There's nothing to work on over the long term in the game that makes being online the number one way to achieve long term gains. There would be way more people online around the clock on any given day if the ability to effect the game/story was unlocked and a system applied to keep such options fair.
Add new activities after all this time please. I guarantee a few simple changes to rules and there would be a lot more to do at any given time, which is much better for spontaneous interaction.
Battles here are reduced to once in a while, registration only, arcade events. There are no spontaneous battles anymore, no spontaneous skirmishes or things that cause the outbreak of a crisis or war. Too much is locked, the very mode by which the server is run defeats its own purpose.
Change to a mode of 'play to effect', as in let players be able to come here with the open purpose to be able to effect things by doing stuff in the game, like winning real battles, and stop the mode of letting people just fly aimlessly.
The system should be that we play to effect the game world, and there should be ways to do that in the game, not only being removed to neutralize what happens in the game as much as possible. Hasn't anyone else noticed its like every change actually sets the place back?
If those in charge really care about keeping this place in as a good shape as possible at any given time, priority should be on player population, which can undoubtedly start to be fixed by changing the game back to a place where we had teams that actually immersed themselves in what they do, meaning having real stuff going.
The other problem is not outlining enough in advance, like using a system to outline rules for roleplay story writing. Take Gaia for instance. What is going on there? It would be cool to write a story around it but there is only vague info to go on, and details are so sacred to some we can't just go to work writing. To me I should be able to look at the planet infocard and go to it.
The other thing is, player involvement is so capped, nothing is going on that makes sense. There's no way a planet so valuable would just stay like that. Bretonia would be back in there, or the CR, or a smaller faction like the Gaians or Molly's might want to make a run for control. Or maybe a unique faction would sprout up founded by Gallic refugees or Leeds survivors. But non of that can happen as things stand, and so its no wonder no one is doing as much flying as in years prior. That is just one situation where there is a bunch of opportunities to draw in players. Yet is has to be accepted that is what people want to do with a place like this. If factions could challenge over the real estate, and win from doing stuff in game, this place would never be dead, and hotspots would develop on their own.
So it would be nice if we switched to a system where players could play the game, and play a larger game where we cared about the game world, and what happens or not gets you online. To me its way better to have big groups contantly playing and working on goals, even if fighting over a planet or system, than insisting its better to keep things locked. and therefore dead. Change that aspect of the game to open things up and I'd bet we'll never see it get below 30 ever again, and maybe even back to 40-50 most of the time. The only way to know for sure is to try!