One solution is to change the meaning of "safe haven".
I would suggest that a "safe haven" only provide protection to newbies,
arbitrarily defined as anyone who has been in less than (for example)
a year.
To the older players, it would be like any other province.
Hence players would have a *large* incentive to move out (the same population
pressure is there, but without the safety) -- and newbies might actually be
able to get something done.
This is probably too large a change to make in a running game, but I would
recommend it for Game #2.
...approaching it from the other end....
Perhaps Rich could add a "NEWBIE" flag. The flag could not be reset, but
while on players could not be attacked or stolen from. [Except, probably,
by NPCs] Of course, they also couldn't attack or build structures. The
flag would automatically unset after a time, to prevent weenies from hiding.
Ed Bailey
--
Ed Bailey | Voice: (512) 471-4198 Fax: (512) 471-6715
Inst. for Fusion Studies | Internet: bailey@{hagar,ziggy}.ph.utexas.edu,
Univ. of Texas at Austin | u70262@c.nersc.gov, or pnab643@chpc.utexas.edu
Austin TX 78712 | "No pithy quotes. Just email addresses."