Revan explained it well.
There seem to be still people around who think that the alternative to closing one island is not closing any islands. You are mistaken. The alternative to closing one island is closing all of them, because the game will be dead sooner or later if we don't do something.
Go recruit - we tried it before. I would be thrilled if it were that easy and you can find a few hundred new players. I just don't think it will work.
We need to close at least one island to save the rest of the game. It will hurt. Probably a lot. There will be damage and loss and frustration. There will be angry people. There will be players who quit the game. All of that is still better than losing the game entirely.
