I come here when I'm done reading my IG messages; the problem is, I could be spending more time writing letters, but I don't because the forums are...easier, I guess. I'm also a global moderator so I sorta need to keep up with threads, even if I don't post in all of them.
Sure you
could, but
would you? Presumably if you had any incentive to send
more messages IG, you already would be. That's certainly the case for me.
Nothing about the forums
discourages people from sending messages IG. Sure, people can get a lot of information on the forums, but I have significant doubts that if it didn't exist, people would suddenly start reaching out to get the same information IG. Maybe a very few highly active players would suddenly feel the need to develop intelligence sources elsewhere, but those players probably already cultivate them. Everyone else would simply shrug and make do without the additional information. I know
I would. I
enjoy forum discussions. I
don't particularly enjoy writing dozens of IG messages a day to characters that may or may not bother to respond just to get the sort of every day news you can get on the forum.
Look, the only way to increase activity in the game is to make the game itself
more interesting. Without considering design changes that means dramatically increasing player density, which means growing the player base or removing islands, both of which topics are already under discussion elsewhere.
