I think there's 3 main choices now? (please add more yourself)
Blighting regions (through whatever means)
pros: will keep history of realms and island intact, minimal distruption to most players out of all option (disputable)
cons: makes islands smaller and possibly less dynamic, may effect balance of power in the island, difficulty of choosing which regions to blight
Freezing islands
Pros: realms and history will not be destroyed, balance of map of all other islands preserved
cons: medium disruption, difficulty of keeping realm culture and history through passage of time, may end up as being the same as closing an island if player count does not increase
Closing islands
Pros: ease of implementation, balance of map in other island preserved
cons: huge disruption, destroying realms and histories
Freezing islands will be much more preferable to closing islands, i dont see any reason to close an island instead of freezing it..
But then freezing islands will still cause a substantial amount of distruption to players...
