Flops:
2. OOC unfairness: A LOT of realms are OOC cliques that are hard to break into unless you conform to the OOC-ness. Unless you're 'part of the group, your chances of advancement decrease dramatically. Other realms are just blatantly led by a bunch of RL friends who take over every position with a handful of people.
3. More OOC unfairness: A lot of the politics in the game are decided by a handful of players outside of the game (on IRC for example). Players who don't go to IRC often have little or nothing to say in their realm councils.
I agree very much. The problem is that very often success or failure depend heavily on the different activity (and I intend also potential activity on irc or other means) of the two sides, and this in turn pushes nobles who are very active in and out the game up the hierarchy way more easily than they should deserve. But well, I guess there is no solution to this.
