It is also not just about "inactive" realms. Some very active realms have a great deal of their activity in the higher parts of the game. If you aren't part of the right message groups etc you aren't going to be part of it. This is the problem much of the "involvement" in realms can be for solely for established characters in the realm. We need to ensure there is something interesting for new players to do in realm regardless of what the realm is currently up to.
This is what I meant with "it is more a matter of how realms are handled rather than game mechanics": if a realm keeps everything behind closed doors newcomers will be bored and leave, and a realm with fewer knights is weaker.
However the issue Lorgan refers to is that realms handled in this way are not only weaker IC, which would be perfectly fine, but are detrimental to the player basis as they might drive away potential players from bm altogether.
A island-wide newcomers channel, as Tom was suggesting, could partially solve the problem if newcomers become aware that it's really their realm that sucks and not bm as a game
