Great fun when you actually get to play mp though, well other than getting my butt handed to me every time.